Blog #17:

Since my topic is not one that is often something that is "treated", these two articles applied less to my article but still, these articles really just impact any kind of health issues in general because they simply describe the pros and cons of just one certain topic... health care which applies to any form of health topic. The reason why it applies to all of the health topics is because almost every health topic should have some form of a cure, process of diagnosing, or even some form of relief efforts for the patient.

My opinion on the topic would side more towards what Joel A Harrison was saying about how, "Recognizing the hidden costs that U.S. households pay for health care today makes it far easier to see how a universal single-payer system—with all of its obvious advantages—can cost most Americans less than the one we have today." I did not agree with Larry Kudlow especially since his style of stating his opinion was so smug and almost rude like the way he started out his article by saying, "Does anybody really believe that adding 50 million people to the public health-care rolls will not cost the government more money?" Even just his picture alone offendedd me when I looked at it. At least the way that George Will phrased his opinion (which was similar to Kudlows) he did not phrase it in such a rude and up-front way. For example in his article he said as though stateing a fact, "As is said, if you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it is free."

These articles really just impact any kind of health issues in general because they simply describe the pros and cons of just one certain topic... health care which applies to any form of health topic. The reason why it applies to all of the health topics is because almost every health topic should have some form of a cure, process of diagnosing, or even some form of relief efforts for the patient.

While my opinion on the topic may be a bit biased towards my personal situation I strongly believe in universal health care and that the situations being described in the article, "We are not free: health care is a human right" by: Helen Redmond are so terrible for me to hear because that is exactly what I wish our country to have the opposite of. Personally, one of my main priorities in life is my health and the fact that people are having to sacrifice wither their monetary security for their health or their health for their monetary security is horrifying to me. These articles honestly made me sad and angry all at the same time for everyone in our nation.

The history of Americas health care providence has gotten much better now that Obama has passed the health care reform law which provides universal health care to all. Originally, at around 1900 to 1920, health insurance was nonexistent because health care technologies had not yet really advanced which meant that there was really not much that a "health expert" could do for a patient in order to cure their illness no matter how small. In fact, back then you would not even go to a doctors office, but instead the doctor would come to your home for any kind of procedures. The rise of medical care did not begin until the 1920's, when the treatment of illnesses shifted from being performed inside the home to hospitals. There was also an increase in the role that medicine played in peoples lives. These two main factors caused the cost of medical care to rise and also doctors began to have a higher expectation of merit. In 1929, a new payment innovation that was developed revolutionized the health care industry. This was when Blue Cross was started. Blue Cross Designed to Reduce Price Competition among Hospitals and it provided insurance for physitional services. From 1940 to 1960 there was roughly a rise of 120,000 people enrolled in health insurance. By the 1960's, Medicare and Medicaid began to form. The AMA realized that the only way to "enact government-sponsored health insurance would be to do so incrementally" and so they began by focusing on the elderly. "Focusing on the elderly allowed proponents to counter charges that nationalized health insurance would provide health care to individuals who were generally able to pay for it themselves." Since 1966, both Medicare and Medicaid have grown a rough 0.1% compared to the current day. In 1934, President Roosevelt "announced his intention to provide a program for Social Security." Its purpose was to assist the elderly, fight unemployment and poverty, and provide benefits for surviving family members during the Great Depression. Today, Obama finally achieved passing an "Affordable Care Act" in March 2010 which will stop insurance companies from limiting the care people need and remove insurance company barriers between people and their doctors.

The way that my topic for Life: The Book ties into all of this information is that any time that people find out they have some sort of a serious or even life-threatening disease, a lot of times they then turn to faith in order to give them some sort of comfort or assurance in order to carry on with their lives and not be afraid. In my article I will research and describe a supposed "god gene" which is apparently present in some people and not in others and what that "god gene" effects is if the person has a tendency to place trust and love into this God that they believe in.

Sources:

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/thomasson.insurance.health.us

http://www.ehow.com/about_4586912_what-purpose-social-security.html

http://www.withylaw.com/history.htm

http://www.ontheissues.org/barack_obama.htm

http://faculty1.coloradocollege.edu/~bloevy/CivilRightsActOf1964/

http://www.healthreform.gov/newsroom/new_patients_bill_of_rights.html

1. Someone who the reader would be able to connect with and someone who has some sort of conflict in their life. This way the reader will then care about what happens to the character. A character should also have personal traits that the reader would admire and who can apply those traits to their specific conflicts in their life.

2. The main thing that makes for a good plot is that it has subtle twists and turns that the reader would most llikely not see coming but enjoys to try and figure out what would come next. Also, when something dire happens to the favorite character they can come out of, but it's touch and go for awhile. Finally it makes for a better plot when you use precise words to create suspense or tension.

3. They use punctuation in order to include small tidbits of essential scientific information.

4. They provide characters with which the reader can easily connect with and/or respect which will in turn involve the reader more deeply in your plot.

Blog #14: Life: The Book

1. I plan on writing my article on the "adulthood" stage of life for my article because of my personal connection and curiosity to the fatal disease ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease). The genetic connection I plan on presenting and learning about in my article is if ALS is genetic or not and the information behind this hypothesis.

2. One relevant government agency is the National Institute of Health. This government agency is relevant to ALS because a branch of them has recently taken an interest in the research and development of the cure for ALS.

Some current news on my topic is actually what I will be writing about possibility explains the genetics behind how ALS is (or most likely is) passed down from one generation to the next. Researchers have found that since when a child is conceived they receive one chromosome from their mom and one chromosome from their dad, someone who has ALS would have one gene with a mutation and one without a mutation. This means that a child of someone with ALS has a 50% chance to inherit the ALS gene mutation however this in no way means the child will have ALS.

