This blog post is a portion of text I cut from my collaborative research project. It functioned as the 'afterward' for this research, but I wanted to share my experience with anyone who may not get the chance to explore the website where we presented our research....


After reflecting on the entire process of conducting this research, I feel a sense of deep connection. The reason for this is because I engaged in an authentic reflexive inquiry. Through this process, I transformed from a traditional inquirer to a narrative inquirer. That is, I became a part of what I was researching. This happened in two ways—one when I became sick and two when my teammates and I decided how we would present our research. After being hospitalized, the “reality” that marketers affirmed and sold to me was exposed. I wrote in my blog, “This past Thursday at Kennedy Hospital, when I heard the words, “You’re lucky to be alive,” it was a surreal experience. There I was 29 years-old (young), healthy (an active vegetarian), and in denial (it could never happen to me). An abnormal EKG (measures electric pulse to one’s heart) and a potassium level of 1.6 (Google it), earned me a room upstairs and a look of shock from every nurse I was passed along to.” My sense of reality was not parallel with what I was experiencing. After my diagnosis and still no definitive cause, I am more caution than ever about what I put in my body, namely regarding food. As a result, this research became connected to my own life. I was researching to not only share my findings but to also apply what I learned to my own food practices. Also, when we chose our presentation structure—a website, I became even closer to the project. The reason is because, as a part of the presentation, we decided to each compose a narrative to illustrate the “narrative stories” we were researching. Taking a critical look at my own practices transformed me into part of what was being researched. Since most of my research prior to this project has been explored through objective lenses, my relationship with this project was something I did not think was plausible. But the role I played in this research was a balance between subjective and objective, a synergetic balance.


While my relationship to this research was bonded by a personal connection, I cannot help but feel like I do not want to break up this beautiful bond. Of course, I can still research my own food culture and practice critical eating habits, but I cannot help but feel like my public research should not stop here. Taking the step to publicize our research through this website came from the realization that my teammates and I could create awareness and influence people to look critically at their own food cultures. My ability to use the technological tools, my willingness to engage in meaningful inquiry, and my training as a writer provide me with the skills to expand my research and create more awareness. I hope that I can find an outlet to continue this research. If not, at least what I learned through the process has opened me up to potential careers where I could practice this skill. In my job search, I came across a few positions, for example a grant monitor, which would allow me to utilize these skills.   

This blog post references my feelings about the finished research project which is so close within reach that I can feel it with my fingertips...

I feel damn good! I completed my narrative and my duties for my group's research project website. We all worked hard and I feel a sense of rewarding accomplishment now that I'm finished.

The most influential aspect of this research was the impact it had on me. After learning about reflexive inquiry, I feel like my participation in this research has achieved the reflexive goals discussed by Donna Qualley in “Understanding Reflexivity." Our research turned truly personal when we each decided to write a narrative. I think I can go a step further and say it became extremely personal when I was hospitalized and forced to consume a strict diet. The foods that enter my body have more of an impact than I realized; more importantly, they play an important role in how well my body functions. Critical inquiry regarding foods I commonly eat provided me with information to better my health.

A blog about the influence that my group's presentation--a website--of our research has had on my writing...

I truly love the influence of technology on my research. I have to admit—the term ‘research’ in academics has always been associated with long 15 page traditional papers. When my group decided to present our research on a website, my research took a new direction. The biggest changes were my ability to expand the use of language and the change in audience. Of course, the traditional paper would naturally have my teacher as the main audience. Even if I was “writing” for a particular audience, the likelihood of me shaping the piece rhetorically for my teacher would have been high. Now, with the website, my audience has expanded to—well, everyone. My target audience is consumers, but the reality is that anyone with internet access can read my work. Also, like I said, the way I am able to articulate my research has change, too. In a traditional paper, I would have limits. But the multimodal flexibility of the website gives me a wider range of rhetorical strategies. I can shape my presentation of the research around what is the most appropriate genre and make it aesthetically appealing.

During my research on marketing fruits and vegetables, I came across the following YouTube videos. I had to share...


Who knew baby carrots could be so extreme?

Dang! Baby carrots are so sexy!

Baby Carrots are psychedelic.

This blog post regards part of the research I am completing with my peers.

 According to CNN's article and this video,

Buy Organic:
1. Peaches
2. Celery
3. Lettuce
4. Berries (Strawberries and Domestic Blueberries)
5. Apples
6. Imported Grapes
7. Potatoes
8. Cherries
9. Spinach, Kale, and Collard Greens
10. Nectarines
11. Sweet Bell Peppers


Heck with Organic:
1. Pineapples
2. Watermelon
3. Cantaloupe
4. Corn
5. Onions
6. Avocados
7. Sweet corn
8. Mango
9. Sweet peas
10. Asparagus
11. Kiwi fruit
12. Cabbage
13. Eggplant
14. Grapefruit
15. Sweet potatoes
16. Sweet onions

It is hard to describe the following blog and its place in this course, so just read...

This past Thursday at Kennedy Hospital, when I heard the words, “You’re lucky to be alive,” it was a surreal experience. There I was 29 years-old (young), healthy (an active vegetarian), and in denial (it could never happen to me). An abnormal EKG (measures electric pulse to one’s heart) and a potassium level of 1.6 (Google it), earned me a room upstairs and a look of shock from every nurse I was passed along to. After learning about my condition—hypokalemia, I guess I looked like a walking corpse to them.

