Henrietta Lacks

Hello everyone my name is Maria Escamilla and I would like to start off by saying that this is the first time that I hear about Henrietta Lacks. Sometimes as a student we forget that there's a whole world beyond us, full of injustices.  A lot of us have busy lives and families and we forget that there's a whole world out there; we're stuck in our own bubble.  Reading a book like this reminds me that there is more beyond ones life.  There's many people who have lived, suffered and died  so that we can have all of what we have now.  If it wasn't for Henrieta Lacks we wouldn't have a lot of the vaccines or treatments that we have now.  Although she helped us out tremendously there was still a lot of injustices that were committed against her.  Being a poor black woman and being in a hospitals full of white doctors and nurses it was very easy to get taken advantage of due to her lack of knowledge.  But what still gets me is the fact that after complaining over and over again about her pain, the doctors ignored her.  She was never informed of the outcomes of her treatment or the repercussions. She was just a guinea pig the moment she stepped into the hospital.  This is the only reason a leading doctor in cervical cancer would be interested in treating patients at a place that provided care for poor colored people; knowing that a lot of people would not be able to pay.  Being a black woman she wasn't taken serious and she couldn't question the doctors orders. Sometimes a diagnosis wasn't even given out because doctors would assume that they might not understand anyway. Although the author mentions that there is no way of knowing weather Henrietta would have been treated differently if she had been white; I think that they would have given her a choice to try something else and would have  been under constant supervision of doctors if she had been a white woman. Another person that came to mind was Elsie. I saw a picture of little Elsie as I was flipping through the pages and underneath her portrait it read that she was committed to a hospital with a diagnosis of "idiocy."  I was sad to know that no one else went to go see Elsie after Henrietta died.  I also thought it was absurd that she was even diagnosed with "idiocy." 
 I feel as though the author did a good a job, so far, at telling the story of Henrietta lacks; but I think that if a black woman would have wrote the book it could have had more feeling. The author can feel sympathy but she can never truly capture the feeling of being discriminated against. The Irony is that people became rich of her cells but her family can't even afford to see a doctor; and that an African American woman was responsible for a huge part of history in science and for saving the lives of so many people that might have hated blacks. I wonder what she would say if she could say something, because she is very much alive.

"HeLa"

Maria Vazquez

Writing Workshop

19 July 2012

“HeLa”

Since the first chapter I read from this book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” I realized that there were many important points that the book covers such as healthcare, racism, ethics, class, and biomedical research. One of the things that captured my attention and took me back to the past was healthcare. I remembered different situations that my family overcame which made me realized that even thought that we are in a new century healthcare still a big controversial issue. Rebecca Skloot states that “In early June, Henrietta told her doctors several times the she thought the cancer was spreading…but they found nothing wrong with her” (63). This specific quote remained me of a recent situation regarding my sister’s health when she was misdiagnosed and she was in the hospital for several weeks. This also made me think that Henrietta’s doctor was sure that he did not find anything wrong had to more with a class and race issue.

Class and race was another important point address in these events took place in the 1950’s when white and black people had separate facilities. African American were discriminated and treated very different. One example is when Henrietta visited John Hopkins hospital she needed to enter the hospital from a black’s only door even though the Hopkins was “a charity hospital for the sick and poor” (15). I was very disturbed about her radium treatment and how it was done because I did not have this knowledge. However; in the 1950’s doctors did not realize that exposure to radium had major consequences. People that were regularly exposed to radium can die of cancer. Henrietta received only two radium treatments. Then the doctors gave an X-ray treatment. Another thing that I found quite interesting and disturbing was the way the doctor wrote comments in Henrietta’s medical chart. “Told she could not have any more children. Says if she was told before, she would not have gone through with treatment” (47). Someone could find this comment very unethical and even rude and dishonest. Because she had the right to know the consequences of the treatment she was going to receive. The doctors made that decision for her which is very unethical. She had the right to decide his future.

This leads to a new point in the story ethics. Ethics is one of the most important points in this book, because neither Henrietta nor Henrietta’s family were ask for approval to remove tissue from her during her operation. Someone has to authorize the use of any part of their body for studies even if it is a tinny piece of tissue. The treatments and technologies that were performed to some patients would not be considered ethical according to today’s standard medical practices. This leads to Skloot who specially studies and examines the exploitation of patient’s rights.

