DNA AND THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER

            DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid to be exact is one of the first clues of how a human will turn out. The sperm and the egg from the donor parents are the first step in creating life. After that the amazing force of nature works its magic to form an embryo built from the genetic blueprint of its own, unique DNA material. I chose to write about this subject because it fascinates me. As expectant parents, we like every other couple in the world, wondered who our baby would resemble when it was born. Would it be born with one parent’s scholastic aptitude or the others artistic nature? More to the point, would I or my children be cursed with cancerous cells that have plagued several close family members? We lost a fourth family member to cancer just two months ago.

            DNA and cancer are subjects that have years of research ahead of them. As science and technology improve, so will research on DNA. It worries me that I may have picked up the mutant cancer gene. I thought it would be a good opportunity to tie my paper in with research that interested me. I wanted to find out what the odds are of me or my children inheriting the same kind of cancer that runs in my family. According to the Cancer Institute section on the webpage of Stanford Medicine, not all cancers are inherited. “Only a small percentage of cancers involve inherited mutations” (“Genetics”). Most are “(a)quired…at the cellular level after birth, as a result of environmental exposures…lifestyle behaviors…or chance alone” (“Genetics”). These facts are not enough to quell my fear that I might one day suffer the same fate as my aunts, but they were interesting facts that I didn’t previously know.

            Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that “cells suffer from insufficient building blocks to support normal DNA replication” (“Researchers”). They have worked in laboratories “to show that through external supply of those DNA building blocks it is possible to reactivate normal DNA synthesis” (“Researchers”). They are able to reverse the damage to the cancer cells. Other research done by scientists at Cambridge University show equally promising breakthroughs that could target DNA that has mutated due to cancer. Their latest discovery of “quadruple helix DNA” (Didymus), supports their hypothesis that their research could lead to cancer drugs that target only those damaged cells. It would leave the healthy cells alone, which is something my aunt could have benefited from. These scientists are working towards the development of “new cancer treatments based on the fact that (one) of the four organic bases that form the genetic code, guanine is present in higher-than-normal levels in a quadruple helix DNA” (Didymus).



Taken from the website http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/341836
From Cambridge University research
Figure 2: Visualization of DNA G-quadruplex structures in
nuclei of human cancer cells.

            Discovering that cancer is partly genetic, and that there are scientists out there who are devoted to finding a cure for cancer, working on the building blocks or guanine rich quadruple helix in DNA, gives me hope. Current work being done in laboratories around the world could lead to a breakthrough in curing cancer, or at least in pinpointing the DNA responsible for cancer. Drugs that could target the cancer cells themselves without harming healthy cells are a definite bonus. Watching my Aunt suffer more from the aftereffects of her cancer treatment was a harsh life lesson. Her cancer gave her no physical pain, but her treatment left her damaged beyond all reason. One day maybe DNA research can eliminate cancer altogether. In the meantime, working on the mutant DNA cancerous cells to attack and kill them in a way that doesn’t create more damage to a human, and save their life, is a noble science.

Works cited

Didymus, John Thomas. “Scientists discover DNA with quadruple helix in cancer cells.” Digital Journal. Jan 21, 2013. Web, 18 Feb, 2013.

“Researchers demonstrate why DNA breaks down in cancer cells.” Medical Xpress. May 3, 2011. Web, 18 Feb, 2013.

“Genetics and Cancer.” Stanford Medicine – Cancer Institute. n.d. Web, 18 Feb, 2013.

Part 2. Thinking about the course

1.    The one assignment I did in this course that I was most proud of was the “What molecule is that and the DNA Lab”. I found matching the molecules to the drawings and figuring out the monomers and polymers to be extremely difficult. It took me ages to work and rework my answers, with lots of research and head scratching in-between.

2.    I now understand the correlation between the atoms, chemical units and how they work. The first few weeks of class I was pretty lost as it’s been a long time since I was at school, and I don’t think we ever did class work like this before. It’s my first time for this kind of subject.

3.    I took the added action of getting my eighth grade son to help me go back to basics to understand the initial part of the course work. I feel like I dived into this class without the benefit of learning the basics in early education. He explained it very simply which is exactly what I needed. I also approached a family friend who’s a high school science teacher to get me back to the beginning, and help me learn what I didn’t learn before.

