HW 26 - Looking back & forward in unit

From this unit i have learned that:

1. There are 50 million americans without health insurance

source: http://sickothemovie.com/checkup/

2. The sicker you become, the less dignity you have

source: Beth, evans mother

3. We as humans take the simple things for granted

source: tuesdays with morrie

4. Canadians live three years longer than americans

source: http://sickothemovie.com/checkup/

The sources that have been the most helpful for me in coming to a deep understanding of our culture's dominant social practices around illness and dying have been Michael Moores documentary: Sicko and evans mother: Beth, speaking on her experiences with illness and dying. These sources have been the most helpful for me because one source was a factual cinematic retelling while the other was a retelling of an actual experience one has had with illness and dying. The two combinations helped me understand how one person handled the situation personally (Beth) While the other helped me understand how all different types of people handle illness and dying.

In the final two weeks of the unit, we should explore the topic/question of how people receive illnesses/how people die (the causes of illness and dying) by possibly watching a documentary/visual representation on that topic

HW 25 - Response to Sicko

1. A one paragraph precis of 125 words or less - Michael Moore's 125 word version of the film, proportional to the film. -

Sicko is a documentary of the american health care system in contrast to the UK, Canada and France. Director Michael Moore examines how the health care system in america got to be the way it is today by using HMO's (Health Maitenence Orginizations) that focus more on profit than the actual concern of the person. He travels to the UK, Canada and France and interviews several people with health care plans on how they live their lives. The film asks how we got here, why we got here and gives a slightly biased look on the american healthcare system.

2. Evidence -

a. Argument: People who have basic health needs are not being attended to

b. 1. 50 million americans live without health insurance

2. The more people that are denied health insurance, the bigger the bonus.

The first piece of evidence is important to supporting Moore's thesis because when a majority of the american population is living without health insurance, this already shows that a majority of people have basic health needs that are not being attended to. The second piece of evidence is important for supporting his thesis because it goes to show that even people with health insurance were denied basic health needs.

c&d. In the CNN article: CNN's Gupta Fact Checks Michael Moore's 'Sicko' by Brad Wilmouth, Dr. Sanjay Gupta states in an interview with Anderson Cooper, Michael Moore and Karen Ignagi that "So Americans do pay more, but the United States also ranks highest in patient satisfaction. And Americans have shorter wait times than everyone but Germans when seeking non-emergency elective procedures like hip replacement, cataract surgery or knee repair". After researching this fact I found that Dr. Sanjay Gupta was partially correct. After researching Gupta's first point about the United States ranking highest in patient satisfaction, i could nowhere find any evidence of this point. Although In an article by Bob Doherty: "the U.S. does better than most on having shorter wait times for diagnostic procedures, elective surgery, and specialty care" (http://getbetterhealth.com/wait-times-for-medical-care-how-the-us-actually-measures-up/2010.02.02)

3. Response -

As a response to the movie, to me the most important excerpts of Sicko were

1. The smoking gun behind Michael Moore's argument, the Nixon tape

2. The interviews of the people who had lost their lives due to the American health care system

3. The interviews of the people who had free health care (U.K, France etc...)

4. Dr. Linda Pino's speech before congress of denying health care to a man, and earning the company more profit

This movie affected my perspective on the dominant social practices around illness and dying in our culture greatly. I might have always known as a general fact of what i hear around me that the american health care system is terrible but never till i watched Sicko did i really understand why.

HW 24 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 3

Title: tuesdays with Morrie

Author: Mitch Albom

Publisher: Doubleday

Year Published: 1997

Precis:

The book is a look at a guilt trip of one man for another through a sweet lense. Loved professor Morrie Schwartz has ALS, a terrible disease that leaves Morrie unable to move. As the disease slowly moves throughout his body, old students come to visit Morrie to visit him for one last time and pay respect to the man who enjoys the simple things in life.

The book follows Mitch Albom, a particular student of Morrie who is now an accomplished sports journalist. After hearing about Morrie's horrible disease, Mitch tells his story of his final visits with Morrie every tuesday where they discuss a certain topic and explore it. Mitch cares to Morrie's every move and learns a lot from his old professor, but both Morrie and Mitch learn from these visits that every day they are growing.

Quotes:

" 'We've got a form of brainwashing going on in our country,' Morrie sighed. 'Do you know how they brain-wash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it-and have it repeated to us-over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise.' "

" ' Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as i'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of then you have. ' "

" Now, i have heard people ask this of Janine for almost as long as i have known her. When people find out you sing for al living, they always say 'Sing something for us.' Shy about her talent, and a perfectionist about conditions, Janine never did. She would politely decline. Which is what i expected now. Which is when she began to sing: "

" 'You'll find a way back to your brother.' Morrie said

How do you know?

Morrie smiled. 'You found me, didn't you?' "

Final Thoughts:

After finishing the last 1/3rd of this book, i felt like i knew Morrie. Throughout most of the book i agreed with Morrie's ideas, and i felt the same way until Morrie discussed marriage (although that is unrelated). I felt myself cringing when Mitch visited Morrie for the last time. Mitch's writing made me feel like i was there, with him holding Morrie's hand. The whole experience felt very realistic, and gave me a better understanding of how i might experience the death of a close one. Although the ending was realistic, i'm not surprised. The book was based on a true story.

