https://docs.google.com/a/umass.edu/presentation/d/1E0jlcD3-9ccZQMIqZ1hw3MFu6HtbW6GrCQfYsMxxp5Q/edit?usp=sharing

Max Kanig
Unit 3
Research Synthesis

Guns are like cars. Cars are very regulated, you need to get a license to drive a car, you must register your car, you have to have insurance. All of these regulations are in place to keep you and the rest of society safe. Guns are the same. You must apply for a gun permit. You have to register your gun. So why is there a difference? Why is it that in the past nine months there has been 294 mass shootings. There seems to be a serious issue with the misuse of guns.
When tasked with finding a research topic, I paused and thought back on the past couple years and what stood out to me. I realized that the number of shootings I heard about was on the rise. I started very broad I wanted to focus on gun control that all I knew. A few events rally sparked this for me. The shooting at the Sandy hook elementary school that killed 27 and the shooting at the church in Charleston South Carolina that killed 9. Two gunmen with two very different motives caused many family and friends to lose their loved ones. I wasn’t sure where to go from there I had a topic but I did not know what my views on gun control were or how I should explain them. I turned to google, I quickly learned that there is a huge debate out there about whether or not the rules and regulations on guns should be tighter.
On one side there is the people that believe that the process that are currently in place now to obtain a gun are good and do a good job. There main point being is that the majority of people who are involved in mass shootings do not get their guns legally. They obtain them on the black market, and if they have a motive to kill someone they will do it regardless if they can get there hands on a firearm. They also argue that they have a right to own guns. And if the government tries to increase laws around owning a gun and start to take them away then the people are powerless. For the number oriented people out there wrap your head around this. According to the CDC from 1999-2013 americans were 21.5% more likely to die from heart disease than from a firearm, and that includes not only homicides but accidents and suicides.
Once I had a handle on one side I turned to the other. In the United States there are 88.8 guns for every 100 people which equates to about 270,000,000 guns total. This is the highest total and per capita in the world. Think about it there are plenty of people you know that don’t own/have a gun. That means many people have more than one. With so many guns out there it is impossible to keep track of them all and many fall into the wrong hands. According to the Center of American Progress 83% of legal gun owners support the idea that there should be increased background checks for gun permits.
After seeing both sides my opinion started to form. I realized that I agree with boths sides in some aspects. I truly think that the problem is not that guns are causing all of the mass shootings, but in fact that the people are out and have a motive to kill they will be able to get there hands on a gun or another weapon regardless if they get it legally. That being said increased background checks can’t hurt. As I dug deeper into the research I seemed to form a thesis. I looked more into the guns themselves. A Lot of the mass shootings happened with automatic guns with large magazines. A Mother Jones investigation found that over 50% of mass shootings from 1982 to 2102 were done with automatic high magazine gun. Guns are out there, there is not simple and peaceful way to make them go away. So we as a country need to find a way to keep out people safe. Instead of regulating the people who try and buy the guns but instead we must regulate the system. Increase the background checks and sell less guns.

Max Kanig
10/28/15
The World We Live In

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2VCwBzGdPM

Happiness: It comes in many forms shapes and sizes. It is what everyone wants but no one can truly find. Happiness hides in everything, our friends, family, pets, and all the other things in our lives. Sara Ahmed writes about happiness in her piece “Why Happiness, Why Now?”. In the piece she discusses possible definitions for happiness as well talk about how it has changed through society. She talks about the science of happiness and how it presumes that happiness is “out there” (5). She goes on to state that one one of the biggest assumptions made by the science of happiness is that it, being happiness, is always good. The point is made shortly after claiming the if happiness is good then it is measurable and the goal is to be the happiest. To Ahmed this is a bit of a new concept she outright says it’s a new topic and most of the points she makes are cited from other Professors, Writers, and Scholars. Supporting this point that happiness is “out there” is Louis Armstrong’s song “What a Wonderful World”. The song talks about how happiness can be found in the world around us and that you simply have to look for it. Both pieces of literature point to the same thing, that happiness is out there in the world waiting to be found. Ahmeds text takes a more detailed look at where and what happiness is. While Armstrong takes a step back and looks at life and happiness as a big picture.