4.    I felt most connected to the class learning about DNA. I found it really interesting and it helped me focus on the more difficult details. I also enjoyed learning about the nucleus and its many organelles and different working parts.

5.    What you could offer me to help in my understanding is continuing to attach your video clips explaining what I just read in a new chapter. Sometimes I don’t understand it fully or at least parts of it, until I have watched your video. I take the notes you have posted and write on them while watching your video post. Sometimes I have to wait for your video to be posted before I can work on assignments as the videos help more than the notes.

 

MILK, JUICE, CARROT LAB

Milk: Record your hypothesis, observations, explanation, and factors here.

My Hypothesis: If the milk is left out in an open glass jar, in a warm, dark place for three days then it will curdle, turn yellow, thicken and smell sour, because the bacteria will multiply and change the purpose of the molecules in the milk.

Day 1: The milk was poured into the glass jar and left, no visible changes occurred less than twelve hours when I checked on it.

Day 2: 24 hours - The milk is starting to turn yellow and thicken on the surface. No changes in its odor yet.



Day 2 - the milk is starting to turn yellow and thicken



Day 3: 36 hours - The milk is visibly changing more. It has formed a thick, crust-like yellowish layer on the top, with less milk on the bottom. It has a foul, sour odor. I can see the curd on the top quite plainly.

 

Day 3 Side View



Day 3 Top View



Day 4: 48 hours - I forgot to throw the milk away and it started bubbling. It smelt pretty nasty too!



Day 4 - The milk started bubbling.



Explanation: The micro-organisms in the milk will become infected with bacteria which will multiply in the process of fermentation. Milk is made up of lactose (hence lactating Mother’s who breastfeed their babies), water, fats and proteins. The bacteria work and multiply to turn the milk’s lactose into lactic acid which sours the milk and turns it into thick clumps which is curd.

Juice: Write your observations and explanation here.

Tap Water at room temperature: When I poured the Grape juice into the glass jar of water it diffused rapidly and equally into the water. I tried it again using syringes filled with grape juice to slow down the diffusion and see it more clearly. It showed up better, but still diffused pretty equally in the water because the juice is basically at the same temperature as the water. This was the medium color purple in a short time. I wasn’t sure if I had slightly less Grape juice to make it this way, than the boiling water.



Tap water at room temperature allowed the
 Grape juice to diffuse rapidly.



Boiling Water: I again used the syringes filled with Grape juice and squirted them slowly into the boiling water. Because the Grape juice was colder, it was denser than the hot water so it formed streams of juice which diffused more slowly into the boiling water. The colder juice acted as a barrier to the hot water, but it quickly dissipated quickly and equalized in the water. This was the lightest color purple but in a short time.

Boiling water diffused the Grape juice a little slower.

Ice cold Water: When the stream of injected Grape juice hit the bottom of the glass jar of Iced water it looked darker than the surrounding water because it was hitting cold water. It did not dissipate as quickly as the others did. The juice particles moved slowly through the water and remained a darker purple for about two minutes before it was dissipated equally in the jar. This was the darkest color purple for the longest time.

Ice-cold water allowed me to see the Grape juice
 diffuse slowly, so it was visible to the eye
.The end result was that the solute
was a lot darker,
and it stayed like that for about
2 minutes before it dissapated evenly
 to match the other 2.

Carrot:  Record your hypothesis, tightness of string and texture observations and measurements, and what type of water caused shrinkage or expansion here.

My Hypothesis: If a carrot is placed in salt water then it will shrink because the salt solution is more concentrated on the outside than the carrots cells inside. The string will be looser than it started out.

On the other hand, if a carrot is placed in regular water then it will expand because the water will be drawn into the carrot. The string will be tighter as the carrot cells will have expanded.

Initial length and width of carrot pieces:

Piece 1: Salt Water - Length 90mm (3 ½”), Width 21mm (7/8”)

Piece 2: Tap Water – Length 83mm (3 ¼”), Width 21mm (7/8”)



Day 1: Carrots in salt water and tap water with string tied around
the width near the cut sides.



After-experiment length and width of carrot pieces:

Piece 1: Salt Water – Length 87mm (3  7/16”), Width 21mm (slightly loose string)

Piece 2: Tap Water – Length 83mm (3 ¼’), Width 22mm (string very tight and biting into the carrot)

In salt water - the carrot shrunk by about 2-3 millimeters in length.
The width didn't visibly show a difference - but the
string was slightly loose. This proved that the carrot
did shrink in the salt solution.



