Fredrickson_ Portfolio_Introduction_Draft

Dear reader,

Our project maps the locations of various important areas related to marijuana culture in Denver. This includes restaurants, medical marijuana dispensaries, convention locations related to marijuana, as well as companies that develop and sell technologies related to marijuana. By doing so, it was our intention to map marijuana culture in Denver and by doing so, to show how engrained marijuana culture is in Denver. With no particular concentration of locations on the map, at least none the could be attributed to anything more than us being located at the University of Denver, we showed how expansive marijuana culture has become. Our aim was simply to provide information to those interested in this topic by mapping everything we could that was related not only to marijuana culture, but the medical marijuana movement in Denver and by doing so to show the locations where one might go if they were interested in learning more about the culture. Marijuana has become something much more than just a drug grown in people's garages under black lights and used by hippies. These days, marijuana has turned into what most would call a legitimate business venture.

In order to gather all of this information, we visited locations as well as researched legal interactions between those who are for and against medical marijuana in Denver. At each location we described whatever was there, and for the locations that we visited personally, we described the atmosphere of said location as well as any social interactions we had there.

This project is relevant to all those whom are interested or concerned about marijuana culture in Denver, and was chosen because of its large influence on the culture in our area.

This project improved my writing because I haven't done anything quite like it. Using Google maps as well as photos and videos forced me to write less academically and focus more on descriptive writing as a tried to paint a picture of the atmosphere of each area we visited.

Alexander Fredrickson

Dear reader,

In this essay, I focused on the not only positive, but necessary effects of capital punishment in Denver. I gathered my research by using the academic search engines provided by the Penrose library. The paper centered around three points: capital punishment keeps us safe, saves us money when we need it most, and will be easy to see the longevity of in Denver as it is human nature to resist change and capital punishment is engrained in the history of the city of Denver. In this paper, I also tried to explain all of the most common views of those whom oppose capital punishment and why and afterwords refute them.

This project is relevant to everyone who cares about the economy and safety of the city of Denver, as well as for those interested in capital punishment policy as a whole. As the economy of Denver effects both the state and national economy, you could even go so far as to say anyone whom is concerned with the well-being of the United States in general.

This paper improved my writing by improving my research skills. It was a learning experience for me as I was forced away from the “.com” and into more scholarly articles and websites.

Alexander Fredrickson

Dear Reader,

In this essay I intend to explore the issue of racial diversity here at the University of Denver. It is my intention to discern the majority opinion on how DU is dealing with diversity both in and out of the classroom. I intend to have this paper read by both DU students and hopefully the University of Denver administration and CME (Center for Multicultural Excellence) in the hopes that they will use this information to better deal with racial diversity here at the University of Denver. It is my opinion that the University administration is doing a terrible job dealing with diversity at the University of Denver. It is abhorrent that “…of the class of 2008, 70.0% are White, 1.8% are Black, 6.8% are Hispanic, 5.2% are Asian or Pacific Islander, 1.7% are American Indian, 5.3% are international, and 9.1% are race/ethnicity unknown(du.edu).” (This is the last statistic provided)The complete lack of diversity at the University of Denver is taking away an important aspect of our education which consequently makes us less ready for the post-college work environment. This topic is very important to me and should be to any student at the University of Denver as the diversity of our campus and classrooms effect our overall education. After admittedly trying experiences with diversity here at DU in both the classroom and in everyday life, I understand that the successful implementation of diversity at this University is difficult. However, it is of my opinion that diversity is necessary for a well-rounded education and its pros greatly outweigh the cons.

I will go about researching this topic by doing a series of 10 interviews with DU students who are living on campus.


I plan to both inform you about diversity here at DU (a basic breakdown of the population here at DU along with the mission statement of the CME) and then ask questions along the lines of: How well do you think that DU as well as the CME has upheld this mission statement? What do you think is the best way for DU students to experience diversity? And: What do you find to be the advantages of experiencing a diverse campus (if any)?
In order to get a more qualitative response, I plan on asking participants follow up questions based on their answer to the main interview questions. I hope to figure out what they see as the pros and cons of diversity on our education here at DU.

This paper improved my writing by forcing me to learn how to effectively do my own research by using interviews. I also learned what was necessary in order to use said interviews in my papers (referring of course to IRB).

-Alexander Fredrickson