Dear Portfolio Committee,

My name is Elizabeth Purdy and I am a nursing student. I am a new mother my daughter is now four months old and I took my first class in the hospital 2 days after my daughter was born with my nurses telling me I’m crazy for starting school with a brand new baby. If I wasn’t nervous enough they didn’t help make me get ready to do this but I looked at my daughter and realized, I need to do this so I can give my daughter the best life possible. I live in a homeless shelter and I want to someday own a home. I also am a recovering addict with one year clean and I am very grateful for this opportunity to change my life. I was nervous to start this English class because I struggle with spelling and punctuation. I also struggled with research papers because I could never tell what a reliable site to use was and what wasn’t. I knew with a good teacher and some guidance that I would do fine. I lucked out though, I got an amazing teacher that was very helpful and willing to guide me right to where I needed to be. That is why I am glad to show you the three essays that follow.

My first piece which is my favorite is “family and relationships”. This was the one of our first assignments but it was the best. This assignment was better than any counseling appointment I’ve had. I was able to give my classmates some real insight on people that battle addiction. I was able to show my classmates that addiction is a real problem and not only does the addict suffer but the family does too. During this essay you will read some of the harder thing I had gone threw in my life and some that don’t seem so bad but they bother me still to this day. You will read about how my family disowned me and how a year later we will are building a strong healthy relationship. I used to ask myself all the time why things would happen to me that were so terrible and now today I know why. I needed to go through those things to be the best woman I am today. I hope you enjoy reading about how addiction destroys people’s lives and how things can change, one day at a time.

The second essay I would like you to read is about my fiancé, Michael. It’s called “Ethnography Plugged in”. I enjoyed writing this because this was a question I always had in the back of my mind. He would constantly be plugged into his phone and always be listening to music and I could never figure out why. I was forced to ask when this essay came along. To no avail I found out. I will leave it to you to read this paper and figure out why he’s always listening to his music. I describe his what he looks like and what his routine is like from day to day and also what he chooses to listen to. I give you as much insight as he would give to me. When I was interviewing him for this paper I felt as if I was a dentist trying to pull a tooth but I believe I captured this as best I could. So please read on and find out why Michael is always plugged into his phone listening to music.

The final essay was the most difficult. It was a research paper called “Human trafficking.” I struggled finding reliable sources until I found BBC news. This paper is on how human trafficking in china is at an all-time high and how the government does nothing about it. It gives you a vivid image of how gangs steal children and make them slaves to sex and drugs. It was difficult for me to write this because as you know I have a daughter and I couldn’t even imagine doing some of the things these people do to innocent children. I almost got sick reading some of the articles I found. But I want people to be aware of the things that go on in other countries, and I hope to someday be able to help save some of these children from the gangs and terrifying things that people do to these innocent children. So I wrote this paper to make others aware of this ongoing issue. I hope you learn something from this paper and maybe one day if you have an opportunity to save a child from another country you do, because who knows what is going to happen to that child next.

I feel I have become a strong writer from this English class and I hope that these writing show how much I have improved. I feel my spelling had drastically changed and my research paper was done well. I feel like I finally know how to do a research paper properly and that’s all thanks to this class. I am grateful I had the opportunity to take this online English class especially during the hard times I have been endouring but I feel it’s all made me grow to be a strong young woman who is ready to pursue my dreams of being a RN. I hope you enjoy my writings just as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Purdy

