Nerve Decompression Surgery

For this unit we took a deeper look into surgeries. We started off the term by beginning to read a book called, The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, which tells the story of a woman during the civil rights movement who has cervical cancer. We hear stories of her reaction to having cervical cancer, treatments, and more. Something special about Henrietta is that her cells were taken for multiple tests, but a medical professional at the time named George Gey sold them and they become internationally popular. As we go on in the course, we also looked into DNA structure and cell biology. For this AP we were asked to find a surgery we want to learn more about, and allow the audience to take a deeper look into the specific surgeries we looked into. I chose to look into Nerve Decompression surgery which is usually performed on people who suffer with migraines regularly like myself.

To conclude, this AP was very interesting to look into. For someone who struggles with migraines quite regularly, I thought it was nice to see that there are options to treat them. Migraines a constant struggle in my life and others, and it’s important to inform others on these surgeries, even something as simple as Botox, to treat migraines. This unit gave me inspiration to look into different surgeries and see the affects our bodies have when they are performed!

The Taming of the Lad

In Unit 1 of Drama we looked into the playwright of The Taming of the Shrew written by William Shakespeare. As we read, we stumbled upon some questions on gender equality and how it has evolved from then and now. We visited The Goodman Theatre to look deeper into costume design, set design, how actors prep, and more! The Taming of the Shrew tells the story of two young sisters living in Padua. Katharina is a young, independent women who will not get told off by any man, while Bianca is a pretty, kind, gentle girl who everyone is in love with. Practically every man in Padua is in love with Bianca, but Bianca is not able to get married until Katharina is married according to their father, Signor Baptista.  The story plays around with gender in a way that gets the audience thinking which is something that Shakespeare was known for. Who looked at societal "issues" that weren't really issues at the time because no one acknowledged them. Another thing that Shakespeare is quite known for are his sonnets. Sonnets are interesting because Shakespeare followed an iambic pentameter which meant that certain words in the sentence would follow a "duh-dum" beat like the rhythm of your heart. Each sentence would have to have ten syllables. After reading The Taming of the Shrew, we were asked to make a sonnet for one of the characters in the play. We would need to give them advice for a situation that they were in or tell them something we agreed or disagreed with. I chose Signor Baptista, the father of two young women who he marries off. Read or watch my sonnet to learn more!


                                                      NB. The Taming Of The Shrew. (2019)
                   

Sonnet:

Baptista sure knows how to be a vex

Although others may disagree with me,

It’s all about the superior sex.

You know all they care for is the dowry.

If you want your daughters to be happy,

Allow them to wed whom they truly love.

All the men for your daughters are scrappy,

Treat your daughters the same way one treats doves.

Don’t tell those petty men to woo her off

“That is, her love;for that is all in all”

You know Katharina will only just scoff.

Why do you need to see your daughters bawl?

Signor Baptista just take my advice,

Switch this story up, and get the bride price.