Reflection on the past weeks in my English Composition 1 class. It has been a wonderful experience so far, I have gotten to meet different great personalities, my instructor is very engaging in conversations about writing with his students and I think that has been the most interesting part for me. The system of writing has made me, more interested in writing. I always look forward to my writing assignments because it doesn't seem like stress to me. Blogging has been a great development for me also because at first I did not really understand what it was all about but now I can say I have a hang of it and am doing so well with my blog posts. In such a short time I have gotten to learn that writing isn't supposed to be perfect at first, writing is a process and this has helped me become confident that I can be a better writer.
"For the next few days, Mary started each morning with her usual sterilization
drill. She'd peer into all the incubating tubes, laughing to herself and thinking, "Nothing's happening." "Big surprise." Then she saw what looked like little rings of fried egg white around the clots at the bottom of each tube. The cells were growing, but Mary didn't think much of it—other cells had survived for a while in the lab." But Henrietta's cells weren't merely surviving—they were growing with mythological intensity. By the next morning, they'd doubled. Mary divided the contents of each tube in two, giving them room to grow, and soon she was dividing them into four tubes, then six. Henrietta's cells grew to fill as much space as Mary gave them. Still, Gey wasn't ready to celebrate. "The cells could die any minute," he told Mary. But they didn't. The cells kept growing like nothing anyone had seen, doubling their numbers every 24 hours, accumulating by the millions. "Spreading like crabgrass!" Margaret said. As long as they had food and warmth, Henrietta's cancer cells seemed unstoppable. Soon, George told a few of his closest colleagues that he thought his lab might have grown the first immortal human cells." RESPONSE: This is a showing scene that shows us how Mary always acted sarcastically whenever she checked on the samples because she felt it was impossible for them to stay alive and even when she noticed that they where growing she did not make much of the fact. Gey also had little faith because he felt the cells could die at any moment. This I feel is an important scene because it made me see that people didn't believe even when they saw the impossible becoming possible because they where so used to the fact that it had always failed before. "In 1951, at the age of 30, Henrietta Lacks, the descendant of freed slaves, was diagnosed with cervical cancer—a strangely aggressive type, unlike any her doctor had ever seen. He took a small tissue sample without her knowledge or consent. A scientist put that sample into a test tube, and, though Henrietta died eight months later, her cells—known worldwide as HeLa—are still alive today. They became the first immortal human cell line ever grown in culture and one of the most important tools in medicine: Research on HeLa was vital to the development of the polio vaccine, as well as drugs for treating herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson's disease; it helped uncover the secrets of cancer and the effects of the atom bomb, and led to important advances like cloning, in vitro fertilization, and gene mapping. Since 2001 alone, five Nobel Prizes have been awarded for research involving HeLa cells." RESPONSE: This is a Telling Scene and it is an important part of this excerpt because it made me understand why the story is called "The miracle woman". It spoke about how Henrietta Lacks cells been able to stay alive became a record breaking, miracle discovery that has impacted the world even without her knowing before her death. This scene tells us how impossibility can turn to become possible, even when other cells failed to be successful at staying alive Henrietta's cells stayed alive, kept regenerating and has helped researchers develop different vaccines and drugs to treat various kinds of diseases. “Henrietta didn't tell anyone what Jones said, and no one asked. She simply went on with her day as if nothing had happened, which was just like her—no sense upsetting anyone over something she could just deal with herself.” "Ain't nothin' serious wrong," she said. "Doctor's gonna fix me right up." Response to how it affected Henrietta: Her reaction was a great surprise to me and also a lesson to me. Even when she realized she had cancer she did not give up on life she kept on living each day like nothing ever happened and even going into treatment she acted like nothing was wrong. right away I was able to know a little bit about her personality, she is a very brave and strong women who even when circumstances came her way kept her head up. “Henrietta's husband and children wouldn't find out about those cells until 25 years later, when researchers from Johns Hopkins decided to track down Henrietta's family to do research on them to learn more about HeLa.”Today, in Baltimore, her family still wrestles with feelings of betrayal and fear, but also pride.“ “As her daughter Deborah once whispered to a vial of her mother's cells: "You're famous, just nobody knows it." EFFECT ON HER FAMILY: Henrietta's family only got to find out about their the remarkable discovery because researchers wanted to carry out more research on them. This I feel didn't make them too happy knowing that their mother never knew about them taking her cells but even with the feeling of emotions they were also proud that their mother was famous even without her knowing. EFFECT ON FUTURE PATIENTS: Henrietta's lack of decision to go visit the doctor turned out to have a tremendous effect on the life's of future patients because researchethat was proven impossible became possible and her cells have helped in various treatments of diseases giving research the knowledge they never knew existed. Here i am,standing beside the hospital bed and there laid the most exciting uncle ever.My uncle who is an extrovert, a man with words of wisdom,who played and laughed like life itself is a wonderful thing. This time he was mute,he could not talk or move and his eyes were closed. Still standing i keep thinking whats wrong "what has made the exciting uncle turn so cold and quiet". The doctor comes in to check on him and i ask "doctor whats wrong is my uncle going to be fine" the doctor smiled and said "i will do my best to see to that" i asked again "is there anything i can do" and the doctor replied "just be strong" the doctor left and i continue with my thoughts "how i wish i can do something,anything, maybe a superpower to bring my uncle to his normal self". I see sweats dripping down his face, i get a towel and a bowl of water and i start to clean up his face, there and then his closed eyes turned open and he smiled. I felt an excitement running through my veins ,i was waiting for a word of wisdom maybe but still he remained mute.
