Discussion One Due: 2/5/17

1. Hello everyone! I am Ellen Morrell. I am from the suburbs of Chicago originally. This is my first semester at UWM and I am very excited for this class. I graduated from Colorado State University in 2011 with a degree in Merchandising. I am interested in becoming a recreational therapist so I thought this program would be great to help me with my career goals. I wish I had known about recreational therapy when I was 18! I was originally interested in occupational therapy, unfortunately I did not get in my first round of applying. Although I will most likely reapply, I wanted to begin something that is similar. I think recreational therapy is a great route for myself and I look forward to learning in this online class. 

2. I have a general experience with "Single Story" when I was growing up in the northern suburbs of Chicago. I was always told how dangerous and poor the south side of Chicago was. When I was in high school I was always warned to never go to certain parts of the city. When we were young we were always told about the "type" of person who lived on the south side and the type of violence that went on. I was always curious about the south side and how it could be so vastly different from my world. I didn't understand I also didn’t think it was fair. As I grew up I met people from the south side of Chicago and heard their stories and experiences living there. I learned that some areas were not as terrible as my community made them out to be. I learned that there was a very big stereotype about the type of person who lived on the southside and the what the environment was like. Of course the south side does have some very dangerous areas with violence. This does not mean that the entire south side was this way. A story can impact you as the speaker in the video explained especially when you are young. Hearing other