Reflexion

I can’t believe how fast these eight weeks have pass by. I still remember our teacher telling us that effectively the second part of the semester leaves you with this sensation. I have the pleasure of being part of the class of Professor Beverly Aronowitz for two consecutive semesters and the experience was simple wonderful. I remember walking into her class last semester but mostly I remember how scare I was for taking a writing class. I was simple terrified for coming back to school after 20 years.

But there was one of the most dedicated teachers I have ever met: making everything so smooth and easy not only for me but for the entire class. Suddenly, I found myself enjoying the writing process. The reason why I think is very important to mention this is because she makes me gain confidence while learning to write. This is not an easy task when your original language isn’t English. Slowly but firmly she was constantly encouraging my learning while building the foundation of my future as a college student. I make her directly responsible for any success that I accomplish at writing for my other classes.

This semester was not different but it was especially tough for me. A series of events on my personal life were taking me to my edge. I was seriously thinking on dropping the semester. But not only the making of the blog -- which I really enjoy – but reading the work of my classmates makes me realize that we all have problems that we have to overcome. This is life, it is not easy and we will fall as many times to gain experience but it is up to us to keep ourselves stronger.

Suddenly I started to think on my life in Peru and the chaos that my family and I have to survived and finally overcome. This single thought makes me come back up on my feet and while reading on my classmates experiences on life I promised myself to fight even harder.

This is how powerful writing is. For the lector, a specific piece of work can change his/her life. I strongly believed that the objective of this course is being largely accomplished.  I have learned that the development of a blog can make the process of writing -- and the subject – more intense, powerful and personal. Writing about one specific subject but at the same time splitting it in a few subthemes makes us take the research even further and as a result we became more informed. This method is definitely different to the traditional research project but I believe that it is extremely more effective when it comes to acquiring understanding.

Other techniques such adding images to our research to visually reinforce our thoughts were definitely something amazing. I have learned that sometimes an image can said more than thousand words. As a technology increases the possibilities of communication, we also learned that texting is also another type of literacy because involves our skills to communicate with each other. The only thing that is left for me to say is that communication is a very powerful thing. It is what keeps humanity together.

 The semester is one more time over, but the knowledge that we have acquired and the connections that we have made will last for the rest of our lives. I am sincerely thankful with all of you.

Citation 

Image (n.d.) Retrieved May 10, 2011 from http://123rf.com .

To be or not to be ………. Perfect?

I believe that sometimes is very difficult to be an objective person and mostly when the area under discussion makes no sense in our minds. For me such is the case of cosmetic surgery. However, I do not criticize the labor of plastic surgeons but I am definitely against unnecessary procedures. Daily, many women put themselves under this painful experience on their chase for physical perfection.

I am constantly questioning myself about who is the mind behind such ideas of perfection and beauty. When a plastic surgeon talks about symmetry, proportion, balance, and such and such in order to described someone’ physical features; I’m thinking in my Algebra class rather than another topic. Perhaps, no long ago I was watching a TV show about plastic surgery and there was this  beautiful young lady – minutes later I would learned that I was apparently wrong -- walking into the surgeon’ office to get some “work done.” I thought that the doctor was being “Punk.” However, after the doctor’s professional examination the diagnostic was that effectively she wasn’t symmetrical and suddenly a list of things to be “fix” appeared from nowhere. I still can’t process this madness.   

Image 1

Plastic surgeons considered “symmetry” as perfection

What is more disturbing is to realize how cosmetic surgery is becoming so popular among teenagers. In fact, it is no rare to see women under age 18 getting cosmetic surgery. Suddenly, a “cool” Sweet 16 present could be asking mommy and daddy to get breast implants (Friedman, 2005). There are so many reasons why cosmetic surgery for teens is a bad idea, but what is more important to consider is that at that age they still developing not only physically but also emotionally (Friedman, 2005). We need to understand that is normal for teenagers to be enormously concerned about their appearance and this in consequence makes them more vulnerable to the opinion of their peers (Friedman, 2005). But, instead of reinforcing these anxieties it would be more reasonable to endow our young women with the support and information so they can learn to appreciate themselves and create strong personal values (Friedman, 2005).  “Why not give a young woman a few years to decide if she actually is happy the way she is, rather than sending the message to her and every other teenager that if you don’t have a big bust or a perfect nose, then you are not built right?” (Friedman, 2005).

Perhaps, some organizations argue that any surgeon who does such unethical procedures on woman under 18 should be penalized and ought to lose their license (Friedman, 2005).

             Moreover, sanctions should also be applied to those called “doctors” who don’t even dissuade their clients from getting risky procedures when they are not even needed (Friedman, 2005). How many cases are exposed worldwide about plastic surgery going wrong? Other potential problems related with these procedures are also infections, blood clots, heart attacks, reactions to anesthesia (some people don’t even wake up after a being sedated for long hours), hematoma or pulmonary embolism. Many reactions happened instantaneously or in some cases days after surgery (Friedman, 2005). Only in America “Complete national statistics on deaths resulting from plastic surgery are unavailable because most procedures take place either in a doctor’s office or in a freestanding clinic, and only about a dozen states require doctors operating in private offices to report adverse outcomes” (Friedman, 2005).  