On the other hand, thanks to the removal of the tissue from Henrietta’s cervix contribute to the first cells grown in vitro. These cells call HeLa helped to the development of vaccines such as the polio vaccine. These cells were also exposed to toxins, radiation and infections such experiments were not possible to be performed in a living human. Moreover, HeLa cells were used to study the “immune suppressor and cancer growth” (58). HeLa cells were and are a very important contribution to science and to biomedical research. The controversial point of this was the doctors that successfully grew HeLa cells were making a profit from it and Henrietta’s family did not receive any money from this. For many years they did not even know that the HeLa cells existed. Henrietta’s family had the right to know about her cells being part of different studies and they also deserve a compensation for this because they were not informed of the sample taken form Henrietta’s cervix. 

Summary of Second Book Chat: March 12, 2012

Were Henrietta’s race, class and gender responsible for the way she was treated?

Although John Hopkins was established to help the underserved in 1954 they had separate facilities for white and black people.

“I was pretty much horrified by the way the family was treated. African Americans were discriminated against, if you wanted to do some research you went to the African American population because many of them were less educated in general.” (Dr. Garcia)

What I found interesting was the testing of African American subjects over history.  I found it very disturbing, because in times of slavery they had a constant supply of corpses being sent to Northern medical universities. (Hansel Corsa)

To read about this family that wasn’t able to understand just basic biology terms and what was going on and the way they were treated, it really hurt me. (Tanisha Williams)

“Unethical” research and profit

Hansel noted that it was 3 Jewish doctors who refused to inject the patients with these cells and later resigned.  They knew about the famous 1947 Nuremberg Trials in Germany. Afterwards a ten-point code of ethics was established governing human experimentation worldwide, it stated, “Voluntary human consent was essential.” But since Southam claimed to not know about it and since the Nuremberg code was not a law, it did not have much bite. The NIH later implemented strict requirements to qualify for funding on all research on human subjects

“We have a have a duty to be responsible. It implies an ethical responsibility in terms of research, as well as in our professional realm, to help those who are uneducated and those who don’t have the information we have.” (Hansel Corsa)

There are some very unscrupulous scientists that are just going for the fame (the Nobel prize), who are willing to do anything and everything no matter what is in their way.  That is why it is so important for us scientist, if we see something that is not right, we say something. (Dr. Garcia)

“Do no harm, but give me your arm so that I can inject you with some cancer” (Daisy Johnson) in response to John Chester Southam, the virologist who injected Henrietta’s cancer cells on human subjects.

Of course what also amazed me is that legally once those cells were out of body you have no rights to them, which really kind of bothers me.  The trouble is the courts have substantiated that.  There’s no way that Henrietta’s family is going to ever get any compensation for this whatsoever. (Dr. Garcia)

Also, this book chat would not be possible if it were not for the insightful participation of the MORE program participants: Bertha Martin, Hansel Corsa, Daisy Johnson, Tanisha Williams, and Dr. Ray Garcia.

What is due in friday

what do we turn in on friday, and what time is it due?

Why wont Henrietta's cells derived from her cervical cancer die?

For one, we know that telomeres (stretches of DNA at the end of chromosomes) shorten as we age. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter. When the telomere gets too short the cell can no longer divide and dies. Normal cells reach their limit when they’ve doubled about 50 times (Hayflick’s Limit).

Cancer cells escape this fate because an enzyme called telomerase prevents the telomeres from becoming shorter.

Henrietta contracted the sexually transmitted virus called Human Papilloma Virus 18 (HPV-18), which causes cervical cancer. HPV basically inserts its DNA into the DNA of the host cell, more specifically the long arm of the eleventh chromosome. This insertion turns off the P53 tumor suppressor gene.

Scientist had not been able to grow human cells in culture before because regular cells die after 50 divisions. Therefore, Henrietta’s cells where able to grow forever because they are cancer cells. These cells no longer have program cell death and they also have very active telomerase.

The Way of All Flesh by Adam Curtis

In 1998, Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh, a BBC documentary on Lacks & HeLa directed by Adam Curtis, won the Best Science & Nature Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Summary of First Book Chat Feb 9th, 2012

Worldview matters:

Some of you wondered if Skloot had consulted African Americans for critiques before the book was published.  There seem to be instances when Skloot’s voice, instead of that of the impartial observer, seeped into her narrative. Although Skloot claims that all of the members of the Lacks’ family read the book before its publication some of you took issue with what seemed Skloot’s stereotypical assumptions:

            “ I don’t know what I expected the former hospital for the Negro Insane to look like, but it certainly wasn’t what we found. Crownsville Hospital Center was on a sprawling 1,200 –acre campus, with bright green hills, perfectly mowed lawns, walking paths, weeping cherry trees, and picnic tables. Its main building was red brick with white columns, its porch decorated with wide chairs and chandeliers. It looked like a nice place to sip mint juleps or sweet tea”(269).

