Im African American, Not Ghetto Yet Im White Essay Example for Free

Im African American, Not Ghetto Yet Im White Essay I’m African American, Not Ghetto Yet I’m â€Å"White†? Stereotypes are a part of the reason why people are so judgmental today. In the world, speaking â€Å"like† an African American usually refer to slang/illiterate terms while speaking Caucasian would refer to intelligence. The stereotype I chose, â€Å"If you’re black but don’t act ghetto you’re considered â€Å"white†; is seldomly brought up but constantly judged throughout the business world and education systems or even in everyday tasks such as shopping. Deon Cole Black Box is a comedy show that The first media selected was an episode from â€Å"Deon Cole’s Black Box†. This video focused on an African American man working in a business consisting of mostly Caucasian people. The speaker, Deon Cole spoke to a moreover adult audience conveying that African American speaking intellectually and using words such as â€Å"awesome† are considered speaking white and is not acceptable. The purpose of this stereotype is to compare the speaking difference between African Americans and Caucasians. The speaker delivered the message with a humorous point of view. He consistently talked in a different way compared to when he talked to people of his same race. Although to his other coworkers he sounded normal, to people of his own race he sounded odd. The speaker confronted him on this saying how he talked â€Å"white†. This added to the stereotype ‘If you’re black but not ghetto, you’re automatically considered â€Å"white†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. The Second media I chose was an article called â€Å"Racism in High School I’m not Oreo or ghetto—I’m just being me†. The author Nesshell Rainford communicated her opinion on how others were considering her an Oreo. This meaning others felt she talked white on the inside but was African American on the outside. The intended audience was any teenager who may have experienced or is experiencing this. She expressed how she felt towards teasing, insults, racism and judgments she dealt with in high school.

HIV Prevention in Africa :: HIV in Africa

HIV prevention in Africa A continuing rise in the number of HIV infected people is not inevitable. There is growing evidence that prevention efforts can be effective, and this includes initiatives in some of the most heavily affected countries. One new study in Zambia has shown success in prevention efforts. The study reported that urban men and women are less sexually active, that fewer had multiple partners and that condoms were used more consistently. This is in line with findings that HIV prevalence has declined significantly among 15-29 year-old urban women (down to 24.1% in 1999 from 28.3% in 1996). Although these rates are still unacceptably high, this drop has prompted a hope that, if Zambia continues this response, it could become the second African country to reverse a devastating epidemic. This suggests that awareness campaigns and prevention programs are now starting to work. But a major challenge is to sustain and build on such uncertain success. What form should AIDS education take? Peer education A social form of education without classrooms or notebooks, where people are educated outside a 'school' environment but still have the opportunity to ask questions. Most peer education focuses on providing information about HIV transmission, answering questions and handing out condoms to people in a workplace, perhaps in a bar, or where a group of women gather to wash clothes. Most peer educators make contact with their target audience at least weekly and their sessions will usually be in the context of informal discussions with individual people or within a group. Active learning Active learning can sometimes link into peer education, especially when AIDS education is aimed at young people, as one of the best methods of learning something oneself is to teach it to others. Blanket education A general message aimed at the population as a whole. Blanket education usually aims to inform the population about which behaviors are risky and to give them support in changing these behaviors. Targeted education This type of strategy is usually used to speak to social groups who are perceived as being at a high risk of HIV infection. It focuses on risky activities particular to the specific target group. AFRICA ALIVE! January of 2000 kicked off the campaign to literally help keep Africa Alive! in the new millennium. The Mission of the Africa Alive! campaign is to give youth the skills they need to fight against HIV/AIDS. The vision is a new generation of Africans who are HIV/AIDS-free.

Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis: a Miracle or a Curse?

