In my previous years of English experience, I have written tons of papers that required research either self-discovery or learning about a new topic. I have written all sorts of papers including abstracts, lab reports, autobiographies, biographies, annotated bibliographies, memoirs, and more. Many of these papers have related to my field of study. My field of study would be math and sciences through my school experience and hopefully part of my career after I graduate. Though I have started to notice that in my writing that I am more of a social sciences type of writer. One paper has helped me self-discover who I am, how I got here in these past years, and how I have grown as a responsible teenager.

I have one particular paper that has shifted me as a person and a writer and the paper was about my life. This paper was a memoir and it was about the past six years of my life. The paper was titled, Change: Good or Bad? The story was about how it affected my life when my mom decided to leave my mom. At this point in her life, she was a stay at home mom with seven kids so she had to go out and start her life over and had to find a job. She ended up working at a restaurant as a waitress and my oldest brother also had to get a job. There were a lot of emotions and difficulties when he left because none of us kids wanted to go with him. My father soon started calling DSS over false accusations and tried to get custody of us. Lately, he has given up on all of this knowing that he would not receive custody. My mom has full custody of all of us and does an amazing job. This paper made me self-discover my feelings about these certain situations in my life and I have realized how responsible I have grown to be.

That paper helped me recognize that having him in my life was holding me back as a person. Now that he is gone and out of my life, I have become a very responsible and mature person. I am a sixteen-year-old high school and college student. I also happen to balance a job, play a very competitive softball team that travels almost every weekend, I have straight A’s, and I balance my responsibilities at home as a big sister. I often watch my siblings while my mother is at work so I help with homework, cook food, help bathe, and much more for my younger three siblings. The way this paper has made me identify my true feelings and my thought process so that is why I would identify as social sciences as my field of study. Psychology is apart of the social sciences category and that is all that paper was.

In conclusion, with the essay of how I self-discovered my feelings, it also helped me discover my academic field. I am a social science writer and math and science student when it comes to those topics. I have become a responsible and mature person that I am very happy with. I balance my life out very evenly even when times get stressful, you just have to get through the rough patches to get to the good ones. I have grown as a person and student that my mom is very proud of and that is all I ever wanted.

Works Cited

Bullock, Richard et al. Chapter 24: “Reading Across Fields of Study.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook. 5th ed. Norton, 2019. Pp. 291-93

In Tara Westover’s memoir, Educated, she tells the stories that have influenced her life decisions and made her the person that she is today. Westover and her family lived in a small house in Idaho with her parents and her six older siblings. Her mother, LaRee, was a midwife and a herbalist that was in charge of taking care of the house. Tara’s father, Val, worked in a junkyard,  was a doomsday prepper, and a bipolar person. Her father believed that the government was trying to influence the children through the way they teach them at school. With that, he decided to pull all of his children out of school and have them work for him or their mother. 

When Tyler, Tara’s brother, comes home for a visit he decided to talk to Tara about attending college. The first thought Tara had was how her father would react and that Tyler was even crazy to talk to her about going to college. Tara already thought she had a future in mind. She wanted to be like her mother; midwife and herbalist. Tyler started to tell her about Brigham Young University. He started to tell her about how they accept homeschoolers and Tyler said, “[j]ust pass the ACT. [o]ne lousy test” (Westover, 120).

In chapter 14, Tara Westover starts to realize that she does not want the same future as her mother. Tara wants to do more with her life other than live on the farm with her husband and learn to work with herbs. Robert taught Tara how to use the computer so she decides to put some research into BYU as Tyler told her to. Tyler told Tara to start studying as soon as she could get her hands on some books. Tara followed what Tyler said, “[t]he next day, I drove forty miles to the nearest bookstore and bought a glossy ACT Study Guide” (Westover, 124). She got home and turned straight to the math section which she had no idea how to do it. Tara asked her mother for help and they were both confused so, “[t]he next day I drove the same forty miles, eighty round-trip, and returned home with a large algebra textbook” (Westover, 124). Tara and her mother took a day to sit down to learn together and it took them three hours to attempt to solve one problem. 

Tara soon realized while watching her father work on blueprints that he knew how to solve the problems that she was having trouble on. The problems she was having the most particular problems with were trigonometry because she did not see the science behind them. Tara’s father was slid a paper from Tara with a problem on it and solved it easily but when asked how he did it he told them, “[i] don’t know how to solve it,’ he said, handing me the paper. ‘[a]ll I know is, that’s the answer’” (Westover, 126). Tyler soon invited Tara up to their Aunt Debbie’s house. While Tara was their Tyler was teaching her how to solve the problems that she did not know how to complete. Tara had to leave unexpectedly due to a crisis in her family back at home.