In the fresh tap water - the carrot didn't change in length, but the width
swelled by 1 millimeter and the string was tight and biting into the carrot.
This proved that the carrot swelled and took in extra water.






















Explanation: The carrot in the salt solution shrinks. The extracellular salt solution of the carrot is more concentrated (it is hypertonic) than the intracellular carrot cell solution. Therefore the water inside the carrots cells is drawn out by diffusion. This leaves the carrot depleted of water and it shrinks.

The carrot in the regular water will swell. The carrot cells will draw in (it is hypotonic) more water than is released and it will swell.



SHOULD WE QUESTION THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTISM & VACCINES?

The controversy surrounding the issue whether vaccines can cause autism in children was brought up over a decade ago. The main issue that parents of autistic children discuss, is how their children’s development was affected shortly after being vaccinated. In a nutshell, the controversy revolves around “the increase in autism, the safety of vaccines, and federal research priorities.” Cases of autistic children continue to increase, despite the fact that mercury in vaccines was removed from most vaccines around the year 2003. There are supporters of vaccines, and those who oppose vaccines because not enough research has been done. Neither side has sufficient scientific evidence to validate their claims one hundred percent, so the debate will continue until proven otherwise. (http://www.examiner.com/article/autism-advocates-nih-cdc-testify-to-congress-about-research-autism-increase).

At a Congressional hearing committee on Capitol Hill, Mark Blaxill went up against the NIH and CDC, (National Institute of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) who in turn defended their research. Blaxill was the designated speaker for  Safeminds, an advocacy group with a serious message about autism. Blaxill urged governmental agencies to turn their autism research away from genetic causes and aim more towards environmental causes. “Autism is a public health crisis of historic proportions….(and) a national emergency." At this court hearing, vaccine safety, especially those that contained “thimerosal, a mercury preservative” were discussed. Also brought up was the alarming trend of multiple vaccinations given to young children over a short period of time.

Blaxill and other parents of autistic children maintain “the fact that symptoms of mercury poisoning mimic the symptoms of autism, dramatic behavioral and medical changes sometimes occur directly after the administration of vaccines” are connected with the increase in autism cases due to “increases in the U.S.vaccine schedule.”

(http://www.examiner.com/article/autism-advocates-nih-cdc-testify-to-congress-about-research-autism-increase).

Another proponent for more research into the use of vaccines is the well known Jenny McCarthy. As a former Playboy model and actress, she uses her personal situation of having a young autistic child as a platform to spread the word and bring awareness to the public about the dangers of vaccines. Whilst she claims that her, and her supporters are “not an antivaccine group. We are demanding safe vaccines. We want to reduce the schedule and reduce the toxins.” McCarthy also declares that current times have increased the numbers of children with “ADHD, autism (and) OCD”. Her claims mesh with other parents who have similar concerns that our society gives children from newborn up, too many vaccines. (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1888718,00.html)

In contrast to the two views above, three national health institutes joined forces in research. “(A) joint statement issued in 1999 by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy of Family Physicians” released a statement declaring “there was “no evidence of harm” resulting from exposure to thimerosal in vaccines.” It was also mentioned “that as a precaution, thimerosal-containing vaccines should be removed as soon as possible.” It took until the year 2003 for thimerosal to be eliminated from “most childhood vaccines.” In 2004, the Institute of Medicine, in a similar claim, to those groups above, declared “that thimerosal-containing vaccines were not causally associated with autism.” Seven years later the Institute of Medicine again backed up their claims that “(f)ew health problems are caused by or clearly associated with vaccines.” (http://www.examiner.com/article/autism-advocates-nih-cdc-testify-to-congress-about-research-autism-increase).

From the knowledge that I gained from all the research I did on-line, it’s clear to me that not enough convincing and conclusive research has been done with regards to vaccines causing autism. The mercury-thimerosal issue seems to be the least of the problems. It’s the vast amount of vaccines and medicine we as a society are injecting into our vulnerable children, in too short a time frame. As far as I could tell, no research has been conducted in regards to proving what damage these multiple vaccines do inside our children’s bodies. Doctors order up to ten vaccines a time in young children, in a rush to get them done. Perhaps this could be the trigger to those children susceptible to autism.  We should be looking into how these vaccines react together and perhaps change our vaccine schedule until further research has been done.