Have you ever wondered what life would be like without physical pain? Would life be more peaceful? Would we be more aggressive or would we possibly be incapable of enjoying the pleasures of life? We may think we are better off without pain but â€Å"Pain is simply our intrinsic medical adviser to warn us and stimulate us† (H. G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau). Some people have been able to experience this anomaly, the ability to be incapable of experiencing any physical pain. These people are proven examples that pain is in fact necessary. Without pain one an never truly discover their body’s physical limits and may against their knowledge inflict a great deal of pain upon themselves. People with the inability to feel pain have the disease called Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA). CIPA is categorized as a Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathic disease. Congenital Insensitivity to pain is the inability to feel uneasy sensations pertaining to an individual from birth. Anhidrosis is the inability to sweat thus causing the incapability to regulate body temperature. HSAN type IV is a genetic disorder caused by multiple DNA mutations. These mutations occur on the neuropathic tyrosine kinase receptor types one (ntrk1 gene). In normal people the NGR (neuropathic gene receptor) stimulates the growth support and the survival of the autonomic sympathetic neurons as well as nociceptive sensory neurons, which transmit pain sensations to the spinal cord and the brain. Mutations occur in portions of the gene that encode the intracellular and extracellular domain of the protein, which may affect the variability in presentation. Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathic (HSAN) type IV causes Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis. HSAN IV is the second most common type of HSAN. CIPA symptoms normally manifest at an early age, but can be difficult to diagnose. Infants with CIPA rarely cry from normal ailments, such as not crying when hungry as they cannot sense hunger and they can sleep soundly throughout the night as they cannot sense their needs that need to be met. Parents believe it to be a blessing that their child doesn’t cry until other onset symptoms occur. These symptoms include unexplained fevers, self-mutilation, and developmental delay. When teething children often chew on anything they can, but since children with CIPA don’t realise the pain of biting themselves, teething becomes dangerous. Many CIPA children begin to bite off their own tongue and fingers when teething; often ripping out their own teeth as well. Around this time, parents begin to realise that these symptoms are not normal for children. People with CIPA can’t live a normal life because of the many unfortunate ailments caused by the disease. Hyperactivity is a common characteristic of children with CIPA, as is eing unable to differentiate between temperatures. Many children die early because it is very easy for them to overheat as they cannot regulate their own body temperature. The lack of sweating causes the skin to become thick and susceptible to skin infections and cellulitis. Their bones deteriorate over a shorter period of time than normal bones. Their joints are overused usually confining patients to a wheelchair (wheelchair boun d). An infinite number of patients develop appendicitis and die because they are unable to feel the pain that this would normally cause. It is impossible to determine the number of CIPA patients, as there is quite a discrepancy in the statistics. Unfortunately, there is no cure for CIPA, and they are very few treatment options. Since it is a rare disorder there hasn’t been a lot of research done on the topic. To regulate the body temperature, some individuals with CIPA have to wear a special cooling vest designed by NASA, and must have a controlled thermostat. These individuals, like 11 year old Kayla Woodhouse, need to have a cooler filled with ice pack re-fills for her vest, and fluids to keep her hydrated. Other patients with CIPA wear goggles to protect their cornea, which would otherwise become damaged from their habit to scratch themselves. Gabby Gingras is one of the well known CIPA patients who wears goggles to prevent further damage. Gabby also had to have her teeth removed by the age of two to prevent further irreparable damage to her fingers. People with CIPA need constant supervision to avoid future injuries. Life without pain is more difficult than at first glance; it wouldn’t be as wonderful as we would assume. Upon further investigation of CIPA, although it may seem like a wonderful thing t is an extremely dangerous disorder that most often results in premature death. Until we find a cure, people who have CIPA are forced to painlessly suffer. Imagine if humans could suddenly no longer feel physical pain: Pharmaceutical companies, doctors, and manufacturing companies would cry all the way to their banks. Bibliography Axelrod, F. B. , von Simson, G. G. , Oddoux, C. (20 08, August 5). Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy IV. GeneReviews. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from, http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/bookshelf/br. fcgi? book=gene&part=hsan4. Brown, A. (2006, May 20). It’s not so easy being a superhero. The Gazette. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20060520/ai_n16434313. Lambert, K. (n. d). How CIPA Works. How Stuff Works. Retrieved November 12, 2008, from http://health. howstuffworks. com/cipa. htm/printable. Lee, B. (2008, November 17). Health Talk: Congenital insensitivity to pain. The Tartan. Retrieved December 2, 2008, from http://www. thetartan. org/2008/11/17/scitech/healthtalk. Wells, H. G. (1988). The Island of Dr. Moreau. New York: Signet Classic.

