Anger

We can't produce anger and then expect to be not held reliable for the damage. Actually, it does happen but it shouldn't. But let's face it, it's hard. I had a friend that I got to know very well. I felt that this friend had betrayed me and without talking it out, I acted. I showed angered. I didn't want to find out why this friend acted in such a way but I didn't think anything could justify it. I didn't even want to think about it for more than a minute because within those 60 seconds, I'd steam up with anger and disappointment and resentment. What happened after wards is tragical. I thought about it more than a minute and I realized that it wasn't something I needed to be so angry about. At the end of everything, I've lost a friend and my anger is all that friend remembers. My anger is all that I remember. My anger was misplaced sadness. Misplaced rejection. Misplaced fear. I've never felt so stupid.

waiting

So just when I thought I waited enough, they told me I had to wait a lot more. Have you ever waited that long? As if you have no obligations but to wait so you can get something out of it... something not even insured. Can we as one wait thay long? Can we withstand the silence and clear out the noise? Can we be little girls and boys who don't know how to wait? Can we be different? Can we speak up and tell others when waiting is wrong? When waiting isn't ethical? Can we be right and point out the wrong? Can we put a stop to what needs to be stopped? Isn't it time to stop it? Let us begin with the right intentions at the least. We are no longer waiting for anything else otherwise.

Home.

We all need a place to live even when we don't have a home. We all try to compete with one another even though we need each other to win. I'm surprised at how many of us choose to lead a life of hypocrisy. I am even more shocked to realize that not few of us are guilty, or some of us, or most of us... but all of us. I'm growing sadder by the second, disappointed by the minute. This world is becoming different. It's not ours anymore. It has become what we tried to stop it from becoming. It has turned into a place we barely recognize, even though we're the ones who have changed it. This world is a foreign place. It is not our home. We don't have a home. Where will we live now?

This world.

This world is full of insomniac narcissists who sit there at night, when you're sound asleep, thinking of ways to destroy your confidence. This world is composed of little people who think big and find small ways to make the most out of their little actions. This world is full of corruption because good people decide to help others by doing wrong to evil doers who help saints remember how good they really are. Once the saints lose their alignment... their focus, then what happens? This world has a reverse chain reaction. A reaction that has been triggered by not the most evil thing in the world, but by those good people who want to rid this world of corruption and sin and hate. They want to increase love by hating the hatred and loving the way they spread their sickness. Their sickness is viewed as a charity for those who really need it. But who are we to judge? Who are we to decide who needs love? Who needs this sickness that makes them blind to what is wrong since they are so tangled in what is right. We can't know what is right without recognizing the wrong. We don't know what is wrong until we have seen what is right. This world is full of irony and we don't know what irony is until we've seen it. Until we have witnessed a contradiction and then we know that is not irony. That is a contradiction. This world is formed by elasticity yet no one budges until we have been pushed like dominoes. We have become trees, just standing at one spot waiting for someone to cut us off. Yet we are pacing faster than a sneeze of 100 mph, waiting to be blessed by a stranger who passed by. We are tricked by the obvious and yet we claim to know the obvious trick. We are humans with an animalistic nature of hunting down animals to save humanity while destroying what's humane.

Agreement with Chagnon

I agree with the way Chagnon states, "I had to become like the Yanomamö to be able to get along with them on their terms: somewhat sly, aggressive, intimidating, and pushy." I don't think there was any other way he could have successfully made it through. At first, his statement seemed ignorant because the Yanamamo are described as violent and dishonest individuals by someone who sees them as completely different creatures. Chagnon even calls them hideous and unbearable. Later on, he does realize that if he had not changed the way he reacted to his belongings being taken, he would have always stayed as a victim of robberies and insults. The reason the Yanamamo accept Chagnon is because he has chosen to be LIKE them. The way he responded before by not yelling or threatening, led them to take advantage of him. It is survival of the fittest and the Yanamomo proved just that. Therefore, the Yanamamo are intelligent individuals who use their clever ways to survive every day. Instead of taking Chagnon's statements as derogatory and inappropriate, it makes more sense to see them as qualities. Even Chagnon himself adapted the positive attributes such as slyness and intimidation. These type of situations still exist in the world today. For example, my brother is a Pakistani-American who is currently living in Pakistan. It has been 1 year and 6 months since his move of which 1 year has been spent dodging scams and threats from local Pakistanis. They did not feel as if he belonged there because he was an American and to them, not Pakistani. My brother was threatened and he was sold expired items at the store, taken money from, given fake tickets, taken advantage of financially, emotionally, physically, and mentally. After a year though, after him defending himself and fighting back and finding his own ways to make money, the people there are finally starting to accept him because they know he is aware of their ways. This is just a small example that I can talk about with experience. There are hundreds of similar situations that lead people to become more aggressive and intimidating to survive, which is ironic because these terms are often seen as negative remarks and insults.