In my opinion, emotions set aside, I have to side with the parents of those children who developed autism after getting vaccines. The cause-effect is too powerful to ignore. How can I deny the findings of those many parents who say their child was normal, yet changed dramatically after multiple vaccines? The fact that the statistics seem to back this phenomenon is another point in favor of these parents.

Another factor to consider is that pharmaceutical companies have a lot to lose in their profit margins if their product is questioned and demand for vaccines drops. Is it a financial and political issue, where “don’t ask, don’t tell” comes into play? Although I am the last to claim full knowledge of the facts, the research done by governmental institutes seems to be minimal. They feel that they eliminated high levels of mercury, so their claims that autism is mostly genetic should hold fast. What about further research into other possible contributing factors like environmental and the effect of too much vaccine taken in too quickly?

Who knows what the right answer is – but the debate will rage on until satisfactory results of research lowers the increasing number of autistic children we have here and now. Parents have the right to question this mandatory state-regulated vaccination schedule. Are vaccinations less effective if they are spread out? Is that being researched now? That is something we all have the right to know. The government should put its citizen’s health first and foremost, and ensure the future safety of the drugs it insists on administering to its youth.

Image taken from the following website: http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&q=vaccines&gbv=2&biw=1440&bih=742&sei=v24EUd3lK6quiQLJroCADg

SWITCHING GEARS

The popular culture of America has seen significant change over the years. As the wheels of change have rolled forward, so have the ideals and attitudes of the American people. This country was originally founded on Christian values which include truth, honor and freedom for all. These founding ideals remain today, but they have become more relaxed and carry less of a weight than they used to. Family standards in general, seem to have dropped in time too. It is inevitable that with progress comes change in many forms. The trick is to uphold the values of our origins that have stood up to the test of time. We should not let the hustle and bustle of life today erode those Christian values, as so many Americans do today. Families with dual incomes spend less time together and more time running round with conflicting schedules. Family life is definitely not as relaxed as it was even a generation ago.

Largely to blame for our nations’ loosening morals is our entertainment industry. All forms of entertainment today have brought a different kind of attitude to the fore which is far removed from past generations. Movies, songs and the activities of our celebrities today adhere to the current trends which prove that the more shocking they can get, the more publicity they garner. The tragedy is that the more we see this, the more we become desensitized and uncaring about the degradation of the morality of our society. Things that are sung about and the daily activities of celebrities today would have been totally unacceptable in previous generations. Why do we differ so much? Because the more we see it, the less we seem to care. This is not good for American families as it allows our children to grow up with very slack standards with regards to morality. With our standards being lowered every year we are teaching our children that it is acceptable, when it clearly is not.

Other changes have come about in our culture today are because of the current economic state we find ourselves in. With the collapse of certain industries and markets, comes the inevitable job loss that so many citizens are dealing with today. This means those people are forced to reevaluate their job situation. Either they stand down to earn less, or step up and re-enter the job market in areas they are not fully skilled at. This in turn has seen an upswing in adults going back to school to get more education, or find a new career path altogether. Kids graduating from college in the near future will be faced with a high percentage of competitors for job openings. In the end I predict America will be overflowing with highly educated graduates, but there won’t be enough jobs to match up with all the graduates. In order to survive escalating living expenses, particularly gas for our cars, society feels pressured to get more degrees in their education. I think it would make a huge impact on our society if salaries went up to accommodate increased expenses across the board. Small towns particularly feel the brunt of continually expanding costs as their already low salaries are not able to keep up with inflation. This actively encourages college graduates to move away from their families to find work in bigger cities that pay more. Even more will leave as the rising cost of education is growing exponentially. College leavers are faced with ridiculously high debt in return for an education that really benefits our society as a whole. All these factors will contribute to the break down in the family unit, and families will end up with more distance between them than ever before. It seems as though this is a vicious cycle and I am not sure it is a good indicator of our future if it continues along this path.

