Keturah Oglesby

Traveling around the world can be a very interesting and fun time but having the opportunity to travel through space would be the opportunity of a life time. I have always heard about the “Trip to Mars,” where people could live on mars for the rest of their life, this sparked my interest in learning about the matter because I think that the opportunity is amazing. Traveling to space is a far from cheap trip, but the memories and stories you would have to tell would be absolutely priceless. The article titled “5,200 Days in Space,” addresses how spending such a large amount of time in space can affect your body tremendously, but in the long run it would be worth taking the risk to have the chance of a lifetime to travel to space. It also talks about not only the physical struggles the person would go through but also the emotional things. Astronauts, and other travelers, would be known as part of a rare breed that get an opportunity that many people will never get the chance to experience.

Julie A. Robinson, an outside reporter from the article “Off to Space For a Year…”, states, “They push them to something not at all unlike aging on Earth, where their balance is disrupted, their hearts are weaker, their immune system isn’t functioning as well, their muscles are weaker, and their bones are being lost.” She is explaining how when on Earth, the body acts normally and acts the way it was meant to act and perform. When the body leaves earth and goes into space many things change. For an example, the weather, pressure, radiation, and many other things but each one has a huge role when it comes to the way the body performs. If the body isn’t used to space, then it will automatically act in a different way. To take the trip to space the body would have to go through rigorous training to make sure it is able to function so far from earth. Not only physical struggles but emotional struggles play a large role in the space travel. When the people go through training to prepare their bodies to be able to handle the stress in space they also have to make sure they can emotionally handle the trip. Being so far from home for such a long time can play a large role in how they act and how the body reacts to everything that is going on.

Given the opportunity, many people would take the chance to travel to space. It could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some people that they would never forget. For others it would be just the beginning of many other space travel missions. Daisy Carrington says, “Ultimately, you get memories to last a lifetime, a trip I think would just blow people away. When talking to professional astronauts in the past, they don’t talk about their experiences for a day or a year; they talk about it for the rest of their lives.” This statement from Carrington says a lot because it truly allows someone to realize how much of an impact this trip could have on someone. Traveling to space can be a once in a lifetime opportunity and having stories to tell for the rest of your life could mean just as much as actually experiencing the trip. The memories and stories the astronauts would have would be one of a kind and nearly impossible to explain to someone who has never experienced the trip for themselves.

Within this annotated bibliography are other articles, mostly off of websites, that explain the benefits and disadvantages to space travel, and the affects that it has on the body. It also has information about costs, and first hand experiences some astronauts foretell.

 

 

Annotated Bibliography

Carrington, Daisy. “What Does a $250,000 Ticket to Space with Virgin Galactic Actually Buy You?” Www.cnn.com. 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

This article by Daisy Carrington enlightens readers to the price that it would cost if someone wanted to fly to outer space. She states that the price is relatively low compared to private flights and that it will be an experience that you would never forget. Carrington expresses that buying a ticket will change your life and give you a non-forgettable story to always tell.

 

Chang, Kenneth. “Off to Space for a Year, an American’s Longest Journey.” Www.nytimes.com. 26 Mar. 2015. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

In 2015 the New York Times issued an article by Kenneth Chang that discussed astronaut’s preparation for space for a whole year. Chang talks about how they have to learn about the physical and psychological changes that their body will go through once they enter space. He says how it was hard for them but their dedication to the mission was strong enough to fight through.

 

Cucinotta FA (2014) Space Radiation Risks for Astronauts on Multiple International Space Station Missions. PLoS ONE 9(4): e96099. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096099

This article by Cucinotta is a research study about how much radiation can harm your body. It then goes into how astronauts get more radiation going out of space and how risky it can be every time. The research is done to show the approximate amount of radiation that could start to harm the astronauts each time they go out of space. This article provides research on how the body is affected by radiation, and a description of each disease that can occur and the intensity of the disease.

 

Fisherman, Charles. “5,200 Days in Space.” Www.theatlantic.com. Jan.-Feb. 2015. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

In this article Fisherman talks about the ups and downs when it comes to living in space. He describes what your body feels like when your sleep and how it doesn’t feel normal because your body is just floating so you can never get completely relaxed. He then describes what life is like being in outer-space.

As the writer’s series comes to an end, an author named Paul Muldoon closes it out with a speaking on Thursday night. Although I was not able to attend the event, I did analyze one of his writings titled “Hedgehog.” In this poem Muldoon makes several references and comparisons. In the first part he compares a hedgehog to a snail because they tend to “hide in a shell” to avoid interactions. He then references hedgehogs to God/Jesus’s crown of thorns because a hedgehog’s body is pokey, and by stating that neither trust the world which is why they stay in hiding.

Personally on the Jesus reference when he states that He distrusts the world, I don’t completely agree with that on a religious perspective; but overall I like the poem as a whole. I feel like it goes against God because, to me, it’s not the fact that he wore the crown of thorns because he distrust the world, it’s more that he believed in giving the world a better life which lead to his crucifixion. As a whole I think Muldoon’s poem is initially saying that we as people tend to close ourselves off from the world to hide our problems, but we should instead “come out of our shells” and begin to open up.

