essay 3

As i was trying to get things together today to write my essay i realized how complicated this essay really would be to write. There are so many sides to this topic and so many different ways to look at it. I want to write my essay on body modification for medical reasons, and I am having a hard time picking a side to write about because there are so many different reasons for why different people get different surgeries done. I guess that I thought this essay would be easier than it really is, it ended up being extremly complicated to pick topics from the readings to write about.

removing of limbs

Today in class when we were discussing the removal of healthy limbs due to a psychological disease is really made me very confused on how to think about it. I understand that this is something that a person is born with and that they really feel incomplete and depressed about having a part of their body, and for that reason they want it removed. Also, I cant help but think about all the people who are born without limbs, and who would give anything to have a full functioning body, and these people are just giving their limbs up. I know that is isn't their choice, but it is still hard to think about it in any other way. Also I think about these doctors and hospitals who are risking their reputations when they amputate a perfectly healthy limb off these people. And patients know this so they will do to any cause like burning their body part, or freezing it, so that these is something wrong so the doctors are forced to amputate it. It is a very confusing subject and I'm not really 100% how i feel about it from either side because i see both sides of the argument.

Body modification

This week in class we have been reading a lot about body modification and different ways it can be preformed. I think that this topic is something that is very touchy and can be interpreted in many different ways. These body modifications can go from a simple tattoo to branding yourself and people have many different options on what these body modifications mean to them. We read about four different people who had 4 different experiences with body modification. One was a man who cut himself. He worked in a mental hospital and for his form of body modification he cut different patterns into his skin. this caused him a lot of problems because he worked with mental patients and he his boss didn't think that he himself was mentally stable, and in the end cost him his job. I think that sometimes these extreme forms of body modification do have negative impacts, but it also isn't my place to judge what they are feeling or why they do these things to their body.

when we did the reading on bleaching of skin, it really surprised me. I didn't know that this was something that a lot of people around the world struggled with and for this reason it really was rather shocking. i knew of Micheal Jackson bleaching his skin for whatever medical reason he claimed to have, but i didn't know that people in different cultures did this to fit in. I think that fact that people do things that drastic to fit in is really makes me happy that i live where i do, that i am not faced with these issues.

Last night when I was writing my essay I was having a really hard time figuring out how to put everything together. It was hard to pick a topic and then find the appropriate essays to help add references to it. Eventually I decided to write about illness and disability. I think that this essay was a lot harder to write the the first essay because it was something we had to research and then relate to us personally. Also, I wasn't really sure how well my essay met the assignment requirements, but hopefully I will get good feedback.

In class today i was having a hard time trying to figure out what to write about for this essay. There were so many different options that I could have written about, I was having a hard time getting down to one sound idea what I could write 5 to 7 pages about. I decided that I was going to write about body images, and focus mostly on that image of people with disabilities. This somewhat affects me personally because my sister has some physical disabilities, so I think that this topic is something that I can write soundly about, and produce a good essay from too.

After finishing the movie in class i realized a few things. One that i figured out after we summarized in class the section from the essay called "Cultural Fixions of the Freak Body: Conney Island and the Postmodern Sideshow," is that you never can tell who the so called "freak s." This depends 0n your setting and who is around you. On these side shows the freaks are the normal people and in the outside world, the term "freak" isn't something that should be used at all. Also from watching this movie is that people who these physical disabilities are actually very functional like the man with no hands or legs who can roll the cigarette, and has a complet family of his own. This surprised me and i found myself no on longer feeling bad for these people anymore, because they were making livings, had families and were living as normal of a life that they could.

Today in class we watched the beginning of the movie freaks. I thought that it was a really good display of how cruel people can be sometime in order to get what they want. When the beautiful women started to use the midget for his money it shows how greedy she is and truly cruel, she will be to get what she wants. Also something that made me really upset and kind of confused as to why he did was when the big guy punched the half man half women in the face. I understand it was because he was them kissing, but I don't understand why he had to punch they person in the face. Once again it shows how truly cruel people can be for no reason. This move somewhat reminds me of how sometime teenagers can act. They can be vicious for no reason to someone who is different either to hide the fact that they insecure, or to get a laugh. I am really looking forward to watching the rest on Wednesday.