In previous generations fathers usually went out to work, making them the bread winner of the family unit. “Stay-at-home-Mom” is a phrase we are all familiar with. Today, there are not too many of that rare breed left. Necessity has forced both parents out to work, in order to afford mortgage, college and living expenses. Not only has this increased society’s living standards, but it has bred a whole new generation of consumers. Everything adjusted to accommodate these new standards. Sales of material goods went through the roof, especially when the advertising industry got involved and discovered a new way of increasing profit. America today is seen as a nation of consumers. Unfortunately not many of us can afford all of it. Credit cards became another aspect of our society that shaped where we find ourselves today – heavily in debt with too many possessions that are not always a necessity. I think it’s time America took a good hard look at where we are and reevaluated our priorities. Spoiling our children with the newest and latest does not always make them appreciative. What happened to the old fashioned standards of earning something? I’m quite glad at times that I can’t give in to my children’s wishes. After all, they are only wishes, they aren’t a genuine need. They will survive without it, and it will make them better people to wait for it. That way it’s appreciated, treasured, and never taken for granted. I wish all of America could be like this. It would make for a better nation. I see a lot of National pride, but not as much pride in the family unit. That’s the backbone of society as a whole and healthy family unit produces happy, confident people. The family unit is what makes society work cohesively in the end, as attitudes, morals and being closely connected to like-minded individuals who have the same ideals make for better people.

HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED OUR LIVES



This is a picture of the 4 generations in my family. It was taken in 1999.



When I think back on conversations I’ve had with my 97 year old Grandmother, I marvel at the changes she has seen in her lifetime. She was born in 1913 in South Africa, which will make her 98 in a few short months. I love hearing stories of her family’s immigration from South Africa to Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia. They travelled the distance via steam locomotive. The train engineer used coal to stoke the furnaces and power the train. I marvel at her recollections of travelling to school as a young girl by ox and cart, on unpaved dirt roads. At the end of the day as darkness approached, they would place candles in glass jars and hang them on the ox carts to light their way. There was no phone service. TV had not been invented yet, and certainly there was no technology in place as we know it today.

Moving up a generation, I spoke with my parents about growing up in their era. Their family shared a telephone “party-line” with several other families. The mining community they lived in was too far out of range for each home to be hooked up to the phone system. This meant they shared one line and each line had a distinctive ring; like two short and two long rings to let the families know which call was theirs. They did have electricity and running water. However, the water had to be heated up in large outside drums. These were built up on bricks with fires lit underneath to heat the water which was then channeled inside by pipes. Much to my children’s horror, their grandparents had outside toilets which were called “long drops”, or otherwise known to Americans as outhouses. Memories were shared of low-level bridges which were flooded during the rainy season, making crossings impossible. When my Mother moved into town they did have telephones, electricity and hot, running water as well as flush toilets. There was only one cinema in town, and wind-up gramophones with 8 inch records were popular at that time.

As for my own generation, we’ve seen some incredible changes in technology too. As a “tween” I was the proud owner of an electric record player, one step up from my own mother! This played the old vinyl L.P.’s. My siblings and I later on were delighted to own our own Walkman’s which played tape cassettes. I recall going to night school to learn how to type on a manual type writer. Every error was painstakingly “whited out”, or erased with an ink eraser until a hole appeared in the paper. This forced the poor typist to start all over. I recall my very first job at a print shop. I pasted up an entire book or two, page by painstaking page. Every single “tick mark” for the borders had to be carefully drawn in. Each cursed correction or addition had to be pasted over the original, line by line. Yes, computers were in use, but they were early versions of what they are today. Personal computers were finally introduced to most homes. Our kids today laugh at the technology of our time. It makes me feel like a dinosaur from a time long ago. It’s amazing to think that the most changes we have seen in technology have only occurred in the past 20 years. For me the most precious addition is the introduction of personal GPS systems. Not only are they portable, but I no longer have to fight with the pages of a map book. Nor do I have to print out directions from MapQuest, which was the next step forward in progress. Now we just plug in the address we are driving to, and lo and behold a voice directs you every step of the way, along with a visual map that changes as you drive. I love this little piece of technology. It is a blessing to those of us who are directionally challenged!

Last but not least, the generation of now, my children’s’ era, are privileged. They get the chance to own items like iPods, laptop computers, cell phones with internet access, 3D flat screen or widescreen TV’s. These TV’s have evolved to a whole new level. They can be transformed into total entertainment centers with the purchase of a dazzling array of extras. These can include things like Wii, X-box, or Play station. Interactive games like Wii can come with stand on surf boards, simulated guns to shoot moving targets and more than I even know about! My grandmother has been left way behind the times with the advances in technology. It’s more confusing to try and explain to her how things work than what they are! Granted, technology will always develop at a rapid rate. The trick is to keep up with technology and it’s offshoot of products. If you can’t afford to buy them, do some on-line research. This way someone from my parents or my generation can converse with my children’s generation. We can at least understand the world we occupy together. It was fun digging up old memories and touching on generational roots and long forgotten habits. The joy my family received in rehashing history made me realize just how far we have come, and how technology has shaped the very fabric of our lives. 

