In-Class Discussion #4

Well, we haven't had much class, lately.

We've been talking a lot about these reflective overviews in the classes that we have had, and while they don't seem too bad, it does kind of bother me that they count for more than the project itself. I even understand her reasoning behind why it's that way, but I feel like if its' that important, it should be it's own grade, not overshadow the project we all worked so hard on. At the very most, it should be a 50/50 gig.

Project Review

If I could do this project over again...

The interview process was a lot of fun, actually. I enjoyed talking to Ally and she's very observant of the world around her. I got a lot more information than I expected to from someone so young. I probably would have done it earlier, definitely, but otherwise the interview itself was pretty easy.

I definitely would have done it earlier, though, so that I could have started my reflection earlier. It's supposed to be about 3 pages and I'm just not sure I have that much to say about the aftermath of this project. I feel kind of bad about that, but that's the truth of the matter. I would probably feel a little better about it if we hadn't lost the day of working on it in class and I'd been able to write and talk about it with the teacher nearby.

I also probably would have gotten a CD...I thought the professor had them for us, but just totally forgot to ask for one...

Since We're Talking About It...#3

I did my interview today! It went really well. My only concern is that it turned out more like a conversation than an interview, which I guess is a good thing at the same time. But there ended up being a lot more back and forth than the typical interview. Maybe that's just a sign of how comfortable we both were. I was a lot less nervous than I was expecting to be. Contrary to my former beliefs, the interview was really the easiest part.

Now off to do the summary. THAT'S gonna be the part I really don't want to do...I think I'd actually rather do a transcript than the summary and timeline. At least then I'd just be copying.

In-Class Discussion #3

During class, we listened to another oral history interview regarding health in the surrounding counties. The interview was a little difficult to listen to and process, the sound quality was bad and the interviewer talked to 3 women, making it hard to determine who was coming from which county and as such, determine the state of those counties.

But something that I noticed they talked a lot about was access. There really isn't a way for people in more rural areas to gain access to healthcare. I haven't seen a bus stop since I moved up here and while I"m sure they're around, I haven't seen a doctor's office or hospital either. Imagine how many bus stops and transfers someone with a car would have to take to get to the doctor's office? But the real question is, what do we do about it? Do we bus people to doctors offices a couple times a day? Have spots just like bus stops? Don't hospitals have shuttles for loved ones who don't have cars?

It's just something to think about.

Oral History Status Update

Today, I spoke with a student native to this area who is currently attending UNCP. She said she is willing to participate in the study and I gave her the breif introduction we were given by Dr. Lackey. For more information, she gave me her email and I sent the formal introduction in addition to my contact information in case she had any other questions. At this point, we are trying to set up an interview date.

Since we're talking about it...#2

Since we're talking about the STD experiments run in the US and Guatemala in the 20th century, I figured I'd go see if that was all that got snuck by us. It's not.

In 1953, a man committed suicide by jumping out of his hotel room window. It was later revealed that his jump was a result of being dosed with LSD by his colleagues. And he wasn't the only one. Right around that time, the CIA and US government thought it would be a good idea to release LSD in aerosol form into the busy New York subway system. The more detailed article can be found here.

Where are we? Where are our heads, why don't we know these things? What makes us such oblivious, easy targets for the very people that are supposed to protect us? We take self-defense classes and every measure possible to keep ourselves from being targets against muggers, murderers and con artists. Maybe we should start taking precautions to protect ourselves from the government too. I'll be on the corner passing out gas masks, tin foil hats and lists of private practice doctors if you need me.

In-Class Discussion #2

In class, we discussed the Tuskegee and Guatemalan experiments in more depth. The apology issued by President Clinton was called into question, however, once we discovered that the movie Ms. Evers' Boys was released just a few months before the apology was publicly made. It was speculated that the apology was only given because the experiments could no longer be swept under the rug and kept away from the public and the people of the United States were outraged that this had been kept from them.

This makes me wonder what else we, as a people, are missing? Are we really that oblivious to what is going on around us, or does this government that we supposedly run have more control over us than we think? We talk about Chinese censorship and the like, talk about how ridiculous it is, but are we really much better when we experiment on our fellow Americans without their consent and hide the results when it goes bad? I'm becoming increasingly disappointed with us as a nation.