In conclusion, if Tara never took Tyler’s advice to attend Brigman Young University she may have just ended up with the same future as her mother. Tara worked her butt off to learn everything she needed to pass that ACT test and all her courses in college too. She bettered herself as a person and made her own future for herself instead of following her family’s decisions. Her parents may have affected her past but Tara controls her own future. Tara Westover is now an author that is very successful with what she does and is telling her story to the world.

Work Cited

Westover, Tara. Educated: a Memoir. Random House, 2018.

I worked with a couple classmates on this particular paper so thank you! Heavenlea Jonas and Britton Sellers!

In Educated, we first meet young and sweet Tara Westover, who is being raised by her parents Gene and Faye Westover in the mountains of Idaho. Gene is head of the family of survivalists and also one of the more problematic members of the Westover family. It slowly becomes more obvious from the beginning of the novel that this family is anything but normal but this assumption becomes more apparent when you look into father Gene and Tara’s older brother, Shawn. Throughout the book, both Gene and Shawn show signs of multiple mental disorders consisting of bipolar disorder, short temper/ anger issues, depression, and manic episodes. We chose to do our research on this topic in order to find out more details of the mental illnesses that were not diagnosed or thoroughly discussed, but apparent in members of the Westover family.

Depression and Bipolar Disorder: Your Guide to Recovery by William Marchand describes many moods and depressive disorders and statistics within the research of each disorder.  Marchand describes depressive episodes that tie to Gene Westover’s conditions described by his wife Faye; “[Gene] was like a sunflower- he would die in the snow- and that come February he needed to be taken away and planted in the sun” (Westover, pp. 32). This is mentioned briefly and is the only direct conversation that is had about Gene’s conditions by the Westover family. By comparing this brief description to the knowledge gained from Marchand’s book, it is a valid assumption that in this instance Gene Westover is suffering from the seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Seasonal Affective Disorder is the reoccurrence of depression at the same time every year (Oxford, 1998). To resolve this, Faye plans a trip to Arizona to get Gene into the warmth and out of his “slump”. Trips to Arizona are mentioned multiple times throughout the book letting us know that the depressive episodes are consistent and can be linked to him having SAD. 

Bipolar disorder is a common mental illness described as “a group of common, disabling conditions of mood dysregulation” (BMC Psychiatry, 2013). The article “Adaptation to bipolar disorder and perceived risk to children: a survey of parents with bipolar disorder” says that parents who self- identify with BPD are aware that they pose a risk to their children whether that is passing on the mental illness or show a physical threat to their child(ren). In multiple instances throughout Educated, quick mood changes are seen in Gene and Shawn Westover. This is seen more commonly with Shawn Westover when he is interacting with Tara. Shawn is known to quickly turn violent and shut it off immediately after he feels his “damage is done” to Tara. Although this could be caused by previous head injuries, the aggression towards Tara could also be taken in an abusive way as it leads to physical and possible mental injuries in multiple cases. The aggression is not only put towards Tara. Shawn also shows quick changes from a neutral mood to angry when involving his father, Gene. While working in the scrapyard, Gene tries to put Tara in dangerous situations, once involving a shear. Shawn was angry that Gene had put Tara in such a dangerous place to work so he helps her so she is at less of a risk of getting pulled into the shears and injured. At this point you see Shawn being nice to Tara, taking care of her. Whether it is meant in a paternal way or a way of getting leverage on Tara for the future, Shawns helping her spites their father and shows how Shawn’s anger, although not present greatly, is still there and silently fuming. Shawn’s anger always somehow ties back to Tara and Gene. Hinted in one case, Shawn is aggressive towards Tara because he feels as if she is ungrateful and being let off too easily by their parents; “I see you for what you are. You pretend to be saintly and churchish. But I see you. I see how you prance around with Charles like a prostitute” (Westover, pp. 116). Whether this is side effects of Shawn’s head injury or an undiagnosed mental illness, the signs of bipolar disorder and anger issues are well-shown throughout the memoir in both members of the Westover family. 