THE EFFECTS OF MEDIA AND TV ON CHILDREN OF ALL AGES

Children spend so much time watching TV it is no surprise to realize how much it can influence their outlook on life. When I think back to my childhood, it is almost a shock to remember how new TV was to our generation and recall how few hours a day it aired. There were no early morning children-only channels. We considered ourselves lucky to have one channel. TV started at around 4pm and closed with the Zimbabwean national anthem at 11pm. These days TV is on 24 hours a day, with far too many channels to watch, and a format, range, station and network for every imaginable age group and personality. I fondly recall family oriented shows like “Scooby Doo, Where are you?” Other child friendly shows like “The Wombles”, “The Muppet Show”, “Tom and Jerry”, “The Flintstones” and “The Famous Five” were regulars. These shows were on for limited early viewing and aired for the younger audience. There was no need for parental TV screening and special editing controls as nothing controversial or harmful was shown.

Children’s TV shows today have advanced along with the technological growth of the whole of the entertainment industry. Think back to the first TV’s introduced into society. They were small, black and white TV’s with snowy screens aided by “bunny ears” and set in wooden cabinets on spindly legs. Modern TV’s have advanced to 60 inch or more hi-definition flat screens which use digital and cable to be transmitted globally. Today standards in technology have allowed special effects and movie makers to make shows that have incredible visual imagery. However, moral standards seem to have been left behind in the process. Parents now have to be aware of shows with content that may be inappropriate to children of a certain age. Age restriction limitations provided on all movies shown on TV are a must for the vigilant parent. These depict the level of violent, sexual and language content. How sad that things progressed to this level. It is not necessary to include inappropriate material into TV shows and movies aimed at the young audience it’s intended for.  

The advance in technology has improved the quality of the production of children’s movies and TV shows, but to offset that cost, these same shows now have to rely on the popularity of the show or movie to turn a profit. Along with viewing, these show characters are turned into even more profit with well advertised merchandise catering to children. DVD’s, books, toys, branded clothing all add to the profits. Children whine to parents to purchase said marketed name brands and the profit margins increase accordingly. It’s all about how much money these shows and programs can generate. When I recall my own son as a toddler, he was obsessed with the “Power Rangers”. We bought him the advertised videos, pajamas, dress up costumes and action figure toys. Inadvertently, he learned these action figure hero’s scripted moves. He then went to kindergarten and practiced the moves on his playground friends! Needless to say we had to talk to him about this. He had to be taught that it was fantasy only and real boys can’t behave like that. That’s the hard truth about children watching TV. They imitate art, they don’t understand it is make believe, and basically they learn that their TV hero’s use violence to beat the bad guys.

 In our culture today there is the additional and untasteful aspect of advertising commercial products during children’s TV scheduling. Not only are toys pushed into the brains of children, but the unhealthy aspects of our society too. Fast food commercials, sickly sweet cereals and soda commercials are introduced and marketed to entice children. Fast food is as much a part of our culture today as 24 hour TV. Sadly we are introducing our vulnerable children into this way of life too early. It leads to obese, unhealthy and lazy children. Most children watch far too many hours of TV per day. Families would do better to limit TV time and interact in more productive and healthier ways. Eating healthy, playing outdoors and spending less time in front of the TV screen watching movies or playing video games are far more beneficial to the well being and mental development of children.

Advancing into the adolescent age group TV, movies and popular music are just as harmful to this portion of society. We have created this bubble we find ourselves in today. TV, movies and music follows trends and creates new standards of behavior, but it has also acted as a tool for shaping what is seen as acceptable from the adolescent viewpoint. If we as parents had spoken up, protested or made waves sooner, our current situation of world wise adolescents would be different. Movies like the “Twilight” series have glamorized teen romance and cults like werewolves and vampires. My younger son was crushed to hear the final in the series, still in production, is rated R. This is because of the sexual content. Why market this to teenagers and adolescents then place a restrictive ending like that? As a result of this degeneration of standards, our cultural standards have slipped too. Allowing so much violence and sexual content has created a new crop of problems. This is teaching our impressionable teens that sex early on is acceptable. The entertainment industry has lost touch with reality and has encouraged teens to experiment with sex. In a failed counteractive ploy, certain TV stations are producing programs like “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom”. These TV shows turn these fallen “girls” to into reality TV stars. They have the dual effect of trying to show how hard their lives are, yet they are supposedly paid huge sums of money to be filmed. How much is scripted and how much is real? The bottom line is that it’s reality that’s not authentically real. The sad fact is that it’s too little, too late. I don’t think many adolescents have the maturity to see the difference and this could lead to poor judgment in their actions.