Did Skloot distract from the real issues of social disparities and injustice or did she sensationalize? Is poverty fetishized?

Doctor-patient communication:

Henrietta had complained to doctors for months of “discomfort” and “pain.”  She continued to be sent home and declared healthy. Eventually, a more careful examination and an x-ray revealed a “stony hard” mass that was inoperable. Skloot argues that in 1951, “segregation was law” and therefore black people did not question white people’s professional judgment and were grateful to be just getting treatment. The discussion group wondered if this was still true today. With the advent of the information age, the majority of us have become more assertive and informed patients, maybe to the extreme of self-diagnosing. But, according to many of the MORE students, there is still a gap, whether it is, cultural, economic or educational that prevents patients from being their own advocates. Unfortunately, we discovered that in many instances, like Henrietta, it is women who bear the bulk of this inequality. In addition, students wondered if doctors today have the patients' best interest in mind. Sometimes, it is easy to be skeptical when it seems health insurance quotas drive doctors and the order of the day is quantity over quality.

Finally, we ended with a more esoteric question. What is Life? This entails the implications of tissue rights and other bioethical considerations, concerning the scientists' actions. Did they act irresponsibly with the Lacks’ family in their pursuit of scientific breakthroughs? Hopefully, we can pick up with these controversial issues in our next discussion. Disclaimer: this is by far not an exhaustive summary of everything we talked about. So, if I missed anything that you think was important, (i.e. Is Baltimore a safe city to go and study? :)) please add it to the blog or expand on something that touched your fancy. Thank you to Dr. Foster, for moderating the discussion and to Christina Sheldon for heading the One Campus, One Book program. Also, this book chat would not be possible if it were not for the insightful participation of the MORE program participants: Jessica Cisneros, Bertha Martin, Jazma Tapia, Diane Rico, Brenda Andrade, Angela Guerrero and Sarah Gao.

Happy Writing Everyone!

Greetings

 The aim of this writing space is to share our ideas more fully. During the book chat with Christina Sheldon, there were many questions and issues that were raised.  We questioned whether Parable of the Sower is science fiction or dystopian fiction (dys-bad topic-civilization). The book’s environmental, social, and political problems create this dystopia. The book is set in 2024; water is a precious commodity. People live in walled off communities to protect themselves from drug violence and crime. Poverty, hunger and corruption are rampant. In light of our own current social, political, and environmental problems, a good discussion for this blog might be to imagine where we see ourselves in 50 years. You might be interested in discussing this from the point of view of all the recent violent political uprisings in the Middle East, or the environmental disaster of the Fukushima nuclear power plants or even from a more local perspective: L.A.'s own water supply shortage. How can L.A., a semi-arid region, sustain its population growth? Nearly all of the available surface water has already been claimed and diverted for human use. Metropolitan L.A. needs to export its water from the Owen's Valley, 233 miles away. This has resulted in the desiccation of the lake, causing negative environmental impacts, such as, desertification and dust storms. You can also analyze these situations by creating your own creative science fiction and posting your vision of a dystopic L.A. If you're a consummate optimist and don't believe in all this 'doom and gloom,' then you might want to visualize a utopian world. There are many people who believe that technology will be the savior of mankind’s future. In this case, you can write your own techno-topia. But it might be interesting to note that most dystopias begin under the guise of being utopian (George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World, Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale). Finally, if you have any other insights that were triggered by the novel's themes don't hesitate to share, including books or movies that you have read or seen that might have something in common with Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. Happy writing!

Hi I'm Cristina and i was a part of the SEED program this summer and i thought this book was great. I think this book is must read for all those people who like to calculate and imagine what this world might be like in the future. However, this book is definitely not for the faint hearted or easily freaked. This book does have a lot of very intense scenes and it shows the future in a perspective that many of us fear may come true. I think that this book also makes us realize that if we don't stop polluting and harming our environment we might end up in a future similar to Lauren's. However i believe that as long as we get more people aware of the problem we can all do something before its to late. I would like to end by saying that if there were more people like lauren, who is super aware of what's going on in her world, then people would have a better understanding of how the earth is being affected by our carelessness and try to fix things for the future generations to come.

Is this the future?

