benha11

[benha11]

Mountains are Unchanging.

Mountains are unchanging. You don’t have to worry about missing a mountain, it’ll always be there. Sure they change every thousands of years, but hardly enough to notice. People come and go, constantly changing. Up in the mountains, you are in solidarity with your surroundings. Nothing changing. By the time you go back down, things will be different. The mountains will long outlive us. When it’s the year ten thousand they won’t remember us. Yet the mountains will be there. How do we be remembered when the people we knew have moved on. When no ones recording our history. When our pictures will be lost. When there's no room for us anymore. When the mountains will be there and we will not.

[benha11]

Lacks Post #6

In the later parts of the book, specifically in chapter 30, we see clearly how much this has affected family members, such as  Zakariyya. In this chapter Rebecca goes to see Henrietta's youngest son. He quickly shows how unstable and angry he is because of what happened to his mother. He switched between being clam and outraged very quickly and shows the psychological issues he has developed since his mothers death. He was not taken care of by anyone and was left to result to criminal activity. Because of his low class, he was discriminated against. He claims he was damaged mentally because of his mother cancer, and blames his poor life on that. He wonders if his life would have been better if hs mother had not had cancer. One quote from this chapter was “Only people that can get any good from my mother cells is the people that got money, and whoever sellin them cells—they get rich off our mother and we got nothing…All those damn people didn’t deserve her help as far as I’m concerned.” This is indicative of how he feels.

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/social-class-discrimination-contributes-to-poorer-health.html

This article titles,  Social-Class Discrimination Contributes to Poorer Health, is about exactly what it sounds like. This article links studies that show how teenagers in low social classes have a higher chance of having poor health issues. As a teen,  Zakariyya grew up with a low social class. This affected his development as a person and he grew to become more and more mentally unhealthy.

[benha11]

Lacks post #5

In chapter 24 of the book, the brothers finally learn that scientist have been making money off of HeLA cells. This outrages them because they see how much they have been taken advantage of and swept under the rug. They were cheated out of deserved money and recognition. This ties deeply in with the theme of Alienation because of Gender, Race, Class, or Creed. You could argue that if the lacks were better educated and from a higher class, the doctors and medical professionals would be less likely to try and take advantage of the lacks. Even if the lacks were still uninformed, having an education and higher class would greatly help anyways.

A secondary source I found was from the movie Uncut Gem. In this film, staring Adam Sandler, he tries to pull off a multitude of different scams. An important part of the movie is when he buys rare gems off of African miners. He pays them very under value for the gem, because he knows that they are uneducated and he can trick them into selling it for under value. The African miners end up getting scammed out of a lot of money that could of helped them and their families because they were uneducated and uninformed. Henrietta Lacks and her family also went through a very similar ordeal. Lacks and her family were cheated out of recognition and money because of how uneducated they were. The scientist benefited greatly while the Lacks suffered in poverty.

[benha11]

Lacks post #4

Henrietta Lacks gets no recognition in the scientific community for her contribution. As a poor black woman, scientist believed Henrietta did not need to be informed. because of this, her family was excluded, and hurt by this. Instead of this being a proud achievement for her family, it was a somber reminder of what had happened. The cell names were even reduced to HeLa, removing any recognition for Henrietta.

One episode from the show Rick and Morty, goes into depth about a different kind of slavery. In the episode Microverse Battery, The two main characters treat people trapped in a smaller universe as inferior. The two main characters claim the inferior species inventions as their own and give no recognition to the smaller universe. This is similar to what happened with Lacks, she got no recognition from what her cells did.

[benha11]

Blog and Secondary post #3

Abstract Topic #3: Alienation because of Gender, Race, Class, or Creed was very prevalent in the 16th chapter of the book. Towards the middle of the chapter, it is pointed out that Henrietta is buried in an unmarked grave, in an overcrowded cemetery. Considering that billions of dollars have been made from her cells, you would think that she would have had a better grave, but that’s not the case. She was taken advantage of because of her race, gender, and class.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/21/death-in-the-city-what-happens-cemeteries-full-cost-dying

This article is about overcrowding in cemetery's. It talks about how cemeterys fill up and graves get reused. The article states that you can essentially rent graves in certain European cities, and if you can afford to keep paying you can keep that grave. Otherwise you get moved to a mass grave. Many wealthy people are able to pay for the privilege of a grave, while people with lower social classes or wealth are forced to resort to mass graves.

[benha11]

Post #2

“No one told Sonny, Deborah, or Joe what had happened to their mother, and they were afraid to ask…As far as the children knew, their mother was there one day, gone the next.”(Pg 111) This quote shows Family Relationships. While reading this I realized how much the family was impacted by this. Her family was kept in the dark, and no one explained to them what had happened. This is not morally right, family should have a right to be informed about events like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VqBMYsjCqk This video is an interview with Henrietta’s son. He talks about what happened with his mothers cells. He describes how the university found "HELA" cells that pioneered Cancer. This helps give more insight to what was described in the book. it isn’t from the point of view of the author, but instead its from her son.

