Semester 2 Blog #12

Dear Mr. President,

Let me remind you of the condition that Europe was in after years of conflict during World War II. Millions of people were killed or severely wounded and industrial and residential centers in England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium, and everywhere else was in ruins. The majority of Europe was near famine because agricultural production was disrupted by the war. Transportation infrastructure was in pieces and the only major power in the world that was not significantly damaged was the United States.

During 1945 through 1947, the United States was assisting European economic recovery with financial aid. The military was assisting Greece and Turkey and the newly made United Nations was providing some humanitarian assistance as well. President Harry Truman appointed George Marshall to be Secretary of State in January 1947.

“Marshall is the greatest man of World War II. He managed to get along with Roosevelt, the Congress, Churchill, the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and he made a grand record in China. When I asked him to [be] my special envoy to China, he merely said, ‘Yes, Mr. President I'll go.’ No argument only patriotic action. And if any man was entitled to balk and ask for a rest, he was. We'll have a real State Department now.”

Officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), the Marshall Plan was meant to rebuild the economies and spirits of western Europe. Marshall was convinced that the key to restoration of political stability was in the revitalization of national economies.

European nations received nearly $13 billion in aid, which resulted in shipments of food, staples, fuel and machinery from the United States and later resulted in investment in industrial capacity in Europe. Marshall Plan funding ended in 1951.

I believe that we need to follow this again in order to help rebuild the government and economy in the Middle East areas. They will not be able to rebuilt themselves and would look up to us if we give them a hand at "normal" life again. Personally I feel that it would be the right thing to do if we helped these countries out. We've done some damage to them, the least we could do is clean up the mess that we made.

Sincerely,

Ally Moder

Semester 2 Blog #11

My grandfather, Ted Moder served in World War 2. He was a captain in the army and he served in Europe and was part of the force that went into France in Normandy. He went though France and into German and liberated some of the concentration camps. He was gone from 1943-1945. He didn't get wounded or anything.

Infantry Officer. He fought on the ground, not in tanks.

Semester 2 Blog #10

1942

Mom,
It’s been about two years since I was put into this camp called Manzanar and let me tell you, it isn’t a fun place to be. I was told that there are about ten different camps and all together they are called “America’s Concentration Camps”. They are doing the exact same thing as the Nazi’s in Germany.

The camp site is on 6,200 acres leased from the City of Los Angeles. The residential area is about one square mile, and has 36 blocks of 20-foot by 100-foot tarpaper barracks. Each family lives in a single 20-foot by 25-foot “apartment” in the barracks. These apartments have partitions with no ceilings, eliminating any chance of privacy. Lack of privacy is a major problem for us, especially since the camp had communal men's and women's bathrooms.

Each residential block also has a communal mess hall, a laundry room, a recreation hall, an ironing room, and a heating oil storage tank, although Block 33 doesn’t have a recreation hall. In addition to the residential blocks, Manzanar has 34 additional blocks that has staff housing, camp administration offices, two warehouses, a garage, a camp hospital, and 24 firebreaks. The camp also has school facilities, a high school auditorium, chicken and hog farms, churches, a cemetery, a post office, a cooperative store, other shops, a camp newspaper, and other things that you could find in most American cities.

We also have a camouflage net factory which is an experimental plantation for making natural rubber from the Guayule plant. There is also an orphanage called Children’s Village where about 101 orphans live.

Around the camp there are eight watchtowers manned by armed Military Police and it is enclosed by five-strand barbed wire.

The weather at Manzanar causes a lot of pain and suffering for us. Not many of us are accustom to the extremes of the area's climate. We are located right by Owens Valley. During the summer the temperatures usually exceed 100 degrees and winters bring snowfall and during the day the temperature often drops to the 40 degree range. It gets even colder at night sometimes getting as low as 25-30 degrees lower than the daytime highs. With the high winds that are very common we might get hit with a sand storm ever so often causing us to wake up in the morning with a nice layer of dust on ourselves. We rarely get any kind of rain here, maybe about 5 inches a year.

We have to wait in one line after another for meals, at bathrooms, and at the laundry room. Each camp is intended to be self-sufficient, and Manzanar was no exception. Cooperatives operate various services, such as the camp newspaper, beauty and barber shops, shoe repair, and more. In addition, some of us raise chickens, hogs, and vegetables, and cultivate the existing orchards for fruit. Sometimes we even make their own soy sauce and tofu.