Posting for Maria Vasquez, who was having technical difficulties:

One of the things that I found interesting was the main character Lauren. One of the things I liked about Lauren was that she was being realistic about what was going on around her. What I did not line about the book was the discussion about religion. I believe that religion is important, but I do not normally read such material. Another thing that was very interesting was the relationship between Lauren and her brother Keith. She was upset with him for what he has done specially for killing people. At the end she did the same thing for the same reason “survival”. Early on, I found that she was different from the other characters from the beginning but, she ended up being an average dreamer just as the all others.

M. G. Vazquez

Bridges to the Future Program

A Doomed future

The idea that the world will descend into a post apocalyptic world in the near future is not an uncommon theme in science fiction. Perhaps the reason for this recurring motif in multiple stories can be attributed to the despair humanity faces repeatedly. Whether the end of the world is caused by war or a biological epidemic, one thing is certain civilization will crumble. Some will cast these predictions as nothing but hearsay. However, perhaps there is cause for concern. The world is facing a growing shortage of oil with no signs of an alternative fuel source. This lack of oil has led to the monopolization of it by huge companies like OPEC. In addition, there are many countries worldwide fighting one another for the right to sell black gold. Maybe mankind will solve this shortage of fuel; however, tensions and war fought in the Middle East say otherwise. if things don't change soon we will be seeing a new dark age real soon.

50 years into the world's future

Hello Everyone I'm Maria Escamilla and I'm a bridges to the future student. I'm not a big science fiction reader however, i really enjoyed reading this book. I specially liked that it took place here in California a place most of us know. This makes it a lot easier to compare things that are happening now to what is happening in the book. For example we see these huge corporations taking over cities and we see a lot of environmental issues. A lot of these environmental issues we are experiencing now and as corporations keep getting bigger; the idea of these huge corporations owning cities and the people living in them doesn't seem to be such a crazy idea. Reading this book freaked me out a little because one starts to see something that can very much happen. A lot of people don't see too far into the world's future or what the world will look like in fifty years. However one thing that is certain is that fifty years from now we will have serious environment problems. I think that most of what the book talks about will take place like, more unemployment and more poverty. Technology will be a lot better but i don't think there will be too many people in school. I also think that people won't be as crazy as the book describes them; that there will still be some sort of order. I just hope that things don't end up this way and that more people start waking up and seeing more into not only their futures but the worlds' future as well.

2061

August 18, 2061

I walked outside today and the air was coarse as it entered my lungs. I remember a time in my youth where money was being invested in research to improve technology to be less harmful for the environment. People viewed environmental threats as jokes- I knew they were warnings. The mask I have to wear everyday hides most of my face. I walk into the streets unshielded in hopes of taking in change. Each day I am brought down by reality.

On my way to work, I see nothing but brown lots and skyscrapers. As I close my eyes at night, I can still see the green richness the world once knew. The moist breeze overtakes my snooze. Each day of waking up saddens me. What happened to the world I once knew? What happened to the world I yearned to wake up to everyday? Venice Beach was my place of recollection and revitalization. The palm trees that once lined the sand are gone, with rarely a stump left to remember their lives. Corporations have taken over the cool and dewy sand that used to envelop my feet upon arrival.

The ecstasy of nature is now nonexistent. I walk this path of never-ending cement, yearning for days that no longer exist. Will these people ever realize what we’ve done? Will we ever take responsibility for the destruction of Mother Nature and begin towards reversing it?

I am counting the days until I see tomorrow’s yesterday… Maybe past trends are the innovations necessary for tomorrow. I am counting the days until I see tomorrow’s yesterday… I am counting the days…

-Alice V. Herrera

Hello! im Elizabeth and i am in project SEED and what i though of the book Parbale of the Sower was thath it was pretty cool but it did freack me out a little because it reminded me of what is happening in the modern day world and it was a little ironic how her ideas are similar to mine, i think about so many things that could happen and this book just opened my mind a bit more. perhaps it was the similarity of her world and this one. This book reminded me of a situation that occured in the lab i am working in and it is the want for water and it reminded me because on my first few days of working here at Cal State La me and another person working in the same project as me had to literally go water hunting. nonetheless, i really enojoyed this book.