On my way to the ER—thanks to the wonderful escort by Rowan’s volunteer emergency services, I had told the very good looking volunteer that I had felt dizzy and could not see clearly. I was in shock when later in my hospital room I was being consulted about my heart. My heart was fine.

Potassium (and magnesium) is an enzyme that is vitally important—keeps the heart beating. Without it—well, I am trying not to think about the consequences that I so luckily escaped. I am truly blessed. The causes of potassium loss range, and I was tested for every one of them. Test after test, my arms look like that of a heroin addict, and I still have no answer to the cause of my loss of potassium. The GI specialist said that I am not losing it through my bowel movements; according to the Nephrologists, I am not losing potassium through my kidneys; I do not have an eating disorder or take water pills; I was even tested for a childhood disease (despite my age), because the specialists had exhausted every reasonable cause.

The nurses kept pumping me with potassium though an IV, which by the way is extremely painful. I would have rather given birth. I wanted to gnaw my arm off. I received an IV with potassium, potassium pills, a liquid drink that tasted like salty O.J., and a strict potassium rich diet. On the first day, my potassium dropped despite the amount of potassium I was receiving. This cleared me of the ever continuing accusations of an eating disorder, but complicated other potential causes. Eventually, my body was able to hold the potassium, but not on my own. They attempted to lower my dosage, but my levels stayed at 2.2 and did not go up, so they fed me more potassium. They wanted to put an IV in both arms, but I said I would kill myself if they did (I am not exaggerating when I say it was painful). By Sunday evening, I was at 3.5, which is a low-normal level.

I was discharged on the promise of returning Monday, Thursday, and every other Monday until they find a cure—and that is just with the kidney doctors. I have to call Monday for the GI doctor’s demands. My current medical plan is to continue taking the pills and eating my strict diet. This would “sustain [me] until they find a cause and cure” (the doctor’s exact words).

Diet and health are more important to me now than ever before. While I still feel that I had fairly healthy eating habits, they were nothing compare to the conscious act that eating will take now. My body is clearly not holding potassium, and while I may not know the reason, I do not want to die, so I have to make sure I use food (and meds) to compensate for what my body lacks.

A few thoughts on conducting research with others....

After reading a couple of chapters in Fontaine and Hunter's Collaborative Writing in Composition Studies, I have  been considering the differences between collaborative and cooperative writing (Lindsey offers a great overview of the difference). The words 'group project' have always had the conditioned response of rolling my eyes and sucking my teeth. But what I realized is I dislike cooperative work. In fact, I do not think that I have ever experienced true--in Fontaine and Hunter's eyes--collaborative writing.

This, of course, makes me want to have the experience of collaborative writing. With graduation approaching, I can't help but doubt that this will ever happen. It is not that my peers would not be willing to engage in this type of research, but the reality is that time is putting a lot of pressure on how we are conducting our research. I hope that once the 'inquiry' stage is over (which so far is collaborative in the sense that we are doing research, discussing it, and coming to a consensus about its meaning/place in our research) we can compose the piece as collaboratively as possible given the restraints.

Regarding our research, the following post addresses the group meeting held on 04/04/11between Linsey Seifert, Dawn Roy, and me. 

1) Research:
    We are researching the rhetorical strategies food marketers use to influence consumers, namely the moves that sell the "all-natural story."

2) Interviews
    a. Mother of three with an "organic" lifestyle (for our potential questions click here)
    b. Professor from the Department of Public Relations and Advertising

This blog is in response to—well, a lot—the article “Good, Clean, Fair: The Rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement”written by Stephen Schneider, the film Food Inc., my group research project, and my genuine concern for the earth and sustainability.

After reading the named article, I began exploring the organization that the article addresses, Slow Food. Through my inquiry, I came across an extension of this organization, Slow Fish. Aquafarming, according to Slow Fish, is displacing fishermen that rely on their trade as a means of income and source of food. Like Slow Food, this movement focuses on taking the control out of global realms and putting it back into the control of consumers/producers at the local level.

My exploration of this site, led me to inquire about what other effects aquafarming have besides putting locals out of work. I found that aquafarmed fish have ten times more contaminants—leading to health problems—and less nutritional value than wild fish species. In addition, they pollute the ocean around them and introduce invasive species. Also, like the feed lots of land animal, the dynamics of overcrowding and monocultures increase the marine species susceptibility to infections and diseases; thus, they are fed antibiotics and hormones.

 My research here led me to explore other marine practices that have detrimental impacts of the environment and food culture. I was drawn to the food culture of some Asian countries and found out about the practice of shark finning. The little biological knowledge I have sent up red flags—sharks are keystone species. By taking them out of the equation, we could be changing the dynamics of the ocean, and then the water cycle, and then the carbon cycle, and who knows what else. 

The class thought they were traumatized by Food Inc.; my inquiry had to stop here, because this crap is ridiculous. What I learned from my inquiry—awareness is key to change in our food culture, but can be scary.

The following resources were collected in reference to my potential research questions, namely  Question 10: How is language used rhetorically to persuade, influence, or trick consumers (marketing/advertising)?)