4/14/08

Human Genome Project

When people talk about the rights and wrongs of the Human Genome Project the topic of natural selection seems to come up a lot. In my opinion the main reasoning behind the process is to put more perfection on humans and to expand their lifespans. However as stated before the question still remains on whether or not it is natural selection. I do not believe that it is natural. This process is going something scientific to the human genes. It is not something that is naturally happening to the genes. The traits that are automatically given to the human is what is natural, but then the human genome project is going in and changing what has already been given in these genes. Making this entire process not natural and not ethical. I feel as humans we tend to get confused on our ethics when we think up ideas such a the genome project. We forget about what is right and wrong and just focus on what could be the next great breakthrough. Although it might be great to redevelop or repair human genes so that they are the perfect human, what is that saying about us as a society? That we feel as though we must have a perfect population and that we can not handle the hardships that life has already NATURALLY given us? I feel that the Human Genome Project is simply a cover up and a making of something that just shows that we are insecure with pain and disabilities. A part of life is people coping with and growing from their defects or problems. Having a society that is all the same and these perfect people seems next to ridiculous to me. We are all so individualized and now we are going to try something that is going to make us all the same. I know personally i want to be independent and have to learn to live my life facing the problems that i was born with. I would not want to be born perfect because then what does life hold for you.

4/14/08

Human Genome Project

One of the talks of the human genome project is that it could potentially someday take pain away from humans. Our first thoughts on that are sounds great, right? Sure most of us do not enjoy pain or want to have pain, but believe it or not I feel pain is a part of life. There are people out there whom do not feel pain. They may see the pain that is happening to them, but they do not actually feel it. What is our lives without pain though? Pain is normal to us today, it is something that we have learned is a part of life and we must undergo it at times. Without pain i feel that life would not have its ups and downs, death would not be death, and would we not understand right from wrong. Pain is something that allows us to go through the easy and hard times, through pain we grow and we learn about what is right and what is wrong. When something hurts us or causes us pain we understand that maybe we did something wrong or that we wont do something again. When we suffer from pain we learn about something through what caused us that pain. Not only do we learn from it, but we have learned to understand that usually pain is associated with death. Whether it be the pain of grief or the pain of actual suffering. All in all pain is such a large part of our lives, shaping us into the people we are and allowing us to understand some of the importances of life.

4/13/2008

Science and the arts seem to many, and even myself as complete opposites because of their drastic differences. However, it is their differences that make them so much the same. The only thing that is different about the two is that science is known as being exact and that everything must be well thought out to be right on, no room for mistakes. On the other hand art and the humanities are a lot more non exact and mistakes are what make some art so good and abstract. But when you put the two together, has anyone ever thought of the fact that maybe scientists have to think artistically? Maybe these two's characteristics are one in the same. Scientists are people who are seen as being very logical. They involve a lot of math and proof for their work. And on the other hand people who are artistic are seen as very creative, independent, messy, and having a much more in depth imagination. But it seems that these characteristics are only put on these because of the stereotypes we have always portrayed them as. Scientists have a very in depth imagination as well just through a different look. And they too can be independent in their work and creative. As well as artistic people being logical. With the stereotypes we place on peoples views and lifestyles we tend to miss the fact that we are all one in the same stereotype. The reason we usually miss it is because some of us choose to demonstrate and express how we do and see things differently. Humanities and the arts are a part of science we just look past the connection and focus on the separation through their names.

4/2/2008

V For Vendetta

After watching the film V for Vendetta for the first time my first reaction was that it was not my type of movie; however, once the movie developed more and it got further into it i began to enjoy it. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie for many reasons , but one stuck out the most. I liked how the movie was very action back and somewhat unexpected at times. The writers did a good job throughout at keeping their audience's attention, as well as keeping them on their toes to figuring out who V really is. I feel as though that is what kept me watching because throughout the whole movie I just kept wondering who he was. The movie never really did reveal who he was in a straight forward way, but the way they did reveal it is what made it more interesting. We understood that the man behind the mask was a representation of Guy Fawkes, although V actually represented many people. As the words in the movie actually say, the mask represents "Edmund Dantes, father, mother, brother, me, you, friend. " Not only through these words though do we hear how the mask is for many people we always see it. The movie shows many people wearing the mask as well as Valerie, the girl, and Gordon. So once everything is put together V is actually just an idea and as stated an idea is bulletproof giving the character of V such power. This aspect of the movie was what I enjoyed most about it and found to be what kept me so thrilled with the movie as I got more and more into it. Not revealing who was actually behind the mask built up so much suspense and curiosity. I would definitely consider watching this film again to maybe see different aspects or sides of it to possibly develop more thought from it.

