Post #1 - Due Sept 2 - Topic Interests

Post number one. Topic interests? Is it just a quick listing of topics I'd like to research? There are many! I feel like I'm constantly googling to know just a bit more about a word, an idea, a process--anything really. What research topics interest me enough to write a whole paper? Fewer than my googlings, but I still have many interests to research. If the research must be related to PTW, I have minimal interest in that. Perhaps my first bullet below is the only relevant literary choice.

• Use of pronouns for LGBTQ+ people is especially fascinating to me since both of my children identify in "the rainbow." My non-binary kid prefers they/them, which has been hard for me to swallow. I like a newer pronoun of zie but that adjustment would be a whole new way of thinking about pronouns. It's still quite interesting that my children are growing up in a world where there are many kinds of sexuality and gender. It's now commonplace for these young humans to ask for several name changes as they find out who they are. My mother cannot understand why you'd even want to change your name. The differences between those generations is quite fascinating.
• I find myself researching different ways to begin homesteading--loving off the land and building a self-sufficient living situation. I've always been a city girl, but quite enjoy tinkering in the garden, canning fresh fruit, bottling homemade soups and meats for later use, raising chickens, and other non-city activities. Could I truly live 50 miles from a Walmart? I'm just not sure.
• Another topic that I frequently muse is temporary disability benefits. I am currently fairly disabled but hope to get a few surgeries behind me and land solidly on the road to fairly normal ability.

Maybe I'm already off-topic. Here are a few notes from chapter 1. Included in Canvas Discussion.

• "What you learn is tightly constrained by the question you ask" (disadvantages of empirical research). How true this is for everything under the sun! Those without many questions can only listen to others instead of contributing or inquiring. I believe that discourse between those with different backgrounds is the most helpful transfer of information. Reading and writing about a topic is helpful, but unless we assign a human connection to the topics, the ideas are easily forgotten.
• "Research must ultimately articulate generalized truths from specific instances." Many times, my bosses have not understood some of the difficulties of my job. If I research the issue and compile a number of "generalized truths" as a report, I find that comparing my plight to others in similar positions is better understood and more likely to bring about change. 
• "Researchers' preconceptions and biases will influence the research design and the data analysis." Although we wish we could be fair, we aren't. We research topics that are of importance to us and not necessarily for the benefit of others. What issues in PTW exist to research? I'm sure there are many. But they aren't on my radar because the issues are far removed from my daily life. Something closer to home that I want to believe as unbiased: Do I have a favorite child? No, but I do favor each child for their uniqueness and support them as an individual, which the other child might take as favoritism (their own type of "subjective interpretation"). 

Waaay off topic:

Lately, I've been binge-watching "The Great British Baking Show" and find myself looking up unfamiliar terms: blind baking, stodgy, Italian meringue, unctuous, courgette,  marzipan, schichttorre, rube, aga stove, madeira cake, bavarois, manchego cheese, and the list goes on.

Other recent googles: Physical therapy for SI joint, tuition assistance, Pitcairn Island, binturong animal, sciatic nerve diagram, Theodosia, TomboyX, Incredibles 3, Swamp People, and American Pickers.