As I write this blog, my 17 year old daughter is living with a far more realistic view on life. She brought home a school project to incorporate into her life for five days, 24 hours a day. This is an electronic baby, valued at $1000, which her CNA (certified nursing assistant) program at school initiated. The baby is programmed to cry at random (usually 2 hour) intervals. “Baby” as we have taken to calling it, has to be fed, diapered, rocked and burped. My daughter has an electronic swipe card which records her response time to the cries. She also has to figure out what the cry means and record in a journal each time the baby cries and what she wanted. Sensors in the bottle and the diapers record the correct corresponding calls my daughter makes on “baby”. This hands on approach to the teenage dilemma of early pregnancy and the challenges of child care, is far more beneficial to my daughter than watching it on TV. TV shows like “Teen Mom” have a surreal two dimensional, and not entirely true, feel to them. Having as close to the real thing for five days, is as real as it gets. Glamorizing, objectifying and giving teens the wrong message which TV shows and movies tend to do, is far more harmful to them than we realize.

 According to the University of Michigan Health System, “The number of sex scenes on TV has nearly doubled since 1998, with 70% of the top 20 most-watched shows by teens including sexual content. Fifteen percent of scenes with sexual intercourse depict characters that have just met having sex. Of the shows with sexual content, an average of five scenes per hour involves sex.” (http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/tv.htm). Those are pretty shocking statistics and our children are subjected to that. To me that is unacceptable. In a National Survey by Public Agenda, USA Today, 10/30/02, “90% of parents say TV programs are getting worse every year”. The bottom line is that TV shows, movies, music and the media in general today are failing to teach any values to our children. I don’t want my children to become statistics. I miss the old standards. Call me old fashioned, but I long for movies that don’t need censoring, that are wholesome and can be watched by mixed generations without causing either age set to cringe.

While I think about it, does anyone remember the fuss some nutty adults made about the content of “Noddy and Big Ears”? The “Teletubbies” too, were subjected to ridicule and dissected in detail. Both shows were deemed inappropriate for sensitive young children. I thought that was ridiculous. Children under six have no comprehension of homosexuality. A certain group of adults thought that showing “Noddy and Big Ears” sharing a room was wrong. I ask you, what 1 to 6 year old wonders about that? After six, they are no longer watching shows like “Noddy”. They would have moved on to other age appropriate shows and forgotten all about it. Upon reflection, the “Teletubbies” did show a boy character holding a lady’s handbag! That could be questioned by a child, but the resulting fuss was over the top. At the time I thought that particular program was merely annoying and the educational content was questionable.TV shows like this should be left to the very young, and more effort could have been put into shows aired to slightly older children. Who am I to question that debacle? I just wish the effort to censor was pushed further and had more of an effective reach to our adolescents of today. In my opinion, this is the age group that is most susceptible to the influence of the media in our society today.

CONSUMERISM IN AMERICA

“The term "consumerism" was first used in 1915 to refer to "advocacy of the rights and interests of consumers" (Oxford English Dictionary) but in this article the term "consumerism" refers to the sense first used in 1960, "emphasis on or preoccupation with the acquisition of consumer goods" (Oxford English Dictionary)” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism)