HW 23 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 2

Title: tuesdays with Morrie

Author: Mitch Albom

Publisher: Doubleday

Year Published: 1997

Precis: pg 80-90

On the fourth tuesday that morrie and mitch meet (since mitch first came to visit), they talk about death. Morrie brings up points about how people often deny that they will die. They push death away until becomes apparent in their lives. Morrie believes that if more people just accept their death earlier on, they can focus on the essentials. What they need, not what they want.

Quotes:

" 'The truth is, Mitch' he said, 'once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.' "

"We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don't satisfy us. The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted."

" 'Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time- then you might not be as ambitious as you are'

I forced a small grin"

Final Thoughts:

Thinking back, i remember when my cat was dying. I was in complete denial, in fact even my parents denied it to me. I was only 9 years old and when i found out that being "put to sleep" meant going away forever i broke down into hysteria. In this case i relate to morrie. If my parents let me embrace the fact that something close to me was dying the acceptance might have been greater when my cats time was up. Then again, i was only 9.

HW 21 - Expert #1 - Comments

Christian

- Christian. I liked your further inquiry on the effect of dying from cancer beths husband went through, and how because Beths husband had such an "out-going" personality this effected him even more. I like how you also went on to explain why this is, how when we are dying we have certain need to fight the illness because we have too much "dignity" or "pride" when really we just don't want to accept the fact that we are dying. Your insights on death bringing family closer together were interesting as well. I've also noticed this as a common happening in our culture. As the saying goes "you never know what you have till its gone"

Great Post!
Harry

Dean

-Dean. I enjoyed reading your insights on beth's presentation. Your paragraph on beths experiences, and how death is not only sad (not nesseccarily happy) showed insightfullness. You were clearly not only taking notes on beths emotions but the people around you to receive further answers from your own questions. Although your first paragraph showed a lot of signs of insight, you could have expanded your second. You go on to say that because of beths presentation it " showed me that you can be slowly dying for a long time and not even realize it." you go on to say that you "have heard that people can have diseases for a long time and not even realize it until it is too late." To improve your work next time, my suggestion would be to expand on this idea. Are there any examples you can give of when this would be? (for example: Magic Johnson). Non the less i enjoyed reading this post very much.

My Father

-Death has always been one of my favorite subjects. Death is something I have much experience of, having lost all my antecedents, many, many close friends, (most recently Tuli Kupferberg). I was myself declared dead at the age of eleven. Harry’s observations regarding his grandmother were quite well observed and as this was his very first encounter with human death, I am sure it must have been a signal event. I was not aware that we kept the fact of his grandmother’s approaching demise in denial, as he states, but it must have been so. Life is defined by birth and death. As one approaches one’s mid seventies as I am, death is an almost daily occurrence.

HW 22 - Illness & Dying Book Part 1

Title: tuesdays with Morrie

Author: Mitch Albom

Publisher: Doubleday

Year Published: 1997

Precis: pg 39-48

It is clear by now that Morrie has had an extremely significant effect on Mitch Albom. As he writes "Before college i did not know the study of human relations could be considered scholarly. Until i met Morrie, i did not believe it". Mitch takes a trip to london to cover Wimbledon and here is where he receives hands on experience with Morries sayings. As a sportscaster, Mitch realizes how stupid the papparazzi is and just in general how much of a dumb idea it is that humans obsess over other humans lifestyles.

Quotes:

"Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted"

"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it"

"'So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote your self to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.' I knew he was right. Not that i did anything about it"

Final Thoughts:

The way this book portrays illness and dying are very straight-foward. I can connect my experiences and insights to this book because (i believe) the book is based on the saying "You never know what you have till its gone." In this case Mitch Albom doesn't bother to reach Morrie for years after graduating until seeing Morrie on TV. So far in the book it almost seems like his writing is a guilt trip, a way to give back to Morrie for all of his teachings. In terms of the way that this book portrays how other people go about Illness and dying? As stated before Mitch seems depressed about the timely death of his important techer, while Morrie is very accepting of the fact that he is about to die. In fact, in one paragraph Morrie explains to mitch how he is dying in descriptive detail, showing no signs of denial (this might have something to do of how well he is taken care of when dying in his own home)

HW 21 - Expert #1

The most important insights and experiences shared by the quest speaker

1. Her idea of a "Honeymoon from death" or a false hope

2. Her last emotional days with her husband

3. Her family never used the word "dying" when her husband was in fact dying

4. Her husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer thanksgiving eve

5. The hospital her husband was taken to took great care of him

3. Her family never used the word "dying" when her husband was in fact dying

- My grandma was 94, a very old age and our family knew that her time was coming to. I knew it as well, but my mom and dad never discussed it with me. Although my parents knew i was smart enough to catch on, they would never discuss the fact that she was dying let alone use the word "dying itself".

4. Her husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer thanksgiving eve

- My family and i knew that my grandma was going to die, but we never knew when it would happen. She was dying of old age, not a disease. We had a better idea of when she would die when had an accident falling. She finally passed away on september 11th. Although not a national holiday like thanksgiving, i believed this was a significantly depressing date because of the september 11, 2001 events that took place.

Beth's presentation sparked the question of "what will i do when someone very very close to me dies?" Not to say that my cat and grandma weren't close to me but what i mean is someone like my mother or father. Beth seemed to handle the situation very well, this made me think of how i might handle this situation when it approaches. Beths presenation also made me question how i will handle my death if i get a disease such as cancer, or just have a good feeling in general of when i am about to die (lying in hospital, very old). Beths husband seemed to handle the situation of dying during the last months well, which is again, something i don't think i would be able to handle if i knew i was going to die in 9 months.