The final Action Project for the Forbidden Books class. It brings up the topic of diversity and gives us the opportunity to write a reflective essay about the book we've been reading throughout the course. My book was Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's work that went through many censorship issues for minor details. As of the reflection, I chose to analyze a character from the book that acted in a manner similar to that of Socrates, a philosopher dubbed as a gadfly due to his behavior in "waking the people up" from their false sense of knowledge/security. One of the character's strongly resembles that role and even turns another character into that same type of person, a gadfly. Just below you can see the full reflection essay, and thank you for reading.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Mind the Gap, and Watch Out for Cholera
The last Action Project for the Disease class has us bringing awareness to any epidemic and how it's history as a great impact on how we've developed throughout time. Utilizing research from multiple, free to choose, sources, I chose cholera because it had many historical impacts, outbreaks, dubbed as a pandemic at some points, and is still relevant today. As you can see below, there's a full researched excerpt from a script that would've been implemented into an edited video. Unfortunately, I was not able to create any video due to technological restraints. It was a definite challenge to find representatives in the Gapminder World web app. Relations that were recorded between the many countries affected by cholera were scarce, with results that either didn't go back far enough, or unrelated factors. Right below you can see the script report for yourself, and thank you for reading.
There’s a disease that’s been around for more than 150 years, and it’s still running around today. Cholera is an immense disease that gives you diarrhea, abnormal cramps, extreme heat, loss of skin reformation, dry areas of the body that usually produce mucous, low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, intense cramps, and even frequent thirsts. Multiple factors affect this disease too, and in many ways, reflects the status of a great number of underdeveloped countries today, who are the modern victims of cholera in this 21st century. These factors include contaminated water, polluted rainfall, poverty (unsanitary living conditions), low hygiene/poor sewage systems, and a crowded environment.
During the mid 1800s, many countries such as Russia, Copenhagen, and England suffered from outbreaks of cholera. The third cholera pandemic in Russia was the most devastating, killing an estimate of one million people. England had it the easiest with an estimate of 616 casualties with a sudden outbreak, meanwhile Copenhagen had 4,737 deaths due to the disease. Closed off or crowded living spaces were common in the 1850s due to the poverty, there was a very clear separation of who was rich and who was extremely poor, especially in england. Russia had the most victims probably due to a lack of hygiene, and with a population at about 60 million at the time, it may not be the biggest place, but in comparison as a country (as opposed to a continent), it’s quite a large place.
Ways we’ve combated cholera is by having advanced sewage systems and cleaner living environment. Developed countries like the United States have practically abolished cholera since the last outbreak it’s had back in 1911, yet there are still unfortunate victims of this disease to this date. Underdeveloped countries such as haiti have lost thousands to this disease due to it’s economic status. As a poor country, it can’t afford the same type of medical care or sanitary programs as more financially able countries. During March 2014, Haiti had suffered from more than 8,500 casualties. When living in tight spaces or with a lot of people, cholera becomes even more dangerous with a higher likelihood to spread to others. On average, it can infect up to 15 people from a single person who is suffering from this ailment. Another way to put this is that the RØ=15 (the R naught equals fifteen). Easy ways to prevent cholera (if you happen to be at risk for catching it) is to keep yourself clean; wash your hands often, and bathe whenever possible. It’s really the simple steps that help prevent this infectious disease along the way.
There’s a disease that’s been around for more than 150 years, and it’s still running around today. Cholera is an immense disease that gives you diarrhea, abnormal cramps, extreme heat, loss of skin reformation, dry areas of the body that usually produce mucous, low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, intense cramps, and even frequent thirsts. Multiple factors affect this disease too, and in many ways, reflects the status of a great number of underdeveloped countries today, who are the modern victims of cholera in this 21st century. These factors include contaminated water, polluted rainfall, poverty (unsanitary living conditions), low hygiene/poor sewage systems, and a crowded environment.
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| GapMinder Map VG 2015 |
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| GapMinder Graph VG 2015 |
Works Cited
NA, Mayo Clinic, Cholera http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cholera/basics/symptoms/con-20031469
John Snow (1855). On the mode of communication of cholera. John Churchill. Retrieved 29 March 2011 (Wikipedia Reference)
Monday, March 9, 2015
Insomnia Instance - Fatal Lack of Sleep
The second Action Project in the Disease class, we look at a different criteria of diseases altogether: mental diseases. The unit itself went over the different aspects of mental diseases, as well as facts about our mind and how to determine a diagnosis. Unlike physical diseases (cancer, diabetes, etc.), mental disease need to align with certain symptoms, and usually more than one, in order to be truly diagnosed as the actual ailment. There was a wide variety of what we could choose from as long as it's covered in the DSM 5, a book that lists a great multitude of mental diseases and describes them with medical accuracy. Some of the options within the diagnosis book include schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and even alcoholism (addiction to alcohol, which can affect your body severely either with the addiction, or through the withdrawal). My choice was insomnia (also referred to as sleep-wake disorder), which is actually something many people tend to misinterpret.