Works Cited

Kernberg, O. F., & Yeomans, F. E. (2013). Borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder: Practical differential diagnosis. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 77(1), 1-22. Doi:http://dx.doi.org/101521bumc20137711

Kernberg and Yeomans’ article offers an incite into a psychiatrist’s job of diagnosing different disorders under pressured circumstances. Diagnosis, treatment, and descriptions of each disorder was explained thoroughly. Often, bipolar disorder is mistaken for other disorders and it can be harder to diagnose. Bipolar disorder has two subcategories, manic and hypomanic. The difference between manic and hypomanic are manic patients may experience visual or auditory hallucinations.

Kernberg and Yeomans state bipolar patients may “…suffer from both manic episodes and major depressive episodes,”. Every time a depression falls on Gene, Faye, Tara’s mother, decides it’s time for a trip to Arizona. Faye claims “[Gene] was like a sunflower–he’d die in the snow–and that come February he needed to be taken away and planted in the sun.” (Westover, pp. 32). A trip to Arizona is mentioned multiple times throughout the book, letting us know Gene falls in and out of depressive episodes throughout the years.

Peay, H. L., Rosenstein, D. L., & Biesecker, B. B. (2013). Adaptation to bipolar disorder and perceived risk to children: A survey of parents with bipolar disorder. BMC Psychiatry, 13, 327. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-327

A survey was conducted on parents diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BPD) to see if/how having BPD affects their child(ren). The results showed children can not only be affected by genetics and be at a higher risk of having BPD but their environment can also influence them. Parents’ mood swings can influence the child(ren) to act in similar ways. Parents also expressed worry over their children that were similar to them, had low mood, mood swings, anxiety, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and poor social skills.

             Gene’s behavior not only affects him but, all his children as well. We can see this more specifically in Shawn Westover. Shawn also shows signs of high and low mood swings along with a quick temper. Some of these could be related to his previous head injuries but they most likely stem from him being raised by a bipolar father. Shawn might have genetically inherited his father’s BPD or it is just an effect from the way he was raised.

Abramovitz, M., & MacKay, J. (2012). Bipolar disorder. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

In chapter 1, bipolar disorder is described as a “mood disorder” and “a brain disease that affects an individual’s thoughts, energy levels, and behavior”. This book helps people learn what bipolar disorder actually is and how it affects a person. It helps them see why people who suffer from this disorder act the way they do. The people that suffer from this disorder can not exactly control the way that they are behaving and do not realize what is happening. The book also describes how a person who suffers from bipolar disorder may also go through manic stages of high energy and lots of happy thoughts. Then switch into negative thoughts and low energy state.

Gene Westover is believed to be suffering from bipolar disorder but has never been medically diagnosed by a medical specialist. In “Educated”, Gene Westover goes through periods where at points Gene is excited and happy feeling towards certain things. At other points, Gene gets ticked off very easy and becomes very agile. Gene does not believe in going to the doctor or being involved in anything that the government is a part of. For that being said, Gene refuses to see a doctor so doctors can not help Gene with the mental illness or any other injuries. 

Marchand, W. (2012). Depression and bipolar disorder: Your guide to recovery. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Mood disorders are quite common nearly 10% of the population will or have suffered from a mood disorder at some period in their lifetime. But only around 2% of that statistic revolves around bipolar disorder. There is a total of three subtitles of bipolar disorder. Bipolar I disorder is when a patient has had at least one episode going from happy to sad or either sad to happy without any control. Bipolar II disorder is when a patient has had one or more of very depressed episodes or very happy episodes but no mixed episodes like bipolar I disorder. The third type is bipolar disorder not specified which is where a patient has episodes of emotions but does not fit into any of the other two types of bipolar disorders. 

Gene Westover is part of the 2% of the population that suffers from the mental disorder that affects the emotional well-being of the patient.  Westover shifts from many phases of enjoyment and happiness to a sudden switch to depressed and mad due to a little inconvenience. Westover has many more mad and depressed outbursts than the happy and excited so the diagnosis from the book analysis may be criteria number three. Gene Westover does not fit into either category I or II due to the number of episodes and emotions that Gene encounters during them. Westover goes into manic episodes when inconveniences encounter his mindset like when Shawn got hurt on the shears and Gene’s wife was very upset because Tara was told to take over with the dangerous equipment.

My most favorite binge worthy Netflix shows are ones that I have watched multiple times. These have been the best Netflix shows I have watched to date. My top 5 have been The Society, Shameless, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, The Rain, and Friends.

