Affording a transplant to save your life

The other night I was watching a program on TV talking about getting a transplant in America. The way they do it is they put you on a list for the certain body part you need and you could be on this list for years! Whether you get that part or not depends on the blood type of you and the donor or the demand for the part. Money also plays a huge part in getting the right transplant at the time you need it. If you were dying and needed a transplant as soon as possible and you could not afford one and you had to wait on a list for a long period of time, you may lose your life. When your life is at stake, being put on a list is not something that I see as fair. You want to fight for your life and waiting for a long time and having to pay an extreme amount of money should not determine your self worth or right for life.

There was an American man who got a lot of publicity because when he was told he was going to die unless he got a liver transplant and from there he was put on a waiting list. He waited on the list for two years and when he felt he was getting worse in health he went to China and within two weeks of being there he received his transplant and went on living wit his life. The controversy of his story is that China has a bigger supply of these body parts because they are taking them from recently executed prisoners. These prisoners have no clue that when they die their parts will be taken from them and given to an American. The man who got his part was informed of how he got his new liver and after finding out how he responded that it didn't change anything. He was still grateful for the liver because now he can continue to live his life.

If I needed to get a transplant to live I would do the same thing, as long as no one is getting killed purposely for me to have it then I feel there is nothing wrong. It is my right to fight for my life.

Teenage Pregnancy

In my Sociology class we currently discussed the issues with teenage pregnancy in America. It seems like with every generation, teenage pregnancy has increased and is seemingly becoming more common. My friend was reading an argument that two freshman girls in high school were having via facebook comments and I was so appalled by what they were fighting about. These girls were fighting over why one of them was a slut going back and forth on a public wall calling each other slut and skanks. I hated reading all this and I hated especially when one of the girls said, "I'm not a slut I have only slept with one guy." This statement to me was outrageous!! This girl was about 14 or 15 years old! Still a little baby in my eyes and she was using words like slut to hurt someone and saying she has ALREADY slept with someone. Not only has she given up her virginity at an incredibly young age, she feels comfortable enough to share with everyone on facebook what she has done sexually. Sex within the teenage age is starting earlier every generation. Teenage pregnancy is out of control because teenagers are not having any consequences for their actions. shows like "16 and Pregnant" that is aired on MTV show tons of stories of girl who are pregnant and in high school. Most of the girls have help from their parents, meaning their parents raise their children while they go out and party in high school. This all makes me feel old because I feel like these are just children who are making these mistakes and they are getting worse and more frequent.

Gender

In today’s American society, the views of women have changed for the better and continue to make progress. Compared to the views of women in other societies, women in America seem to have a more privileged life. Is the way that women in America are shown in media non-discriminatory or fair? Movies and shows portray women as the weaker and helpless sex while men being the strong and valiant. The media shows that there are still some unfair opinions of women and their rank in this society.

There are shows and movies in America that take female characters and portray them as the stereotypical weak and helpless damsel in distress. There are certain T.V. stations such as the “Oxygen” channel that are made for shows about women and their struggle against some predator, usually men. These shows are about women being victims to life threatening events and show women in a state of weakness in which they have to fight for their life. These female characters are fighting for their life and showing strength against a man who’s hurting them yet, in almost every story like this there is another male character that always saves the day and helps the “weak” woman fight off the antagonist. For example, the movie Halloween shows the main character named Laurie, female, being hunted and attacked by her older brother Michael Meyers. The movie portrayed her as this weak, pathetic damsel in distress; she could not stand up for herself in any way. At the end of the movie she is saved by another character that of course is male. Throughout the whole movie, Laurie was running, screaming, and crying helplessly and could only find comfort in another dominant male character. There are many examples of women being the poor, helpless characters that stand and watch someone else fight the villain instead of trying to help themselves. The fact that women are always portrayed so stereotypically is frustrating because any one would try and fight for their life with all their strength with help or without help.

SO2 destroying history

Due to acid rain, ancient structures that have lasted thousands of years are now being destroyed by our generation’s pollution in the air. Rain is naturally acidic but air pollutants have added more acid to the rain. The air pollutant mostly comes from car exhaust, industrial, and power-generating plants. For years this silent killer, sulfur dioxide, has been destroying ancient architecture around the world that have stood against the hands of time until now do to negligence. For example, the article discussed the caryatids in Erechtheion on the Acropolis. This stone masterpiece is a perfect example on how pollutants in the air have had a devastating affect on ancient marvels. The basic ingredient in marble is calcium carbonate (CasCO3) which sulfur dioxide (SO2) has the most damaging effect on. Sulfur dioxide is found in water vapor that carries pollutants. The problem is the acid rain is turning the structures once made of strong marble to gypsum, a weak porous stone. Gypsum is easily eroded by wind and rain. Gypsum crumbles easily under stress thus the reason why these ancient structures are falling apart and disintegrating at a rapid pace. Mathematicians have come up with a solution to slow down the process to the sulfation taking place near ancient structures. First they must calculate the intensity of sulfur dioxide in the air. To find this out they would need to know the amount of porosity in gypsum, the diffusion of the sulfur dioxide in the air, and also the average velocity of air molecules. From there, the equations would be put together and the simplified to a smaller equation. From their, the mathematician would then go through more difficult and complex equations that have to do with determining the motion of water vapor, motion of air, and motion of gypsum. With certain mathematical equations, specific levels of sulfur dioxide is measured determining how much it takes to deteriorate a structure and exactly how long it would take to completely destroy one. With this information preserving ancient structures would be possible allowing us more time to enjoy their greatness. Along with these mathematical equations used to preserve the past, recognizing that pollution is now at an all time high will help the decrease of pollutants in the air with this awareness.