Food at Manzanar is based on military requirements. Meals usually consist of hot rice and vegetables, since meat is scarce due to rationing. Just recently, a chicken ranch began operation and the camp opened a hog farm. Because of this, we now can have meat added to our diet.

Most of the people here are employed to keep the camp running. Some of the unskilled workers will earn about $8 a month, semi-skilled workers will earn $12 a month, skilled workers make $16 a month and professionals will earn $19 a month. Everyone gets $3.60 a month as a clothing allowance.

We try to make Manzanar more livable through recreation. We love to participate in sports, including baseball and football, and martial arts. We also personalize our surroundings by building elaborate gardens, which often include pools, waterfalls, and rock ornaments. There is even a nine-hole golf course.

While there are many things to do here at this camp I often find myself thinking about home and the family. I really miss you all and I hope to see you again someday. Say hello to the rest of the family for me and let them know that I am doing well. I’ll write to you again soon letting you know how everything is going. I love you all and miss you. Talk to you soon.

Love,
Sue




Helpful Resources:

http://americanhistory.about.com/cs/worldwarii/a/internment.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-American_internment#Conditions_in_the_camps
http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstory/activities/internment/more.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312008/bhjic.html

Semester 2 Blog #9

Above is a page of an antisemitic coloring book that would have been distributed to children. It shows a portrait of a Jew drawn by the German caricaturist known as Fips. In the upper left corner there is a logo known as the Der Stürmer logo showing a Star of David over a caricature of a Jewish face. Under the star there is a caption that reads: "Without a solution to the Jewish question, there will be no salvation for mankind"

When I first saw this I was a little shocked. Not because of the image itself but because this was a children's coloring book. It amazes me that they think that they can corrupt a child into thinking horrible things by giving them a coloring book full of antisemitic drawings.




"A truck load of bodies of prisoners of the Nazis, in the Buchenwald concentration camp at Weimar, Germany. The bodies were about to be disposed of by burning when the camp was captured by troops of the 3rd U.S. Army." Pfc. W. Chichersky, April 14, 1945

To me, any picture with a pile of dead bodies is striking. I could only imagine what it was like for the photographer. There isn't much to say about this photo. It's very sad and eye opening about what happened during the Holocaust and that's about all I could say about this picture.





J. Howard Miller's "We Can Do It!" image is commonly referred to as Rosie the Riveter. She is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II. In 1942, Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller was hired by the Westinghouse Company’s War Production Coordinating Committee to create a series of posters for the war effort.

I chose this image because I have seen it a lot in my life and I never knew that it was a WWII picture. I have always really liked this picture because of how strong it looks but now that I know the history of it I can like it and appreciate it even more.

Semester 2 Blog #8

The biggest symbol in this book would have to be the "fog machines". While reading this book you get to see the different routines and treatments that Ratched makes all the patients do. The fog could very easily represent the feelings and mindsets that Ratched causes the patients to have. The fog could also stand for the lack of having any kind of insight as well as an escape from reality and everything around oneself. Bromden, a patient in the mental institution would constantly start to slip away from the world around him, due to his medication or just out of fear, causing him to envision a think layer of fog enter the ward. He is convinced that the staff have hidden fog machines in all of the vents and the fog is controlled by the staff themselves. Bromden finds the fog to be a comforting and safe place where he can ignore reality.

Page 7

"They start the fog machine again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so think I might even be able to hide in it if they didn't have a hold on me."

"I can't see six inches in front of me through the fog and the only thing I can hear over the wail I'm making is the Big Nurse whoop and charge up the hall while she crashes patients outta her way with that wicker bag."

Page 8

"It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it [the fog]. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen."


The above quotes are talking about a time at the beginning of the book where Chief Bromden has a hallucination about the fog coming into the ward. It gives you a good feeling on how think and real the fog may seem to Bromden by him letting you know that he can't see very far in front of him or that he could hide within the fog. The last quote lets you know that he knows that some of his hallucinations aren't completely real.

Semester 2 Blog #7

Life had always been so simple. Racism was born in a time of struggle to his adoring parents, Hate and Ignorance. The two soon moved with their young son to a small town in hopes of a more promising future for him. When young Racism was playing in his front yard, he met his lifelong friend Bigotry. The world was a rapidly changing place while the two friends were growing up together as people started to worry about money and their social status.

