place Matters 2.0
Place Matters In Biology
Place weather the location is ones permanent residence or just a place one passes by will always have an effect on ones self. Let us take into consideration a red-carpet one would act confident and diva like whereas if someone were to be placed in a church setting one would act more modest. Place gives off a particular behavior in the way one should act. Elderly, adults, children, and even infants have the ability to pick up a particular trait based off of the sense of space. Often these traits could be behavioral, physical or even both; weather these traits are good or bad they are abundant and clear.
Where I live marked its very own “territory” on me. Lawndale is the city I have been raised in my whole life. This amazing city is around everything it is even less than five minutes away from the beach and not too far from the malls. There is always some type of traffic and noise in every direction that I find comfort in the city all around.
Now that I am living in Camarillo I had so many epiphany when coming here. The very first night was such a shock I realized that I couldn’t sleep in complete silence. In the middle of the night I found myself wanting the sounds of cars driving by, the sound of people reminiscing, or even just the noise of someone walking by. Before moving here I did not think that the beach would ever be a necessity to me. I believed that I could go without the beach it was a minor detail I did not need in my life and boy was I wrong. Recently I have discovered that I find assort of comfort in the beach. The beach in particular just brings me back to memories of family and home.
Moving onto a broader place to where I live being apart of Los Angeles County it has affected my speech. Yes, it is a shock to see but place really does have an effect on ones speech. There is a major phrase that rubbed off on me and it is when saying the name of a freeway. Typical a los angelonian would call a freeway by saying “the ____.” I did not realize that this trait does not apply to everyone and varies from county to county. The only reason I discovered this trait is because of a trip up to Seaside. During this trip I found it so strange to see other Californians call the freeway by the full name. The conversations were often long as if the people there had all the time in the world to say, “ Ohh yeah today I took California Pacific Coast Highway 1 Freeway” instead of just saying, “ I took the 1.” This was completely appalling because not everyone kept the names of freeways short and simple.
An even bigger picture of what goes on to place the fact that Californians have an accent is such a culture shock to me. Discovering this shock was even worst than moving to Camarillo and not hearing any noise at night. We as Californians LOVE to enunciate every single vowel in a word. This accident seems absurd and ridiculous but it is true just imagine how you are reading this right now it is a very good example you are pronouncing or reading every single vowel to its precise enunciation. One could go a whole lifetime not discovering this accent one does not leave the state.
My personal sense of place has its very own ups and downs through the years. There will always be small objects, smells and even phrases that take me back to home and let me realize what good I have back at home. I believe that I was fortunate enough to have the traits of the place where live rub off on me and I am forever grateful.
In the past school year through the surf program we have discussed the sense of place and how it is incorporated in to ones daily life. As this discussion progressed it was later formed into a class that is called University 298 research and investigations.
Through this class we have discovered a way that Geographic Information Systems (GIS) could be applied to any major. With my major being biology I believed that it would be very difficult to find research that was appealing to myself and even find a topic that there was enough research done to get an official result. Going from a broad subject like Biology and narrowing it down to include GIS research narrows the topics to a third of my findings. While looking at the various topics I stumbled upon one that struck me this topic spoke of child obesity in various counties. With this specific topic I was drawn to it because it is a very big problem that still goes on today. With the various movements and programs that go on in my local community there was a slight curiosity onto why in particular my city was selected to have these programs.
In the article’s I have selected to read to answer my questions on my city there are various factors that take place. These particular factors are the fact that not every county is keeping their programs up to date. Within the two articles they were similar in the sense that they had two cities in how they are able to use Geographic Information Systems in. Using the system those who produced the research were able to analyze how active one is, makes use of public recreations, and physical activity. With these activities research was still a bit broad. These researchers have added another factor that did not involve physical activity. Rather than physical activities using GIS this factor was a great game changer and it was available food resources. This particular factor gave a better understanding as to why these counties either had a very high or low obesity rate.
Using the Geographic Information Systems available I would be better able to further my investigations. Already through just simple basic research I have been able to narrow down my research to be specific. My primary goal at the end of this class is to hopefully go from a general location such as a state and go further in depth into counties and later hope to be county specific. If I am unable to further my investigations I would hopefully like to be able to break down my research by age, race, and gender.
