Week_8_3/4/2016_Introduction and Style Guide

Introduction

Within the St. Louis local area, there are 15 food deserts as defined by the USDA. (Taking the Desert, n.p.)  Food deserts are areas that are without a market that offers fresh produce and whole foods (not the store, but rather the category of food) within walking distance, usually a mile.  These food deserts perpetuate poor health in low-income communities by making it difficult to live more wholesome, healthy lifestyles.  Currently in the broader St. Louis area, grocery stores have been closing steadily for the past decade. (Taking the Desert, n.p.)   In turn, more have been opening in these grocery store-less areas.  But unfortunately, they have trouble staying open.  Multiple colleges and foundations such as Washington University, Saint Louis University, and the Incarnate Word Foundation have been attempting to implement changes in these impoverished areas without access to fresh foods.  Such attempts have included the St. Louis MetroMarket, a mobile farmer’s-market-like store within a refurbished metro bus. (St. Louis MetroMarket) Innovations such as these will make it easier to provide healthy food at a price that lower-income areas can afford.

Since St. Louis is experiencing such a rise in the number of food deserts, this issue is very relevant both to time and importance.  With so many people without the proper supplies, information, and ingredients to cook healthy meals, the threat of an increase in malnourishment and/or obesity is on the horizon.  Through the establishment of new and innovative mobile and permanent markets within food deserts of the St. Louis area, low-income residents who before do not have access to fresh healthy food because of location and/or money problems will be able to have these foods easily and readily, which will improve the surrounding communities and economies.  This establishment of new markets will be done through the passing of laws that require any food desert as defined by the USDA to either have a mobile market available every day, or a permanent market built similar to a farmer’s market.  Both of these will offer local produce and meat, where the prices will be lower than that of chain health food stores such as Whole Foods and other grocery chains.  Both of these sell imported produce, which drives the price up.  Because the produce will be mostly local, this will benefit local farmers and businesses that grow this produce.  Similarly, since there are distinct growing seasons in the Midwest, this will mean the fruits and vegetables offered will be seasonal, which means they will be at peak flavor and contain more nutrients.  These markets will also offer weekly lessons using common produce found at them and including educational information about how and why to cook with certain foods, and the nutritional benefits of them.  Building and establishing these markets will be a beneficial learning process for the area, and will make the community feel more attached and proud of something they had a part in.

Because there is an abundance of information on how eating fresh food effects health, my arguments will be based on these facts, and I will present them in the most unbiased way possible.  The argument that providing areas access to healthy food that were previously without should not be a conflict of interest, but when the subject switches to the means by which this food is provided, problems may arise.  Unfortunately, the issue that caused areas to be without fresh food is the same issue that will continue to make it more difficult- money.  Without the proper funds, bringing markets to neighborhoods that need them is nearly impossible.  Although money will be needed to bring these markets in, the use of local produce will stimulate the local economy and in turn can bring more money into the area.

Going about passing a law of this sorts should not be a conflict considering it will be creating a social hub where residents can purchase their groceries, learn about what they are eating and how to cook it.  Areas that previously do not have access and education on healthy whole food will be able to learn and teach others the benefits of enhancing one’s diet, and over time will improve the overall health of these communities.

Style Guide

STRUCTURE

Paragraphs should each cover one topic

Subdivision can be used for subjects that may need to be broken up into sub-topics

ie: A paper written about a book may have paragraphs about the setting, the plot, the characters, and the purpose/meaning

These paragraphs are always started with a topic sentence and ended with a conclusion that ties back to the topic sentence

Use an ‘active’ voice rather than a ‘passive’ voice

referring to something in the past tense is not as direct as referring to it in the present

active voices state things, passive voices remember or recall things

Never use the word ‘not’ to express a negative subject

Instead of referring to something as ‘not’ this or ‘not’ that by means of stating it is the opposite of some characteristic, refer to it as being this or that

ie: Not happy -> Sad

    Not fun -> Boring

    Not on time -> Late

If a sentence can have words taken out and it still produces the exact same meaning, take out the extra words

This makes sentences more concise and to the point

Use the same sentence structure to express similar or opposite ideas

ie: Although __ is thought of as __, others argue that ___ is thought of as __.

ie: Formerly, __ was used for __, now __ is used for __.

Do not break up the middle of a sentence to add a point or fact, add it either to the end or beginning for a better sentence flow

The subject and verb of a sentence should never be separated by another phrase

Summaries should always use the same tense

If summarizing an event, use the present

If summarizing a story/novel, usually the present tense is used but the past tense can be used if the writer wants

Always place the most important part of the sentence at the end

When placed in the middle, it can be passed over without much thought

FORM

Leave a blank line after headings

Parenthesis within a sentence hold statements that stand alone, and includes all end

punctuation other than a period, and the rest of the sentence flows as if the

parentheses were not there

Always have a comma before quotes within a sentence, and a colon before formal quotes