Living with cancer

It is with a heavy heart, a pit in my stomach, and tears in my eyes that I am writing this essay about survivorship. Yesterday,  a woman who played a crucial role in my cancer experience was buried. Her name is Yasmine. She was a psychologist who was a member of   an association devoted to helping people who live with cancer deal with the experience. This organization can be considered as heaven for those people. In order to support them, support groups, art therapy activities and   journaling groups were organized.. It was a place  where we can go, where many things were understood easily from the very beginning, where there were no platitudes, and where people were real. Actually, they understood the seriousness of the situation. They also were awared of the fact that some of us would be lucky in case they survive this “nightmare”, and that some of us, unfortunately, would not.

The first time I was diagnosed  with my first breast cancer, I didn’t know any precedent idea about survivorship. There was only one thing I knew is that I wanted to be within that group of people who lived with cancer. But I also knew that there were no existing support groups for  women who are living with breast cancer in the area where I used to live. Due to relation in breast cancer association,I was introduced to Yasmine, and she agreed to establish  the first support group for women in my situation. Every week, a huge group of  women came to meet. All the women of the group were assisted by Yasmine to guide themselves throughout the experience, and after the experience if they were lucky.

In order to describe the experience of living with a cancer, people usually use some “ battle metaphors”. Yasmine hated those expressions. She rather believed that the "battle" metaphor against illness often lead us to think about the patient always doing something.  After all, “a soldier who gives up the fight is a coward”.  However, medical techniques that are essentially "doing nothing" are often better than active treatment, because they give icreased chances of life and giving improved mortality rates. She also affirmed that soldiers who get injured or die in battles are usually given medals. But she wanted patients to live and to dodge as much bullets as they can. All of the women from the group agreed with Yasmine when she said that surviving the battle implies the fact of fighting very hard and very well, if you die at the end it means that you did not  while dying at the end suggested you didn’t  fight hard enough to win.  Yasmine was always reminding us that a great deal of survivorship is drawn by luck. She called it  happenstance: You happen to discover it  in time, the treatments happen to work, and finally you happen to escape death. She supported each  women in the association  to find out how she wanted to describe her experience and how she wanted to make an outline for this experience. Overall, she helped us to see the good things around us  even on the days  that we thought were the worst ever.I was also allowed to hold meetings about women’s breast cancer organization in her office. At this time again, every week  women gathered and helped others in the same situation to join them and feel the warmth of togetherness and understanding during periods of deep despair.

Day after day, over five years ago and   because of Yasmine, a very firm community of  women living with breast cancer was created. And yesterday during Yasmine’s funerals, almost all of us were there. But still There were some missing. In fact there have been many funerals  during the last five  years. Here can be noticed the penance of survivorship. . . you always have to watch those with whom you spent a long time being close to each other being buried. However, now I see that with every death, with all its sadness and anger, there is a renewed awareness of the preciousness of the current time. People living with cancer are highly awared of how things can change instantly and all what you have planned and did so far can be messed up by three words: “ You have cancer”.

 Being someone who is living with cancer, It won’t be a hyperbole if I say that Yasmine helped me to define my experience in the most  It’s not hyperbole to say that Harriet helped define my experience as someone who’s lived with cancer in the most essential ways possible. If she did not do so, I would not have been able to definite my life after cancer. My current life is  much richer and better than before. I will never say that going through the experience of having a cancer was a gift, however Yasmine offered me all the tips that helped me to recognize the gravity of my situation, and at the same time simultaneously come up with goodness from it. She made me discover   the power of hope.

Religion should not interfere with politics.

As our electoral process has begun to speed up, issues related to religious membership and calls for people to support religious bias are in the news. People who are involved in  religious groups claim that  religion has to be the central part of politics. Actually, the policies and laws that those groups support are mainly based on their religious beliefs. However, I believe that religion and politic should not mix.  Here are some reflections on the general question of the role of religion in our political life.

One view holds that religion has no place at all. In fact, religion is related to the private sphere which means all what is related to  members of a community who have the same way of thinking; for instance, a church. However, political life is related to the public sphere which is concerned with all what is related to  an individual of a larger community (state or nation) in which people have varied views on different issues like religion. This distinction appears important when we realize the violence and historical conflicts which were caused by religious disagreements. If we don’t agree to disagree about issues related to intense divisions, there will be a little hope to establish a civil society.

This exclusion of religion from the political discussion has raised different positions. Some have found that all religions were equal since they were all ignored. Others have considered their own religious views as true, but facing the fear of the flow of political systems they all agreed to withdraw from the public sphere and flourish in private. Still religion interferes in the public sphere as a voice on particular moral issues. Based on the last point, the question that could be raised is should “religious views, even on moral issues have any impact on our political debate?” Some people say no, on the basis that “effective arguments require premises that virtually everyone taking part in the discussion accepts. Therefore, the authority of religion would come out  in a public debate within citizens who do have belief or disbelief.