Articles:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825131441.htm

http://www.alsa.org/als/genetics.cfm

3. The Humanities aspect I would like to bring to this project would be about religion and its powers to keep a person going on their faith even through such a horrific disease like ALS after seeing my father go through the disease for five years has made me wonder at time how he kept going despite the definite result of death. Although he personally was not the most religious person, there must be many other people who are in fact religious and faith and trust in god is a primary factor in carrying them through difficult and torturous experiences or diseases. For example, Psalm 34:18 reads: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." and this is what Karl, Walt, and Terry followed in order to come through their personal ordeals almost even better a person than before. This is what I would like to further research and look into for to humanities aspect of my article.

Articles:

http://www.cleveland.com/religion/index.ssf/2010/04/carrying_anothers_cross_can_ch.html

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2004_10_29_religion.htm

1. A second connection to biology that my article could have would be related to a different article that I found. The second article that I found was about how recent studies have found that in the immediate future, stem cells may be vehicles that can be sent to the damaged area and provide missing factors to help remaining cells survive. These stem cells could potentially be harvested from not only infants, but also adult have stem cells themselves that would be able to be used too.

2. One relevant government agency is the National Institute of Health. This government agency is relevant to ALS because a branch of them has recently taken an interest in the research and development of the cure for ALS.

Again some current news on my topic would be the news presented in the article I am referencing for this aspect of ALS genetic technology.

Articles:

http://www.alsa.org/research/article.cfm?id=715#adult

http://www.alsa.org/research/article.cfm?id=715#challenges

3. Again, religion can be tied into the humanities aspect of this topic as well because anything regarding the use of stem cell research and or usage is always bound to be in some way connected to religious views as well. The debate on the use of stem cells involves the religious view that, "if you think of doctrines like creation or even human sinfulness and the fall, it really encourages us to put the way we treat life against a bigger horizon and to be cautious about our own activity." (professor Lisa Sowle Cahill of Boston College).

Articles:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5454938/als_stem_cell_breakthroughs.html?cat=5

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week448/perspectives.html

Blog #13: Life- The Book!

Idea #1: Conception

If I were to write my article on the conception stage of life I am not entirely sure if this would be conception, or infancy but I would like to write my article about the ability people of this generation are beginning to have to "build their baby." This means that they are able to choose their baby's gender, certain traits their baby would have (i.e. eye color, height, hair color), and/or even what diseases they would be immune to.

Idea #2: Adulthood

If I got assigned the time of life, adulthood, I would like to write my article about the news that a new genetic risk factor for Lou Gehrig's disease has been identified. I would like to write my article on this topic for adulthood because I am able to relate to it and it actually is a very personal topic for me as well and I am genuinely interested in learning about it in order to write an article on it.

Idea #3: Old Age

Finally if I were to be assigned to the category, old age, I would want to write my article on how after years of unsuccessful research on how to cure Alzheimer's Disease, researchers are finally finding new ways to interrupt the memory-robbing disease just in time for an anticipated explosion in cases.

Blog #12: Beginning The Internship Brainstorm

Let me just start out by saying I technically have an internship already in place with my friend, Tessa's dad who owns his own marketing company.

My ideal workplace would be a creative place with a lot going on at all times like the way that fashion magazine headquarters are portrayed on TV all of the time minus the rude boss/people. (it would also be cool if I could have my own desk)

I hope to be able to put my creative design abilities to work at my "ideal internship" such as putting forth my input on the style aspects of whatever we are working on.

i would mostly just like to learn if I would enjoy this job as a career or not and if the answer is yes then I would like to learn what kind of education is required or what steps they suggest I take in order to achieve a career in the field.

Blog #11: Twitter!

Although you would think for most people their reaction would be shock or horror or some other form of almost false emotions for the topic, my result from reading the article, "The Crisis of the Humanities Officially Arrives" was rather inspiration. I was reading the article and then right away like fireworks went off in my brain I felt inspired to pursue my humanities passions and not just one passion or interest... but all of them. To learn at least two more new languages, to have my own blog which I write on frequently not because I have to, but because I want to. To continue writing in my personal Journal like I did over the summer and then perhaps, who knows, publish my poems in a book Anonymously. Suddenly anything seemed possible and I also felt pride for my passion for humanities that holds a pat of my own personal identity. I could say that I am sorry or am not happy with this particular Blog Response, but I would be lying because honestly this is probably my favorite blog response yet.

http://www.justfrance.org/france/france-history.asp

This site just extends on my inspiration because currently I am signing up for a beginners French course at City College not because I have to for some reason but purely because I enjoy learning about the french history and am interested in the language and want to learn and be able to speak it because I find it to be a beautiful language.

Blog #10- "Dying for Dixie"
The root cause of Michael Westerman's death was all of the racial hate and ignorance that had been building in Guthrie for the years before. That hate created "racial tension" or "racial friction". The intense hate that the two side had for each other was very obviously shown at the beginning of the article when the reporter described the scene in the "white bar" where there were various adornments reading offencive statements and phrase such as, "I've Got A Nigger In My Family Tree".

Proportionally, this created hatred in the black community on the issue as well. So when Westerman flew the confederate flag, which by now had become a symbol of hate in the black areas of Guthrie, that was simply a catalyst for the mayhem that followed.
A very clear example of the ignorance in the situation was the fact that the white population (in this case) saw themselves as a minority and an underdog which was clearly not the case. One clue from the text that this issue is obvious in are all of the quotes from the white klu klux klan member who has been quoted as saying things like, "we shall overcome" referring to the white population of Guthrie.

The conflict between races in America has always been something people attempt to mend however no matter how long it takes or how hard we as a society try, the racial tension and conflicts will never fully be erased.