PLEASE REDUCE POLLUTION=(

Jon Wos

I work in the Annex Art Gallery in the Art and Communication building on campus and we are currently showing my favorite living artist's work. His name is Jon Wos and he has 25 oil paintings on display in the Annex. He is my favorite artist because his oil paintings are so realistic and brilliantly painted. They hold so much emotion in them and even without an eye for art you'd be able to see what he is trying to tell his audience through each painting. Jon Wos is a very unique man who I had the pleasure on meeting last week. He is a alumni of the University of Oshkosh and is easy to pick out from a crowd. Jon is handicapped. He was born with a growth problem and must ride in a electric wheel chair for the rest of his life. In his paintings, Jon draws himself in the stages of his battles through his physical disabilities. He has a series of nearly 20 paintings of himself in the hospital after surgery on both of his legs. The series shows the emotion and mental struggle Jon went through in those longs days of being trapped in a hospital. The colors of the painting show the good and bad times of those days. My most favorite painting Jon has mad is one call "The Pity Party" which portrays 5 different sides of himself sitting at a round table. One is of him wearing a cast on his arm drinking a bottle of liquor, the next of him blowing smoke out of his mouth into the air, the middle Jon is looking at the audience with a vacant expression on his face, the next is staring with a bottle of liquor next to him, and the last is of him holding a shot. This picture is beautiful and complicated at the same time. I feel it is a painting people would study and learn about in a classroom. There is so much symbolism and feeling behind every part of Jon. The next painting that went along with this one is of himself "Leaving the Pity Party." This painting is of the five Jon's all doing something different. Two are still sitting at the table in their wheel chairs, one is on the floor motioning for them to join him, another is looking out a window while he sits on the floor, and the Jon is standing up looking our that window with a white light shining on him. Jon has so many meanings behind every single piece of art work he has made. I could go on for forever explaining and bragging about all his work but it wouldn't do him justice. You have to see it understand and appreciate its greatness.

Porn in America

After watching the documentary "Price of Pleasure" in class, I have began to think of the effects of pornography. When looking into the porn industry you see 80% of men call themselves casual watchers. You see these men who look at porn on a regular basis who have a hard time having a good sex life because they are making the comparison to the fantasy world they see in their porn. Men are thinking about these sexual fantasies that they can see as easy as a click of the mouse and comparing those fantasies to sex in real life. By this, I think it is unfair to women because most of them are not able to live out those fantasies for their men and start to feel like they are not as good or desirable to their husband or boyfriend. These women that are in these porn flics and photos are women who have unrealistic bodies and "desires" for the men who are involved with them. These women are big breasted, skinny, and have sex drives like teenagers making a real woman feel even more inadequate when compared to these women. Men who take these fantasies and bring them into their relationships make their woman feel less of a woman and men jerks for even looking at porn while dating someone!

Modern Day Slavery

In 2010, there are twenty-seven million people in slavery which is the most people enslaved in all of American history. That fact right there makes me sick to my stomach thinking about how much things have not changed and how they have gotten worse. Modern day slavery is found in factories, farms, and sex trafficking. These people that are being enslaved are being lured in under false promises at something better than what they have. I have also watched so many stories on TV about young females going on Spring Break with some of their friends in a hot spot for college students on spring break. Some of these girls are never even heard from or seen ever again because they were kidnapped and sold in sex trafficking. These women that are being help captive in sex trafficking slavery cannot escape because most of them are drugged up to a point where they cannot even function. Also their lives are in danger and they are going along with things because it is their only way to survive. The U.S. hosts a lot of immigrants that they have saved from their country and were enslaved into sex trafficking.