Issues

What issues would you like your US Representative and US Senators to focus on in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate? Why are these issues important? Give local/state and national issues. Examples could include local air quality, crime, funding a college education, and war just to name a few. To respond to this discussion topic you must have knowledge of the issues you are suggesting. Use the web links provided to assist you. Refrain from using or referencing political pundits (folks with TV or radio shows) or the editorial sections of newspapers.

Issues regarding sexual preferences dealing with not just legal matters, but society as a whole, have become extremely problematic in the last few years. Government officials are concerned with same sex marriages and how removing or keeping the ban affects the laws of the U.S. within the Constitution. Meanwhile, the issue affects anyone and everyone, especially children and their education even more. There are individuals advocating a change in the school’s curriculum to address, “bullying, respect, and acceptance.” The aim is to inform children as young as 5 years old about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Obviously, parents are enraged at the fact that strangers can be given the authority to decide their children’s belief and value system. A recent board decision of 3/2 now allows the enforcement of elementary schools in Alameda, California to teach children about such critical issues. Parents of Unified School District who think the topics should be discussed within the families have been called advocates of anti-gay slurs and individuals who refuse to prepare their children for the world they are living in. It was unimaginable once, but the school board is no longer looking for the best interest of the children, but their own reputation, in order to avoid looking “not prepared” and “intolerant.” Parents have been refused from taking their children out of the classes that teach about LGBT, leaving kindergarten students to ponder about why they are reading about books with two men raising a student just like them. This issue is only going to become more universal as parents rights will be stripped off from deciding what their children should learn and believe in. As more states are allowing gay marriages, TV media displaying same sex relationships, more children are at risk for being taunted for having “fags” as parents. Yet, at the same time, does this mean parents lose the right to control their children? According to the California District Board, apparently so.

Reactions

Studying reactions to strange experiences such as suicide bombing and discovering that cultural assumptions (of the person reacting) are partially responsible for those reactions deserves the most attention. This reflection on our reactions to strangeness is critically important in the world we live in, where people fail to realize the roles their hollow judgments can take on. Without the right knowledge about a culture's values and its traditions, analyzing it by using your own cultural values becomes inevitable. For example, without learning about a country's political, religious and economical status, it becomes difficult to understand the concept of suicide bombing. Questions such as, "Is there a religiously motivated terrorism? If so, how does it differ from other cruelties?" become critical (Asad 2007). Instead of obtaining such information, people make comparisons to differentiate themselves from others, such as suicide bombers in this case. Once a person sees another as different, then labeling the actions of other people as strange makes sense to them. People think if what they do is familiar, then what others do is strange. Therefore, depending on assumptions will only create more gaps between people, causing more panic and giving birth to more "strangeness." It is also important to realize that understanding the strange requires time. The strange isn't the only thing analyzed, but so are the reactions of people that are reacting to all that is strange.


Asad, Talal. On Suicide Bombing. 2007. New York: Columbia University Press.



Laayla Muhammad

Bio Exam Essay.

BioSci 315

Take Home Essay Questions - Set 2 Name:_Laayla M. Tariq

Download this MS-Word document. Fill in your name at the top and type your answers below. Save the questions and your answers as an MS Word document with the .doc file extension (not .docx). This assignment is due in the D2L Dropbox on Sunday, 04-11-10 at 11:59pm.

A. For 5 points, correctly answer only one of the questions below (use as much space as needed):

Pts
1. Progesterone is known to activate transcription of the ovalbumin gene in chick oviduct.
2. You isolate Chromatin from untreated and progesterone-treated oviduct cells
3. Digest it four different times with deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I).
4. After you purify the DNA from the digested chromatin samples, you denature the DNA and “spot” equal amounts from each extract on filters.
5. The filters are exposed to denatured, radioactive ovalbumiun gene DNA (the probe), allowing it to hybridize with any ovalbumin gene DNA (the target) remaining after digesting the chromatin.
6. After making an autoradiograph of the filters, the following results are obtained:


2.0 a. State the hypothesis being tested in this experiment.


Progesterone is a hormone that activates transcription and therefore experimentally digesting progesterone treated oviduct cells with deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) will result in denaturing of the DNA overtime, compared to the DNA from digests of chromatin from untreated tissue.






3.0 b. Explain these results.