In response to Melissa I really do agree with you on the fact that if i had to live in a society like they do in the story "The Socks," id go insane. The fact that these women weren't even allowed to look at a man and draw him, is crazy. I guess we are spoiled in our society, because there are still place sin this country that have rules like this. I think its crazy. Women should be able to wear what they want act like they want draw what they just like men do. But what i loved about this story was how they rebelled. I think that this was the least they could do under the circumstances.

in response to http://melissafawi.blogspot.com/

I really like how Jodi related the Zora story to hairspray I think that it was a really good connection that it really did compare well with. It's not easy to be carefree and really stand up for what you believe in even if you know it right, because it might the harder of the choices to make. I really wish i had zoras courage, because it is easier to just sit back and go with the flow, and accept what society does, but sometimes this isn't right for you.

While I was doing my peer grading this weekend I was really impressed with how creative the two girls were who papers I was reading. I think this assignment is a hard one but it can be really interesting once you have a finished product. I like how the two girls took such normal body parts and made me know exactly how they were feeling, and how different events impacted them and made them grow in different ways. As for myself and writing this essay, it made me see a part of me in a different way, and made me look at events in my life in a different way as well. So overall I guess I'm trying to say that even though this essay was a struggle for me personally I really have been enjoying doing it, and reading my classmates essays as well.

I don’t know what I would do if I had a stutter. I rely so much on my voice and what I have to say, and if I had problem with getting out my thoughts or knowing that was I was saying wasn’t coming out clearly, that would be one of the most helpless feelings in the world. When Hoagland says that there were really only three times in his life where he was really scared because of his stutter it made me think about if I could be as strong as he is dealing with that. I already get nervous when I have to speak in front of a big crowd of people. But for Hoagland, there is an even bigger struggle than just some simple butterflies. He had to deal with wondering when he was going to stutter and, if he was going to be able to say what he needed to say, on a daily basis, and in everyday conversation. Reading his story made me very great full to have my voice, and to know what I don’t have to worry about it failing me when I need it.

When we had to read “At War with My Skin” by John Updike it reminded me of this boy that goes to the summer came I work at. This little boy has pretty bad psoriasis and it sometimes seems to me like he is isolated from the rest of the kids because of it. I work as lifeguard for the camp so the only time ire ally get to interact with them is when they are at the beach, but this boy wouldn’t go in the water because his psoriasis was extra bad on his back and he was embarrassed by it. When she says “my peers either didn’t notice anything terrible about my skin or else neglected to comment upon it,” this also brought up the fact that I never can actually remember any of the other kids saying anything about this boys skin either. Maybe it was because they knew that is wasn’t something he could control or maybe they truly didn’t notice anything different about him either. But this story just brought up that memory for me and it reminded me of a person story that I could relate to as well. I think that physical problems like that can be really hard for a person of any age. You think that people are always starring at you, and even if they don’t say something to you, it seems like they possibly could be judging you behind your back. I really enjoyed this story and I’, glad that I could make a person connection to it as well.

When we got the questions in class last Monday, I didn't think that picking this subject to write about was going to be so hard. I had a few ideas pop up immediately and I thought that I could easily come up with some good stories to write about for this essay topic. Little did I know that it was a lot then my initial assessment seemed. I sat down for about 2 hours trying to figure out what I could possible write about that would fit the description of this essay. I still am not 100% sure on what I want to write about but I have a few more ideas. This topic really made me look back into my past and try to recall some stories from my childhood. I really enjoyed the channeling of this essay topic and am really looking forward to seeing how the finished product turns out.

I really enjoyed reading this story because you shows how image really is an important part of our everyday life. I like how is starts off with her knowing that she was going to go to the fair because she knew that she was cute, and that her father would want her to go with him for that reason. She even says to him "take me daddy, I'm the prettiest." Her saying this also shows that even at 2 and a half years old looks can come along with confidence. Then you read about how she gets shot in the eye and how everything changes for her. You see her no longer being confident, and she goes from being the cute little girl tot he girl that everyone looked at and at times made fun of. she starts doing badly in school, hides from visitors in her own house. Once she finally gets the "glob" removed from her she says she almost immediately becomes a different person. She now raises her head, finds a boyfriend becomes the most popular girl in her class. I think that her events throughout life, and her lack of self-confidence are clearly due to the fact that she isn't happy with the way she looks. Once she has the surgery again, she becomes more satisfied with her looks and is able to be the happy outgoing girl she was before she got shot in the eye. I think that is it easy to hid behind a physical flaw that you think you have, and it is easy for you unhappiness with yourself image to effect you in other aspects of your life. It shows because once Alice got her surgery she went back to her old self, got good grades had confidence, and it was all due to the fact she was bale to pick her head up, and be proud of what she looked like once again.