Article Summary

The article that I read was titled “Half of sickest H1N1 patients had been healthy: Previously, most hospitalized were believed to have underlying condition” by Associated Press. The article examines the growing number of people who have swine flu and how it is affecting them. When swine flu first invaded and began taking the lives of many unsuspecting victims, it was thought that those who died of it had underlying conditions such as heart conditions or asthma, but recent research shows that not all of the victims had underlying problems. Half of the swine flu victims were actually in good health.
The article also examines the H1N1 as an epidemic. I believe that the flu is being perceived as somewhat of an epidemic but is not as overpowering as it seems. I believe that the reason so many people are scared and are freaking out about it is because of the media. The media seems to blow everything out of proportion. The news can take the smallest blurb of news and blow it up into something huge. By doing this they put so many people into a panic that people overreact and are convinced that they have something that they do not. I am not saying that swine flu is harmless but the way the media portrays it I believe is far worse than it actually is. Every year the flu virus gets a little bit worse, I think that this is just a normal flu virus just more progressed than last years.

Reflective Essay 2

The second essay that I wrote was a collaborative essay. The four people in my group decided on the topic of abortion. We each took sides, two wrote about the pros of abortion and another group member and I wrote about the cons of abortion. The topic itself is such a controversial subject and I found it very hard to collect and organize all of my thoughts into a well structured essay.
I did however feel that this essay was much better than my first. I believe that it was well written. I feel that my argument was more structured and that I took a more clear and prominent stance. I also enjoyed working in a group. Each of us had our own individual beliefs and ideas that all worked together and mixed together to form our final product. I think that working together really gave me a new prospective on the topic. Talking in our group helped us all take our stances and strengthen our arguments.