Addiction has become a serious problem in today’s society. Addiction effects everyone weather it’s a distant relative or an immediate one. My immediate family is all addicts. I am a recovering heroin addict my brother is a recovering cocaine and pill addict.  My mother is an active gambling addict and my father is an alcoholic. My parents both however are functioning addicts which means they can go about a normal everyday life without their addictions interfering with daily activities and bills. However me on the other hand I was not a functioning addict. I would get a job and get fired all the time because I couldn’t do anything that didn’t involve heroin. I like most other heroin addicts couldn’t do anything without the drugs. Heroin takes control of every aspect of your life including your thoughts. For me heroin took everything from me like my cars my jewelry and all my friends and family. As a recovering addict I can now see what was the biggest loss I had as an active addict. The biggest loss was my relationship with my family. I never realized until I got clean and sober that my family and friends were being hurt by my actions and even the words I would say. I felt i couldn’t control myself I would do anything to obtain that drug. I let my family down so much by stealing from them and going in and out of detoxes, that my own Mother wouldn’t speak to me. My mom would avoid coming home from work because of how badly I would treat her because of my heroin use. I now have 10 months clean and I have just begun building trust back with my mom. It took my mom 3 months to start speaking to me again. This is important for people to read so they can become educated on what heroin does to a person and see that people that are addicts aren’t bad people they just make bad choices because they really aren’t in control, the drugs are. I remember one night about two years ago I was in a really bad abusive relationship with a man named Brian. I was about 100 lbs. and was only dating Brian because he had a nonstop supply of heroin. I was living in a motel known for drug addicts and dealers to stay. It was a dark dirty place. The floors were creaky and had turned yellow from people smoking in the rooms. The beds had burn holes all in them from people falling asleep while smoking. At this point my mom wasn’t speaking to me because I had stolen a brand new flat screen TV from her that was still in the box. Brian and I lived in the motel together. Brian would kick me punch me strangle me all for his own crazy pleasures. To apologize Brian would give me heroin because that’s what made me happy and I wouldn’t complain about all the bruises and marks he would leave on my body. Since my mom and I weren’t speaking I thought I had nowhere else to go and I stayed with Brian until this one night… It was a cool summer night on Cape Cod and Brian and I were having a great day with no fights which I thought was very odd. He and I began getting high on cocaine and heroin at our motel we had been living in for about 2 month already. I remember Brian starting to fight with me and he strangled me this time though he did it like he was trying to actually kill me right after that I texted my mom telling her I was scared for my life. My mom then called me and brought me food and cigarettes and I sat in her car outside of the motel room and talked to her for a while explaining all the marks on my body. She begged me to come home with her if I would just get some help and get clean. I didn’t want to so I stayed with Brian and still stole money from my mom so I could get more drugs. When I went into the motel room I went to bed and so did Brian. Next thing I know I was being woken up to Brian beating me with a wooden dowel and breaking both of my legs. He left me for dead that night and if it weren’t for my phone being right next to me who knows where I would be today. I picked up my phone and called my mom and she came flying over to the motel and dragged my lifeless body and all my belonging into her car and rushed me to the hospital. I will never forget that night. My mom crying to have her daughter back and me praying to God to take my life so I didn’t have to suffer anymore. I went to treatment and it didn’t work because I wasn’t ready still to truly be clean. I was asked when I was out of detox, by my mom, why I stayed with Brian and I explained that I didn’t want to I wanted to only be with him for the drugs. My family couldn’t understand this reasoning. They couldn’t understand why I pushed them so far away from me just so I could endure all the pain and suffering I went through. Now I have 10 months clean and my mom still asks me why I pushed her away and broke all her trust with me and why I couldn’t stop using heroin. To this day I have the same answer for her and that is that heroin took over everything and all my decisions I made. I got clean one year after the night my legs were broken and I don’t know why but just one day I had finally had enough and was done completely done using. I always thought my drug use wasn’t a issue and that eventually I would just stop and everyone was over reacting about the way I treated them. Now being clean I see the hurt I had caused. It took my family 6 months to speak to me again. I was in programs that deal with addiction to prove myself to my family that I was serious this time and truly wanted to stop using. I am so grateful that my family is trusting me again. I am glad my family and I are building our relationships again. I still have a lot more to work on with my mom but in this 10 months I have had a daughter who was born healthy and she wasn’t addicted. I have both my parents in my life again and they don’t worry about me dying from an over dose. I have the greatest best friend in the world and that’s my mother. I wish I could go back in time and take back all the horrible things I did to my mom because of my addiction and have been able to have her involved in a lot more things then I did before but I am just grateful that I have changed for the better and can now start my new life with her still alive to see it. She is my biggest supporter and my best friend and the best mother anyone could ask for. I see now that she only wanted what was best for me and couldn’t continue to watch me harm myself with my drug use. My mother’s relationship with me is the most important thing I have now and she is all I need. I see now that my addiction ruined all the relationships in my life and the only way to have real relationships with people is to be clean and sober. I may not have everything I want in life but I have a life that is worth living and a good relationship with my family again especially with my mom.

