Mesothelioma Abstract

I am doing my research paper on Mesothelioma, which is a terminal type of lung cancer.  My research paper will help people to have a better understanding of what mesothelioma and its effects.  One of the things I will focus on is how this disease can effect a family after a loved one has been diagnosed.  I will do this by interviewing a close friend of mine whose grandpa was diagnosed with Mesothelioma about a year and a half ago and he has recently passed away.  I will talk about the effects that this disease had on his life. I will talk about him before he was diagnosed, while he was being diagnosed, and while he had to finish out his life knowing that he soon would pass away from this disease.  Many people are getting diagnosed with this disease because they did not know that asbestos would later on be killing people.  I think we can use this to help us prevent similar instances like this from happening in the future.

Mesothelioma: Research Topic

I plan to do my research paper on the topic of mesothelioma.  As I have mentioned before a very close family friend of mine recently passed away from this type of lung cancer.  I plan on interviewing his granddaughter and a doctor that has dealt with these cases.  While interviewing his granddaughter I plan to ask questions having to do with how it affected her family throughout the process of diagnosis up until death. From the doctor I hope to just get additional information that can further help me with this research paper.

Mesothelioma is a lung disease that is caused by asbestos, and causes cancer.  I think that this is a problem that can be fixed that is why I want to research this. Asbestos does not need to be used as much as it is so that this disease can be prevented!!!

Heart of Darkness

Thesis: How does Joseph Conrad convey the darkness he is referring to in the novel Heart of Darkness?

Conrad constantly is referring to things on the continent of Africa as dark. He also uses symbolism to show us this darkness, he does this through the black wool that the women he first meets when he goes to his interview for this new job.  It is very ironic that at the start of this journey he ends up going on for this new job he sees this black dark wool.  This could be a symbol of what the whole trip will be like, dark.  As Marlow arrives in Africa he again sees objects that he sees as dark.  He arrives to his first stop where he will be assigned a boat and set out on his first mission he sees a dark forest full of dying African slaves.  They have been worked to death, not only is the dark forest a symbol of the darkness but the fact that they have been worked to death is dark in itself.  “Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire.”(Conrad, 67)  This sacred fire that is talked about in this quote is referring to the fire that is in hell.  The way that these people act is quit hellish if I must say so myself.  When doing a trade of two chickens with a group of natives from the land on of these men started to beat their chief and was killed.  I don’t find the death of him hellish I find that him coming back and beating this man was.  Most of their actions are very hellish and they do not even realize.  This is probably due to their different way of life. Conrad does a good job with the repetitiveness of the word darkness throughout this novel helping him convey the title, this land has become a heart of darkness.

Thesis for Rufus at the Door

I am going to compare three short story's from the book Rufus at the Door.  These three stories are Rufus at the Door, The Life and Death of Delano Klein, and Dodgers Return, I will show how each of these stories uses some sort of Marxism and I will analyze the author, Jon Hassler's, purpose in using this literary lens.  In the short story, Rufus at the Door, the author uses Marxism by showing how people are not accepted into their community if they are not normal like the rest. They are rather shunned away into an insane asylum.  The Life and Death of Delano Klein shows us Marxism through the main character Delano.  He is a character that was never accepted for who he was throughout life, he was very reserved and kept to himself.  In his society many people created many relationships with others while he did not, they thought that this was out of the ordinary and so did his parents causing him to not be accepted into this society as others were.  The short story Dodgers Return shows how a boy who was not accepted into his social group uses people to climb that ladder in society that he was at the bottom of and works his way to the top of his social class.

Thesis:  Through the short stories Rufus at the Door, The Life and Death of Delano Klein, and Dodgers Return, Jon Hassler shows us Marxism by the way that each of the characters in these stories fit into their societies.

