Stand Up For Austin Children's Health

 Hello reader, this is my Action project for art of rhetoric unit 2. This unit was about challenging the status quo. First we had to learn what the status quo is and what it means. We looked at what the status quo was throughout history. Then we looked at what it is today. We studied those who have challenged the status quote and those who have defended it. To assist in our journey about learning the in’s and out’s of the status quo, My classmates and I went on a field experience to two unique places that have challenged the status quo. First we went to an independent political organization called 48th Ward Working Families. This organization challenges the status quo in many ways related to housing, incarceration and police, and even methods of mental health treatment accessibility. Next we went to a place called Civic projects where my class and I learned about how Civic Projects works on ethical architecture projects that benefit the community instead of putting more money in their pockets. To wrap up the unit in this class the project my classmates and I are doing is a hypothetical canvassing script on an issue in a certain neighborhood in  the Chicagoland area. We learned a lot about canvassing from our field experience with 48th Ward Working Families. A lot of the work they do is canvassing. Canvassing is a very important part of rhetoric in a very important part of the status quo, canvassing is the perfect example of when neighbors come together to create change. We also designed an image to go on a button that we could give the people that we canvass to add a greater impact to our cause. This is my script and my button design. Enjoy

Button design:

Script:

Hey I am here with cook county public health, I am trying to get neighbors opinions on childrens access to exercise facility. 

Do you feel exercise is available in your neighborhood? 

(if yes): oh that's wonderful, what do you think makes that the case? Do you have any issues related to exercise accessibility? What specific modifications have been made to increase accessibility?

(if no): that is really disappointing. Are there things that you believe could increase accessibility to exercise facilities? Are there any other suggestions for accessibility for people with disabilities other than your specific disability

The United States has an obesity problem, but Chicago has one of the highest rates of obesity in the nation.

36% of of Chicago children enter kindergarten already struggling with obesity. 61% of Chicago adults are obese. 

The Cook County health department believes that they have solutions to address this problem. Some of the changes that the CCHDd to make include: education on  diet, and the benefits of exercise, and the importance of getting this information to children early.

 

Focusing on the importance of exercise in children is what I would like to focus on today.                                  

Would it be okay if I read you some statements and you said if you agree, strongly agree, disagree or strongly disagree? 

(if yes): Wonderful! Let’s get started.

 statement: Many neighborhoods in Chicago are lacking sufficient and safe equipment for children to get adequate amounts of exercise,

(if agree or strongly agree): That sounds like a problem. What are some ideas that you have to address the problem.

(if disagree or strongly disagree): That;s wonderful! Can you tell me about some of the equipment that is accessible for children in your neighborhood?

Ask respondents if there are parks and/or playgrounds in their area that they or their children have used?

Statement: Chicago children are facing a critical obesity and immediate interventions need to be put in place.

(if agree or strongly agree): What do you think is the most important factor in addressing this issue?

*let them answer 

(if disagree or strongly disagree): What do you think the factors are that are contributing to the health of these children? 

Do you believe that the government should intervene in the childhood obesity epidemic, or that parents and families should decide what is best for their children? Or do you believe that the government and families should work together to solve the problem?

Do you believe that physical education(i.e. gym) should be mandated daily in Austin  schools?

(if yes):Do you think that physical education should replace other aspects of the children’s school day? Should the school day be extended to allow enough time for P.E?

(if no): Can you explain the reasons that you feel that way?

How do you think that we should measure the health of the children in the Austin community?

Do you feel that accessibility to exercise equipment is more important than access to healthy food options? Do you believe that they are equally important?

Science has discovered that a sedentary lifestyle has similar negative outcomes as smoking cigarettes. Children facing obesity suffer from an increased rate of type 2 diabetes, increased rates of asthma, and even fatty liver disease.

Action must be taken

It is our belief that increased exercise(by improving the current facilities) will help to reduce the obesity rates of children in the Austin community.

So in order to fix this, we are proposing that four new playgrounds be built in the Austin community to allow more public access.

This is particularly important when considering the limited transportation options that many Austin residents face.

In addition to outdoor playgrounds, we are proposing that the community extend the hours of the Austin Town Hall pool. Currently the pool has very limited hours and even fewer hours open for children.

The pool at Columbus Park was not even open during the summer of 2022. The area needs an indoor pool so that Austin area children are able to swim year round.

Thank you for speaking with me, have a great day.

Script reflection/explaination: 

My goal with this canvassing script is to appeal to people in Austin, Chicago about a way to make exercise more accessible in their neighborhood in order to help with Chicago's child obesity crisis.  To help fix this issue I talk about physical education mandates and schools, better access to pools, comma and building new playgrounds in Austin community public parks. To appeal to  My neighbors I had to appeal to their senses of ethos, logos, and pathos. To appeal to the sense of logos I particularly talked about a lot of health risks and different types of medical issues children who are obese will face, and using statisics to showcase how obese Chicago is. In order to appeal to their sense of ethos I talked about my personal experience as a lifeguard and how bad access to pools is. Given that I am a resident of Austin I also have 1st hand experience of what it is like to live in Austin and how inaccessible exercise is in the neighborhood.  In order to appeal to my neighbor's sense of pathos I took a slightly different approach than what an appeal to pathos may usually look like.  Instead of trying to invoke a certain emotion to  convince my neighbors that what I'm saying it's important, instead  I ask questions to open up a conversation to get my neighbors thinking about this issue and how it relates to them personally.  In my script I also used 2 simple, and very subtle rhetorical devices.  Personally I feel several torque devices would have been very inappropriate here. I opted for an anaphora and a litote. The litote is "Action must be taken" in my script was added in to trigger the neighbor I am talking to, to think "yeah no kidding" or something like that. Adding the cherry on top of their realization that child obesity is a huge problem (pun intended). The anaphora I used was "Do you feel that accessibility to exercise equipment is more important than access to healthy food options? Do you believe that they are equally important?” I included this anaphora to once again assist in my appeal to pathos and really try to get the person I am speaking to to think about this issue and how it relates to them.

Citations: 

“City of Chicago: Data Portal: City of Chicago: Data Portal.” Chicago, 2022, https://data.cityofchicago.org/.

“Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children: Healthy Hotspot: Cook County Department of Public Health.” Healthy HotSpot Cook County Department of Public Health, 2022, https://cookcountypublichealth.org/healthyhotspot/meet-our-partners/consortium-to-lower-obesity-in-chicago-children/.

Manning, Lauren. “Oh the Adventure...” Flicker, 2 Nov. 2007, https://www.flickr.com/photos/28541331@N00/1850210315. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022.

“NCCDPHP: Community Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 Oct. 2013, https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dch/programs/communitiesputtingpreventiontowork/communities/profiles/both-il_chicago.htm#:~:text=Community%20Overview,-Chicago%2C%20Illinois%2C%20is&text=Obesity%20is%20a%20major%20problem,area%20are%20overweight%20or%20obese.