The autoradiograph is an “X-ray photograph made by bringing an object containing radioactive material into close contact with the emulsion on a film or plate” (YourDictionary). When the chromatin is digested with DNase I, it becomes radioactively active. The autoradiograph results reveal that chromatin from progesterone treated oviduct cells digested with DNase I will contain DNA that will denature or structurally breakdown in order for transcription to take place since progesterone is known to activate transcription. We can see this because as time goes on, from 2 minutes to 20 minutes, the equal amount of “spots” from each extract is no longer equal because the treated cells are denaturing overtime and the spots are becoming lighter and smaller. DNase I is therefore, acting on the progesterone treated chromatin, which it cannot do with non-treated cells because chickens do not carry high levels progesterone, besides the low natural amount their bodies carry. The low initial amount of progesterone, which is a natural sex hormone, is not relevant to the fact that sample B was additionally injected with “more progesterone.” The denaturing is independent of the initial amount and is dependent on the overall level of progesterone in the samples. Therefore, progesterone does activate transcription of the ovalbumin gene in chick oviduct due to the results shown in autoradiograph.


"Autoradiograph." Dictionary Definitions. LoveToKnow, n.d. Web. 2 April 2010. .


B. For 5 points, correctly answer one of the questions below (use as much space as needed):

Pts
1. Consider the 10nm fiber and solenoid extracts from rat nuclei shown below:



You have purified the proteins from each of these chromatin extracts. After running polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the purified proteins and staining the gels, you see the following:



5 Explain these results.

The purification of the proteins from both of the chromatin extracts (of rat nuclei) being run by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of which the gels are then stained, provide very similar results when compared to each other. The proteins purified from the 10 nm fiber chromatin contains H1, 2H3, 2H2A, 2H2B, 2H4. The proteins purified from solenoid chromatin contain all that but H1. First of all, we are told that the image on the right is of 30 nm solenoid chromatin, obviously longer than the 10 nm fiber. With the way gel electrophoresis works, the migrating proteins are divided into individual sections related to their gel mediated mobilities (Garfin 201). These denatured proteins are coated with a negative charge and end up having an overall negative charge with similar charge to mass ratios. Therefore, the rate of these proteins migrating depends solely on the size. The smaller the protein, the longer they will be able to migrate to the top, being able to travel through the many holes of the gel. The size of the pores of the gel is hard to measure, yet it is defined by the size limits of the proteins (Garfin 201). Therefore, these results make sense, with proteins purified from solenoid chromatin not being able to pass through the H1 gel hole due to the bigger size, compared to the proteins purified from 10 nm fiber chromatin, which were able to migrate through. This could be supported by the fact that the proteins from the solenoid chromatin had higher levels of salt in them. As salt decreases, protein solubility increases, and therefore, the proteins would be able to dissolve and migrate through (Young 1). On the other hand, as salt increases, such as in 30 nm solenoid chromatin sample, solubility decreases, which justifies the fact they weren’t able to migrate to H1.


Garfin, David. "Gel Electrophoresis of Proteins." Essential Cell Biology: Cell Structure, A Physical Approach 1. (2003): 197-268. Web. 11 Apr 2010. .

Derek R. Young. Introduction to Biochemical Engineering Term Project. 1994. .

Parody. Analogy.

The parody exercise caught my eye because it had a bit of humor in it. The actual definition of parody is "A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule."(Free Dictionary, 2009). Homer Simpson was next to all the artifcacts of the "Spirits of the Sepik". This seemed out of place, and demanded the attention of the reader to find out the message behind this. The significance of this image is that it allowed the reader to look at history with a new perspective. It allowed humor in; which is something that isn't common in historical literaries. A reader may ask themselves "What did the people of Sepik have in common with Homer Simpson? The beauty of this question is that it's left up to the reader to decipher why this image was choosen. The hypothesis I had about humor may not have occured to another reader, or vice versa. If a person really looks into it, that presents a strong image. When it is left up to the reader to figure out, it opens so many doors instead of specifically telling the person what to look for. The same goes for ethnographers. As mentioned in class, it is their job to observe scenes they have never seen before. They interpret everything as they see fit, which is going to be different than what someone else sees. The picture of "Spirits of the Sepik" does exactly that. It is up to the reader to decipher, and up to the reader to come to the conclusion as to why Homer Simpson is in the picture.