Fogarty.Anna.Rufus at the Door

In the short story Rufus at the Door the author, Jon Hassler uses postcolonialism to portray how this community and time setting degrades anyone who is not, what they consider, normal by locking them up in an asylum. When the narrators class goes to Rochester their teachers, especially Miss Sylvestri, portray this literary lense very well.  Miss Sylvestri constantly is referring to the people that live in the insane asylum as morons, imbeciles, idiots, and many other names that are very degrading.  “Mr. Lance drove the bus and Miss Sylvestri stood at his shoulder and delivered an unnecessary lecture about how lucky we were to have been spared from craziness and retardation.” (Hassler, 22) This quote is a prime example of how the teachers from the narrator's school, along with the rest of the community treat all of the people who have mental disorders.  Most people in this era thought that if you had anything wrong with you that you needed to be put in a mental hospital.  In this story the students even refer to a character, Henry Ahman who has epilepsy, as a moron.  This goes to show how horrible and degrading the community treats those who they classify as mentally challenged. Rufus and his mother had been one of the only ones in the society that were an exception to thinking that anyone who had a problem had to be kept in the insane asylum. The narrator was the other, he thought that Miss Sylvestri’s speech was “unnecessary.”  Even Rufus’s own family conformed to this degrading way of life that the rest of the community had on those they didn’t think were “normal” and ended up sending Rufus to the asylum.  Throughout this short story Miss Sylvestri and the rest of the community refer to those who live in the insane asylum as morons, imbeciles, idiots, and a lot of other degrading names and references.  By degrading all people who have any sort of problem at all, the community in this short story portrays a sense of postcolonialism.

Review of my short essay Rufus at the Door. To the introduction of this short essay I added in how the author uses postcolonialism, and I used the literary term time setting. Both of these things were suggested by my peers and I think they helped to strengthen my essay. I also added how not only Rufus and his mother are an exception to the community, but also the narrator. I also added the narrators view of how Miss Syilvestri's speech she gave the class was unnecessary. 

 

Fogarty.Anna.The Third Man

How does the film The Third Man treat evil?  One of the main character in this movie is Harry Lime, who's funeral is the scene that starts off the movie.  Harry Lime was a very into some very bad things some of his friends and girlfriend find out.  Things that most normal people would consider evil.  After one of his good friends named Holly Martins found out about Harry's evil ways he was astonished, he had no clue that such things were going on in Harry's life.  After he finds this out something even more astonishing happens, Holly Martins sees his friend Harry, who is supposedly dead, in a very dark corridor.  Harry also happens to be hiding out in the dark underground sewer systems. Harry's girlfriend Anna Schmidt was being sent back to Germany and he wasn't even bothered by this, which shows you how dark and uncaring he was about others. While cinematically analyzing this film you find many ways that it portrays this evil that Harry Lime is involved with.

The first thing that helps portray Harry as a dark and evil person is when his friend Holly, who thought he was dead, sees him in a very dark corridor.  This scene is very eerie in the sense that this man is supposed to be dead and his friend sees him in a dark place with a cat by his feet.  This scene was filmed at night to portray the evil of Harry and his actions.  The cat also makes us think of scary or evil things, just as we associate cats with Halloween and being scary.

Second of all after Harry faked his death he hides out under the town of Vienna in the sewer systems.  This part of the film symbolizes his hellish ways and how he is acting in very evil ways.  Not only were the actions he was doing evil but it's arguable that to fake your own death would also be considered evil.

Last but not least this film shows us how Harry does not care much about many people in his life.  His own girlfriend is being sent back to Germany and he could care less.  So who's to say that he actually cares about any of his friend.  In the film Harry had also shown that he didn't care about anyone by the business that he was running. He was taking medications, diluting them, and then selling them to people who were in great need of them because of the scarcity.  Due to him diluting the medication, Harry was knowingly killing people. This did not at all bother him because he was very successful and was making a lot of money due to this operation.

These are only three things from the film The Third Man that portray the evil that is in this film.  Many other things in this film do help to portray the evil within but these were the three main things that I found. 

