Martin_Portfolio_IntroductoryDraft

The writing class I took this year at DU helped my writing in many ways. First, I had to learn about the different assignments and the formats they adopted. I also had to learn how to conduct the research of the projects and more importantly how to interpret them on paper. The first paper we wrote, a text-based paper, was scribed on an issue of fire and brimstone in Denver, Colorado. Of course I am speaking of medical marijuana. The goal of this paper was to explain and take a stance on a local issue in Denver. We were to support and provide dissonance from our topic by utilizing scholarly sources from the area. The paper entitled Denver’s Dispensaries: Medical Marijuana in the Mainstream describes medical marijuana’s rise to being a part of mainstream media. Throughout the paper, I offer different scholarly opinion on medical marijuana from its history in Denver. Sources drawn from the Denver Post definitely offer insight and context for the how the medical marijuana industry look today. This paper helped me learn how to use sources to my advantage. It also taught me how the use of sources that don’t support your topic can help you out in establishing ethos with your reader. Additionally, this paper gave me insight on the medical marijuana industry in Denver and how it has changed over the past couple of years. This essay is a qualitative study performed on the University of Denver student body. I believe that at the University of Denver, medical marijuana is an issue of importance. Living in a city like Denver, means students are exposed to a variety medical marijuana offices and dispensaries. I truly believe that this has a profound effect on the University of Denver. And since many students are in possession of a medical marijuana license, yet still cannot utilize their medication on the campus, I believe that they should have certain rights regarding their medication. I asked the University’s students about the topic and whether they felt a similar way. I assumed that the populace would be somewhat split, being that the school is divided roughly even with political affiliation. I picked a topic like DU’s drug policy because of its relevance to our campus and city. The city of Denver has been very progressive in its medical marijuana legalization and going to a University nearly surrounded by medical marijuana dispensaries can be influential among the student body. This topic also provides insight to the population of DU and the perception of Denver’s medical marijuana. Also, this can exemplify the nature of the “normal DU” students and their perception of the city and the school as whole and different entities. I was helped in many ways by writing this paper, mostly the use of explaining and using the data to support my topic. It also aided my writing because of the format we were to write in. By having a specific goal as to what to write in the IMRad format, I learned specifically about each and what was effective. The goal of the Google maps project was, in essence, to learn about and educate the Denver population about preferences on parks and exercise. However throughout my research, I realized that my preferences about park did not really mean much. I discovered that because a park may have more amenities than another means very little as to its attendance rates. Whether a park was geared toward the 13 year old skater, the 35 year old runner, or the 50 year old basketball player, each park did something to make the area healthier. The reason that it does so is because each environment provides and supports active exercise. Through my research, however, I discovered that the advancement of technology in your respective park may do more to aid the community, by attracting new visitors. The different spots we examined, all bring something different to the table, whether it be Cornerstone Park offering its skate park or Infinity Park offering a concert venue, they all have their attractions. The importance of researching this topic comes from America being one of the unhealthiest countries in the world. That being said, Denver is one of the healthiest cities, and our group wanted to specifically verify what factors drew people to certain parks rather than others and what these people actually did while they were there. The rationale behind this was to see whether outdated parks garnered the same response as newer parks, as well as, how many people utilized the park to its full potential. Overall, I feel like the experiment was successful and we learned a lot about the parks & recreation system of Denver and why it is regarded as the healthiest city. The best thing I took from this project was how to take data and interpret it. By having to visit each park and get opinions from the park goers, I learned how to map out what each person was saying. Additionally, I had to learn how those opinions should be observed, I think this was the most valuable lesson I learned that can be applied to other writing classes.