Monthly Archives: December 2014

I acknowledge that I should have looked at the research timeline and made it my best friend like Shelby suggested.  I did not do that.  I probably also should not have registered to take the GRE on the day after Reading Day as that was probably the worst decision I have ever made in my life.  I did collect information, research, and write all semester like she said to though, so I’m not completely lost and have made some good progress.

I started getting tired off my topic and frustrated with where I was with the research.  I’m really passionate about homelessness and have been for a long time.  I realized partway through this semester that while I’m passionate about one half o f my topic, I don’t have a lot of experience with the other half, that being disasters.  I can do all the research in the world but without having any firsthand direct experience related to it, I’m never going to get this project to go where I want it to, and that has been very frustrating for me this semester.

Because I realized I can’t get it to go where I want, I decided to tweak it a bit.  Something I do have experience with is the social aspect of homelessness, based on previous activities I’ve been involved in.  I really believe in social equality and justice, and don’t think that discrimination of homeless people is right or fair, and I wanted to show that.  I didn’t want to completely give up the part about natural disasters, especially because they largely contribute to the high rates of homelessness in some areas.

Because homelessness is a very complex and diverse issue that has many different contributing factors and resulting outcomes, it was hard to manage this topic and keep it concise and following one avenue.  When it was time to have our groups get together and review each others’ research so far, my group had a very difficult time meeting as peoples’ schedules kept changing.  I think meeting at that point would have been very important and helpful in helping me to reorganize my thoughts and keep my topic going in the right direction.  Ultimately I think I would like to continue researching this topic and further explore all of the factors related to homelessness, so when I think about everything that’s involved, I get excited about how much there is to read about.  However, that’s just not possible with this project, so I’ve been trying to keep my focus on the original topic to help me keep the topic continuing in an organized manner.

I should probably have listened to Shelby’s advice at the beginning of the semester and looked at the Research timeline more often.  If I had I wouldn’t be sitting her at 1:30 in the morning typing this while stressing for a test tomorrow.  I also probably wouldn’t have missed the last task either, mistakes were made recently and only a lot of coffee tonight can fix that.  Regardless, before we left for break, my research paper had yet to actually reach the argument part.  I had a really long background section that I had already cut six pages out of and continue to cut each time I revise my work (it’s still too long which may affect the project as a whole but History major over here thinks all parts of Burmese history is important to the rhetorical analysis I am doing.)  I knew that I was going to analyze the archetypal metaphors used in each narrative but had yet to communicate that in the paper.  The professor helping me, Dr. Howell, and I have been meeting fairly regularly to develop the argument and work through each narrative.  I went into break with the intention to make the argument and finally finish my first draft of my research.  Fortunately, I was able to knock that out and am now working on last minute revisions in preparation for Friday’s looming due date (I really hope it’s due at 11:59 pm).  I am continuing to edit, cut back on background information, and make this research the best it can

I was feeling very lost and frustrated with my research. I decided to go back to my research’s roots and think about Sri Lanka and re-watch the documentary Happy. I remembered why I started all this. It’s so inspiring to see a person completely happy in their occupation, but there is more to it. In Happy, they find that practically all happy people have one thing in common: a strong source of social support. Close family, close friends, and social support in conjunction with a satisfying job and meeting basic human needs is the essential recipe for happiness and well-being. Why was that so hard to figure out? The filmmakers travel all over the world and interview happy people who live deep in the bayou, who live in a shack in India and drive a rickshaw for a living, and who live in a commune in Denmark – they all have close family and friends who function together as a supportive unit. I have a good direction in mind now and I’m ready to wrap this project up.

It was hard for all of us to meet during this time since I inconveniently had the audacity to take off to Austin City Limits – can you believe me? – but we ended up have a very fruitful facebook conversation instead. It was recommended that I look into happiness in other countries – general levels of happiness, what was different about their happiness, etc. This was a great idea since the concept of my research project originated from my happiness findings in Sri Lanka. It was also suggested that I look into worker happiness at places like Google, plus a few other interesting leads. All of this was taken into consideration but what I’ve really decided to run with now is happiness on an international level! Happiness is very similar amongst humans at large although it still differs strongly from person to person. What I mean by that is: we all experience happiness differently, but usually the same types of things cause happiness for everyone (flow, social support, meeting basic needs, etc). I’m excited to incorporate this new angle into my paper.

I have a revised draft in the works right now. I am having trouble trying to make my paper sound more like a lawyer and less like a detective. Hearing feedback from Kelly and Shelby really helped me see what my paper lacked. However It’s actually difficult to find areas where I could revise my paper to do sound more argumentative. I completely reworked my introduction but I still need to rework m lit review and main body and conclusion. I hope spending the rest of this week on the paper, i’ll be able to accomplish what I want out of it.