Snow White

In the movie Snow White the literary lens of psychoanalysis is used.  Snow White uses Electra complex by creating a relationship with the dwarfs.  Snow Whites father died and she lived with her evil stepmother.  As Freud says when you are young you want to be a daddy's girl or if you’re a boy you want to be a mamma's boy.  This is true in the movie because she had this fixation and was able to fulfill it at a young age, but after her father dies she is unable to. Snow White sings of how she is longing for love and wants to find a husband.  According to Freud when you look for a spouse at a later age, you will look for someone who is like your parent.  Snow White probably longed for love because of the loss of her father.  So when she finds the dwarfs and is able to care for them and clean for them she gets some of that fulfillment out of it.

This wicked witch in this movie uses repression.  She knows she is not beautiful so represses the feelings she has toward her ugly self by casting a spell that made her beautiful.  This is because she wanted to be the fairest of them all.  She can repress this feeling because she is beautiful so she forgets that she really is an ugly witch.

Haley's TED Talk

I thought that Haley presented her TED Talk very well.  She talked about how joining gymnastics helped her to become less shy, more confident, and a perfectionist.  The way that she presented this showed how she had become less shy,  she went up there with good confidence and you could tell. I knew her in elementary school and there is a huge difference in her attitude, she is much less timid and less shy. The videos that she presented us, one that was from when she was shy and one from when she became outgoing, really helped to show the change and went along with the presentation very well.  You could tell she was confident in what she was talking about because she kept her voice at a good level and you could tell she really cared about the topic.  I also liked how she compared her experience with gymnastics to others and used a serve to show that it is actually proven to help people come out of their shells and become more outgoing. She also compared herself to an Olympic gymnast and that helped me to understand where she was coming from even more and really helped improve her speech.

There were only a few things that I thought you could have done a little better.  One of these things was making your quotes just a little bit bigger, they were kind of hard to read.  This did not bother me much though because you explained each quote very well.   The other thing I would suggest would be to maybe show the video of when you were younger and talk about how you used to be shy, and then show the video that showed how you had become more out going towards the end. Again this did not bother me I just thought it might have made the speech flow a little better.

GREAT JOB HALEY you gave a very nice presentation and I enjoyed watching it! Keep up the good work! (:

My TED Talk

Thesis: In my TED Talk I would like to talk about how 4-H has been a positive aspect in my life, it has taught me to be more creative, and it has also taught me how to have responsible work habits. 

The organization of my thesis for my TED talk may change between now until when I actually give the speech.  This is because I want to make sure that I word it in a way that will portray my points in the best way.  I plan to think of some stories that will help me explain the things I have learned and experienced since none of the people I will be speaking to will really be able to relate to what I am talking about since none of them live on farms or are in 4-H.

I previously watched a TED Talk that was about how schools are teaching their students out of creativity, so I was going to try and tie this into how 4-H has helped me to stay creative.  I am still trying to figure out where I am going to go with it after that point. If any of you who read this have any ideas please let me know.  I think there are a lot of things that I can tie into the topics of 4-H and creativity but I just need to start getting it started. 

Double Entry Journal

Ron McCallum is a blind man that is very humble about his life, he doesn't feel ashamed of the gift he has been given he embraces it.  In his TED talk he said, "I miss family members and friends reading to me."  This was one way that he defined love.  He felt that this was how his family and friends showed him love since he could not see their love.  This was a bond that he build with them through listening to them read to him, since he was unable.

I can relate to this in many ways.  The main one is that my mother and I used to ride horse together a lot.  She is the main reason that I know how to ride horse so well.  We would go on rides that lasted for hours.  Now that she has began to get older she doesn't like to ride as much anymore.  It is very hard on her body.  This was time that her and I spent together and I felt as though it was a time to share our love with each other.  Since she hasn't been riding with me very much I realize now how much it meant to me and how much I miss it.  I hope that again some day my mother and I will end up riding horse together. This was a bond that we build together through horse back riding.