American’s are famous for their talent and proclivity for shopping. It amazes me at their consuming need to spend, put themselves in debt and seemingly not worry about it. As an immigrant, I’ve seen life from the other side of the world. Growing up in Africa, material things are harder to come by, therefore they are treated with more respect. Not only are many African countries poor, they don’t have the means to produce, import or even pay for some seemingly frivolous material items. Necessity is the name of the game, and because citizens are forced to save earnestly before buying them they are looked after lovingly. Credit is not handed out as easily as it is in America or other developed countries. High priced items like refrigerators, stoves, microwaves and washing machines are like gold in some countries. Many people never get to own these items. They live simply by washing clothes in streams, cooking over open fires and live life with just the basics. Middle class citizens, who are able to buy these items, know they are hard to come by so they are carefully used. Because these possessions are so expensive, the cost and hardship to have them fixed when they malfunction is high. Replacement parts are often unavailable and if they are, they are usually imported at an exorbitant price. In comparison to some African countries, American spending seems wasteful, rash and unnecessary. Recently our microwave and dishwasher needed some TLC. We were, I admit, afraid they would need to be replaced. Understandably a cheap version of a new microwave can be found for around $50, but I am not working at the moment. Understand too, that we have been brought up with the mindset of those who always “make a plan”. I was so very proud of my husband when he found a repair shop to buy replacement parts. The dishwasher cost $6 to replace one broken part, and the microwave part was free because they let my husband cut the part to fit. We are used to using our possessions until they are at a point beyond repair. To us, this is living simply and making use of what we have.

Consumerism in America can largely be blamed on advertising. Slick, polished, hypnotizing adverts are made to entice the weak and the lazy. Another major reason is that credit is offered too freely where the credit companies are to blame because they want to increase business. Offers for zero interest and easy set up fees entice the unsuspecting consumer. I have often seen salvageable items and appliances on the side of the road waiting for the city trash trucks to take them away. These sights are foreign to us. Nothing in Zimbabwe goes to waste. That old saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” could have originated in Zimbabwe. Old car tyres (spelt tires here) are reused there to make shoes and sandals for the very poor. Abandoned cars are stripped to bare shells and everything of any use is salvaged. Ten years later it still bothers me to see waste on such a large scale. There are so many underprivileged nations in our world, yet Americans seem to have got used to replacing goods at the drop of a hat. “Out with the old, in with the new” is the custom here. Before the Baby Boom, the United States of America’s products were well made. This is evident by TV shows like “American Pickers”, who travel all over America looking for old American treasures hidden in sheds, back yards and garages. Any antique items, particularly American made, is in demand at auctions and by collectors, and is sold at high prices. Consumerism increased after the Baby Boom where imports started coming into the country. This is the point where we find ourselves today, having a vast array of goods to chose from that have come from all over the world.

The average American is burdened by credit card debt. This too, is another major reason why we are famous for our consumerism. It should be a natural instinct to be afraid of racking up debt, more debt in fact, than you actually earn. It should be a matter of logistics to most people who spend carelessly. “How am I going to afford to pay it back, how many months or years will it take me to pay it back”? This should be the deciding factor before putting it on plastic. Sadly, most people seem to bury their heads in the sand and face their mounting debt when a tragedy occurs. Currently, this tragedy seems to be when one or both parties lose their jobs. In this economic climate of hardships and cutting back all round, consumerism should be on the decline but I don’t see much evidence of that.

Another contributing factor towards the debt many Americans are in is that spending makes you feel good. It gives a false sense of self worth. It also boosts flagging moral in a temporary solution. Because of this temporary lull in our senses, owning something new and shiny can block out the pain of everyday life. Christmas, Valentines, Easter, and all other major celebrations are used by manufacturers to add to our confusion about shopping. How many couples are “guilted” into buying commercialized gifts for their partners? We don’t buy into this phenomenon and consciously avoid such traps. We would rather celebrate our Wedding anniversary which falls after Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately for us, we are not strong enough to resist on our children’s behalf. Peer pressure, guilt and traditions are a hard habit to break just to teach your child a lesson. For us, that comes later when we can reason and explain how consumerism and commercialization just make Mom and Dad poorer! By the time our children were old enough to realize Santa Clause is just a fantasy and the Easter Bunny is a big myth, we were able to decrease the amount we spent on them.

As we have become accustomed to the American traditions and way of life, we have adjusted to a certain point. To be fair, if money wasn’t so tight right now, maybe we too, would have been lazy and gone out to buy a new microwave. In the end, I’m glad we didn’t. It was a great source of pride to us and we let our children know it too! What an excellent way to pass on our morals and attitude. On our arrival here in the USA, we would tell our children when at the shops “don’t look because we can’t have”. It became a familiar song to us. The dazzling store displays of an endless supply of material items were beyond tempting, considering the country we came from. That rule still applies to us. We don’t have a lot of extra, but we aren’t cheap, we are careful.