Analogy is finding the similarity between two things with respect to their existing features.
People use analogies to understand all sorts of differtent concepts in life. We even use analogies to successfully live everyday as Abraham Lincoln publicly stated, "We know nothing of what will happen in future, but by the analogy of experience" (Lincoln 1839). In the exercise, the first image is of a boy stepping out of a window. We aren't shown where the window is located nor the reason why the boy isn't using a door. The second image is of a puppet holding the strings himself, thus controlling his own actions. Both images can be anologous of each other if we assume that in the first image, the window represents restrictions and captivity and the boy jumping out of it represents freedom and gaining control of one's own life. Thus, the second image can also represent freedom and choice as the puppet is the controller of his own life. Just like how I compared the two images due to their similarity, ethnographers can also use visual perceptions, cognitive thinking and prior life experiences to relate different situations and actions. Ethnographers rely on the critical technique of using analogies to understand and relate to different cultural lifestyles.

Correction

3) Determining KFe (Gly)2+
A/ab = c  (.283 from solution 8)/ ((4545.45 mol-1 cm-1)*(1.1cm)) = 5.66x10-5 M
Therefore, x = 5.66x10-5 M = [Fe(SCN)2+]eq
Fe3+ SCN- FeSCN2+
I .0016 M .00032 M 0
C -X -X X
E (.0016 M – X) (.00032 M – X) (5.66X10-5 M)

Using equation 19.11: [SCN-]eq = CSCN – (A/ab) = (.00032 M – 5.66X10-5M) = 2.634x10-4 M
Using equation 19.12: [Fe3+]eq = [Fe(SCN)2+]eq / ( KFe(SCN)2+ * [SCN-]eq ) which equals
(5.66x10-5 M) /( (100)* (2.634x10-4 M) ) = .00214 M
Using equation 19.13: [Fe(Gly)2+]eq = Cm – [Fe(SCN)2+]eq – [Fe3+]eq which equals
(.0016 M) – (5.66x10-5 M) – (.00214 M) = 5.966x10-4 M
Using equation 19.14: [Gly-]eq = Cgly – [Fe(Gly)2+]eq = (.00032 M) – (5.966x10-4 M) = -2.766x10-4 M
Using equation 19.15: KFe(Gly)2+ = [Fe(Gly)2+]eq / ([Fe3+]eq * [Gly-]eq) which equals
(5.966x10-4 M) / ( (.00214 M)*(-2.766x10-4 M) = -1007.90

I still end up with a negative value, which resulted from equation 19.14, where at equilibrium, we had a bigger value for [Fe(Gly)2+]eq, compared to the Cgly (initial concentration of glycine). This could have resulted due to the fact that we had miscalculated the amount of glycine we measured into the solution, and we could have also misread the absorbance for the solution, which could have set the following equations that depended on the [FeSCN2+] to be wrong.


Sorry about this again. I really hope you understand. 

-Laayla M.T.

Classes.

Classes I've taken:

ANTHRO 104 Survey of World Societies
ANTHRO 104 Survey of World Societies (repeat)
BIO SCI 150 Foundations-Biological Sci I
BIO SCI 152 Foundations-Biological Sci II Spring 200
BIO SCI 202 Anatomy and Physiology I
BIO SCI 203 Anatomy and Physiology II
BIO SCI 315 Cell Biology
CHEM 100 Chemical Science
CHEM 100 Chemical Science (repeat)
CHEM 102 General Chemistry
CHEM 104 Gen Chem & Qualitativ Analysis + lab
ENGLISH 201 Strategies-Academic Writing
ENGLISH 233 Intro to Creative Writing
HCA 101 Intro to Health & Disease
HCA 222 Language of Medicine
HIST 229 Hist Race/Sci/Medcn in U.S
HIST 242 Wmn/Gendr Europe: 1750-Present
HONORS 200 Hon Sem-Shaping Modern Mind (Shakespeare & Human Character)
MATH 105 Intermediate Algebra
MATH 211 Survey-Calc/Analytic Geometry
MTHSTAT 215 Elemntary Statistical Analysis
PHILOS 241 Introductory Ethics
PHYSICS 120 General Physics I (Non-Calc)
PSYCH 101 Introduction to Psychology



U of H:
BIO SCI 325 Genetics
CHEM 343 Organic Chemistry
POLS 1336 - American Government I
HIST 1337 - U.S. History until 1700


Future Classes:


BIO SCI 203 Anatomy and Physiology II (repeat)
BIO SCI 310 General Ecology
BIO SCI 316 Lab in Genetics & Cell Biology
BIO SCI 490 Molecular Genetics
CHEM 343 Organic Chemistry
CHEM 344 Organic Chemistry Laboratory
CHEM 345 Organic Chemistry
COMMUN 103 Public Speaking
HMS 211 First Aid and C.P.R.
HONORS 310 Intro Clinical Medicine-Premed
HONORS 686 Research in Honors
PHYSICS 121 Gen Physics Lab I (Non-Calc)
PHYSICS 122 General Physics II (Non-Calc)
PHYSICS 123 Gen Physics Lab II (Non-Calc)
PHYSICS 305 Medical Physics
PSYCH 260 Child Psychology