I interviewed a white male in his 30s about why he is constantly plugged into his phone and he tells me because of his music is his relief for stress.

Introduction

A white male in his thirties named Michael. Tall about 6 feet 1 inch. Wearing a blue black and grey stripped shirt and black jeans and a blue winter jacket. He has an oval shaped head with greenish orange eyes. He has an impeccable smile its white straight and he shows it off almost the entire interview. When I first approached him he was smoking a cigarette with big black sunglasses on and red headphones in. I asked him to take off his sunglasses and headphones so he did.

Everyday life

I first asked Michael why he is always plugged into his cell phone. He replied “for many reason’s Liz. Stress and coping skills” I didn’t understand at first so I quickly changed the subject to get other information. I felt if I got more information I wouldn’t have to pry my answers out of him and it would explain itself. I asked what a typical day was like for Michael and he said “Well you know I changed my job and I work for a produce company now and I love it especially because I can listen to my music all day at work. You know how much I Love my music right?” which lead me to asking Michael why does he love his music so much? His response is “Because it gets me away from my everyday problems and makes me forget what stress I am under every day.” His smile began to vanish so I changed the subject back to what his everyday routine is like. He responds with “you know eat work sleep” I asked him to be more specific he says” I wake up every day and pray sometimes while I use the bathroom sometimes while I take a shower but first I always pray. Then I either take my insulin or shower then I eat breakfast. I then get dressed and listen to my music while I get dressed and then I walk to work. I walk a mile and a half to work go to work and punch in and then do my work and have my lunch break and then I work some more and clock out and walk home. I then shower again and take a nap. Then get up and eat dinner then watch some TV and go to bed and repeat it every day.” I then asked do you listen to your music all day every day. He said “yes of course it relieves my stress”.

What’s the stressor?

I continue to question Michael with simple questions and try and feel out what his stress is caused from but he’s holding back a lot. I then bluntly ask what is it that causes your stress that makes you want to tune out the world all day. “My family needs things and I need to provide them and that’s a lot of stress to deal with and without my music I feel I wouldn’t be doing my very best every day to be able to provide for my family. It’s a lot for me to handle knowing people depend on me and if I fail they go without and I will not fail so this is one way I have been able to do my best for my family and so I stick with it and it makes me feel like I’m under less pressure that way I can do my best for them to have whatever they want and need.” I could see that that’s not the only reason but I just simple asked anything else you would like to tell me? He replies “well….no. yeah…I don’t know… Then he says well it mean a lot to me to have a good job and keeps me away from toxic people.” I asked who’s toxic. “my mom” he says ” she’s just not very encouraging and always tells me I can’t do it and won’t do much in life and I want so much more for me and my family so I have to stay away from her and since I have I have been so much better of a husband and father to my family and I feel better about myself. She’s never been a good influence that’s my grandparents raised me. Every day I can hear her words in the back of my mind and that’s mainly why I tune out of the world and listen to music that gives me strength and positive reinforcement.”  I tell him that’s one of the saddest things I’ve herd and he didn’t need to listen to her and that he’s doing a wonderful job.

What does your future look like?

