Ethical Perspectives of Stem Cell Research
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The Writing Anthology Edited by Elizabeth Koele and Hannah Marcum Advisors Walter Cannon and Joshua Dolezal A Publication of the English Department and the Art Department Central College Pella, Iowa 2016 Dear Readers, Welcome to the 36th edition of The Writing Anthology. We are very excited to share this year’s publication with you. After reviewing nearly fifty submissions, we selected the following thirteen pieces to be featured in the anthology. The difficulty of this selection process is a testament to the excellent quality of student writing at Central College, and we are proud to see all the hard work put in by our peers. Ideas have power. Each of the following essays was written with a unique goal to transform perspective. Through examining relevant questions and proposing solutions, the authors contribute to a broader global discourse. Considered as a whole, we believe this anthology develops a compelling statement concerning our present and future realities. The first and last pieces in this anthology are natural complements. Both explore the association between humans and their health. Together, they build a framework for the progression of the collection. The first half of the anthology highlights human connection, both good and bad. Central to our arrangement is a philosophy essay that reminds readers of the origins of academic reasoning—a lens through which humans interpret their surroundings. Following this, the anthology’s focus shifts toward meaningful interaction between humanity and the environment, reaching for a balance between the two elements. Each year the John Allen Award is granted to the author or authors of the best student writing. This year, we are pleased to announce that Dana Wolthuizen and Elizabeth Koele will receive this honor. Dana’s “A Scarlet Sea” threads together travel writing and historical perspective in a poignant memoir which highlights interpersonal connections. Similarly, Liz’s “Learning the Loess Hills” displays an environmental awareness woven into a place essay with historical, scientific, and visual elements. The editors would like to congratulate all of the student authors: thank you once more for your exceptional work. Additionally, we thank the professors who took notice and submitted these essays to The Writing Anthology. Thanks also to Professor Brian Roberts and all of the talented artists for their outstanding contributions. We would like to recognize all of the glass artists: Ashton Mayer, Sean Robbins, Whitney Sowers, and particularly Melissa Ketchum whose glass piece appears on the cover. Finally, we would like to thank Steffanie Bonnstetter and Lindsey Maurer in Central College Communications. Most importantly, we acknowledge our faculty advisors, Dr. Walter Cannon, Dr. Joshua Dolezal, and Dr. Cynthia Mahmood. Dr. Cannon was the founding editor of The Writing Anthology in 1981 and has remained a keen and dedicated advisor ever since. His influence can be seen in every edition and will be missed. Walt, we salute you. Again, thank you to all who made this year’s publication possible. We simply couldn’t do it without you. Enjoy the 2016 Writing Anthology! Elizabeth Koele ‘16 Hannah Marcum ‘18 2 Table of Contents A Note from the Editors .............................2 The Platonic Forms.....................................35 Matt Imoehl Illness vs. Identity .........................................4 Hannah Marcum Supervised Chaos ........................................37 Bailey Anderson Ethical Perspectives of Stem Cell Research .......................................8 Learning the Loess Hills ............................41 Michaela Mathews Elizabeth Koele * Recipient of the John Allen Award A Comparative Analysis of the Foreign Policies of Egypt and An Evolutionary Approach to Saudi Arabia After the Arab Spring .........12 Vocalizations and Hearing Elisabeth Callejón Adaptations in Killer Whales ....................46 Stephanie Griffith & Jessica Mozga A Scarlet Sea ................................................17 Dana Wolthuizen La Vega .........................................................52 * Recipient of the John Allen Award Sam Davis La realidad y la fantasía de la Extraction and Depolymerization crisis española de la vivienda en of Natural Rubber from Common Los fenómenos ................................................20 Milkweed ......................................................57 Elizabeth Carman Kevin Jack Tribes and Tribulations: An 19:22 ..............................................................61 Ethnography of College-Aged Gay Taylor Sanders Men and the Problems They Face ...........26 Emma Simmons 3 Illness vs. Identity Hannah Marcum “Illness vs. Identity” shows Hannah’s skill in