Xavier's Digital Portfolio
Humanities
Op Ed
Genetic Engineering: The War Against Disease
Genetic engineering has been seen to be bad based on what they do to foods and animals, but this technology has many benefits. We’re going to talk about why this technology is good, and the history of it.
The potential advantages of this is that it could stop certain diseases like birth defects, Sickle Cell, Gaucher’s, Huntington’s, Muscular Dystrophy, “Bubble Boy” (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency) and more. This technology has huge potential for those suffering with genetic diseases.
In 1990, copies of ADA (Adenosine deaminase) was inserted into an inactive virus carrier, the virus was then introduced to a young girl’s immune system who was suffering from “Bubble Boy” disease. This disease is a genetic mutation that causes deficiency in ADA, which results the cells of the immune system to be destroyed. The virus began to infect the T-cells and the colony began to grow. She was given several transfusions. In 1992 her treatment was proven successful and her immune system had grown very strong.
Some of the other advantages that this technology has is for farmers. They can make their crops immune to genetic diseases and keep away insects and rodents who eat their crops. This technology helps farmers who use GMOs use less pesticides, water and fuel. GMOs also help the sustainability of crops and how much is produced per harvest.
In an article written by Melinda Johnson, “GMOs - From a Farmer’s Perspective”, “Farmers work very closely with the environment, and I want to leave the land in better condition than when I found it. I want to create more with using less, with less impact on the environment. GMOs are an invaluable technology to help achieve this end goal”. This quote was from a canadian farmer, Jay Schultz.
Another farmer in Arizona, Kevin Rogers, said to Melinda Johnson “Sustainability is a word not often associated with GMOs in popular press, but farmers who grow GMO crops see them as a tool for sustainable farming. According to Rogers, if it were not for GMO technology, the cotton industry in Arizona would not be thriving or sustainable” “...according to Rogers, it ‘has allowed farms in Arizona to be sustainable over the long haul. This technology allows us to produce more product on the same footprint, with less expense’”.
The history of genetic engineering started in 1972. It was accomplished by Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen. Two years later in 1974, Rudolf Jaenisch, created the first genetically modified animal which was a mouse. The first genetically modified food was called “Flavr Savr” tomato. It was marketed in 1994. The tomato was created because the company in California, Calgene, wanted the ripening of the tomato to be slower to prevent softening, while still allowing the tomato to retain its natural color and flavor.
Overall, the benefits of GMOs are really good compared to their minor disadvantages. This technology has huge potential for people with genetic disorders and people who suffer with a physical defect or injury. The technology help farmers who want to help the environment that they are at and leave a smaller “footprint”. This is a technology that could help cure genetic diseases and probably help those in need of food.
“History of Genetic Engineering.” Wikipedia,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_genetic_engineering.
World, Disabled. “Effects of Genetic Engineering.” Disabled World towards Tomorrow, 20 Dec. 2017, www.disabled-world.com/news/research/genetic-engineering.php
Johnson, Melinda. “GMOs – From a Farmer's Perspective.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 25 Apr. 2015, 8:00 a.m., health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2014/04/25/gmos-from-a-farmers-perspective
“Specific Genetic Disorders.” National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), 18 Jan. 2017, www.genome.gov/10001204/specific-genetic-disorders/.
Political Cartoon
Sustainable Design Project
How did the project "roll out"? What were your initial thoughts and feelings about the project?
The project I was assigned to was one of the many garden groups. I was put into a group with Leit, Alexis, Garrett, and Milo (who switched to another garden group later on). Milo was replaced by Colton. We came up with some ideas on how to build the garden and found a location at the school to make it. My initial thoughts and feelings on the project was like “Who’s going to take care of the garden?”, “What purpose does a garden at school serve?”, and “I don’t really know how we’re going to get the funding for a garden.” Some of my feelings for the project sort of went down because it didn’t really seem like anyone in my group was into this. I felt like I did most of the work while the others in my group went and did their own thing. After that I got the garden built after talking to some of my group members and we made it out of large stones.
What is sustainable design in your own words?
What learnings or questions did you come away with?
The field trips were fun and learned a lot about how to make a sustainable home. I learned that people make their homes with windows that face south so that during the winter the sun will heat up their home. I learned that different types of materials have different resistances to fire and that most houses would be built with those types of materials.
​Sustainable design is creating something that’ll be used even after the creators have left and will continue to have a use. It is also something that could be constantly refined by people who use the item or thing daily until it becomes something that has hit its full potential.
Some of the ideas we had as a group was that it needed a good source of water, used non toxic materials, and was eco-friendly. I came up with some designs of the actual garden and what types of plants/ small crops could go there. Some of the designs used the creek near our school as a sustainable source of water. And some of the other designs were mainly made for the aesthetics of the garden. Some included rocks, vines, flowers and nature.
The interviews that I did before I got into groups were about getting to know more people around the school and learning what their values were to aid us in our final prototype. Some of the values that I came across that people really valued was nature. Nature was one of the main things that people valued. After being put into groups I had an idea to make the garden feel more like nature and that it felt like it belonged there.