fact or fiction

Hey everyone, my name is Norma Berben. In the last quarter I have read Parable of the Sower. Octavia Butler has a great imagination. The book is a fictional book but I do believe, in other countries people are living the same way as the book. The book is about chaos in Los Angeles. Global warming has cause people to turn violent because of the lack of resource. It is not a safe place because violence happens twenty four seven. Children can’t get educated because of the fear of getting killed. It’s a very sad place to live because people get murder on a daily. For my communication 150 class I study a country call Liberia. This country is the same thing as the book. The majority of the country is in poverty, violence is a common thing, and there no money or resources to survive. The book may be fictional but thing like the story plot actually happen in poor nations. Yes the book is very sad but events like the books are happening right now. I am pretty sure Liberia is not the only country living like the book parable of the sower. This could happen to anyone. I really don’t think it would happen to Los Angeles because the United State is one of the riches countries in the world. Also, the government is very powerful. With a strong government is very unlikely to happen. Butler makes out good points but the reality is, this actually happens, maybe not in Los Angeles but it does happen.

hard to read

Hello everyone, I am a MORE student and reading this novel was very difficult. It was hard to read because it was so graphic and it did make me think of how helpless one can become in Lauren's world. I was pleased to see the amount of multiracial people, but this book did scare me into thinking about what I would do or how I could possibly survive in Lauren's world. It was very interesting to see how many people in her neighborhood were in denial of how things could become worse. She was the only one who wanted to become prepared and get ready for attacks, but instead of people following her lead they were angry with her. I think this type of avoidant coping can be found in many places now, and the philosophy or religion she created, that God is change, was very enlightening and perhaps made it easier for her to try and prepare for change, whether that change be good (like her new family at the end of the novel) or bad (when her neighborhood was destroyed). What I couldn't get over and was hard for me to accept was the mystery of the disappearance of her dad, and hope badly she (and I) needed closure.

An Optimistic Outlook

Hi everyone! My name is Jamie Nickolaisen and I am not in Jenny Hicks’ class! I am the MORE Programs Writing Workshop Assistant and wanted to contribute to this blog as well.

To say that I enjoyed The Parable of the Sower would be inaccurate, although I found it very captivating and was unable to put it down. Honestly, it freaked me out just a little bit. I started thinking about what the end of the world would look like and decided it is going to be similar to the situation in the book. However, in fifty years, I see our great United States of America in a slightly different form of distress.

I think that relatively soon, the national government will be overthrown. People are already so frustrated with the government’s inability to make decisions and the political divide continues to grow. As the government continues to go into more debt and print more money, people will quickly become frustrated with the increasing inflation and rising costs of the necessities of life. As the economy continues to worsen and unemployment rates continue to rise, people will realize the government’s inability to allow people’s lives to get better. As taxes continue to be raised, people will have to spend more and more of their precious income in paying the national and state governments and will quickly grow tired of letting the incapable government have control over their money. For the most part, people are intelligent and know when something isn’t working. And when the day comes that the majority of Americans are frustrated, the national government will fall.

The states will then separate and run themselves as individual countries. The smaller governments will be better able to execute the political wishes of their constituents and will be far more effective than the national government for a time. However, some state governments will begin to fall as well. Sadly, California will probably be one of the first. Our huge debt and financial strain will not continue to allow the function of our state government. Also, the lack of water supply for Southern California will be an issue. California will have to make another deal with surrounding states to have a water supply and the other states will be less willing as their populations increase and their need for water increases. For our government to supply water to Southern California, it will be very expensive and require a lot of money that we simply do not have. The government will eventually fall under such strain and my guess is that Northern and Southern California will form two new governments to be run separately.

As governments continue to fall or be incapable of doing anything, people will band together in family or religious units to help provide for one another economically, spiritually, and emotionally. Other groups will form out of similar desires, but with an evil spin—gangs, drug dealers, etc. and probably won’t be seeking spiritual enlightenment. In urban areas, these evil groups will be more prevalent and what benign groups were formed there will quickly migrate to safer areas. Rural areas will be the safest as they are more out of the reach of drugs and violence.

In this sense, I am more optimistic than Octavia Butler who thinks everywhere will be dangerous. While she considers police and other public servants a threat, I think that very few will exist as governments will have either fallen or have no money to give to failing police departments. They will be just like everyone else, with a family they want to provide for and will seek some kind of protective unit whether it be good or evil.

I also think that similar things will happen across the globe. Already in the Middle East and Africa, revolts and civil wars have been going on for decades. In other places, as the divide between social classes grows, revolutions will become more prevalent. Throughout the world, people will be frustrated with what their governments have become and will take matters into their own hands causing universal upheaval and distress. It is sad to think that this is a more optimistic outlook of what is going to happen in our world.

Next Monday: Discussion & reception

It's great to see that Butler's novel has inspired such deep thinking via the postings here!