Chapter Titles Of My life 1.Learn to appreciate your family 2.Life itself is worth living 3Think before taking actions 4.Experience makes you better 5.Making a decision starts with a thought 6.Desperate to change situations 7.A loss a force to live 8.Your outer appearance does not define you. 9.Look up from technology 10.Teenage life YOUR APPEARANCE DOES NOT DEFINE YOU
I looked in the mirror my thin legs stuck out to me,my tiny butt and my broad face i felt so ashamed that i went in my room looked the door and kept saying the "WHY" word.sometimes we get so sad about our outer looks that we shy away from the world itself. We often look at our self's in the mirror and the first thing we tend to notice are the faults(big nose,crooked eyes,thin legs etc). This makes us disconnect from the world,we miss family dinners,hanging out with friends, even a chance at love. There are little things we overlook most of them are our pure hearts,the love we have for friends and family, those good things about our self's are not to be overlooked. Why not look in the mirror today notice that beautiful smile on your face and always tell yourself "I AM AWESOME JUST THE WAY I AM" .It doesn't matter what anyone says about you what matters is what you say to yourself. DISTRACTIONS WHEN WRITING
Here I am on my bed,struggling to be awake,i get up and find my way to the bathroom,turn on the water and wash my face. While I brush my teeth it suddenly dawns on me that I have a paper to write, getting to the study desk,i open up my computer say a word of prayer and start typing. I start with the topic of the write up, thinking of an introduction sentence to start up my first paragraph, the clock chins heavily coo coo coo coo, looking up and its 8:00am already, I remember father is coming back from work 8:30am and breakfast has to be ready. My state of mind changes immediately from writing mode to breakfast mode. Breakfast is ready,father is home and food is served. I find my way back to my study desk and I try to quiet my head to get back into the writing mode, and the two little sisters are awake. I call them angels because they are so beautiful, abandoning writing mode again,I quickly make some milk for the little angels(sisters) .This is really when the life mode truly starts because the two little angels(sisters) are all around the house playing and shouting,i try to see if it is possible to combine life mode and writing mode but it doesn’t work. I find it difficult to concentrate in a noisy unsettled environment and I once again abandon writing mode and focus on taking care of my two little angels(sisters). Its dark and the two little angels are asleep,dad and mom gone to work. A sudden relief comes to me knowing I have a chance to write my paper with the environment quiet. I get to my study desk, this time with a clear head typing becomes easy ,with two paragraphs I still continue writing with the hope to finish my paper but then human nature kicks in(sleep). My eyes are closing but I struggle to stay awake and type more but I am so weak that I give into human nature and I fall asleep. Next morning father is home and first thing he asks me is “are you done with your writing” and I just smile. I know with more hardwork, flexibility and focus, I will be a better writer. SIX STRATEGIES TO BECOME A BETTER WRITER 1.sleep during the day while the little angels(sisters) take their nap and wake up during the early hours to write. 2.While in the life mode,try to brainstorm,so writing would be easier when in the writing mode 3.I would engage the little sisters into playing with toys while I write. 4.Make a to do list,so I can keep all life mode task in check, to further help me focus when in the writing mode. 5.Play cool and slow music while writing. I have gotten find out that when listening to cool songs while studying or writing I understand and focus more. 6.Pay attention to my instructor in class. Understanding and been able to put into work all that my instructor imparts to us to help become a better writer. Although,i have never created a website or a blog, using a writing composition course would be interesting and an effective way of learning for student. I have used other internet resources in my other courses which proved to be a major way of learning in those course. I am used to internet activities and I think it will be easy and flexible for me to adapt to this system of using blog. It would help us all as students easily understand and assimilate information and also work on assignments before due date because most students in college are highly involved in using internet resources. Therefore, using a blog for a writing composition course would be interesting and effective to students.
My course goals and expectations for this semester is to be flexible in an understandable learning environment and put in all my efforts to become a better writer. My goals are o be fully participative,attentive and effective in all activities carried out in this English composition class. I will sure to participate in class interactions,website assignments and also during group work shops/review of paper. I will be attentive to my instructor at all times and make sure I am effective in all class activities to further help improve my writing. Additionally my expectations for this class is to have an understandable passage of information from my instructor, which would help me be more effective. Therefore, during my course this semester, I will definitely be as flexible as possible in an understandable learning environment and put in all my efforts into becoming a better writer.
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