The boys got their first paying job in the slave trade when they were teenagers. Much to the joy of his parents, Racism was well liked in the business and very talented at his work. As the company grew so did his popularity. Racism was soon promoted to a public position and worked on writing policies that would rub off on society. At one of his meetings, Racism met his first opponent. Rebellion seemed cocky to Racism; he was never one to like a know-it-all. As Racism suggested Black Codes and pushed propaganda, Rebellion fought back long and hard challenging everything Racism wrote, said, or did. But Racism was smart and knew how powerful he could be, so he decided his life would take a different approach.

As the slave trade went under, Racism and Bigotry looked for a new opportunity. They soon found themselves rooming together in a city in the American South. When they were out looking for a job, Racism saw a beautiful young woman sitting at a bus stop. Relying on his charisma, he chatted with her and they soon dated. After a short dating period, Racism soon married the young Stubbornness. The newlyweds worked together to find a job for Racism and Bigotry. Bigotry landed work in the police force, and Racism became a politician.

It seemed as if there was no limit for Racism’s talent. His Jim Crow laws were widely accepted and his support from Bigotry only added to his power. This was when the pair met Civil Rights, a very bright woman brimming with confidence. The two men didn’t know with to think of her at first, she was very inexperienced and wasn’t well known. However it soon became clear that Civil Rights made up for her inexperience with powerful public speaking and a likableness that rivaled even that of Racism. Word of her ideas soon spread across the country, and even though Racism and Bigotry fought to the bitter end they were forced to step out of the public eye.

Life now seems so complicated for Racism, his wife Stubbornness, and his best friend Bigotry. Subtlety had never been one of his skills, and now it has become his lifeline. Banned from holding a public office and refused to be acknowledged, Racism still somehow holds on to some loyal believers. It’s a quiet life his little family leads now and more complicated than it used to be, but it is stable. Racism knows that he can always find some kind of work, no matter how understated it has to be.

Semester 2 Blog #6

http://malias11thgradehumanities.blogspot.com/

One of the ampersand article pitches that stood out to me was Malia's first one. She said that she could write about one of the coworkers that were at her internship and how she would alway wear a cat clothing. I feel that this could either be really fun to read about or it could be really boring. However, I think that Malia has the writing skills needed to make a topic like this one interesting and really fun to read about. Also, it's something different which will bring variety to the book.

http://hannahmorrishumanities.tumblr.com/

One of Hannah's article ideas was to write about how people interact with animals and the difference between children and adults. I feel that this could be a good thing to write about because it really shows what she learned during her time at internship but its not directly related in the way that she is only talking about horses and what they do.


http://blogger.kurappuindustries.info/

The history of entomology is one of Austin's ampersand ideas. I think that this would be something interesting to write about because, once again, it is something different. Not many people, at least that I know of, know a lot about entomology. It would also add variety to the book like Malia's would.

Semester 2 Blog #5

Pitch 1:

For my ampersand article one of my ideas is to write about what the dress code was like and why it was that way. The dress code for the hospital was different than I thought it would be but for good reasons.

Pitch 2:

Another thing I could write about is what it was like to see all the different body parts that I saw and all the different "codes" I saw such as a code blue. The focus of this could be to be aware of your surroundings because on several occasions I forgot that I was in an actual hospital with actual patients.

Pitch 3:

One other thing I could write about is my addiction to cafeteria food. Before going into internship I swore to myself that I wouldn't eat that food. I ended up going to the cafeteria to get snacks and/or coffee at least twice a day.

Semester 2 Blog #4

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110218/sc_livescience/scientistsmonitorkillermicefromspace;_ylt=Alb5lQdvQ_QkQEP4fdjbituHgsgF;_ylu=X3oDMTNqNWpiOHB1BGFzc2V0A2xpdmVzY2llbmNlLzIwMTEwMjE4L3NjaWVudGlzdHNtb25pdG9ya2lsbGVybWljZWZyb21zcGFjZQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fcGFnaW5hdGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNzY2llbnRpc3RzbW8-

