Author: andrewl435

Descriptive Story about Bones: Jimmy and his Broken Arm

“So, Jimmy, after I finish taking off your cast, I would like to talk to you about something. As we both well know by now, you broke your radius in a soccer accident. Your father asked me to teach you a little about the different bones and their classifications, and I have a minute so I thought I would give it a try.” I said, starting up the cast removal machine.

“But I will only do so if you are up for it. What do you say?” I could see him struggle with the cast saw.

“Ok, were done.” I pulled the cast from his arm. “So, do you want to?”

“Yeah, sure. I mean I guess.” He said, still amazed at seeing his bare arm.

“Not the most enthusiastic response, but I’ll take it. Let’s start with the long bones, since the bone you broke was one.” He seemed to have gotten over his arm and was paying attention now.

“Long bones are, as you may have guessed, long. They mostly help the body with movement and fluidity. Some examples are the femur, fibula, and tibia in the leg, which allow us to walk.” I could see his face light up.

“Or the radius in the arm! Like the one I broke!” He was so excited.

“Yes, very good. Can you guess what the next bone class is?”

“Is it… short?” I could see he had a real interest in this stuff.

“Of course!” I said. “They tend to be about as long as they wide, and they all fit together to make our wrists and ankles.” He stared up at me attentively, waiting for me to go on. I love teaching kids about this stuff.

“Then we have the Sesamoid bones, which are a little funky. These are bones that are embedded in a tendon, and help with joint movement. Do you have any idea where you might have one of these?” I asked.

“Hmm…. Like, your kneecap?” He was looked up at me.

“Yes! Great job! That is called the patella. You also have some little ones in your fingers. Next, we have flat bones, which are there to help protect your organs, like your heart and your lungs. You want to take a stab at this one?” I said to him.

“Your chest bone?”

“Again, very good!” I really was impressed this time. “That is called the sternum in the medical world. I bet you’ll like this next one. These are your Irregular bones. They are just little outliers that don’t fit into any other categories. They all have different uses. You have some of these in your vertebrae, and there is one called the Sacrum.”

That caught his attention. “That is so cool! I really like learning about this!”

I smiled. “Well good! It looks like you must go now, but next time I will pull out my little skeleton and we will see if we can find all of these bones!”

“Ooh! Sounds fun!” He said, exited. “Wait, real quick, what does the skeletal system as a whole do?”

“Well Jimmy, it provides support for your body and allows you to do everyday things. Without it we would just be blobs! See you next time.” I said, as his dad walked in to take him home. That was one fun day.

Interactive Sternum Location

Patella Location

Femur Location 

Parable

 

The grass swayed in the wind. It’s yellow tint reflecting the warm glow of the sun. The cloudless sky, like an ocean of purity. And to add to this sense of serenity, a gazelle gently clips the grass. Soon the rest follow. The majestic herd crowds around a drinking pool. Once they finish, they gallop away. Their strides, a Ballerina’s dance. Their speech, a beautiful song. They are the leaders of this savannah, and with their power, they have done well.

This tranquil animal had been ruling the savannah for thousands of years, and nobody expected it to change. Throughout this time, the gazelles had established culture and equality throughout the lands. It was on one summer day when it all changed. The gazelles were huddled around the drinking pool, when a ship appeared on the rocky shore. Slowly, coyotes jumped onto the savanna. They were vicious, ruthless, and savage. Their growls struck fear into the hearts of the calves. They had one goal, one purpose: To conquer the savannah. To feed themselves. And in doing this, they destroyed the balance.

In a couple of months, they had massacred any gazelle that stood against them, and within a couple years, they had absolute control. The gazelle lived in fear and poverty, while the coyotes were living outrageously lavish lifestyles. The coyotes did what they wanted, whenever they wanted, wherever they wanted. If they were hungry, they would feed. Even though the gazelle vastly outnumbered the coyotes, there was still nothing they could do, and more coyotes arrived every day.

It was not for many decades that the Gazelles had any hope of freedom. Generations had passed, and it seemed that almost no one remembered the days before the coyotes. Then one day, a young gazelle asked a question: “Why do the coyotes get to rule over us? We are all animals. What makes us so different from them, that they have absolute control of us?”

This young gazelle was named Gandhi Gazelle, and he grew up to be the leader of the independence movement that got the gazelles’ their freedom. They organized peaceful protests against the coyotes, who were outraged at the idea of Gazelles having self-rule. Gandhi gazelle led strikes against having to buy things from the coyotes. The coyotes made water very expensive, and made it so that the gazelles had to buy water from them and that they were not allowed to get water from the drinking hole.

One day, Gandhi Gazelle organized the gazelles and they all started marching to the water hole to drink free water and from then on, the gazelles were able to drink all the water they wanted.

