Humanity… Where Do We Go From Here?

Though I wrote a sort of closing statement in my last blog post, there are still things lingering in my brain. It’s so bittersweet that this is my last post. I really enjoyed writing these, as it allowed me to use my voice. Most of my English courses require large amounts of extremely formal writing,  understandably so, but I crave every opportunity where my writing can be more personal… More me.  Continue reading “Humanity… Where Do We Go From Here?”

Solutions to Medical Voluntourism

As my last blog post (can’t believe I am writing that) I would like to reflect on a topic that has been discussed many times throughout this semester, Medical Voluntourism. As part of our class collaboration for the Final Course Statement, we addressed the issue of medical voluntourism and unpacked solutions to this matter. Volunteers are attending these trips for the wrong reasons of hoping to mix medical experience with traveling to different exotic locations.  Continue reading “Solutions to Medical Voluntourism”

From What I’ve Learned

Throughout this semester, I can say without a doubt that my writing style and sense of critical thinking has significantly improved. Prior to this course, I thought that I was a terrible writer and that I would never break free of my grammatical rut. Luckily, this course provided positive feedback, both online through blog posts and in the classroom in group discussions, that allowed me to realize that progress is an obtainable goal. Not only have I grown as a writer, I feel like I’ve become more aware of how institutions, especially the medical field, in today’s society have come to be. Even though there are some people in who are too blinded by America’s dark history, I’m glad that I was a part of a conversation with others who were willing to acknowledge our past. As Colson Whitehead mentioned in Zone One about the “American Phoenix,” I can only hope that one day, we too as a nation, can raise up from the ashes and reestablish ourselves in a united manner (Whitehead, 61). Continue reading “From What I’ve Learned”

COLORED ONLY

In Jackson, Mississippi, 1961, there was a signed ordered by the police stating “WAITING ROOM FOR COLORED ONLY” in hospitals and medical centers to segregate between the blacks and whites. According to “Civil Rights and Healthcare: Remembering Simkins v. Cone (1963)”, during this time period, African American doctors, dentists, and surgeons were only allowed to practice on other African Americans.

Of course during that time, the majority of white people thought African Americas were filthy and didn’t want much to do with them unless they were serving them. Of course medical practice is very serious so they’re only going to trust “their kind.” If a sign like this is up, it just shows that they didn’t even want to sit with the “colored group.”

Eventually, “the United States Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case) deemed that the two hospitals’ policies of racial discrimination for both patient admissions and visiting physician staff privileges violated the fifth and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution.”

This was a positive changed for the “colored group” in that they didn’t have to feel so secluded and treated as if they were animals. In reading the article, “The difference between blacks and animals”, Alice white states, “animals were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites.”

When I that sign I felt like it related so much to that quote because in this day and age you only see signs like that if “NO DOGS ARE ALLOWED” in to a store or an area in a park. It just shows how much white people back then belittled African Americans just because of their complexion.

 

Is Race Something to be Ignored?

In another class of mine, we started to discuss the idea of race and if identifying one’s race was important when naming an accomplishment of an individual (i.e. “He was a black Nobel Prize winner). One girl in my class automatically said that she felt that it was 100% necessary and I was a little shocked to hear this. I felt that one’s race shouldn’t be considered because everyone is equally intellectually capable of performing the same feats. I honestly believed that creating a title for someone that included their race was disrespectful and an effort to overshadow their accomplishments. However, after hearing her reasoning, I started to contradict my initial thoughts. Continue reading “Is Race Something to be Ignored?”

Time Management Is Hard

Over the semester, the inflow of new posts on here have not exactly been consistent. In the first weeks of class, I never pictured myself as one of the many frantically posting to reach the required amount. And yet, here I am. I am not going to plant the blame on the assignment itself. If anything, I think the blog posts were a great way to get out opinions and thoughts that we didn’t have room for in the classroom. Many of the posts I have read have been very intriguing and actually inspired me to write more myself.  Continue reading “Time Management Is Hard”

Everybody Wants to Be a Hero

throughout all of the novels we have read over the semester, there is very few aspect to tread a connection through all of them. We have gone to a variety of different time periods, different types of narration, and different realms of realism.There is a “hero complex” within the desires of every main character we have read.

In Zulus, Alice Achitophel wants to be the one to bring a new life into a serialized world. In Home, Frank Money wants to save his sister to make up for his wrongdoings in war. Blake sees a community of diseased outcasts as a possibility for medical intervention rather than a new way of life in Clay’s Ark. Finally, Mike Spitz sees himself as “an angel of death”, saving the skels and stalkers in the city from an eternity of wandering. Continue reading “Everybody Wants to Be a Hero”

Reflecting: A Semester Of Growth

Throughout this semester, I was challenged in a number of ways that provoked personal growth as both a student and as a human. The Geneseo Learning Outcomes for Baccalaureate Education played a large role in promoting that personal growth. First, this course above all required critical thinking through evaluating held assumptions on things such as medical voluntourism and consent among African-Americans and medical treatment. I was challenged to come up with my own views on the topic of medical voluntourism, and dive deep enough in the topic to come up with my own solution to some of the problems found in it. Second, communication was another huge part of this course. Having group discussions in nearly every class meeting was helpful in so many ways. Engaging in discussion on books, articles and other topics helped me understand the information more clearly and develop a sense of understanding that I was able to implement in future class discussions. Group discussions also inspired several of my blog posts this semester, as ideas would bounce of members in groups that maybe gave different insight on a topic. Lastly, this class was largely based on collaboration, particularly when it came to our final collaborative course statement. Geneseo’s learning outcome for collaboration states “To engage others in developing collaborative solutions; to experiment, take risks, and learn from mistakes; to enable, encourage, and recognize contributions to collaborative efforts by all group members; to manage and share work fairly and respectfully; to envision, promote, consider, and respond to diverse viewpoints.” And when I look at what the final project was, it was all of that. We developed solutions as a group to problems outlined in the course, and we encourage and recognized group members discussions both presently and in the forms filled out at the end of each class. As you can see, there are many ways in which Geneseo’s learning outcomes were heavily found in this course. Through the practice of these GLOBE outcomes, I will be able to take what I have learned this semester and apply it in future classes and in my career. I learned so much about what it means to work as a group to accomplish a task, and how important it is to draw conclusions based on valuable information. Both of these things are necessary skills that will come in handy next semester, as well as years from now when in my work environment.