Blog Audit: Blog Post About Blogging

As this blog entry’s title states, today I’m going to talk about my blogging experience this semester.  I’ve noticed some patterns in my blog posts this semester. I will share them with you, along with answering the suggested prompts given to me to help write this blog audit.

I think I’ve been highly critical of corporations, specifically CBC, Wal-Mart, and Metro. I feel the reason is they are money making corporations that aren’t doing enough to help the community, to decrease health disparities. While it may seem like they are by advertising the good they are doing, I strongly believe it isn’t enough.  In the case of Metro, they potentially make it more difficult for people to earn a stable income because of reducing the number of hours available in each store in response to minimum wage increases.  This ties into another theme I wrote of often within my blog: the relationship between income and health disparities.

Another concern of mine is the relationship between income and health disparities. It is a concern of mine because time and time again we learn of evidence that shows us that those of lower socioeconomic status have poorer health in comparison to those of higher economic status. Many reasons may help to explain this relationship, each of these reason have to do with income; whether there isn’t  enough disposable income to purchase healthy food, or to partake in organised sports. Another system should be in place, a system where money isn’t valued, where socioeconomic status has no impact on health.

I feel like I’ve come to acknowledge that things never happen overnight, that issues are a lot more complicated because of the great diversity of ethnic backgrounds in Canada, and simply because programs must be tailored to the needs of the community. I looked at this in Blog Post 3 by acknowledging we can’t use the same systems that work great in Europe because of the different contexts.  I’ve also acknowledge that I don’t know all that is occurring in my community, that I am looking at it from one point of view. In my opinion, my frame is shaped by my age and my education. Like I’ve mentioned in Blog Post 5, the children in my community may have a sense of community because they may play together. I don’t see this because I spend most of my time outside of my community because of school and work. Thus, this makes me want to take another look at my community and future communities, and by viewing how others see the community, if the sense of community exists for them.  

After re-reading my posts, I’m surprised I managed to discuss health promotion so frequently. When I started writing my blog posts, I clearly remembered thinking that each would speak of something different; that didn’t happen.  This is significant because it shows the material from class that grabbed my attention the most, I think I related to it more. Coming from a working class family, from the lower end of the middle class spectrum, and not having a “healthy” or “normal” BMI, I felt like it spoke to my experiences.

I noticed that in my first blog posts, the examples that were used to elaborate on my ideas came from what I thought others experienced, but then I started to use my real life experiences. In Blog Post 1, I looked at the experience of the Villagers of Taylor, BC and of other Canadian participants, but in Blog Post 5 I shared what I thought a community comprised up, and used a favourite show of mine to illustrate that point. Thus I started to personalise my blog posts.

In general I enjoyed this assignment. It was different from others because it was posted online for the world to see and made me think of how class lecture related to outside the classroom. I preferred having to write about 500 words for each blog instead of writing one essay or research paper that is 3,000 words. This is mostly due to me being a procrastinator and would have written the essay all at once. Thus, I liked having to submit an assignment in chunks rather than as a whole to encourage me to get my work done and not be overly stressed to get it completed on time. I don’t know if I’d blog again, but it would be a great outlet to let my ideas and thoughts roam free.

What's in a Community?

In class we’ve been exploring the concepts of community. However, what is considered a community? When I think of community, I think of the geography behind it. Thus, to me a community is a group of people and families that live in close proximity, in the same geographic area.  Do you think something is missing from my definition of community? What about the sense of community? While you live in a community, you may not feel like there is a sense of community. I make this statement from experience. At home, I don’t really know my neighbours, and it seems like none of us make the effort to know each other.

A picture from Gilmore Girls, from the community

Growing up I knew what I wanted in a community, what kind of neighbourhood I wished to live in as an adult. I wanted to live in a big city within a tight knit community. This was partly, maybe more, due to watching Gilmore Girls. In Gilmore Girls, the town of Stars Hollow showed a great sense of community: everyone knew each other, had town meetings, frequent community events, and no big box stores.  When something went wrong, the community acted as a support system. Even with Rory gone to University, the community still asked about her, and she also stayed in contact with the community by visiting often.

I know it may unrealistic to compare a sitcom to the “real world” because, after all, sitcoms have scripts, and depict what viewers want to see, the ideal world or utopia. However, if that’s what people want, maybe there is value is watching the lives of these characters unravel? As it did with me, it made me see what I want, but I haven’t put into action any of this in my community. When I look at my community I think see the community as being passive, not seeing that changes should be made.  This relates to the fact I hardly see my neighbours outside, even in the warmer months. Almost every household has at least one vehicle, thus takes their children to extra-curricular activities instead of playing outside with the other children.  When there is the community garage sale in the summer, I still don’t see much of the neighbours outside, getting to know other members of the community. Maybe I’m just not paying attention? Maybe since I’m no longer a child, I don’t see the talking between parents?

One thing I think I can assume is when kids in the community know each other they play together, thus they create their own community.  As classmates have pointed out in class, a community have shared values, shared beliefs, and share common interests.  That being said, if children create their own network of friends, would that be considered a community? When kids get to know each other, it also opens the opportunity for parents to connect.

I apologize if I’ve spoken in circles today, that was not my intention.  As I wrote this blog post, it gave me a lot to think about, which may explain why I spoke in circles, I was writing “out-loud”.  I will definitely try and keep all of this in mind, and maybe try and see how my neighbourhood does fit the definition of community, and how I can potentially make an impact.

Sources:

FNN 400 lecture notes week 6

More information on Gilmore Girls: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238784/