The Society – The is one of the newer shows that I have watched and it turned out to be one of the best. The show is about a senior class at the local high school who went one a camping trip and came back to everyone in the area gone. They explored to see of they could search for help but the roads are blocked, forests are endless, and they have a drone that they sent into the sky but there was nothing there. They believe this happened due to a smell that was reminiscing through the area that the mayor was trying to take care of but declined a offer. To preserve power they move in with each other, elect a mayor, start to farm, and assign jobs to run the area. Season 2 comes out in 2020!

Shameless – Shameless is a show with 9 seasons on Netflix and yes I have watched every episode! Shameless is a show that involves this family from the south side of Chicago. They are very poor and have an alcoholic father, Frank. The mother, Monica, passes away in one of the further seasons of the show. Fiona is the oldest daughter of the family of 6 children where she was forced into racing all of the children. She struggled with many things through these seasons raising the children. Lip is the second oldest who turns into an alcoholic but has been clean for awhile and attends AA. Ian is a bipolar, ginger who has made massive mistakes when off his medicine which lands him in prison. Debbie is a teenage mother who finds a job in welding and helps to take care of the family. Carl wants to become go into the army and has a girlfriend that pushes him to pursue his dreams. Liam is the youngest who tries to move in with one of his friends.

Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes – These are the tapes between Ted Bundy and the interviewer. These tapes reveal what Bundy was thinking and how every murder played out. They also revealed where he hid and who he had murdered. He revealed why he murdered each and every woman also. New tapes from his ex girlfriend and his daughter are being created and are being released soon also.

The Rain – The Rain is a show based out of Denmark. There is currently only 2 seasons of it on Netflix. This show is where a man made disease started an apocalypse, the end of the world. There is 2 children and a mother that was brought into a secret bunker by their father. Secretly, they didn’t know that their father was the one who created the disease and was secretly giving it to their son, Rasmus. The disease was spread through the population by the rain. When a person was hit with the rain they instantly seized up, foam came out of their mouth, and then they were dead on the ground. Their mother passed soon after entering the bunker because she went outside in search of her husband and was hit by the rain. Simone is the oldest so she took care of Rasmus. After being in the bunker so 6 years they decided to go outside. Soon they were in a group of survivors. They found their father who tried to kill Rasmus so Simone shot him and now they are on the run with their new found friends.

Friends – This show has 10 seasons on Netflix. The show is about these 6 friends, 3 girls and 3 guys, that live in New York. Ross and Monica are brother and sister. Joey is the ladies man who loves to eat and is an actor on soap operas. Ross is an archaeologist that has been in love with Rachel since high school and has a child with her. Rachel works in fashion agency and has a daughter with Ross. Monica is a chef, best friends with Rachel since high school, and is married to Chandler. Chandler works in an office building, the jokester, and is married to Monica. Phoebe is the ‘musically talented” one with a twin sister named Ursula. This show runs through their crazy and adventurous lives together. Monica and Rachel are roommates until Monica is married. Joey and Chandler live across the hall from them in their apartment. Phoebe lived with Rachel after Monica is married. Ross had his own apartment until Rachel moved in with their daughter.

Work Cited

The Society

Keyser, Christopher. Netflix Official Site, 10 May 2019, https://www.netflix.com/watch/80226460?trackId=13752289&tctx=0,0,a6959a59-6e0a-46b3-80cc-04fee42292ad-79690196,,.

Shameless

Abbott, Paul, and John Wells. Netflix, 30 June 2016, https://www.netflix.com/watch/70249326?trackId=13752289&tctx=0,0,3937b3ad-9372-4cd1-81de-06ffe7c809bf-63021126,,.

Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

Netflix Official Site, 24 Jan. 2019, https://www.netflix.com/watch/80226550?trackId=13752289&tctx=0,1,e661d0518b0f2aecc9f0447f7ab1ec879469e696:a1119673d41fdc48aad74b4144250cfdfc994c22,,.

The Rain

Mosholt, Jannik Tai, et al. Netflix Official Site, 4 May 2018, https://www.netflix.com/watch/80154735?trackId=13752289&tctx=0,0,5f063897983c00d27b399403951bb9d315ada1b1:0310db27731305ea7bd2ae4c0b464bcdbbae6b10,,.

Friends

Crane, David, and Marta Kauffman. Netflix, 1 Jan. 2019, https://www.netflix.com/watch/70273997?trackId=13752289&tctx=0,0,cb522b93-981a-46ea-9732-da40bce08b00-10724603,,.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

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