wevideo

https://www.wevideo.com/view/647978782



CR094

Brian Stutzman

Mrs. Richter

05/03/2016

Reflection/Artist Statement

At first it was pretty difficult to come up with an idea for my digital story. My life, while being as busy as I am, isn’t that exciting I never won any metals or had any special privileges; but I did overcome an addiction. To some, “well you shouldn’t have done it in the first place” or “way to go dumbass” it never was there problem to say things like that. For me, it was a great obstacle I overcame so I figured it would make a great candidate for my digital story.

I kind of figured I’d reach my audience through ethos. I learn through experience such as hands on or examples, the I’m saying that is because I figured a brief example of my story might help reach the audience a bit better , granted not everyone learns the same way. I had quite a few images at one point when I was back home in my teenage days but they all disappeared. The image I had used was the closest one to my addiction that I could find. Instead of using a million pictures anyways, one will do. With one picture you can take in the details in my opinion. With more pictures I think you can create a better visual story but I enjoy detail so that’s how it was done.

Let’s see here, out of everything I have created for this class, I have to say I altered /changed almost everything I have turned in with a little help. Constructing my portfolio I have made a few changes to both my blog and digital story. I can’t honestly say I was satisfied with any of the material I turned in so I made a few changes to help out my satisfaction.

The blog was pretty complicated, I say that because I’m not used to keeping up on things I’m not really interested in. There was plenty of negative facts about smoking cigarettes and it was a good challenge for me. I wanted to compare it to something similar instead of just condoning it all by itself. So I popped in a post about marijuana vs. cigarettes to see (for my own interest too) what’s bad and what’s not worth comparison. Plus it is Colorado if it’s green somebody’s bound to turn there head and rubber neck. I figured it might be more interesting than just negative facts and personal stories like ads.

The digital story was a different story, ran into some minor complications. I finished my video pretty fast till I found out on the syllabus that web images weren’t aloud. I didn’t have any personal pictures for what I chose to do. I thought, maybe I should change my video. Then the whole one picture deal popped in my head. I considered that I might get a bad grade because of the visuals, but, I felt that I could tell better story with just one picture coincidentally, the only picture I had. Telling a better story doesn’t always have to do with the author sometimes it’s the audience that listens. With that being said the reason I have only one picture is because instead of oooohhhing and ahhhing over visuals, I wanted people to hear my story not see it.

This project has shown me how far I’ve come from where I was at home. I can’t say I’d ever expect to have come this far with where I’m at (life). I found it extremely difficult to summarize my story in a matter of minutes; I have a lot of stories within stories if that makes sense. I think if I was to start this project over whole than I would’ve chosen a different subject definitely but, I had fun doing the project all together so no argument there!

intro essay

CR094

Brian Stutzman

Mrs. Richter

February 16, 2016

Quitting a Nasty Habit

                I need to quit smoking.  My family, Friends and work colleagues have told me to do so since I started, which was about 5 years ago.  Not too long ago I began telling myself the same thing.  To put the foundation on what I’m telling myself, I am going to use these 30 days to my advantage. I have tried quitting in the past and end up no where due to lack of effort and a poor routine. For 30 days I am going to try to break a nasty habit in hopes it will improve my health. Speaking of my health I’ve noticed a change in a great many things. My breathing, sleeping and eating habits have all changed drastically over the past six years.

                I never really thought that my health was a big deal; I took care of myself pretty well. I never thought things like my sleep, oxygen I breathe, or even my appetite would be affected so quickly. Time to start worrying I guess. At my age not that I’m old but I am beginning to feel the long term effects from what cigarettes are doing to my body. I can’t run or eat that much, I only eat once a day, or even sleep it’s like a cup of coffee to some people.  So in light of quitting smoking I hope quitting will restore my appetite. More of an appetite will allow me to store more energy which in turn will allow me to use more energy to make me tired. I’ll sleep much better by the time this 30 days is up.

                 30 days is enough length to what I consider to be a long term goal and plenty of time to break a habit. My plan to break these habit starts with taking one cigarette out a day or having one less then the day before. I’m hoping that will control my urge to smoke and my shakiness. In the morning and in the evening is when I usually smoke the most. So I am going to limit the number of cigarettes I have at these points of the day. This will change how I wake up and how I go to sleep. I used to go to bed earlier then my parents, now I go to bed way later. My Mother and Father, who used to smoke, have said that they feel much better in the mornings when they wake and at night when they go to sleep as well as previous smokers in some health articles I’ve stumbled upon while reading a magazine.

