Knowing is half the battle!!!

   

   What I can remember about hurricane Katrina and Rita is very byes having lived there after Rita. My initial feeling was that of sympathy. I was pretty well informed having grown up in a community driven family. Knowing that the damage was catastrophic, I went to school to become a building inspector. I completed the Building inspection program in May of 2006. Shortly after that I was working in South Louisiana consolidating five Parishes into one building department. Even after the “clean-up”  of New Orleans there where blocks and blocks you could not drive through in a regular car. None of the damage from flooding and fire is a surprise. Really none of the military action is surprising either. I’m friends with retired and active military who like to write a lot. What did surprise me was Zeitoun’s story. I didn’t hear a lot of heroic story’s about Muslim’s . There is a lot of racism in the south. That’s the only reason I’m not still there today. Dave Eggers should be given credit for telling an incredible story. That might not have be told otherwise.

Independent Clause Quiz

     The Independent Clause Quiz was no big surprise. I have no idea what a sentence is supposed to look like. The worst part is I really tried on this test. Unfortunately I still only got five out of ten questions correct. The quiz "acted"a little funny during the process. I had the text part of the next question disappear. Every time I would anwser the question I was currently on. This made taking the quiz a little more difficult. I also had trouble forwarding the results to be posted.

3-14-12 Henrietta VS. Zeitoun

     The books we are reading this semester are looking to be similar in nature, but different in style. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the story of poor black women. Whose family is exploited by the medical field. Set in the 40’s through present time. The book explores racism, sexism, education and the government’s exploitation of black people.  Some of the legal and socioeconomic topics covered in Henrietta lacks are still resonating today.

      Zeitoun is similar to Henrietta Lacks in some very basic ways. First the racism we had will be similar but not the same, because of the time and race. Zeitoun is Arab and Henrietta was black. After September 11^th Arabs have been the most resent victims of racism. In the last century it was Black and Hispanic people who suffered the brunt of racism. So I can tell this will be an issue already. You also have two kinds of poor. Henrietta is poor, poor. Zeitoun is, I have so many bills and don’t make enough money to pay them, kind of poor. Now I haven’t read past page 28 but I know Zeitoun is going to get screwed by the “man” just like Henrietta did. So they have that in common also.

     The difference in the writing style is noticeable right from the start. Dave Egger the author of Zeitoun has an easier to read style. Egger’s is telling a story a kind of talking to me, in simple easy to understand language. Rebecca Skloot author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks uses a combination of narrative and journalistic fact. It’s hard to understand some of the conversations. The story is more like a research paper then a novel. Not that I didn’t like The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. I just had a little trouble following the who’s who.

     Both of these books look to be good reads. The first was an up down story of triumph in the face of adversity. The second will hopefully be the same.  

3-12-12 F.W. Mike Rodger's Rolling Stone Article

        I believe the reaction in the 70’s was a smaller version of what would have happened in the 50’s. There were a lot more openly racist people in the 50’s. Equal rights laws where slowly taking affect in the 70’s. The racist of the time where a little less open. This is still true today. Unfortunately there are still people who think there’s something wrong with people who aren’t white. Fortunately there are less and less of them all the time. (Because there old and die, thankfully)

        Now if Henrietta was a white woman, there would have been a difference. Not as big as you might think. She was still a woman in the 50’s with little to no education. And let’s face it poor is poor. I don’t know exactly how much hardship women experienced in the 50’s but I’m sure it was awful. Women’s equal rights were also a joke at that time. So put poor, uneducated and female together in the 50’s. She had little chance of getting much better treatment but still something’s would have been better.

        I guess the sad truth about race is that no matter what the year, you still have ignorant white males. Who are the sources of most of the information given to us. This is true in war, be it the war on racism, women’s right or over sea’s. History books are written by the victor. This makes most of them byes and jaded. So to hear the story of Henrietta Lacks (Win or Loss) is a testament to the final victor of the Lacks family.

3-7-12 Free Write

             I would have to say that the predominate subject matters are race and patient rights. That’s probable the authors focal points at least. Some of the others would be human testing (mostly on black men and women), literacy of black people during segregation.

            Rebecca Skloot utilizes several forms of writing in The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. But the one that stands out to me is her persistent journalistic drive. That’s why this is a story that most people should have known but didn’t. The reason for that is getting a hold of the people involved was so difficult. Rebecca had the drive and perseverance to make this story happen.

            The answers didn’t come easy. Mrs. Skloot had to convince a complete stranger to give her access to the Lack’s family. This was especially hard for a white woman to do. But after several week of explaining her goals she was given a phone number. This was a large step in the right direction. She still needed to get someone to talk, but still a step.

First Reading Responce

               I have to say The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a surprisingly good read. I like the facts that are given, with a little bit of back ground. I do understand why people haven’t heard of this woman before but she is a very important part of medical history. I mean the first “immortal cell” that has help the progress of modern medical science. Without those cells the medical world would not have the access to the material nessacery to do research.  Doctor George Gey was pioneer in his field and like most pioneers he was laughed at most of his life. But with the help of several different experts,( like the surgeon who keep everything so clean) who where the a large part of his success. Made them all believers in what he thought all along.

              Some other interesting facts about the Lack family was given in a roundabout way. Most was just an introduction the key players (Henrietta, David ie. Day, Sadie, Margaret, other various cousins. But when it comes to the children of Henrietta it’s a little hard to follow. Some are intro doused in the beginning wither there dead or alive. Then she adds a couple more kids out there for you to think about. Plus Deborah, what is her perspective on the story? I mean she was the youngest, I guess. If there’s no more kids popping up later. She would remember the least of all the children. Day was still alive at the time wouldn’t he have the best perspective? All I know is given the fact that almost every person in that family has or had some crazy disease or birth defect its not really a surprise that the “immortal cell’ came from that family.