 

 

Works Cited

Muldoon, Paul “Hedgehog.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 April 2016

After spending a morning with Anne Lamott I have learned so much about this inspiring lady. This interview was held at Belk Centrum Friday morning, which was continuing the Writers Series that has been going on at Lenoir-Rhyne. During this interview Anne was asked things like, “How do the characters in your book come about?” “How do you cope with the things that you can’t change/control?” Lamott, a very blunt woman, responds to these questions by comparing how the characters come to her like voices on her shoulders with a different story-line waiting to be told. She then gets a little deeper in her outlooks on life and the things she’s opinionated on as well. After an audience member describes her encounter with a man that was questioning God because his son had a disease, Lamott tells the lady basically that everyone has their own opinions on how the world works and that sometimes you may feel a certain way towards a situation but different opinions/situations may influence your mind to think otherwise.

I commend her on being outspoken about the things she believes in. I think she gave us a look into her life that we wouldn’t have otherwise gotten if we were just reading her books.

 

https://visitingwriters.lr.edu/the-authors

Many writers visit Lenoir-Rhyne every year; just recently an author by the name of Garrison Keillor came to speak to the university about his current writings and other related topics. In one of his writings titled “Answering the Call of the Chattering Classes” he talks about the interaction you have with a cell phone, and how you are so engaged with it in everything that you do. He references that sometimes phones can be there for you to save you from loneliness or depression. Keillor thinks back to times where there were no cell phones and how lonely or boring it was not being connected or social all the time, but also how people were more humble and respectful without them too.

I agree with Keillor; I think that cell phones are such a huge aspect of today’s society/culture that people are so involved with their phones that they have become less involved with the world around them. Keillor talks about how phones open up lines of communication to others, not just about the future or societal issues, but about vague conversations. This is something that I agree and disagree with. People today are so phone-centered that all of their conversations are held through phones which can be very misleading or interpreted the wrong way; this strays away from face-to-face conversations that are more intimate and understanding because you hear what is being said which can sometimes give the conversation a different meaning or feeling.

 

 

Citations

Keillor Garrison. “Answering the Call of the Chattering Classes.” 2 August 2005. Web. 3 April 2016.

 

“Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff (“They Say/I Say” 244-51)

 

Hidden Intellectualism is actually a section in the author’s book called Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind. In this passage Graff describes how schools put pressure on students to use their “book smarts” over their “street smarts” when it comes to writing on subjects or just simply learning about them. He then takes a step back to relate to his own life, and how he himself was more interested in sports magazines as a child more than what was being taught in school. Graff describes how in his neighborhood growing up children, including him, were bullied if they seemed to be book smart, so it was vital for the children who were book smart to not show it around them. The author goes on to say that street smarts have knowledge on intelligence about broader subjects because you can relate to more people around you than you can with book smarts. In ending Gerald Graff expresses that students who are focused on street smarts while in school are more likely to choose a more focused writing topic than those writing about something that they are not interested in. He suggests that educational institutions should develop a curriculum that involves fashion, sports, music, etc. to engage the students more, and in return the students will have an equal balance of both street and book smarts.

As I was reading the article I found myself relating with the text. I completely agree with Graff when he said “But they would be more prone to take on intellectual identities if we encouraged them to do so at first on subjects that interest them rather than ones that interest us” (245). This is true because just thinking back on previous assignments/writings that I have done over the years, I would have been more dedicated and motivated to do the work if it was actually on something that I wanted to do. For instances, in the tenth grade the class was assigned a specific person to research and write about in my history class. I was assigned to write about Thomas Jefferson although I really wanted to write about Ruby Bridges. I was just doing the work because I had to, but if I did it on what I would have preferred I would have been more interested and engaged. Writing on things that you are more interested in will give you more thorough and detailed papers compared to a paper that is written on something that you don’t want to write about. When you write on something that you’re not interested in you are more likely to just ramble on about the same thing over and over.

Another relatable part from the passage was when he said that his neighborhood treated him harshly because he was book smart. Although it might not be people’s neighborhood that judge them, but people experience this type of judgment at some point in their life. Everyone has experienced being around someone that answers all the questions, always has a comment on what the teachers says, and seems to just know it all; then the rest of the students just sit and look in judgment. This would be the same object, they are judging him/her because they are book smart, or feel less bright because they might not know it all. When I was growing up I loved to seem like I was smart, I didn’t seem like a know it all, but I was always in-tune with my studies to get where I wanted to be.

Graff also goes into how if sports, fashions, music, etc. were taught in school students would be more interested in other subjects because all aspects of their mind are being used. He also says that if they are taught these subjects they will speak/write more broadly on other subjects that they usually are not that interested in. Graff says that that when you learn more about outside academics you can relate to other more. I agree with this statement because learning the same old subjects all the time gets boring, but if we are taught more interesting things then we will be more motivated to come to school and actually learn.

Reading this article is relatable to so many people because everyone has experienced at least one aspect of his topic. Graff describes how students would be more interested in school if they learned about street smarts and book smarts. He says that this should be more incorporated to broaden student’s minds, which will overall broaden education itself.

 

 

Work Cited

“Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff (“They Say/I Say” 244-51)  (2014)

 

 

In the poem the author first begins to describe visual images of a city that is covered in snow. He then recounts a typical snow day where he sits back and just simply enjoys the day while listening to the radio as it forecasts all of the school school closings. Collins comes to an end when he relates that when there is no school, the children will come out and play, socialize, or just stay warmed up inside. I like how Collins figuratively describes the things he foretells throughout the poem; “Schools and libraries buried, the post office lost” (line 7) for an example. He gives the audience a better image on how he perceives a snow day in his viewpoint.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176051