Trials and Tribulations To Reach Diversity

Diversity is not a characteristic of life; It is a condition necessary of life…. Like air and water - Barry Lopez

Creative Commons,2016, Flag Cartoon, 

“If you let you people into your life a little bit ,they can be pretty damn amazing (Alexie 129) This is a quote from the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian published in 2007 .This book highlights racism, the struggles of going through puberty and death in the family .This book takes place in Reardan, Washington. The main Character, Arnold is 14 year old “Indian” boy who lives on a reservation with his parents ,grandmother, sister and his friend Rowdy. Arnold decides he wants to go to a all white school off the Rez which is “forbidden’ so he is shunned by his best friend and his community. Throughout this book the author has many examples of what Vandana Shiva suggests is “Making peace with diversity” for a sustainable future.

For example, Arnold befriends Roger a racist classmate of his by standing up to him. ”Hey,Chief,” Roger said.”You want to hear a joke?” ““Sure,” I said. “Did you know that indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo?” “And I knew I had to do something big. I couldn’t let them get away with that shit. I wasn’t just defending myself. I was defending Indians, black people, and buffalo. So I punched Roger in the face. ( Alexie 64 -65). Arnold proved his worth to Roger by standing up to him in front of Roger’s friends which earns his respect.

In addition, to Roger befriending him. Roger helps Arnold out when he lies to his girlfriend about being rich by giving him money. Which shows that Roger has grew as a person. He is accepting Arnold even asking him to join the basketball team. “Yeah, You’re right, dude. It’s none of my business. Hey man are you trying out for basketball?” “ But the things is, my stomach is all messed up because I,er, forgot my wallet. I left my money at home,man.” “He opened his wallet and handed me forty bucks.” “Roger was the one who guessed you were poor” she said. (Alexie 126-127)

Thirdly, Roger and his teammates defended him when he got concussion from his old friend Rowdy at a basketball game on the “Rez” . This means that Roger not only respect him but values him as a friend enough to defend him.” I jumped into the air,heard the curses of two hundred Spokanes, and then saw only a bright light as rowdy smashed his elbow into my head and knocked me unconscious.” After rowdy knocked me out, both of our teams got into a shoving matches and push- fights.” (Alexie 146).

Lastly, Roger stands up for him after his grandmother dies, he has been gone for a few weeks trying to cope with his lose and he finally returns and his teacher greets him with rude remarks . “Oh class,” she said.” We have a special guest today. It’s Arnold Spirit. I didn’t realize you still went to this school, Mr. Spirit.” “What did you just say?” I asked her “ You really shouldn’t be missing class this much,” she said. “Penelope stood and dropped her textbook.And then Roger stood and dropped his textbook.Whomp! And then the other basketball players did the same” (Alexie 175).

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian was banned . Parents think that the book is inappropriate because it talks about sexual content, it is anti- Christian and the bad language Drugs and alcohol as long as saying it wasn’t meant for kids to read in 2014. 

In conclusion, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian shouldn’t have been banned because this book teaches what it is like to deal with life situations like bullying ,death in the family, and sex. The parents that got the booked banned might not have wanted them to read about but, they would have to learn about anyway in middle and high school. I do not believe that this book is anti - christian because everybody has doubts even in their own religion the main character didn’t say he didn’t believe god. I believe that Alexie is a good writer and I really enjoyed this book, the very first time I read I was going through a rough patch where I didn’t care about school or my work and my family were very worried this book made it better for me because of the humor.

Citations: 

Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

Schaub, Michael. "The Most Banned and Challenged Books of 2014." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 14. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

Burkhalter, Aaron. "The Absolutely True Story of Banned Books." The Absolutely True Story of Banned Books. 23 Sept. 15. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. New York: Little, Brown, 2007. Print.

Breaking News

Headlines,Al,2016 

Unit three of the STEAM course Disease called World. We learned about the spread of diseases. We also learned about black plague and the Zika virus. I was interested in the way we used the data. We were able to gauge the population that we needed to get the vaccine which is called an R-Naught.

For this Action Project. We had to choose from a Pandemic ,Epidemic, and endemic. Finding the causes and the decline for the disease.We had to find two places that can contract the disease. For my project, the hardest thing was trying to find a map that would show the spread of Tularemia. I couldn't find one. It was also hard to find the R- Naught of my disease.
Two Tularemia Outbreaks

Small Pox Vaccination, India,1882

There were outbreaks of Tularemia in 1988 and 2002 .In Turkey it is Tularemia is to be a considered an endemic. In this case, it was caught by drinking water that was contaminated with Francisella Tularensis which is the main cause of Tularemia. the Incubation period was 1-14 days.

Two risk factors for getting Tularemia are touching dead animals with bare hands and drinking water that might be contaminated with Tularensis. Tularemia is a disease spread by animals and it can be spread by air droplets too. The symptoms for Tularemia are Skin Ulcer's,headache and exhaustion.People mostly get the disease by hunting for hares you can also get it from domesticated cats you can be bitten by a tick or mosquito.

There is a vaccine for the disease which is antibiotics. But depending on how severe it is you can have the vaccine and still die. The two countries that could have an outbreak are Turkey and Germany because Germany and turkey both have had outbreaks of Tularemia in years and have most likely will have it again. The places hunt too for hares. It has emerged and re-emerged multiple times in Europe 38 European countries to be exact. This disease is considered to be endemic because it is it usually found in only northern parts of the world.

creative commons, Google, Map of Turkey

The precautions for Tularemia is avoiding contact with animals that live in the outdoors for example rabbits and squirrels. Don't walk around with no shoes or socks on in places where animals frequently travel. Don't hunt wild animals with pets because they might be infected.I couldn't find the R-Naught because there isn't enough information on the disease because there haven't been that many cases, to get the R-naught you need to have the average of people that it can spread to.

Don't touch dead animals with no gloves or a mask. The decline in the disease was seasonal because people stop hunting in the winter and begin again in the spring and summer

Sources:

"The Newspaper Clipping Generator - Create Your Own Fun Newspaper." The Newspaper Clipping Generator - Create Your Own Fun Newspaper. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

"Tularemia Cases on the Rise in Colorado | HealthMap." Tularemia Cases on the Rise in Colorado | HealthMap. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Oropharyngeal Tularemia Outbreak Associated with Drinking Contaminated Tap Water, Turkey, July–September 2013 - Volume 21, Number 12-December 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease Journal - CDC. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

"Investigating an Airborne Tularemia Outbreak, Germany - Volume 16, Number 2-February 2010 - Emerging Infectious Disease Journal - CDC."Investigating an Airborne Tularemia Outbreak, Germany - Volume 16, Number 2-February 2010 - Emerging Infectious Disease Journal - CDC. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Steven Biko's Struggle To The Theater

"You are either alive and proud or you are dead,and when you are dead, you can't care anymore"
                                                                                                                           - Steve Biko.

In unit 2 second STEM Sophomore class called Forbidden Books. We have finished our second unit called Dogma. In this unit, we learned about why books are banned because of dogma. We also learned what dogma was. Another example of things we learned was about the bible and the Qur'an and the ethical , literal and symbolic meaning of the verses in the each of the books. Lastly, we had to pick a country. for example, I chose South Africa. We also had to pick a time in that country where something was censored.I chose to talk about the banning of Cry freedom a movie about Stephen Biko and Donald Woods friendship and the struggles of living the apartheid. This movie features Denzel Washington