Gandhi Gazelle led many more strikes and marches. The coyotes tried to stop the rebellion by killing gazelles that wouldn’t listen. That just seemed to anger the gazelles more. The coyotes started to get very scared, because in a land far away, the coyotes homeland was getting attacked by wolves. Along with that, the gazelle were rebelling, and there was nothing the coyotes could do to stop them.

The coyotes needed the gazelles if they wanted to win the war. They needed the gazelles to help them transfer messages, because the wolves didn’t understand the language of the gazelles. The coyotes realized that there was no way that they could get the gazelles to help them fight for the coyotes’ freedom, while denying the gazelles theirs.

Finally, the coyotes made an agreement with the gazelles: In exchange for help in the fight against the wolves, the coyotes would give the gazelles their freedom back. The coyotes, with the help of the gazelles, ended up beating the wolves and in the end, both the coyotes and the gazelles were free.

 

Potential Science Career

Designing and drawing plans for buildings, whether they be small houses or huge modern skyscrapers. They look at cost, safety, environmental impact, and how the building will be used to craft the greatest building they can imagine.

There are three qualifications to being an active architect. You must first have a degree in architecture, but depending on the state you live in, the degree might have to come from one of the 117 schools approved by the National Architecture Accrediting Board. You must then gain experience as an intern with a preexisting architecture firm, and finally, to get a license you must complete an exam in architecture. Most architects receive a 5-year bachelor’s degree, and some go on to get a master’s degree. Bedside’s the educational qualifications, there are many attributes that are crucial in the job including: creativity, spatial skills, collaboration skills, and communication skills.

The job of an architect is to design the buildings in which people can live their everyday lives. While there is a large artistic portion of the job, the architect’s creations must be safe, functional, and meet the demands of the client. The architect is often a part of the process from the beginning, talking to the client to the first time, through drawing up drafts and blueprints, to explaining their thoughts to other clients and construction companies. Since much, if not most, of an architect’s time is spent communicating their thoughts to others, they must be able to communicate and collaborate with others. Architects spend most of their time in offices drawing up their plans and meeting with clients. The mean wage for an architect is $74,520 annually, approximately $26,200 above the mean salary in the United States. Job growth in the field of architecture is rising faster than average, and is expected to rise from 14% in 2012 to 20% by 2022.

After considering the lifestyle and work that an architect maintains, as well as reading an interview with Gyo Obata, who is a renowned Architect, I have decided that the life of architect is one I am interested in. First of all, I enjoy drawing and designing objects and spaces, one of the main roles of an architect. Secondly, the idea of combining the ideas and needs of a client with those of my own seems like it would be an fun and exciting creative adventure that I would have the opportunity to go on every day. Finally, the chance to put my permanent mark on the world is what excites me the most, and I cannot think of a better way to do it than with a habitable, livable, piece of art. One question I do have left about architecture: What is the best architecture school in the world, based on academics?

Architect

 

Change the World Project

During the change the world project  my group worked against climate change and global warming. Colin and I worked very well together. Where I left off, he picked up. We never had to plan or argue about who was doing what, we were both always happy to contribute. My favorite piece of the project was by far designing the website. I really liked arranging and fixing the aesthetics of our work. The one thing I might change is the website creator we use. WIX has many problems, especially when working in a group. I do know of any other website creators, but I am sure there are some out there that would suit this project better. Overall, this project has broadened my knowledge of global warming and I may or may not continue to fight it, depending on the circumstances that I find my self in.

Pig Heart Dissection Reflection

My overall impression of the porcine heart dissection was that it was an educational and hands-on experience. I was expecting it to be a lot smaller, but it ended up easier to work with as all of it’s parts were blown up. I really enjoyed using the scalpel to make scores and slice the walls of the heart. I struggled to find all of the pulmonary veins as they were small and hidden in the many folds of tissue. I imagine that operating on a living human would be similar, but have a much smaller range for mistake and much higher consequences. I am not very interested in similar studies as a career path, although I would like to learn as much as I can about the topic while I am in school.pigdissection

Nien Cheng Question

I think that Nien Cheng asks herself the question “Would I not have behaved exactly as the Red Guards had done?” because seeing all of the normally calm, educated high school students pillage houses and ruin lives is hard. It is helpful to think that everyone has an animal part to them, and anyone who is guided to do those horrid things would do them. For example, the students had cut up her good fabric with enthusiasm, simply because they were told to by their mentors and rewarded for doing it. I do think that she would have acted as they did if she were in their situation because they were brainwashed. It said in Red Scarf Girl that all of the Chinese people who had not been alive before the time of Chairman Mao were brainwashed to follow whatever he said without question. She too would have been brainwashed, and done whatever she had to make Mao and her other mentors happy.

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