The song What a Wonderful World is short and sweet. The song seems to be a first person narrative in which Armstrong takes a look at the world in a different light. He looks at in in terms of life as a whole. He says “I hear baby’s cry, and I watched them grow. They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know” (Armstrong 11). Here he is talking about the happiness of change. Everything changes especially people if you step back and watch babies grow learn and mature to help the world around them. That is happiness, there is nothing more parents want then to see their children grow and learn. He also says,
“The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by”
(Armstrong 7-8).
In those lines on the surface he makes the observation that the colors from the pretty rainbow in the sky are reflected on the faces of the people walking by. Underneath the colors he is hinting to a deeper meaning. The point he is making is that people gain happiness from the objects around them. The people passing by in his lyrics are getting happiness from seeing the rainbow and that is reflected back on their faces. The smiles people get from seeing hearing or feeling things are indications of happiness. In the text Ahmed talks about happiness indicators. Happiness indicators give us a look at how one person’s happiness ranks up against another’s.

Ahmed in quoting Richard Layard says “Happiness is “feeling good”… So “out there” is really “in here””(Ahmed 5). Through the words of Layard, Ahmed is pointing out the fact that happiness is a feeling we get from the world around us so happiness is inside of everyone. Although we only feel the happiness when it is sparked by the world around us. Armstrong also supports this claim with the line “What a wonderful world” (3). This line is repeated throughout the song, as it reminds the listener that even though times may be hard we live in a wonderful world and that happiness is out there waiting to fill us up. Ahmed talks more details about the science of happiness, how it can be measured by how good things are. If things are good for you, then you are happy. People also gain happiness from each other, one person may smile someone may see this realize they are also happy and break out into a big grin.
Ahmed and Armstrong both hint towards similar ideas in their respective texts. Happiness is out there in every part of your life. It is inside of all of us locked away to be released by the people and objects around us in the wonderful world we call home. Indicated by small and big actions happiness according to Ahmed has become measurable. While Armstrong’s main focus point is on the fact that we must all appreciate what is around us as it is important to our eternal happiness.

Max Kanig
English Writing 112
9/19/15
Where I Come From

I learned to shear sheep. I learned to make soup with my class every Thursday. I didn’t have tests. Beginning with the mother/child program at 18 months and through the age of 10 years old, I attended a Waldorf School in Hadley Massachusetts. The education is built on “hands on” activities rather than book learning. These life experiences puzzled my classmates as I sat for the first time in a public school classroom. The balance between practical skill and creative thought is core in Waldorf education. This way of approaching the world is fundamental to my life today.

It was early morning, the fog was beginning its trek off the mountain and away. My class spilled out of the classroom into the damp air my small skinning body wrapped in a thick coat. Today was the day, the day the third graders had the chance to sheer the sheep. As third graders it was our responsibility as a class to take care of the sheep kept on school grounds. This involved feeding them, cleaning their stable, and once a year shearing them and then spinning the yarn into knitting wool. We reached the barn, the sheep were waiting overflowing with wool. I remember making the comment that they looked like clouds.

The animal care taker, Ms. Rob was sitting on bale of dry hay waiting for us to arrive. A pile of shears layed next to her. Thinking back into that moment all I can remember is excitement, for this new experience. No fear seem to be present. But now if I was handed a pair of shears and giving a sheep to shear I would pause, out of fear. The blades of the shears are very sharp, I would worry about cutting the sheep. Being able to shear a sheep is not the most practical skill, but it taught me alot. The experience I had as a third grader makes me see it in a bigger picture. One small event can snowball into major life changing events. Driving to work in the present day, I pass through some fog which triggers the memories and puts me back in the barn, cold metal shears resting in my hand. As I fade back to reality I realize the magnitude of that single event. Raising sheep leads to wool, which leads to cloths. One person having sheep can help an entire community. This philosophy can be placed on anything in life.

Without even knowing it the single one small event changed me forever. I didn’t know it then but the experiences I had at Waldorf School and more importantly the experience with the sheep showed me a completely different way of looking at life and how to live it. Although I didn’t stay at the school past third grade I had enough exposure to the ideas that I could now looking back understand and appreciate.My early Waldorf education and upbringing nurtured my ability to see the world in a clear and critical manner, take initiative, and lead others, while exercising clear communication skills. My love of learning and discovering what the future holds keeps the balance between practical skills and creative thought. As I struggle up the river of life I will always remember where I came from. My unique background and upbringing has shaped me deeply and will always stay with me through the rest of my life.