If you'd like to hear more about what other scholars have to say about Butler's work and legacy, then come to One Campus, One Book's year-end event:

Next Monday, 5/16, from 4:30-6pm
in Golden Eagle Ballroom #3

CSULA faculty (including Patrick Sharp, Michael Willard, and Catherine Haras) will join a church leader (Michael Koh, from Pasadena's Vision Christian Fellowship Church) in discussion about Parable of the Sower. A reception co-sponsored by the Honors College will follow, during which we can chat in person over snacks and beverages.

Please join us, pose your questions, and keep the discussion hoppin'!

Hi everyone, my name is Veronica Cano and like most of the people above I'm also a student enrolled in Calstate, LA. I am also currently a student in Jenny Hick's English Stretch Composition class. In our class we are currently focussed in a topic that deals with the environment due to this we were assigned to read Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler during our winter quarter. At first I must admit I was not excited nor looking forward to reading this novel, but all I had to do was read the first page for my whole perspective about the novel to changed drastically. It came to a point that I did not want to put the book down. I was interesting to know how Lauren would react to her obstacles and how others life's where affected and obstacles they had. I was always hooked to know what Lauren was going to have to confront, and her reactions, but most importantly how she would have to overcome these obstacles.

This novel is based in a dystopian world and although this is a fictional novel this has a lot events that can occur to us at a later date. In the novel she describes her world and what could be our future as a world where there is pollution, diseases, violence and poverty. This all happen because people like us did not bother to take care of their environment. This is something that sounds like us we don't take care of our environment and we really never put to much thought into what could happened in the future. This is a novel that is based on real outcomes we can later face because of the way we are living in today's world. In the novel Lauren portrays the lack of importance we give to our environment. Lauren explicitly explains that there are times where we don’t take care of our environment and we can simply lose things that we need. She does this with vivid description of the world she now lives in and the place which we might end up living in the future.

Parable of the Sower is the simple mirror of what we might end up as. Parable of the Sower is the image of how our world will look like in the future if we continue our ways of treating our environment. This novel was an eye opener that helped me become aware of the consequences that can happen if we do not take care of our environment wisely. It also taught me to value every bit of nature around me because one never know when all of that can end. For example water, I know I do not rake care of water very wisely. Not only would I not take care of water, but I never saw it as important or as something valuable at least not until I read this novel. I now consider water very valuable and my greatest fear is now loosing water. Not only am I taking more care of the ways i use water, but i am now concern about the fact that i live in a dessert environment which is pretty scary. I live L.A and yes theres water, but after learning that L.A is in fact a desert land I’ve come to the conclusion that i must take care of water one never know when we might just lose our ater. i mean L.A does gets its water from reservoirs that contain water from different parts of the world. And by the way people wast water we might end up with no water or may be we would might end up selling water for high price or even taxing it. I am scared to realize that we depend on a reservoirs.

How do I see my future in 50 years from today, I see my future something similar to Lauren’s world. I mean if we as continue to abuse the small amount water we simply might just end up like in the novel. In our daily routine we was water in recklessly. we sometimes do not value water and how important it is to us and the fact that water is not eternal.At least i know there are time where I leave the water running now I stop and think I’m not only one doing this therefore water is being wasted everywhere around the world. this will just lead us to land in Lauren’s world. Not only is water the only reason we might end up like that but because of all the events happening around us. Problems such as pollution, trash, violence, war and poverty. These are all things that affect us, our environment and our community. Every act that we do just makes me lead to the conclusion that we will end up in a dystopia world in a world were we will no longer have the luxury to live the way we live today not unless we do something about it.

50 Years From Now !!

Hello my name is Alexis R. and I am a students of professor J.Hicks. In class we have been reading alot of different stories. Most of them have to do something with the environment. We had many different things to write about such as the environment , race , class, gender etc. Last quarter we read the story Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. 50 years from now i can only imagine the how the world would be . I think it would be similar to the story Parable of the Sower because the prices of things are becoming extremely to high . Due to that people are not going to be able to afford the things and are going to start acting like the people that live outside of the walls breaking in and stealing so that they can make a living .
Another big concern that was in the book was water . Water was expensive and many people couldn't afford it . If we don't take care of our environment we are going to wonder why we don't have anything because we didn't take the time to clean up or care for our environment . I think in 50 years from now water is going to be one of our main concerns because we pollute or water , take 30 minute showers about two to three times a day or just waist water period. Sooner or later were going to wonder why water is so expensive just like in the story Parable of the Sower.
If we start taking care of our environment we shouldn't have to worry about water or the prices of thing becoming to high. So maybe we should start now!