animating critical writing with creative elements. Her opening uses imagery to clarify the problem her argu- ENGL 270: Illness and ment will resolve, and she drives the thesis forward with questions that a reader needs to resolve. Like a strong narrative, an original argument allows the reader Health in Literature to discover something new. Hanah’s closing thoughts on how social perceptions of mental illness (and the identities of those suffering from mental illness) are constructed through language changed the way I read the two texts she explores. A bald woman in -Joshua Dolezal a pink t-shirt. A cane and sunglasses. A nervous tic, rocking back and forth. own thought processes to the invisible, getting covered over Eyes too close together. Eyes point of obsession. Letting it more thickly with darkness” too far apart. Too messy. Too pervade their interactions with (54). The darkness she neat. others will only make matters describes is her depression, Many kinds of illnesses worse. If and when they find which, even at her young age have physical characteristics an effective treatment and can of thirteen, has overtaken that we can identify the emerge from the shell of their her sense of self. In The moment we set eyes on them. malady, their healthy identity Hundred Hearts, a novel Many of them will be the only will be so lost to themselves by William Kowalski, the thing we ever know about that and others that the difficulty protagonist Jeremy Merkin person. Most of the time, we of recovering multiplies. This suffers from PTSD. He faces won’t ever imagine what is is the norm, but an effective some of the same problems beyond that one thing—the response to mental illness will as Elizabeth—for instance, person’s family, job, hobbies, combat the symptoms without during his first panic attack or sense of humor. They have wiping out the person’s he says, “I feel like I’m on become their ailment. identity. Jupiter” (Ch. 1). Taken with Mental illness can do Losing one’s self to Elizabeth’s comment about the same thing. Conditions sickness is a common theme being lost in space, this like depression and post- throughout narratives of suggests that people with traumatic stress disorder mental illness. In Prozac mental instabilities sometimes (PTSD) don’t always have Nation, Elizabeth Wurtzel’s feel as if they don’t relate to physical tells that would national bestselling memoir anyone in the human race. give them away in a grocery relating her experience with Towards the end of his story, store. Once we do know they chronic depression, she tells Jeremy is reflecting on who exist in a person, however, it her friend Paris, “I’m the he was before the explosion gets harder to see anything girl who is lost in space, in Afghanistan that caused his about them in a separate light. the girl who is disappearing disorder, saying, “that Jeremy Once again, their identity has always, forever fading away doesn’t exist anymore. He been overshadowed by their and receding farther and died five years ago…and the illness. farther into the background” world is better off without Where does that leave (53-4). Later in the same him” (Ch. 19). In both cases, them? Chances are, the illness conversation, she says she is an identity is lost, not only has already pervaded their “becoming more and more to Elizabeth and Jeremy, but 4 seemingly to the world. away, he was a lot of fun. The that all human connection was In that light, being Al I married went away to elusive, was the province of… or feeling lost to the world, Vietnam and never came back” the happy people on the other especially to family and (Ch. 4). If someone had loved side of the glass wall” (215). close friends, is another Jeremy as Helen loved Al, Her feeling of alienation is as theme common in these they likely could have made strong as a physical barrier. two narratives. Elizabeth the same observation about It is only after the failure of convinced herself that him. However, even after every romantic relationship, anytime she had a “freak- being back from Afghanistan every folie á deux, Elizabeth out” while she was with her for five years, Jeremy hasn’t initiates that she realizes friends, they got increasingly formed such bonds—his pot individuals with depression annoyed with her dealer is his best friend. “cannot possibly be until they decided rescued through the she “wasn’t worth power of anyone’s the trouble” (108). love” (215). Jeremy Elizabeth is able to goes a step further grasp when this is in his belief that her fault, but it only human interaction perpetuates her guilt will ultimately lead and causes her to to identity erasure. retreat further away. On a sidewalk in Another time she New York City, he faces that isolation stops and thinks, is when Rafe, her “Humanity is a college boyfriend, river…and I am a leaves her. She