I think this article provides some inspiration for my ampersand article because of the title. It really grabs your attention right when you read it. I want my article to do the same. The title is one of the first things that the reader will come across and you really want it to spark some interest in order for them to want to read your article.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110217/sc_livescience/howdinosaurshandeddowntheirfingerstobirds;_ylt=Aiy_h2xChFpGUdZu9QbYWmJ7hMgF;_ylu=X3oDMTNvamwwbWhnBGFzc2V0A2xpdmVzY2llbmNlLzIwMTEwMjE3L2hvd2Rpbm9zYXVyc2hhbmRlZGRvd250aGVpcmZpbmdlcnN0b2JpcmRzBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA2hvd2Rpbm9zYXVycw--

This article gives me some inspiration because of the layout. I really like how there are some bolded sections to tell the reader what that part of the writing will be about. I think that it really keeps the article organized when you have some specific sections and I also find it a lot more visually appealing than just several paragraphs in a row.

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/what-types-of-alien-planets-are-out-there-1241/

This provides some inspiration because of the pictures that go along with the topic of writing. As a reader I know that I always enjoy reading things that have pictures to go along with it and so as a writer I feel that I should add some into my article. This article also has the separated sections that I like, as I mentioned before.

Semester 2 Blog #3

http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-Ellen-DeGeneres-Ellens-O-Magazine-Cover/1

This interview between Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres starts out with a lot of background information about Ellen. It then goes right into the interview in "question, answer, question, answer.." format which I find to be the most effective way to write an interview. Not only does it give the name of the person and then what they said, but it also gives what the person did. For example it would say: Ellen- [Laughs] etc....


http://www.carmelmagazine.com/archive/07wi/george-lopez.shtml

This interview with George Lopez follows a similar style to the previous one with Ellen. It has an intro talking about who George Lopez is and what all of his shows are. It then goes into the question and answer interview. The question is bolded and has the initials of the interviewer before it while the answer has the initials of the interviewee (GL).

Semester 2 Blog #2

What have you read lately (say, since last semester), that you found interesting?

During the time at my internship I decided to read the entire medical dictionary. I decided to do this because my internship was medical related and it just really inspired me to go out and do some further learning. Even though I can not remember half of what I read, at the time I found it interesting. There were many large words that I swear were not even English that I couldn't pronounce but that did not take away from my learning. Hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomy was one of those words....

Why did it catch your attention?

This really caught my attention because I am so incredibly interested in anything medical related. I plan on going to medical school after college and may try to do some pre-med as well. I might as well get a head start on trying to learn, or even just be able to pronounce, some of the words.


P.S.

For those who were wondering a hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomy is the surgical creation of a new communication between the gallbladder and the hepatic duct and between the intestine and gallbladder.

Semester 2 Blog #1

What are the big ideas that you are taking from internship into the next steps in your life?

The big ideas that I am taking from internship and applying them to the next steps in my life include being confident in what you're working on. When working in a hospital you never want to look like you don't know what you're doing because you are working with patients and you want them to feel comfortable. I also learned that no matter how educated you are, there is always something new to learn. You don't want to just settle with the common knowledge of your profession. Outside knowledge can really help you when working in the medical field.

What are your plans for the coming semester?

My plans for this semester are to just continue to challenge myself with all my work and to go above and beyond the requirements to the class and any projects. I really want to finish my junior year of high school on a strong note and hopefully I can carry that on to my senior year.

Final Internship Blog

Describe your POL preparation process. What presentation tools are you planning to use? Are you relying on notes, a memorized talk, something else? How are you preparing for questions you might be asked? What are you planning to wear?


For my internship POL I plan on showing a powerpoint describing the different parts of the lab that I have been working in. After showing the powerpoint I will take everyone through the lab so they can actually see how everything I mentioned in the presentation actually works. A lot of what I will be talking about is memorization and just things that you need to know when working in a hospital clinical lab. I will be able to show them the lab, and hopefully the ER and maybe the ICU. I've been preparing for questions that I might be asked by asking questions in the lab and make sure I understand what actually gets done in the lab and why. I plan on wearing professional clothing and my lab coat. That is my everyday attire at internship and its a requirement to wear the lab coat.

Internship #6

What are social interactions like in your workplace? Do people spend a lot of time socializing? Are people isolated, doing their own things? Lots of collaboration on work projects? Not much collaboration? How does the social dynamic impact or reflect the organization's work?