Image 2

Heidi Montag almost died after putting herself through ten surgeries in a period of 10 hours

                I also mentioned before in this blog how some women can easily become obsessed with plastic surgery and the devastating consequences that some cases have had. The following images, in my opinion, involved more than just a search for beauty because they have turned themselves into a twisted image of their own selves.

Image 3

Joselyn Wildenstein has spent about $ 4 million on plastic surgery

Image 4

This is the case of a beautiful woman who injected herself with cooking oil when she was unable to afford more cosmetic surgery

             Watching at these pictures I can’t stop wondering why a plastic surgery was necessary in the first place and why someone could even think on attempting a “do it yourself” procedure.  I also mention before in this blog about a condition that my little niece has. In her case a plastic surgery is highly recommended because of the impact that the growing bone on her face is doing to her health. As time passes, essential tasks like eating and breathing are being more difficult for her to achieve. The advances in technology and science are indeed amazing and I applauded the dedication of surgeons who are able to make a difference in someone’s life.

            The possibilities that surgery has accounted to improve the life of many people with physical afflictions is a truly miracle and I recognized it. Still, I believe that this practice –when unnecessary—must be regulated and closely follow by our authorities y order to prevent physical damage and pointless deaths.

Citation

Friedman, J. (2005, April 15). Cosmetic surgery. The CQ Researcher. Retrieved March 15, 2011 from CQ Researcher Database.

Image 1 (n.d.) Retrieved April 30, 2011 from http://dailymail.co.uk.

Image 2 (n.d.) Obsessed with being perfect. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://wikiality.wikie.com.

Image 3 (n.d.) No more plastic surgeries you’re cut off. Retrieved May 1, 2011 from http://theberry.com.

Image 4 (n.d.) Retrieved May 4, 2011 from http://plastic-surgery-cost.com.

How Images Communicate with us

I used this image in the blog I developed because it shows the devastating reality of anorexia. The image above is an example of how this eating disorder could physically and mentally destroy a person; indeed this picture talks for itself. This image is very powerful and it is intended to create awareness and also to establish a social message in people of all ages since there is not discrimination of age, sex, or social status to suffer from this illness.

Pathos describes how an image can address our emotions. Watching at this portrait many of us could feel shock and overwhelm with emotions.  It is almost impossible not to feel pain and maybe many of us struggle with the idea that she sees herself as the materialization of beauty. For many of us it is hard to believe that in order to achieve this image this girl has taken herself this far. That is why it is very important to understand that anorexia is a physical and a mental illness as well. We can clearly see that she looks almost lost, fragile and hopeless. I believe that this picture can transmit many different emotions to the viewers.

Logos describes how an image would look to the audience intellect and reasoning and I think this picture is making a clear statement and calling for our attention. Perhaps, this image might hurt the sensibility of some people it is more than evident that and action is needed if we want to stop the growing number of women suffering for eating disorders.

Ethos, describes how an image address our sense of trust and beliefs and this portrait is definitely the living probe that anorexia is a real illness and not just a matter of fashion. By looking at this picture we are definitely convinced that anorexia is extremely dangerous and deadly.

Mythos describes how an image appeals to our values as person in a community.  This picture is clearly calling to our sensibility and values as human beings to approach this problem starting at the heart of our homes and to extend to our community in order to drive consciousness in our society to become knowledgeable and take action to help those who suffered from this terrible condition.  

Citation

Image (n.d.) Retrieved April 5, 2011 from http://www.natural-holistic.healthsunion.com .

           This cartoon relates well with the section in my blog that describes obesity as one of the most common eating disorders in western culture. Perhaps, this cartoon displays with humoristic sarcasm how obesity is becoming the affliction of many Americans and how this numbers keep its increment. The cartoonist used humor to catch the audience attention and to direct this attention to visualize a real problem that is screaming for an immediate plan of action by the community and our authorities. I believed this sketch is intended to target different audiences but is principally directed to those who are victims of our culture of super sized meals and fast food restaurants in every corner.

This particular cartoon speaks to me in many different ways. The man in the drawing looks clearly unhappy, stressed, exhaustive, disgusted and even sick. It almost seems like he is carrying the weight of the whole world on his body as he weighted himself in the scale –even when he can’t really see the numbers in the scale-- his facial expression and body language can easily transmit all of these emotions to the audience (Pathos).

The image clearly shows a referential statistic (he is holding a sheet of paper on his left hand) of the growing number of obese people in America. Unfortunately this is the shocking and ugly truth of our actual society; and the cartoonist make an excellent job graphically displaying this reality with humor and sarcasm (Logos). This cartoon is also targeting the attention of the general community – specially the “consumers” -- as America is becoming one of the countries with the highest numbers of obese population in the world. I considered the title “Oh Say Can You See … your feet?” hilarious, but sad at the same time because this is a social epidemic that could be easily prevented specially in our children since the parents are the ones responsible to manage their nutrition and good health (Mythos).

By looking at this cartoon it is not hard to believe that certainly this statistics are true and we can corroborate this numbers just by looking over our circle of family and friends, for sure three out of ten of them are afflicted with a weight related problem (Ethos).

I chose this cartoon because I think that it could create awareness in the audience and maybe help us to realize that this is a problem that we can address by making responsible choices when it comes to what we eat. Not always what it tastes good is the best pick for our health. I strongly believed that an image can say more than thousand words.

Citation

Editorial Cartoon (n.d.) Oh say can you see? Factson File new Services. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://www.2facts.comezproxy.vccs.edu .