From the DSM 5, I chose to study up on insomnia, a mental disease that basically renders an inability to sleep or having trouble falling asleep, not (as it is commonly misinterpreted) a mere unwillingness to sleep. Insomnia doesn't allow oneself to sleep unless very specific criteria are met, in other words, the sleeping environment needs to be perfect, and this can vary based on personal preference. Directly from the DSM-V (5), it describes insomnia as: Disturbed sleep, whether because of quality, timing or duration, can have many adverse health consequences. The most obvious concerns are fatigue and cognitive focus, but mood can be greatly affected, too. -DSM V (5). Insomnia results in fatigue, inability to focus or concentrate, poor memory, mood disturbance, daytime sleepiness, low motivation or energy, and increased errors or accidents. Due to no sleep, your brain has a lack of theta and delta brainwaves, so you never enter that restorative process of sleep.
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| Rebecca Turner, The Man Who Never Slept: Ngoc Thai, World of Lucid Dreaming (website) {click to enlarge} |
However, insomnia doesn't always affect everyone who has it, or at least not to the point of physically growing weaker.
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Another part to this analysis is for you yourself to simulate it. Please follow this lesson plan below if you wish to have a taste of how it feels to be an insomniac, but on a minimum scale.
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Another part to this analysis is for you yourself to simulate it. Please follow this lesson plan below if you wish to have a taste of how it feels to be an insomniac, but on a minimum scale.
Why?
(GQ)
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What does it feel like to have sleep-wake disorder, aka insomnia?
What does it feel like to interact with a person living with insomnia?
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Time
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How?
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How will you initially experience these feelings?
At the end of this lesson, you will have:
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~
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What?
Agenda
&
Content
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What’s the process of you experiencing these symptoms (slightly)?
Starting off, you will begin the simulation by:
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5-8 min
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Closure
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Reflection
My answer: “Since insomnia is a peculiar disease, it’s not exactly something you can be all to helpful with. Insomnia actually has instances of only being temporary, but it’s essentially something that can only be helped if you’re able to assist one’s environment to strengthen comfort, which encourages sleep.”
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Materials
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Yourself
Functioning eyes
Usable eyelids
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Now you've experienced the same thing an insomniac goes through a majority of their lives. To summarize, insomnia/sleep-wake disorder is a condition where you truly can't go to sleep unless your environment is past the conception of perfection based on your body's apparent personal preference. Many Americans today suffer from insomnia and while it's not always consistent, it can really have negative effects on your life by the means of extreme fatigue. You could lose a lot of productivity or performance skills just from not getting enough sleep, and sooner or later, a constant lack of rest can become fatal. It's even worse to drive mentally tired (from no sleep) than it is to drive intoxicated (drunk), and if you have insomnia, you're bound to be tired. Thank you for reading all the way through and now you know a little bit more about insomnia.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Japan's Censored Media
Forbidden Books comes up with a second Action Project, and this one is all about censorship. From a set selection, we were to choose one of the multiple historical events that happened in another country, countries like Brazil, Greece, Germany, and China, as well as plenty of others. Overall in this unit (unit 2, just to clarify), we went over dogmas, strong beliefs that can't necessarily be proven or disproven. Some examples of dogmas are including within some teachings of certain religions. Later in the unit, we went over how censorship comes in all forms when relating to censored content. I myself chose the Japan~Yokohama Mainichi instance where the Japanese newspapers were censored. During the making of this Action Project, it was tough to search for the right source material; at first, it was all scattered, with only slight references and hint to the Yokohama Mainichi censorship issues, but luckily enough, Wikipedia lists its sources and I was able to research using those (which you can see sited in the presentation down below. More information is shown in the slideshow below, and I hope you enjoy.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Introducing the Disease Class
Malinformed about melanoma? Then you might want to keep reading. In the first unit of the class called "Disease", we studied about physical diseases that affect the human body. Diabetes, cancer, and many others were chosen in this free of choice Action Project, which centered around body affecting ailments (also known as: Physical diseases). A challenge for me was finding someone to interview who either is a survivor or a patient of skin cancer (or any variation of it). It was difficult to find someone, and harder to contact, so as an alternative, I used true stories from SkinCancer.org, specifically this page: http://www.skincancer.org/true-stories. I was proud of my visual which you will see in the full report below due to ti being completely digital using Google Drive's Drawing application, which is available as a preset under "more" option when making a new file. In short, alongside Jerry Penacoli's survivor story of melanoma, I speak of the traits, factors, risks, and treatments of skin cancer in general.
Cancer, the abnormal growth of cells in a particular area. Melanoma is a serious type of skin cancer that Jerry Penacoli, host of the Nightly Entertainment show, managed to get through himself. He noticed a brown freckle on his inner thigh that wasn’t there before, and overnight, it drastically expanded and he then knew this wasn’t natural. When he went to get this checked out, he was diagnosed with Melanoma, and was put into a surgical operation 4 days after this. 2 surgeries were in order, one to remove the cancerous growth, and another to remove 22 lymph nodes because the cancer could have spread to them.
| VG, The Human Body, 2015 |
A precaution to be sure of in regards to skin cancer is to look for new, unnatural looking growths that may seem like birthmarks at first glance. In a single night, these newly found marks will grow and become more dangerous as they expand and spread. Different types of UV rays affect your skin as well, with UVA aging the skin much faster, and UVB basically burning your skin. Luckily enough, cancer is not contagious in any way whatsoever, so it’s easy to prevent, yet it is tough to combat. As most other cancers, skin cancer has multiple stages, and with each number growing tells how serious, dangerous, or large it may be. Treatments to cancers like melanoma include removing the tumour and anything that may have been contaminated or affected by it. Skin cancer is no doubt one of the worst diseases, starting out as something easily disregardable and possibly growing in a practically invisible spot of the body.
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