Trifecta

Hello World!!

How is everyone doing out there, I hope you are all healthy and well. Speaking of health, it seems to me that it is becoming a much talked about topic in the media lately specifically the healthcare bill being proposed by the Obama administration. So I thought to myself why not join the conversation and the nasty debate by creating my own blog on the subject. What makes me intrigued by this topic and makes me want to pursue it further is mainly influenced by my experience during the summer.

Over the summer I was fortunate enough to be an intern for our very own Senator Barbara Boxer of California (vote Boxer for 2010!). As many of you know that Senator Boxer is a prominent Democrat and known supporter of healthcare reform. Well during my time with the Senator I was given the task of normal office work involving answering calls, updating data bases, filing constituents’ letters and helping the legislative staff. Although this all seemed very normal and a part of typical office obligations, answering phone calls from a number of constituents made me aware of many political topics and issues. I would on average answer 100 to 200 calls a day (sounds like fun ha!) all from constituents giving their two cents about the issues of the day. When healthcare was introduced to the House and Senate I found myself bombarded by angry constituent calls and it wasn’t pretty. A majority of the calls opposed the bill and claimed that it was a socialist system that is going to give insurance to immigrants, have death panels, and pay for abortion. At the same time I also heard support for a public option and for reform of the current system. By taking in these calls day in and day out I took a heighten interest in the issue and followed it closely.

Healthcare reform is also a major concern of mine on a more personal level. At the same time that I started my internship, I got very sick. Unfortunately at the same time my father was laid-off and I was left uninsured and unable to get the care I needed. So having no healthcare provided me with a new perspective on the importance of health reform not only for my benefit but for the benefit of the millions of uninsured people that may not be able to pay for insurance during these tough and difficult times. So it is important, especially during these times, to take a closer look at a subject that affects the entire nation.

Therefore I would like to further investigate the issue of healthcare reform by taking a closer look at the different aspects of the reform and also analyze the general reaction of the American people towards the recent developments occurring on Capitol Hill. Therefore possible topics covered on this blog will include taking an in-depth look at the topic itself and how it has become over the years a pressing political issue. In addition, we will take a closer look at the bill currently causing all this commotion in America and discover the real truth about the healthcare bill while dismissing any false information floating around in the media. Not only are we going to discuss the bill but we will also discuss the different reactions this bill has caused throughout America. In addition to studying the healthcare system in America, we will take a look at other “socialized” healthcare systems in other countries such as Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, etc. From our analysis, we will discuss if these systems can be applicable to our very own nation. So we will dive into the healthcare issue and hopefully become more enlighten on this issue that is captivating the nation.

Profile a Blog

So I have a problem. I am creating an academic blog soon and to be honest with you I have no idea how to write an academic blog, I mean the only blog that I follow on occasion is the self-proclaim Gossip Gangstar Perez Hilton. So since Perez clearly does not count as an example of an academic blog I did some researcher and finally found my role model.

My savior is the healthcare blog. This popular blog deals with a variety of subjects all seeking in exploring the health care system and properly informing the public of the current developments occurring in that field. Its motto is to provide...

“Everything you always wanted to know about the Heath Care system. But
wereafraid to ask.”

The creator is Matthew Holt, a researcher, generalist forecaster, and strategist that has been working in the health care industry for over 15 years. Although he is the creator of the blog, he is not the only blogger contributing to it. Just last year, the health care blog became a group blog allowing other authors, mostly professionals, to add blogs on the topic. Therefore it allows the blog to be more active and have 5 to 6 post a day from different people giving in different perspectives. For example, in a recent post titled “Health Care Reform: What do people Really Want?” was written by a professional pollster using his findings to support and write his conclusions. This blog contains many of these particular entries that have been written by people with the knowledge and background to further enlighten the readers on the subject. Having these kinds of bloggers has made the healthcare blog one of the most respectable healthcare blogs on the web and has been described as a “must-read” by The Wall Street Journal. With all this buzz, the blog is quickly growing in readers everyday and it is rapidly becoming...

“the most respected independent voices in the healthcare
industry.”

Sounds perfect right! Seems to me that this blog has an immense amount of information being posted by different people that are either professionals in the healthcare industry or are experts in certain aspects of the topics. For example, some of the professionals contributing to the blogs include doctors, pollsters, Washington policy makers, and the list goes on but it is not only limited to professionals. The blog also includes the comments of ordinary people that may have something interesting to add to the blog. Like Rod Unger a normal guy from the UK that wrote a post called "Healthcare in the UK" that described how their single-payer system is not as bad as it seems. The blog can both provide me with academic resources and information from a variety of professionals and also a personal perspective from people like Rod. The Health Care blog will be a helpful resource for reliable information. When it comes to my blog, it will differ since I wish to not focus on so many topics but just a few since I wish to properly dissect them and explain them. I also want to study the health care systems of other nations in depth and compare and contrast them to the current system in the US. So hopefully my problems will be at least eased with a small dose of the healthcare blog.

Voice Blog

Having a voice in your writing is not an easy thing to do especially in academic writing where the whole point of your blog, essay, or paper is to prove your point and all other things like humor, sarcasm and other figures of speech are really not necessary. All that is required in academia, for the most part, is good grammar and a good argument. Now I’m not saying that all academic bloggers and/or writers have no voice in their work but that it may be less vocal and noticeable then those blogs that are more informal. Now how does a blogger make a voice about a certain subject? I don’t have the slightest clue but let’s venture on to the world of blogging to get a better understanding.

Since I am focusing on healthcare reform I found the perfect showcase of voice in one particular blog and a strong one at that. The Watergate Summer blog is written by Enigma4ever, a female nurse from Middle America who covers any and all issues relating to the Healthcare reform. Her blogs are typically written from a liberal perspective that noticeably affects her voice. For example, one of her funnier post is “Jon Stewart Confronted the “Death Panel” creator”. In this post she is reporting on how funny man Jon Stewart confronts Republican Betsy McCaughey who created the myth that the healthcare plan would include a “death panel” of bureaucrats that would decided whether one is worthy of healthcare, believable…yeah right . When Enigma4ever describes the interview she adds her own persona with witty little remarks about the situation and about the dear Ms. Betsy herself describing her as...

“a well dressed misguided well pearled simpleton.”

Another one of my favorite one liners is when she is describing the results of this myth as a..

“Crapola that has now been spread across the country like fresh manure.”

She is able to portray humor by creating her own words like "Crapola” and makes the situation even funnier with metaphors like the fresh manure line.

Enigma4ever not only brings humor to her blog by commenting on misinformed people like Ms. Betsy but she also brings a lot of emotion ranging from sadness to anger. In “Women in NJ Town Hall Bullied” she describes what happened at a town hall meeting to a sick women, but what makes this post different from say a news clip on TV is the use of certain adjectives, punctuation, and capitalization that strongly display how she feels about the situation. For instance, she describes the occurrence as a

“Horrible Example of a total lack of Humanity- heartbreaking...and
reallyworrisome.”

She is a blogger with many opinions on healthcare reform and with a very strong belief of having healthcare for all that is displayed in every blog she post. Through the use of language she evokes strong sentiments, emotions, and sometimes anger. Her passion and compassion are easily visible on the screen with her many capitalized and punctuated remarks. She has a voice and a persona that revolves around the many issues of the healthcare debate including the good, the bad, and the ugly.