Communication is key in a hospital. There are so many things that could go wrong if there is no communication between people. The wrong test could be ordered, wrong operations, anything could go wrong. At the hospital people communicate from ICU, ER, lab, the floors, and anywhere else in the hospital with pagers and cell phones. Each area in the hospital has their own code/number that can be called if something needs to be picked up or a patient needs a draw or anything.

Internship #5

What are you thankful for in your internship experience?

I am extremely thankful for this whole experience. I am so interested in everything in the medical field and this internship has opened my eyes to all the different areas of the field. I've gotten to see the ICU, ER, Pathology lab, Clinical Lab, Endoscopy, the floors, etc, and not many people my age get to see all of that. I've had the opportunity to follow both a pathologist and a phlebotomist and see how different their jobs are. I am very thankful for Rosie, one of the phlebotomists in the lab. She has really taken the time to show me and teach me everything she could possibly think of. She has taken me to every part of the hospital so I get a feel for my surroundings and she has given my some resources to help me with further learning and for my POL. I'm also very thankful for Dr. Stayboldt, my mentor. She's the one that really helped me through the whole process of actually being able to have this as my internship. She let me know all the paperwork that I had to get filled out and turned in as well as all the tests I had to take before being allowed to do this. Without her help the whole process would have been very difficult. She is also a wonderful teacher. She has let me look through the microscope at all the different cells for each case and along the way she'll tell me what we're looking for and what each cell is and what it does. I have also gotten to watch her dissect several different body parts such as placentas, a foot, a toe, uterus, kidney, teeth, etc. I am so grateful for everything that I have gotten to do during my internship.

Internship #4

Describe a technical/skill challenge you faced in that affects your ability to complete your project.

Because I am at a hospital there are things I can and cannot do. I am allowed to go get pick-ups in the ER, ICU and on the floors and then observe everything else. Because I am not allowed to actually really DO anything with the specimens it makes it really hard to think of a project I can do for my time at internship. After talking to my mentor and Brandon about it we decided that it would be o.k. for me to do an observation based project with pictures of things that I have seen during my project. We also thought that it would be a good idea for me to basically follow a specimen through each of its stages in the lab.

Internship #3

2. What is the biggest challenge face at your internship?

This week at internship was full of many surprises. I saw so many things that I never thought I would be able to see at the age of 16. One thing I got to see was a Code Blue. In a hospital a Code Blue is when a patient stops breathing and/or or their heart stops, in other words, they start to die.

I was on the 4th floor of the hospital when the nurse in the ICU called a code blue. The phlebotomist that I was with told me to go down to the ICU to see what was happening. When I got there, there was a doctor leaning over the unresponsive patient pumping his chest and about 8 nurses around him. There was something about knowing that this patient could very well die right before my eyes was extremely challenging for me. I think that sometimes at internship I forget that I am dealing with actual people in the hospital. I almost feel like I am on one of those TV shows. It's a surreal feeling.

Luckily the patient surrived.

Internship #2

What are you most surprised by during your first week of internship and why?

I am most surprised about how much work is actually done in the lab. Being accident prone I have had my share of hospital visits and having to have blood drawn and tests done and I never really thought about all the work that actually goes into making sure the right tests are done and how hard it might be to keep track of one persons blood samples because there are hundreds maybe thousands of peoples blood in there at once. I am also surprised about how much I actually get to do. I have complete access to the whole hospital, including the break room, and I get to see things that most high school students don't get to see. I am 16 years old and I've seen two placentas be grossed, a uterus, I've watched someone draw blood from a patient, I've picked up samples from the ER, seen stool be put onto slides... I've seen it all. I can't wait to see what the next weeks have in store for me.

Internship #1

What are you excited about, nervous about and wondering about?

I am so extremely excited for my internship. I am find everything medical related to be so fascinating and interesting. When I grow up I want to be a Medical Examiner and so working in the Pathology Lab in Scripps Mercy Chula Vista is such an amazing opportunity. I am most excited about seeing all the different organs and body parts come through the lab and the steps it takes to go through the grossing process. Thankfully I do not faint at the sight of blood because there is more blood in that lab than you could every imagine. Blood in bottles, tubes, bags, just everywhere. I am most nervous about fitting in in the environment. Because I am working in a hospital all the people I see all day are many years older than me and I tend to tense up around grown-ups. Luckily they are all very nice and have all welcomed me in with open arms and I really feel that think is going to be a very positive experience.