The movie Doubt and trouble in the Catholic church

I was just watching the movie Doubt which is about the Catholic church and it's issues with sexual molestation of little boys. The movie is all about one priest who is well liked by everyone but is suspected to have touched a boy by a tough nun who is sure she will find him guilty by the church. The movie is really relatable to what is going on today with all of the claims of priest's touching little boys. The movie is one heated fight after another between the priest and the nun. The nun is sure that he is guilty and the priest claims his innocents and says the sister has no slightest proof that he has done something to this boy. I love the movie because the sister is a strong willed nun who is trying to break the religious norms on sisters having to stay quiet and be run by a priest. She tries her best throughout the whole movie to have justification for this little boy but is constantly shut down because the Catholic Church is run by priests who will stand up for one another. The film shows that a nun has no say in anything that happens in the church which makes this movie very frustrating to some. The movie's end to me is brilliant but may not be pleasing to others. The movie never tells you what happens with the priest. The nun never finds the proof but claims that she has her doubt's that he is innocent. She feels that she knows that he did and it eventually breaks this hard nosed nun when she realized that he will get away with it and move on to another parish where he will do it to another boy. She is frustrated because she knows that their is no justice and she cannot do anything because she is a nun working under priests.

This movie makes you think about how this could be happening now with all of the claims that have come up throughout the years of priests touching and abusing little boys. It's hard to think positively about the world sometimes and be trusting of people because the people who are supposed to be the purest out of all humans are the ones who are doing the most sinful things and getting away with it. This kind of stuff makes me sad for the world.

Amreeka

I watched the film Amreeka the other day and I really fell in love with it. They made the main character Muna really lovable and you as the audience really started to care for her. The story is about Muna, now a single mother of a son who works as a banker in Palestine in 2009. War has completely destroyed her hometown and safety is no longer an option for her and her family. Muna's husband had left her, we find out in the beginning of the film, for a younger woman leaving Muna to care for their son. By her husband leaving her Muna becomes depressed and self-conscious. She no longer finds living in Palestine suitable for her and her son. They pack up and move to Chicago, Illinois to live with her sister and her family. Not having any money, Muna begins a long search to find herself another bank job in Chicago. All of the banks that she has applied to are not hiring her because of silly reasons but as the audience you know why, her race. Muna is considered as a threat to American's after September 11th and prejudice against her begins to show through all of the characters she meets.

The movie really opened my eyes to other side of the story, those who come from the middle east trying to escape their country. Muna is a good woman who just wants to make a better life for her son and herself and she is not able to do this easily because the prejudice she faces in our country. It made me sad and ashamed knowing that some people come all the way from a different country to find happiness and is faced with hate. It seems that once America has moved on past one prejudice they find another.

Walmart

Being the average, poor college student that I am often I look for the best places to get cheap clothes and groceries. When you are a strapped for cash as I am in my Junior year of college and becoming more and more independent from my parents its a no brainer to shop at the cheapest grocery store. Walmart. Walmart is known for it large size and variety of things that you can get there. It is a one-stop shop where you can get all your groceries, appliances, clothes, shoes and the whole works at an incredibly cheap price. I am really helping out my budget but I also just learned that with my devotion to Walmart I am destroying other grocery stores. Walmart has becoming one of the biggest monopolies in America, it's greatness has expanded across the nation and only continues to get bigger and more powerful. What Walmart is doing is buying its supplies in huge bulk allowing them to sell their products at cheaper prices than other grocery stores would be able to sell them. These other grocery stores are then losing business and are not able to compete with the low prices. Buy trying to compete they may be losing more money because if they lower the prices of their products the may have to buy more in bulk costing them more. It is a lose lose situation for these smaller businesses. If you look, you can see that once popular stores you may have shopped at are one by one closing down. In my area of town I saw two grocery stores that I grew up going to go out of business.

I feel bad for these small businesses because people are losing jobs and small business' are being shut down! I am in a predicament because I can only afford the cheapest things at this point and Walmart is the cheapest. I feel like I don't have a choice right now and that makes me sad for all the businesses being rundown by Walmart.

Dinner

I went out to dinner last night with my boyfriend of a year and I wanted to have a little experiment without telling him. I knew he would pay because that is how our dinner dates usually go. It's his choice to pay because he said that's how he was raised. Can't complain. After dinner I was going to grab the bill and see what his reaction was. It was a reaction that cracked me up. When I grabbed it, he leaned over the table and said in a low voice smiling, "do not embarrass me." I started laughing because I couldn't believe it meant that much to him to say something so blunt. I put the bill on the table and he grabbed. After we both stopped laughing I told him about my experiment. I asked him why he reacted that way and he went on to tell me everything that was going in his mind at that point. He told me that when I grabbed the bill he felt like the whole room was looking at him and that he felt embarrassed that I might be paying for the dinner. He felt that it as a little weakness in his manliness. He felt that everyone was looking and thinking that he was broke and had to have his girl pay for him. It made me laugh how this was such a big deal to him, that he felt he REALLY needed to be the one to pay for the dinner. It is weird how something as simple as paying for a meal can determine a man's manliness. It didn't make sense to m and I suppose it didn't have to. To my boyfriend, it's just the way things are. He couldn't explain it more than that.