People who are taking part in a religious group state that their ethical convictions should not exclude and stop them from exercising politics. In fact, this argument lead us to be in a position which states that religion must be the core of politics in a country. Those people are failing to acknowledge that the country will loose it’s balance if there is no balance between religion and politics and if we use religion to formulate regulations and laws. Both are different from each other. Religion is based on spirituality and emotions, whereas politic is based on sensibility and a good sense of orientation. Every single person has her freedom to choose the religion she want to pursue or pursue her ancestor’s and parent’s religion, and therefore it does not have to be linked to politics.

Many people could think that politics rely on religion to keep on working. I totally disagree with this argument because politics can subsist without the interference of religion. Let’s look at the example of Turkey and Tunisia. They are both secular countries. In other words, religion has never been mixed with politics. Doing so would have lead those countries to conflicts. Since a country is enclosed by ethical and religious convictions, there will never be a chance to succeed in making a political decision.

The historical facts undoubtedly affirm that religion and politics were always closely linked. This relation have been challenged by the scientific minds of the world to achieve the increase if social realities and diversity.  “ The overpowering consensus in relation to international human rights is that religion has absolutely no rational for controlling  the state or the government either to support or approve their religious convictions ”. This is to say that extremely no religion should be permitted to manipulate political decisions with the chance of affecting  the personal rights of any individual.  

To sum up, I totally believe that religion should not interfere in politics. Feelings and emotions are not allowed to take part in an extremely complicated field of politics. A lot of positive changes and improvement can be noticed in our next generations if we break up the relation of religion with politics.

Works cited:

Wiki answers. Answers. Web. 13 April 2012.

Peterson, Gregory R. "Are Evolutionary/Cognitive Theories Of Religion Relevant For Philosophy Of Religion?." Zygon: Journal Of Religion & Science 45.3 (2010): 545-557. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Apr. 2012.

Bellouti,Zaynab. “ Religion and politics”. 10 December 2011. Print.

If Black English isn't a Language, Then tell me What Is ?

The main topic of James Baldwin article is basically concerned with language. The author  affirms that the language someone speaks reveals and reflects who he or she is. He claims that language is a critical key to identity. Once you open your mouth, you may be  confessing your parents, your youth, your school, your self-esteem, and your future. Even though there are common languages within certain places, people can speak a "subtly and different language" than others who are  from another place. Baldwin illustrates this through an example based on his observations of people who speak the French language; "A Frenchman living in Paris speaks a subtly and crucially different language from that of a man living in Marseilles; neither sounds very much a like from a man living in Quebec although the 'common' language in all these areas is French."

Baldwin also talks about the evolvement of the African American language and how it has influenced the language of the White Americans. The evidence he provided to this is the example of how the White Americans have adopted the Jazz Age. Throughout history, African Americans have only been viewed as slaves to their masters; they were considered as servants with nothing to contribute. Thus, the author addresses his argument: "If this absolutely unprecedented journey does not indicate that black English is a language, then I am curious to know what the definition of language is to be trusted." At the end of his essay, Balwin offers us the  information that White Americans were not interested in educating African Americans; if a child was to be educated that he could no longer be black and that he knows he could never be White. But if the White American language is influenced by the African American language, why would an African American child need to be educated by a White American? The aim of Baldwin's argument is to inform his audience about this matter and for the black English language to obtain recognition.

The Egg and The Sperm

The Egg and The Sperm is an essay   written by the anthropologist Emily Martin. It explores  the socio-cultural gender stereotypes and how  they affect the description of the egg and sperm interactions in biology books and research reports.

Since the start of contemporary man, gender stereotypes have existed. They are all concerned with female weakness and male dominance, controlled male and uncomfortable female, violence and excitement and many others that mainly lead to the same thing. The egg and The Sperm takes the issue of gender stereotype to a more serious level. Emily Martin is concerned with the socio-cultural effects on different fields counting biology. Through her article, Emily Martin tries to “ shine a bright light on the gender stereotypes hidden within the scientific language of biology” (Martin,1999).Martin believes that if her suspicions are true, then what we learn in biology books and class would be partly wrong. She claims that traditionally scientific researches give the egg and sperm defined feminine and masculine specifications. She also believes that descriptions of reproductive systems are considered as a result of the historical view of society of gender roles. The egg is seen as weak, and the sperm as the powerful violator. New researches credit the egg. In fact the egg has more functions than those of a sperm. Those new researches reveal that the egg coat “serves as a sophisticated biological security system that screens incoming sperm, selects only those compatible with fertilization and development, prepares sperm for fusion with the egg  and later protects the resulting embryo from polyspermy.”(Martin,483)

Is Google making us stupid ?

Carr's essay was worldwide critically discussed in media .Nicolas Carr criticizes the internet's effect on cognition. The writer says that the internet have shapes our thinking process. Moreover, he adds that our capacity of concentration and contemplation decreases because of the internet.He mentions the example of Friedrich Nietzcshe when he started using a typewriter, which was a new technology in the 1880’s.According to a German media scholar,Nietzche’s style of prose has changed.


 Carr believes that while reading from printed books, a more intense and sustained form of reading is exercised. He also states  that finding difficulties with concentration while reading books and long articles is may be due to the long time spent on the internet. Another argument that Carr uses is that neural circuits in the reading brain are shaped by the demands particular to written languages, Chinese for instance. As a result, he believes that neutral circuits which are shaped by the use of internet are different from those shaped by reading books and other printed materials. 