                A lot of ex-smokers that I have talked to said that they could not quit cold turkey. I look at it as a great confidence booster. That’s why I decided to break this habit slowly. A lot of those ex-smokers that I have spoken to told me to find a “niche” or simple but progressive way to break my habit. I understand some people can jus let go of a habit “just like that” but I am not good at breaking habits quickly. So basically it’s going to be slow but easy as I have no other choice but to use 30 days as an excuse to quit.

                Quitting smoking period is going to be difficult but I think if I try maybe just a little bit harder this time the pay off will be much greater. There are so many things to have fun with then to increase my risk of cancer.  I know mom and pop will be much happier along with some other people that are close to me. I’m hoping that instead making this a short term goal like I have in the past, a long term goal will make it easier. Who knows maybe I’ll save a little bit of cash at the end of the year from not buying cigarettes to put into the car I want to build. I really hope I can accomplish what I set my mind to this time and possibly if I do quit help convince others to quit too.

       How does your body feel? It should feel good... If you don't smoke.... When you quit smoking your body changes drastically, for example even after 20 minute since quitting your body will begin to reap the benefits of being a non smoker. Your heart rate drops to a normal rate and adding another 100 minutes to the clock reduces your risks for heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, and this ones big for me, is your appetite. Nicotine triggers your body to do so many things it shouldn't be containing over 4,000 chemicals it kills about 6 million people a year. So why keep doing it? I have found a list of why you should found here take a look.http://www.everydayhealth.com/smoking-cessation/smoking-cessation-center-why-quit.aspx. (www.cancer.org/aboutus/.../tobacco-control) . 

      Let's see where smoking can take us shall we? I first started using tobacco products to catch that first buzz I had. It just kinda faded into becoming the norm for me to smoke a cigarette whenever I felt the need. I hung around different people of course you've heard this story from your mother or father of what drugs can do to you. Unfortunately, their right, I didn't think so but I changed and no it's not a drastic change but to someone who saw me everyday or has known who I was before I started smoking has noticed a change in either my attitude, mental state, or even weight gain or loss. The cure I found out in this conflict resorted to me smoking good ol' sweet mary jane. Not the best option for most, countering one drug with another like drinking NyQuil and smoking a boat it's just not healthy for your body to react to the change you have based on what your feeling because it's influenced by a substance.  Some people are different with drugs I share my experience only because I can back-up the theory that nicotine may be a gateway drug too. I've noticed a lot of people who don't smoke don't use any other drugs (except out here in Colorado). But those who do smoke cigarettes usually have another fix by the time there my age.

Smoking deconstructed | James Monsees | TEDxBrussels

I know it's a little late now but lets talk about how I started smoking. My very light drug career begin with chewing Grizzly, it was easy to get away with and hide from people and I began that at about 13-14. Now for those of you who don't know what chew is, it's basically a fat wad of moist tobacco you put in your lip and catch the same buzz as a cigarette. I had smoked when i could but chewed most of my adolescence then quit that after I turned 18 because I had no need to hide tobacco anymore I was 18 I could smoke! Plus not that smoking is anymore attractive than chewing but when a girl sees you with a lip full of brown leaves that looks like shit an your spitting it out every 5 minutes it doesn't exactly turn them on. I began noticing how badly chewing took it's toll and afraid of seeing my jaw fall off of my face, another reason I switched to smoking because I wasn't worried about my lungs as much as giving a speech about my jaw missing from my face. At the time I didn't really think it was affecting my lungs that bad anyways but here it is, come today and I can't even run a mile without stopping every five minutes to rest. Guess it's better I quit now then 20 years down the road. Here is a list from Be Tobacco Free.gov about how both types of tobacco can harm you in every way shape or form http://betobaccofree.hhs.gov/about-tobacco/facts-figures/

So the plan of taking a cigarette out daily is working pretty good. I can feel my tolerance going down as the days go by. I've broke a couple of times but due to stress it's hard not to give in I know excuses, excuses... Stress can sky rocket when you try to quit along with anger, anxiety, and other emotions that can be messed with while not getting your usual dose of nicotine a day. I'm trying to counter that with the quitting plan I had so my body wouldn't even notice its getting less nicotine a day in a pretty even way. While cutting down very slowly I sometimes try to chew gum instead of sticking a cigarette in my mouth to keep me occupied and forget about my need for a smoke. It just doesn't last very long unfortunately. http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/i-want-to-quit/how-to-quit-smoking.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/