Category: McCoy 101 Fall 2017

My previous blog post discussed the article, “The Painful Truth About Teeth”. I specifically highlighted many of the issues and flaws that we have in our current healthcare system which prevent certain individuals from being able to receive the dental care that they need. Continue reading “A Legion of Teeth”

From Avery’s blog post “Persuasion vs. Awareness” I share similar feelings regarding what impact a single person can have vs. an entire group on someone’s beliefs. I believe that Avery’s statement, “The sad truth is that they may forget it within the next twenty-four hours” reveals how hard people sometimes need to work in order to affect someone. I believe the collective statement that we are working on in class has the potential to change people’s opinions about what Geneseo’s study abroad programs are about. Although the statement may have the potential to change a study abroad students view on what the program is about, I fear that it could possibly result in the backfire effect if the person presenting the material does not know how to properly present it to a student seeking to volunteer abroad. Continue reading “The Unintentional Backfire Effect”

Stereotypes are a part of human history and will never truly go away. Every race has a stereotype that follows them through the ages, and new ones crop up with every passing year. Some of the more typical stereotypes are those that surround race, gender, culture, groups of individuals and their posses, and sexuality. It is very ignorant, naive and rude of those who mention stereotypes to people’s faces, as just because it is true of a select few does not mean it is true for all. The more common stereotypes that surface surround race, gender and sexuality with jokes against black people and the LGBTQ+ community. You would think that with the passing years, and as people grow older they would stop believing stereotypes about people and making assumptions about people without knowing them, but no dice.

Some would hope that the world would become more accepting of everyone in the future, especially when the unthinkable happens, say a possible apocalypse where you could die at any moment. Everyone across the globe would band together and try to beat their adversary without bothering with making jabs at someones orientation, skin color or demographic. But in Zone One, we are proven wrong about our assumptions of humanity in the future.

In Zone One the main character, Mark Spitz, was not born with that name, no. He was given that name as a running joke, for he is a black man that would rather shoot his way out of a horde of zombies bent on killing him, rather than swim in water. Mark Spitz in turn is a very famous Olympic swimmer that has been replaced by Michael Phelps in commonality. It is a well known stereotype that Black people can’t swim, and its true that many cannot. But there are plenty that can swim very well, (me included since I was on a swim team for 9 years), and two summers ago African american swimmer, Simone Manuel set an Olympic record at the 2016 Olympics for the 100 freestyle. Even though Mark Spitz knows they are making a racist joke, he allows them to continue with this running racist joke. He is an easy going guy, and a good Skel-killer, so if he can have a good moment with his team that brings some light into these dark days, why ruin it by not being passive about it.

Fair warning message: I have been meaning to write this blog post, but I just have not been able to get to it, which is why you are seeing some of my recent posts about topics that were already mentioned.

Prior to reading all the blog posts and articles about medical voluntourism, such as “The Trouble with Medical Voluntourism” and “The White Tourist’s Burden,” I have always admired students that were willing to spend their summers going abroad to give their service and time to help a country that is in need of assistance, rather than spending it lounging around somewhere warm, like the beach. However after reading these articles and discussing the topic during class, I now realize how it is an issue. I believe most students are taking this English 101: Literature, Medicine & Racism class because they believe it will help them gain knowledge that they can use in the medical field. Discussing topic like medical voluntourism is important because it allows us to ask ourselves, “If we lacked the training and expertise required, would we risk harming a patient’s life in the chance of helping them?” No, right? If we would not do it here in our home country, what makes us think it is right to do it in a foreign country?

Continue reading “Unintentional Harm”

An important topic that we have discussed in class and that has been a common theme throughout the articles and books we have read is consent. Consent is the notion that a clear and verbal agreement is required from both parties prior to engaging in any activity. Without consent an activity may be considered to be a violent and/or criminal act. Although, typically when we think of consent we think of it in the context of sexual activity, we have seen it other cases as well. Throughout the semester we have found various examples of lack of consent in the following literature: “When Doctors Took ‘Family Planning” In Their Own Hands,” Medical Apartheid, Zulus, and Zone One. Continue reading “Consent or Lack There Of”

Sakshi’s post Is Hope a Bad Thing? provoked my thinking as she highlighted the line “He told himself: hope is a gateway drug, don’t do it” (Whitehead, 222). That line had not stuck out to me before, so I am glad Sakski brought my attention to it. As I went back to the text to look up the context of the quote, the already dark line became even more gloomy. In this section, the skels were encroaching on Mark Spitz’s hide out with Margie, Tad and Jerry. His stay with these three was a rather hopeful blip in his otherwise depressing life. He felt as if the four of them were almost a family, as “he was trapped in this house and he couldn’t think of where else he’d rather be” (Whitehead, 224). However, as the theme of this novel persists, all good things must come to an end and the skels eventually end up invading the house and the group separates. Prior to their disbanding, Mark Spitz had agreed to stay with the trio after the skels left and they were not trapped anymore. This glimpse at family and companionship in the midst of the plague was a glimmer of hope Mark Spitz allowed himself to enjoy, even against the warning to himself. Through his various experiences portrayed in the novel, Mark Spitz learned that hope only makes the disappointment worse when life comes crashing down, as seen when his relationship with Margie, Tad and Jerry comes to an end.