2/29/08

Article: The Man Behind Abercrombie and Fitch
By: Benoit Denizet- Lewis

This article caused me to have some disregard about what goes on behind the scenes of some high fashioned stores such as Abercrombie and Fitch. Hearing about the CEO of A &F Mike Jefferies being a 61 year old man who dresses preppy, tans, whitens his teeth, wears flip flops, and dyes his hair, actually struck me as a bit odd and disturbing. Some of the comments that he states in the article have to make not only myself but others wonder what the man is thinking sometimes. He contradicted himself with the comments he made, for example about the younger middle school girls thongs. It is amazing how much such companies dwell on things such as image, labels and popularity. I feel as though clothing stores really set up so many stereotypes. We distinguish between people at times by the things they wear and the places they shop. Along with that, when it comes to getting jobs at these different stores like A &F you can only get hired if you are good looking and give off the right look. In my opinion who is to really say that someone is good looking or not? A 61 year old man? It all seems a bit ridiculous. When you look at the models and the clothing that is in the store you can see where all of these stereotypes arise from. The A & F website is a perfect example of this http://www.abercrombie.com. It shouldn't be that just by looking at a stores website you can figure out what type of people wear the clothes, the clothes should just look like they are for anyone. Now this doesn't mean that you shouldn't advertise the style for example surf clothes versus conservative, it just means the actual people who wear the clothes. They should not all look the same with perfect bodies, perfect faces, and just lead that perfect life.

2/22/08

Article: How Computers Change the Way We Think
By: Sherry Turkle

When finished reading Turkle's essay I can not help but dwell in on some topics. The fact that children who are in elementary school are using such high levels of technology. When people talk about how much technology has changed it really is true. Students in elementary school are using e-mail, word, computer simulations, power print software, and more. I know that they say our generation was born into this technology era, but i can honestly say that at that age I was not using those types of programs or even really knowing what they are. Turkle talks about new technology versus learning new ways to think. I feel as though this is a very interesting way of looking at the aspect of these young children. In my opinion the reason that times have changed so much is becuase yes there are indeed new technologies, but the reasoning behind learning new ways to think is that of having more options and being able to expand the ways of learning. There are so many more ways for younger people and older as well to learn. Students can learn based off of how they understand things whether it is visual, auditory, or even aesthetic. This makes learning now a days so holistic and allowing our simple past ways of learning completely expanded on now. Along with such an opening in how to learn the new technologies that we have only allow for more opportunities and easy ways of understanding. With these changes it can only make us wonder how much more we still have to learn as a society about technology.

2/8/08

Article:
Casa: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood
By: Judith Ortiz Cofer

This article was about a remembrance of a Puerto Rican childhood by Cofer, who describes the powerful influence that her grandmother had on her life. From the beginning she talks about this boundary between California and New York City that they called, Los Nueva Yores, meaning the New York. This term struck me as something very interesting because it why are they considering that all of this territory should all be called the New York? I thought that Cofer should have went on more about why such a term is given to the United States, or at least that part of it. Another thing that stood out about this article was the term that she said she was called which was Gringa. The term is what they called her because of her English speaking ways. With her putting this term in the article she adds slang to it. Right along with that she uses the words cultural chameleons, which I really liked. I feel as though this phrase is very appropriate and is such a good adjective to be given to those people who have to or just do blend into other cultures. It is everyday in todays world that people have to adapt to other cultures around them whether it be any where from business to vacation. Cultural chameleon just fits so well because of how they adapt into things and blend into their new surroundings. Overall I was not very impressed with the article by Cofer I thought it did not really stick to one subject very well nor did it get much detail, however some of the points and certain parts of the article were very intriguing like mentioned above.