I asked Michael what his future looks like? He says “As long as I stay positive my path looks bright for me and my family. I promised my wife I would not speak to my mother because of the negative affect she leaves on me and because I want so much for my family that it’s not going to be easy but it will be worth it.” I told Mike that’s a great way to look at life and it is very true.

What does music do to your soul that makes you Different?

I ask Mike what music does to his soul that makes him different then before when he wasn’t tuned into his music. Mike says ” Music is what soothes me all around my anxiety goes away about not being good enough and my mom’s voice goes away so I can be something in life and allow my daughters to be whatever they want to be. I also feel better about myself because I listen to positive music like Rascal Flats and I feel better about myself and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and why I do what I do every day is for more than just me it’s for my babies too.”

Stressors and music therapy

I find that music has helped my life with coping with anxiety and coping with stress in my life I may not tune out of the world as much but I now see that other people have more stress then me and they cope differently and you can’t just assume why someone listens to music all the time because everyone has a different story behind them.

The Invisible Crime of Human Trafficking

The People’s Republic of China is in crisis.  Human Trafficking is a growing problem.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s 73- million person membership makes it the largest political party in the world.   The party oversees and influences all aspects of people’s lives in China.  They watch over what they watch on television, what they learn in school, their jobs, housing and even the amount of children each family is allowed (BBC news).”   The Government fears embarrassment and avoids that the one child policy implemented in the late 1970’s has created frenzy among the prestige of having a male child.  “The local government disregards the value of human life and turns a blind eye, dodges and even covers up rampant human rights abuses on its own territory (full text).”

China has a communist government in which it has restricted the amount of boys each family is able to conceive, if you have more than one male child you will face harsh punishment selected by the government.  The party is obsessive about control and will bring great brutality to you and your family if you go against the government’s wishes.

The one boy per family rule has remained in effect since 1979 and has caused despise for female infants.  This has created a fury to sell children for slave labor and sexual exploitation. Abortion, neglect, abandonment and even infanticide have been known to occur to female infants.  “As recent as March 21, 2010 there was as many as 21 fetuses and bodies of babies, some with hospital tabs, found discarded in a river in East China’s Jining City.  Though exact details are not available, reports suggest most of the dead babies were female who had been dumped because parents wanted to keep the option open for a male child within the one-child system (Dasgupta, Saibal).”  This transpires frequently while the Chinese Government disregards it, which reaffirms the age-old belief that boys are more precious than girls.

Children from the poor villages seem to be more at risk than children from the cities.  Young boys and girls are being snatched up by gangs and members of organized crime.  These groups of people are kidnapping young kids at alarming rates; it is up to 200 per day (human trafficking). The children are often kidnapped at dusk, the kidnappers stick handkerchiefs in their mouths to keep them quiet and bundle their little bodies in a sack while they race away either in a car or on motorcycles never to be seen by their family members again.

“Deng Huidong lost her 9-month-old son in the blink of an eye as a man yanked him from the grip of his 7-year-old sister near the doorway of their home. The car did not even stop as a pair of arms reached out the window and grabbed the boy (Jacobs).”

The boys are extremely sought after as an heir to carry on the family name for all eternity, the girls are not as prized (Gvnet).  The male preference has caused discrimination against women and has created a shortage of female population.  “The boys sell for as much as $6,000.00 whereas girls are sold for a mere $500.00; some as sexual slaves as young as ten years old (BBC News).”  The average yearly household income in China is $5,000.00, so the selling of human life is extremely profitable.

If a parent or family member is fortunate enough to search for their child they must do it conspicuously for fear they will embarrass the Chinese government.   If they are caught, they are considered criminals for not believing in their government and brought to a concentration camp, where they are incarcerated until they agree to give up the fight to find their missing child.  That is how China hides its slave labor and Human Trafficking problem from the free world.

If you are caught in China trafficking humans, you are tried in criminal court, if found guilty, you will be sentenced to death (Herald Sun).