Bobbie Sue Dudley The Angel of Death

Bobbie Sue Dudley worked as the night supervisor at a St. Petersburg nursing home when 12 patients died within the first month that she was employed. She later admitted to killing the patients with large dosages of insulin. Childhood and Teenage Years Bobbie Sue Dudley (Terrell) was born in October 1952 in Woodlawn, Illinois. She was one of six children who lived with their parents in a trailer in an economically depressed area of Woodlawn. Much of the familys attention went to caring for four of her five brothers who suffered from Muscular Dystrophy. As a child, Dudley was overweight and severely near-sighted. She was shy and withdrawn and had few friends  unless she was at her  church where she received praise for her singing and organ playing. Her relationship with her church and her religion grew deeper as she got older. On occasion, she awkwardly shared her religious beliefs with schoolmates in such an aggressive way that her peers found her strange and avoided being around her. However, being unpopular did not deter her from her studies, and she consistently earned above-average grades. Nursing School Having helped to take care of her brothers over the years, Bobbie Sue set her sights on becoming a geriatric nurse after graduating from high school in 1973. She took her studies seriously and after three years in nursing school, she earned a degree as a registered nurse. She quickly found temporary employment at different medical facilities near her home. Marriage Bobbie Sue met and married Danny Dudley soon after she graduated from nursing school. When the couple decided to have a child, Bobbie Sue learned that she was unable to get pregnant. The news was devastating to Bobbie Sue and she went into a deep depression. Not willing to be childless, the couple decided to adopt a son. The joy of having a new son lasted for only a short time. Bobbie Sue became so deeply depressed that she decided to go for professional help. Her doctor diagnosed her with Schizophrenia and put her on medications which did little to help her condition. Bobbie Sues illness took a toll on the marriage along with the added stress of having a newly adopted child. But when the baby was hospitalized after suffering from a drug overdose, the marriage came to an abrupt end. Danny Dudley filed for divorce and won full custody of the couples son after offering convincing evidence that Dudley had been giving the boy her Schizophrenia medicine—not once, but at least four times. The divorce had a debilitating impact on Dudleys mental and physical health. She ended up in and out of the hospital for a variety of medical reasons that required surgery. She also had a complete hysterectomy and had problems with a broken arm that would not heal. Unable to cope on her own, she went to a mental health facility where she stayed a year before getting a clean bill of health to return to work. First Permanent Job After getting out of the mental health facility she began working at a nursing home in Greenville, Illinois, which is an hour away from Woodlawn. It did not take long for her mental problems to start resurfacing. She began fainting while on the job, but doctors were unable to determine any medical reason that would cause it to happen. Rumors that she pretended to faint for attention began circulating among the staff. When it was discovered that she had purposely slashed her vagina several times with a pair of scissors out of rage for her inability to have children, the nursing home administrators terminated her and recommended that she get professional help. Relocation to Florida Dudley decided that instead of getting help, she would move to Florida. In August 1984, she got her Florida nursing license and worked in temporary positions in the Tampa Bay area. The move did not cure her constant health issues, however, and she continued checking in at the local hospitals with different ailments. One such trip led to her having an emergency colostomy due to excessive rectal bleeding. Still, by October, she had managed to move to St. Petersburg and get a permanent position as a night shift supervisor on the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at the North Horizon Health Care Center. A Serial Killer Within weeks after Dudley started working there was an increase in the number of patients dying during her shift. Since the patients were elderly the deaths did not raise any immediate alarms. The first death was Aggie Marsh, 97, on Nov. 13, 1984, from what was deemed as natural causes. Days later a patient nearly died from an insulin overdose that had the staff talking. The insulin was kept in a locked cabinet and Dudley was the only one with the key. Ten days later, on November 23, the second patient to die during Dudleys shift was Leathy McKnight, 85, from an overdose of insulin. There was also a suspicious fire that broke out in the linen closet that same evening. On November 25, Mary Cartwright, 79 and Stella Bradham, 85, died during the night shift. On the following night, November 26, five patients died. That same night an anonymous woman contacted the police and whispered into the phone that there was a serial killer murdering patients at the nursing home. When the police went to the nursing home to investigate the call they found Dudley suffering from a stab wound, claiming that she had been stabbed by an intruder. The Investigation A full police investigation began into the 12 deaths and one near death of patients in a 13-day span, with Dudley quickly jumping to the number one person of interest after police could find no evidence to back up her claims of being stabbed by an intruder. Investigators discovered Dudleys history of ongoing health issues, Schizophrenia, and the incident of self-mutilation that led to her being fired from her position in Illinois. They turned the information over to her supervisors and in December her employment at the nursing home was terminated. Without a job and no income, Dudley decided to try for workmans compensation from the nursing home since she was stabbed while at work. In response, the nursing homes insurance company asked for Dudley to undergo a full psychiatric examination. The psychiatric report concluded that Dudley suffered from Schizophrenia and Munchausen Syndrome and that she probably stabbed herself. The incident in Illinois of her stabbing herself was also revealed and she was denied workmans compensation. On Jan. 31, 1985, unable to cope, Dudley checked herself into a hospital for both psychiatric and medical reasons. It was during her stay at the hospital that she learned that the Florida Department of Professional Regulation had issued an immediate suspension of her nursing license because she was a high risk of being a danger to herself and others. The Arrest The fact that Dudley was no longer employed at the nursing home did not deter the investigation into the patients deaths. The bodies of nine of the patients that died were exhumed and autopsies were underway. Dudley left the hospital and soon after married 38-year-old Ron Terrell who was an unemployed plumber. Unable to afford an apartment, the newlywed couple moved into a tent. On March 17, 1984, enough evidence had been uncovered for investigators to charge Dudley on four counts of murder, Aggie Marsh, Leathy McKnight, Stella Bradham, and Mary Cartwright, and one count of attempted murder of Anna Larson. Dudley never had to face a jury. Instead, she worked out a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder in exchange for a 95-year-sentence. Bobbie Sue Dudley Terrell would end up serving only 22 years of her sentence. She died in prison in 2007.