What I specifically did in the project was gathering the rocks, collecting water, and turning the soil. When we finally had Sara Price help us get started, I immediately went outside to see how she made her garden and started to get an idea of what I should gather for the next part of the garden. She asked Garrett, Leit and I to help her gather rocks at this hillside near the school. So we got in her truck and rode to the hillside to gather large stones and rocks. We did 2 trips of rock collecting to get enough to build at least 3 more gardens. We set the last stones into place and the I went to collect water in a 25 Gallon bucket and watered the area that needed the soil to be turned. That’s what I did to contribute to the prototype.
Reflection
One of the 21st century skills that I grew most in during this project was Curiosity and Imagination. I grew in that skill the most because during the prototyping stage we had to come up with ideas for how it would look and how it could be sustainable. I came up with a design that looked good and was sustainable. It was a drawing of the garden but it was made of rocks and had vines and flowers in it. And it was located near the creek so that the water collector thingy could water it every day without needing someone to come to school during the summer to water it.The reason why I chose that skill was because I felt like that was the one that mostly fitted me after going over this reflection. I’ve noticed in my drawing that I have more of an idea of what to do then going to look at another artists’ work to get inspired. This project has also made an impact on the types of video games I play. Like survival games, I needed to make a sustainable farm in a game called Ark: Survival Evolved. I used the skills I learned to create a garden that I don’t really have to tend to and still get crops out of it with very little effort.
One of the 21st century skills that I need to refine and grow in would be Initiative. This skill is sort of a hard one for me because I tend to procrastinate until there’s barely any time left. So during the project I didn’t get important research done and was only working on the physical prototype. I didn’t do very much research until the last 2 days of the first week.
There was a time in this project where we didn’t know what to do so one of my group members talked to Sara Price and she told us that we could collect rocks to help her build a garden. So that was what gave us a push to do something towards our project.
There was only one problem that we had in this project that we couldn’t solve and that was how we were going to get money to help us get some seeds for native flowers. That was a problem that most of the other groups ran into except for the geodome group.
I thought that success would look like a beautiful garden filled with flowers and small herbs in the start. What we got was a beautiful garden that only has 3 flowers within the actual garden and no herbs. I think what success looks for the garden now is getting the seeds for different native flowers and watching them grow.
What advice would you give to a student who was about to begin this project?
Do something that you’re really interested in doing and come up with ideas for the project before actually making mini prototypes. For the physical prototype be prepared for things to change because sometimes the ideas you have could be to expensive or not possible if you don’t have the tools to do that. If you’re not really interested in doing what you were assigned, talk to one of the teachers to see if you could switch or could help another groups physical prototype.
MASK PROJECT
Mask Relflection
In My Own Skin
Have you ever felt like you’re trapped inside your own skin? Feeling that you can’t breath? Or escape? Not from the monster hiding under your bed but something scarier, yourself? It’s a feeling you can’t explain because it’s different for everybody.
The one question that gets me feeling every emotion at once is, who do you want to be? Who are you really? I never have an answer because I’m still trying to figure that out for myself. I always seem to ask myself this question over and over. I look around at people around me wondering if they ever found themselves. How long does it take to be perfect for society? How do they do it? It drives me insane sometimes. Throughout my life, I did everything I could even if I didn’t enjoy it to be a complete stranger for people I don’t even know. In a form of art, I did my very best to express myself for everyone to understand me as a person.
On the mask it shows words that people describe me when I’m at school like, shy, quiet, nice and the list goes on. I chose those words because those are the things that I show to my peers, and teachers. The other side of my mask shows different characteristics that I only show to family like, expressive, loud, funny, caring and a person who has a big heart. I hide my true self when I’m at school but not at home, over time it’s become a habit. Moving on to the mouth, the zipper signifies that I don’t feel the need to speak in front of others, only when I want to. The person on the mask has two different expressions, one side is the face of a boy who is more like a robot, emotionless, empty and definitely not happy with who he is. The other side is when the boy finally breaks because of too much pressure, every emotion rushes in all at once. The reason why the boy feels so much emotions is because school and personal things outside of school causes to them to feel that way. I can relate to him, I feel that with society, I always have to wear this mask in order to fit in with kids at school.
Music has been a huge part of my life. In my mask I don’t express this. When I was younger, I would listen to music to relieve stress or to express how I feel about my current situation. Recently I’ve been listening to an artist who isn’t very known. I can relate to his music because his lyrics expresses how I feel when I don’t know how to express it myself.
In the mask there is a little person on their knees trying to choose whether or not to be themselves or to be the “perfect picture” that society wants them to be. If you look closer they are covering their face. They don’t want people to know that their being torn apart from the inside out, sometimes it feels like I’m stuck in my own skin. Being a young teenager myself, finding out who you truly are brings so much pressure. On the outside of the mask there are hands grasping the mask trying to tear it off. So they can finally breathe from being stuck on the inside for so long. The mask was welded together over the years when I was being someone else. It was built to protect myself from being hurt by society for not being who they want me to be. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t recognize myself. The most important lesson I learned was that as months went by I realized that, I can’t let others take control of me. I wanted to explore who I am as a person and I wanted to have a fresh start to get to know myself a little more. Being trapped in your own skin, unable to breathe isn’t healthy for you mentally. My best advice is go out of your comfort zone and learn more about yourself, you’ll figure out things about yourself that you never knew or noticed before.