People need to build bonds like this more.  The memories that can be made during times like this are rare and can be life changing.

Double Entry Journal from Classmate

"It changed for me personally..." Mike Rowe spoke in his TED talk about how a lot of thing came into perspective for him when he was castrating a lamb.  Before he went to the farm he did some research.  He called PETA to see how they thought castration should be done. They told him by banding them.  Then he contacted the human society and asked them how they thought castration should be done and they responded the same way by saying that they should be banded.  So Mike goes to the farm prepared to band lambs.  When he gets there and asks how they will be castrating the lambs they tell him they won't be using bands they will be using a knife and their teeth.  This concept was new to Mike. It seemed to be more inhuman than banding to him.  Then the owner of the farm showed him how a lamb that was banded reacted compared to a lamb that was castrated the farmers way.  The lamb banded became sickly looking and laid down in a corner, while the one who was castrated the farmers way was up and running right away.

What changed for him personally was his perspective on things.  He realized that there are probably a lot of things in life that he doesn't know much about.  This is true for most people.  This also proves the point that you cannot always believe what you hear.  When Mike was researching this topic he only contacted facilities that think they are against inhuman treatment of animals.  This proves that sometimes people perceive things wrongly due to a lack of experience and knowledge in certain areas.  So before you assume that you know everything about a certain thing or topic, go out and see what it is really like or how it is really done. 

The Wife-Beater Falacies

"The Wife-Beater" by Gayle Rosenwald Smith is an  essay that talks about shirts that many men wear as undershirts that is commonly referred to as a wife-beater.  There are many fallacies made in this essay.

In fact the first sentence is a fallacy.  It says, "Everybody wears them".  This is a hasty or sweeping generalization.  Not all men wear these kinds of shirts.  Neither my dad or brother have ever worn one before.  Therefor this is a fallacy.  You cannot include all people in your opinions because chances are that not all people will fall into that category because everyone is different.

Another fallacy that comes from within this essay is that a wife-beater is worn by husbands who are physically abusive.  This is a fallacy because we all know that all men who are physically abusive to their wives do not wear these shirts.  This is another generalization. 

"The association of the undershirt and the term wife-beater arose in 1997 from varied sources, including gay and gang subcultures and rap music." This was said by Jesse Scheidlower, in a section of the New York Times who is the principal editor of the Oxford English Dictionary's American Office.  This is an example of a appeal to doubtful authority.  How do we know this is really when this term arose?  This is just stated there are no facts to back it up.  Even though she is of high authority in her job status, that doesn't mean that every word she says is true.

TED Talk Topics

For my TED talk I would like to talk about the topic of roping.  Roping is what people do in rodeo's.  The person doing the roping is on a horse and the horse is chasing the calf.  There are usually two people doing this at a time. This is called team roping.  Someone tries to catch the head and someone tries to catch the feet.  The only reason I am not sure I want to choose this topic is because I am not sure I will be able to talk about roping the whole ten minutes.  So I was thinking I could broaden the topic and talk about rodeos in general.

Today in Senior Social II Mr. Toward showed us this video that showed tests that were done to see how paying students for their grades helps persuade them.  This is another interesting topic that I could talk about. It brings up many questions like how parenting affect their children's grades and if it is right to persuade them in this way. I feel like this would be a little easier to talk about for five minutes.

One of my close family friends has lung cancer, and he has not been doing very well.  I respect him a lot and I was thinking I could talk about how good of a friend he has been to my family.  I would define friendship by giving examples of how he been a part of my families life. The reason I would probably have a hard time talking about this is because he may not still be with us by then and it might be really hard for me to talk about it.

The other two things I have been thinking about talking about for my TED talk are 4-h because that has been a huge part of my life and trap.  These two things have been very huge part of my life for the last few years of my life and I think talking about them would be fairly easy and would be easy to memorize and would flow nicely.

If I could get feedback from you guys on what you guys think and what would be the most interesting topic, that would be great, thanks!