Carr affirms that as there is “ a tendency to glorify technological progress, there is a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine.” (540) In other words, every development in technology has both advantages and disadvantages . They can hold benefits for human knowledge as they can hold bad effects for their thinking process.

Online Social Networking

           Social networking can be defined as the gathering of individuals into

particular groups . Social networking is more popular online even if it is

possible in the real world such as universities and workplaces. Social

networking sites have several benefits as well as drawbacks. In this following

essay, I will cover its benefits and dangers.

          Internet is not the same thing as universities and workplaces. Websites

are usually used for online social networking. In fact, online social websites

have various benefits in terms of interacting and discussing with other people. 

Those websites are used as online communities which are made of internet

users. Many of these online community members share their interests in

different matters like hobbies , religion or politics. Once you have access to an

online social network, you start socializing. This socialization is commonly

based on reading other member’s profiles and even contacting them through

chatting. Social networking sites are full of people who are willing to meet

other people in order to share experiences and information about different

topics, to look for jobs, to do marketing and so on. Online marketing has been

 very popular in the last four years. Many groups have been created in order

to advertise for different products and companies. Add to this, the most

popular revolutions that happened in the last two years, starting from Tunisia

and finishing by Syria, are all due to an online social website. Citizens were

grouped there as one nation trying to get ideas for better change and

improvement.

          When you are a member of an online social network, you certainly will

have hundreds of friends. This can be considered as a major benefit of online

social networking. The over-all number of friends you have is called The

Dunbar’s number. Actually, some people have real problems having friends in

reality, so by becoming a member in an online network, they can have friends

even if they are virtual. Others can’t maintain relations with people because of

their job, so at least they can keep in touch with their virtual ones.

          Another benefit is the elimination of geographical boundaries. Internet

has given individuals, from all over the world, access to social network sites.

For instance, if you are living in Morocco, you can establish a friendship with

someone in India. This enables us to know more things about other new

cultures and languages. Moreover, a new kind of commerce has been

founded. It is called e-commerce. Businesses, wherever they are, give

customers controlled access to their computer’s system and let them serve

themselves. The e-commerce is usually found in Facebook and Twitter.

          Everyone is aware of the dangers that are associated with online social

networking. The first one is identity thefts. Some people use fake profiles in

the names of others. This involves online predators who claim to be someone

that they are not. According to a psychology study made at Indiana University,

“16% of students became victims of a controlled phishing scam, but a

whopping 72% were victims when they believed it was their friend who sent

them the fraudulent link.” In most cases, “we trust the faces and text people

we know without ever confirming that they are the true originator of the

message.”

         Data thefts and viruses are also on of the dangers that we are exposed to

while using and online social website. Some people send dangerous links so

as when you click on them, all the data you have on your computer ,such as

files and pictures, could be stolen.

         Another issue that people talk about, and which I don’t think is true, is

the fact that the youths spend a lot of time on social networking and are

distracted from doing other activities like playing sports or reading books.

According to a new study from “ Grunwald Associates LLC conducted in

cooperation with the National School Boards Association reports that 9 to 17

years old people spend time on social networking about 9 hours per day,

which is as much as the time spent on watching TV.” However, on social

websites, young people can be more creative especially while publishing

videos, pictures, and also the way they decorate the websites.

           To conclude, online social networks have been existing since the start of

internet, but it was not as popular as it is now. Social websites are still

developing their roles so as they can be more efficient for internet users. Used

wisely and responsibly, online social networking sites don’t represent a danger

to anyone; however,  they provide privacy and safety features. 

References :

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12706906/Social-Networking-Essay    http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/

The Veil : Marjane Satrapi

In 1980 , It becomes compulsory for girls to wear the veil at school . The little girls did not like to wear it and did not understand why do they have to wear it . Before 1979 , Marjane was used to go to a French non-religious school where boys and girls study together .In 1979, the revolutionaries called for a “Cultural Revolution” in which bilingual schools must be closed because they were considered as symbols of capitalism. Consequently , the children were divided between sexes.Marjane says that she does not know how to feel toward the veil. Her family is very modern .She also says that she had been born and raised with religion.As a child , she has always believed that she would be the last prophet.In other words , she wanted to be the symbol of Justice, Love and " the Wrath of God All in One" as she says . She also has a holy book in which she imitates the rules of the first great prophet of her country, Zarathustra, who had announced that everything in life must be based on the commands to “Behave well, Speak well, Act well.”She has conversations with an imaginary friend that looks like God.
All of this can make us think about the situation of Iran at that time , starting from the Islamic Revolution and the situation of women during and after the revolution , and finishing by Democracy and Justice during and after the revolution period .
The situation of women and girls in Iran is unfavorabke . Accessing and staying in the education system is a challenge for many girls in Iran. .
Cultural barriers also hinder girls from continuing their education beyond primary level. Advocacy with parents and communities must therefore be encouraged.
Justice and democracy was almost absent . Everything was imposed on people even their way of thinking .However , since the new election Iran has been doing great changes toward q culture of civil liberties , human rights and democracy .