[benha11]

Alienation because of Gender, Race, Class, or Creed

While reading the book, chapter two immediately stands out.  The chapter begins with the description of where Henrietta Lacks was raised for a majority of her childhood. Henrietta's father sent her to be raised her on old plantations, where their ancestors used to work as slaves, and their family now works.  This ties heavily in with Alienation because of Gender, Race, Class, or Creed. This relates to that topic because even though they are no longer slaves, they have not moved up in the world, and still work jobs slaves would work. Then later in the chapter, we are told that Henrietta attends a colored school, and also sits in colored sections while watching movies. This is an obvious division because of race.(Chapter 2)

https://www.historyisfun.org/pdf/colonial-life/What_was_life_like_for_slaves_on_a_Virginia_farm.pdf

This article gives a good idea of what life would be like for her ancestors, and how it relates to her now. What is described in this article is very similar to what the Lacks lifes were like. It describes slave quarters, which they live in old slave quarters. It depicts the daily routines of slaves which is similar to what the Lacks do on the plantation

[benha11]

thedarkfey: 🎃 Happy Halloween! 🎃 Jack-o’-lanterns are a very spooky and fun form of art. Making Jack-o’-lanterns can be a yearly tradition for some people, going through the process of gutting the pumpkin then carving it. Jack-o’-lanterns can be a very creative way for you to express yourself. You carve a pumpkin and the pumpkin completely transforms when you put a light in there. You can carve something either scary, or maybe something cute, maybe just a small face on the pumpkin. This creates an atmosphere for the holiday when mixed with the costumes and decorated houses for an artistic spirit. Jack-o’-lanterns can also influence pop culture. In this instance they are used in The Office to create a funny scene. Its used as a prop which can also be considered an art form.

🎃 Happy Halloween! 🎃

[benha11]

I think this photograph can be considered a great example of art. It’s a perfectly caught moment in time that creates this idea that this is a mystical place. While it’s a photo, it can be also used as a metaphor for time. The stream of sand falling could represent an hour glass slowly filling up; representing the passage of time. I like how a picture can have multiple meanings and you can interpret it in different ways. This picture can seem almost surreal because of the way the light is coming through and how Undisturbed it is.

Time.

[benha11]

I agree that social media is a great platform to express different ideas and cultures through your posts. Social media allows you to create content that describes who you are as a person and what you like. I like how you’ve responded to an ordinary post and are able to depict the artwork in the post. While I love to use social media myself, it can also be used as a tool to stop the spread of art. Plenty of pieces of art are taken down in instagram because they don’t meet its guidelines. On Instagram people can comment and tear down someone else’s post. I think that this is a problem, although there is plenty of more beneficial reasons to use social media as a platform for art

Danny’s instagram post, October 3 2019

[benha11]

I love how the artist uses so many pieces that you would never assume could go together and create something like this but the artist is able to envision this. While I don’t think the cat is the best way to express the idea that trash can be used for multiple different things, I think that this form of artwork can get that message across. I think this is art because instead of looking at it and seeing trash, the artist is able to make you see something completely different instead, a valuable piece of art.

Giant Cat made from trash by Bordalo II, Portugal.

[benha11]

I think football can definitely be considered art, In football you have to execute plays in order for you to make soemthing happen like scoring a touchdown. When a play is being run and everything falls into place I think that is considered art because there’s an organized chaos on the field in that moment. And when you look at it it begins to make sense and an understanding clicks in. This is an art because you need skilled athletes to make this happen or it doesn’t look like art. You could compare the NFL to a kids football league, the kids league might not look like very good art but as they practice it more it begins to look better. Individually players need to know moves to use in the field as well as different assignments. I think this also contributes to the art of this sport. In this play it’s amazing how the wide receiver can catch a pass and get a touchdown like that, after running and executing a well organized play.

🤯

[benha11]

I think that this rendering is a great example of art. This particular artist, goes by beetle, uses pop culture and current events and trends to create art pieces that make statements. In this piece he uses nostalgic characters from well known franchises to create a monster out of them. While it may seem frightening and terrifying, the children view this monster as another imaginary friend. This highlights the aspect that these characters that can be considered art by themselves, create an memorable impact in the consumers that view these movies as memorable experiences

IMAGINARY FRIEND

[benha11]

*SPOILERish*

The Joker movie was a very cool movie. The movie was a form of artwork that managed to show mental illness as well as political movements. The movie portrays Arthur Fleck, who later becomes the joker, as a man who has mentally and physically beaten down by society. The movie depicts this struggle on the screen and is able to capture what this does to a person; Although most instances are not to this extreme. The movie shows how cruel society can be to people with mental illnesses. It essentially captures certain themes in society

Joker, 2019.🤡🎬

[benha11]

What I want from my education.

You can achieve many different things from your education. It could be a degree, it could be life skills, or it could be developing social connections. From what I have been through so far it has often been about getting the good grades, so I can get into college. While I do want to achieve this, more importantly I want to develop more important critical skills to succeed in life. These skills like reading, writing, problem solving, and creativity are important skills that help you succeed in life. I wan’t to be able to create a good career for my self so I can have a comfortable life. I also wan’t to be knowledgeable about a variety of different things. I don’t want to be someone who doesn’t have very much tools to help them succeed. Your amount of education also affects a certain percent of how people perceive you. I wan’t to be perceived highly, while if I had a low amount of education that may or may not affect that. Achieving these things is what I want to get out of my education.