Continue reading “Response to: Is Hope a Bad Thing?”

Being an English major on the creative writing track, as a writer we are forced to stray away from cliches and to transform any abstract thoughts or words into concrete words. Abstract words are words that do not trigger the five senses. This means that every word we put into our writing is carefully selected and carries a lot of weight in its meaning. This relates to the book Zone One by Colson Whitehead. Colson Whitehead’s language use is specific and forces the reader to “navigate” through this sci-fi world. Every word in this book has a meaning. According to this website, the use of these specific keywords enable the writer to quickly and effectively communicate their meaning. Whitehead’s meaning of Zone One is to portray that his world is far from the ordinary.

Vocabulary is not only important to the writer, but it is important to the reader as well. Comprehension of vocabulary is crucial in achieving the main goal of reading which is understanding. According to Scholastic, “Words are the currency of communication. A robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication — listening, speaking, reading and writing.” It is critical that the writer effectively translates his or her ideas for the reader to understand. Whitehead effectively carries out these tasks in Zone One creating a diverse and alternate universe for readers to embark in.

In class two weeks ago, we discussed Colson Whitehead’s Fantastic use of vocabulary in Zone One. After compiling a plethora of unfamiliar words onto the whiteboard, I began to admire the English language. Despite growing up and speaking English my whole life, there were many words that I didn’t recognize. Continue reading “Vocabulary in Zone One”

I find that I’m often carrying on conversations outside of the classroom with my friends that relate to this course’s content. Every time we read an article or a chapter from Medical Apartheid that is absolutely appalling to me, I’ll bring it up to my friends in conversation. Nearly all of the things we discuss or read in this class is too important to not spread to those who don’t have the opportunity to learn it themselves. Continue reading “Persuasion vs. Awareness”

In class a few weeks ago, we were lucky to have Dr. Muench and Dr. Kennison speak with our class about their experiences running different study abroad trips and the issues related to voluntourism. Voluntourism is the act of conducting volunteer work while abroad and was something my group briefly talked about yesterday in class when writing our mission statement. As we have come to learn, voluntourism can be a very dangerous practice, especially when the help being conducted involves medical treatment. Initially there was concern that some trips offered by the Geneseo Study Abroad department entailed such types of medical voluntourism after Sabrina and Jenna addressed trip offerings that seemed to involve medical voluntourism. Learning of how “the international volunteer placement industry (as a whole) opens the door to potentially disastrous outcomes” (Sullivan) by Sullivan was unsettling especially when it seemed there was a chance that Geneseo students might be directly contributing to this issue. Thus, this opportunity was unique in that it provided some clarity on how Geneseo programs are generally run and also allowed us to get a better understanding of how volunteer work is properly conducted abroad. As we would come to learn though, just because these professors ensured no harm to local populations didn’t mean that the places they were visiting were exempt from the dangers of voluntourism.

 

My group was fortunate to speak with Dr. Muench who spoke about her experiences abroad in Haiti and Ghana. Amongst the many things Dr. Muench talked about, she specifically talked about the precautionary steps that she takes every time she goes abroad to ensure a beneficial and safe interaction between students and locals. This means providing a hands-on learning experience while also having informed consent from villagers on the help students provide. She explained that none of her students conduct medical procedures and that to get students to look at the people they are helping as people and not just test subjects, that she teaches and applies the concept of interdependence to their interactions. Interdependence is the reliance of two or more organisms on each other and is a term taught by Dr. Muench in her introduction biology lecture. In her own way, she has made students see this interaction “both and” benefits wise and is something I personally found to be a great idea. I personally was taught on the topic by Dr. Muench three years ago in her introductory biology lecture and seeing her apply this term topic to a real-life situation outside of the class was cool. Although it was relieving to hear about how Geneseo students provide consensual and meaningful help,  it was disheartening to learn of the few instances where Dr. Muench witnessed another group of doctors conducting work that could potentially involve issues we discussed in class.

Continue reading “Medical Voluntourism and Our Civic Duties As Students of Geneseo”