Napolean Chagnon

Napoleon Chagnon accomplished ethno self analysis by not only analyzing the Yanomamö, but also himself in order to gain a better understanding of their lifestyles. Chagnon was “living among the Yanomamö to systematically collect certain kinds of information on genealogy, reproduction, marriage practices, kinship, settlement patterns, migrations, and politics” (Chagnon 1992). He used ethno self analysis during his cultural adjustment to notice the differences in his actions and the actions of the Yanomamö. At first, Chagnon was shocked at how the Yanomamö lacked sanitization as he remarked, “'Even the missionaries are filthy” (Chagnon 1992). But later on Chagnon realizes that because of the current condition of the region, it is impossible to stay clean. He states, “It is difficult to blow your nose gracefully when you are stark naked and the invention of hankerschiefs is millenia away” (Chagnon 1992). Chagnon constantly notices his own struggles, an important aspect of ethno self analysis. He considered it “appalling how complicated it can be to make oatmeal in the jungle" (Chagnon 1992). Like Chagnon, ethnographers can use self analysis to find the reasons behind the actions to construct a more elaborate and in-depth conclusion about their subjects.
At first, Chagnon was disappointed because he had expected to work his way “into their moral system of kinship and become a member of their society-to be 'accepted' by them” (Chagnon 1992). When Chagnon saw the Yanomamö, he felt helpless and pathetic, a reaction he changed as he finally adjusted to the Yanomamö community. Towards the end of his experience he states, “I was timid and mohode ("stupid") and a little afraid of them” (Chagnon 1992). This change in perspectives reveals that Chagnon used ethno self analysis by comparing his initial and final reactions towards the Yanomamö to create substantial findings. Ethnographers should risk a few attempts at ethno self analysis because it helps them recognize the differences and similarities between their actions and the actions of the unfamiliar people. Such realization can help discover the root and the actual reasons of why the unfamiliar people act the way they do. It is only then when ethnographers can begin to understand the culture with an experienced perspective.


Chagnon, Napoleon. Yanomamö. 1992. Edition 4. Harcourt Brace Jovanvich.:10-19.




Laayla Muhammad

Authenticity

Determining whether something is authentic can be extremely difficult due to its multiple definitions. Authenticity to the original varies in levels which depend on the similarities to the original style. In this scenerio, the term original refers to "that from which a copy, reproduction, or translation is made, meaning something done firsthand" (Original 2009). For example when dealing with lyrics, "stripping away sound and staging, like so much husk, one can finally arrive at the kernel of authenticity that lies inside" (Washabaugh 2009). The more similar a song is to the original, the more it is authentic to the original. Therefore, when a song is less similar to the original, the song's authenticity is stronger to its own.

It becomes extremely important to determine the level of authenticity, especially as original cultural practices experience a greater risk of extinction. The greater the alteration, the probability of the original diminishing altogether increases as well. The authenticity of a song, a food item or a dance performance gives the individuals "authentic to the style" the right to claim it their own. A writer who writes the original lyrics to a song owns its most authentic form. A style of flamenco music that is 100% authentic to the original belongs to the group of people who created it. By defining authenticity in such a way, we can conclude that all the performance clips of Flamenco are authentic to the original to an extent. The clips that are less similar to the original performances of Flamenco are more authentic to their own style.


ORIGINAL. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Washabaugh, William. Flamenco Nation. 2009. Chapter Two: The Style.

Anthropologie

Walking into the store, I realize that the store really fits its name “Anthropologie.” The look is cozy and natural, when compared to high tech and modern stores you’d find at the mall. The strong scented candles fill the room built with wooden floors that reminded me of a cabin or an antique store. The place contains everyday useful products like beds, couches, chairs, pillows and rooms décor. The designs on the clocks are beautiful and very detailed. In fact, the most important characteristic of the store is how it’s embedded with details. The designs and patterns on clothes provide a fashion statement of an earthly feeling. If you look back in time, the smallest details on buildings, statues, royal robes, and furniture revealed value and gained admiration. I see the fine details throughout the stores, especially in rugs and scarves that were sewn with colorful threads and unique designs. The bags and boots give an old south western look with leather and suede straps, not to mention the wide range of colored beads. The word “anthropology” refers to people all around the world and a store named after it should reflect just that. I do realize that the store only had women’s clothes and not men’s. Anthropologie is the right term for the store, but it’s lacking men’s product. Maybe the name should have included the term “women” or some reference to the womanly/feminine products in the store. Besides that, a store depicting a stylish, natural and earthly look that most women can relate to breathes Anthropology.