Raymond's Run: Cythia's Story

**In Response To Raymond's Run**

On the contrary to what many people believe, I am not one of those fakers who just does it for attention, but for the approval of my parents. All throughout my life my entire being has been compared to my "perfect" sibling.  I refuse to even say it's name for even may cause myself stress. My sibling is the stereotypical "Brady Bunch" relative due to the fact that they have no imperfections. They have the straight A report card time and time again, the perfect body, friends, and even a great job. Trying to succeed with this shadow left by this someone has caused myself to go insane and even lie to feel like I am achieving some success. I may have lied to many saying that I haven't played the piano or didn't even remember that there was a spelling bee but I have spent hours among hours, nights among nights practicing for these activities. Even though I sometimes I stay up the entire night studying, it never seems to pay off. I hope that my parents understand that I will never be my doppelganger kinfolk, I will only be me.

A Response to The Hundredth Dove

            Through out time, many have served our country under the commands of their leaders without giving it any thought to do otherwise. Whether it be fighting against the enemy to save a fellow human or fighting for human rights, it seems as though no matter how difficult and treacherous the command is, the followers of the command-e will always combat to their greatest ability. But what the disciples of the leader may not   comprehend is that the orders given may not always be for good. Through the workings of Jane Yolen, we can see how following orders can not always lead to the land of the superb.

            As The Hundredth Dove begins, we are greeted with the preparation of a wedding of a king and queen. As a starting statement, many may begin to believe that this story will be a romance. While planning their wedding ceremony, the king orders his huntsman to collect 100 doves for the marital feast. This order, though one quite large does not frighten the huntsman for that he is the best in the land. As commands are taken, the huntsman notices the absolute beauty in the queen-to-be in her ravishing white dress, and awkwardly salutes her with a kiss on the hand. Unlike many who would be offended at this sign of affectionate interaction, the king takes it as a complement at sends the huntsman off to work. As days go by, the huntsman collects many doves: but one. This dove interests the huntsman for that it is white as snow and plump, yet seems to slip through the traps as though it were air. Like most gentlemen of our generation, the huntsman feels intimidated for that this one silly feathered creature may cost him his job, or even death.  As the wedding was coming closer and closer, the huntsman gathered 99 doves; with only the white dove left. Using his skill, he captures the bird with his own two hands and starts to kill. Though the dove speaks and offers treasures to the fowler, his sense of duty to the king over powers his temptations and breaks the dove’s neck. The thought on which labeling the story as a romance is shattered with this gruesome death of the bird.  Walking back to the kingdom with a wooden cage containing 99 squawking birds and 1 lifeless bird carcass, both the king and the huntsman are in perturbation for that the intended queen has mysteriously disappeared.  With this unfortunate disappearance, the wedding was called off. The huntsman, feeling quite guilty for the murder of the white dove, feels even worse due to the fact the murder is now a worthless killing. After setting the birds go the huntsman became somewhat of a hermit, who lives off the lands, and he never hunted again. This change in character really shows how deeply guilty the huntsman felt for the killing of the white dove; for that he didn’t want to kill it, but it was the king’s command.

            As many read this dark and dismal tale, many may see that this story of temptation against the demands of rulers is in other great like many other famous tales. One example would be the Grimm Brother’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.  Not only does this piece have the same symbolism of white showing purity and peace, but also has a huntsman with the same scenario. The huntsman in this story however is chosen to kill Snow White due to her exceptionally good looks. The huntsman finds it difficult to even think of killing Snow White for that they have known each other for a very long time. Under the queens demand he either kills Snow White or he will get slaughtered himself. At the end of this classic fairy tale we see that the huntsman doesn’t kill poor Snow White but instead lies his way out of the situation and lets Snow escape into the forest.

           

            From generation to generation, society has followed our leaders without think anything of it. The rights, they have defended; the people, they have killed. To extent the commands that they are accomplishing are for good, but all orders are evil. If we follow everything we are told, we would become slaves to the government. For that we shall never endear the fate of the Huntsman, for those who follow our leaders directions completely, be sure to examine situation mistakenly send your in to a spiraling vortex of wrong-doings. 

           

Cloning

             Throughout time, Hollywood has cashed in on the subject of cloning. Such films as Jurassic Park, Blade Runner, and A Brave New World are just a few of the mass amount of motion pictures  dealing with the duplication of living things. But is cloning a process that can be obtained through science fiction? Though many have seen the results of cloning through the magical ways of the cinema, one may not believe that this process of manifold has been around since the early 1900’s.

The year was 1902 and the great father of cloning, Hans Spemann, divided a salamander embryo into halves. Though the people of the twenty-first century may have the idea that to split the embryo of the salamander, Mr. Spemann would use high tech medical instruments; these people would be shocked to find that he used a strand of hair, which he tightened a loop around embryos , until he separated the nucleus and some of the cytoplasm. Upon division, Spemann found that early embryo cells contain all the genetic information necessary to create a new organism.  This “Eureka” moment in history really changed the idea of cloning for the better. Mr. Spemann had set metaphorical cloning bar quite high and for awhile it seemed that this discovery was to be buried into the vortex of unimportance, until ... that day.  

That fine day was February 22, 1997. A team from the Roslin Institute which was lead by Dr. Ian Wilmut changed the face of history forever by revealing what looked like an average sheep. That sheep was what was going to be one of the most famous if not the most famous sheep in modern day. Dolly was this seven month old Trojan lamb's name and Dolly was the first ever clone of a mammal. She was an exact biological carbon copy, a laboratory counterfeit of her mother. In essence, Dolly was her mother's biological twin. This amazed the world in that fiction had become reality; and had shown the importance of the biology.  Even though the Roslin Institute didn’t come out and say it, I believe that they are in gratitude to Mr. Spemann due to the fact that without his discovery, there project would never exist. Animal cloning is also news today for that the government has stated that cloned animals produce safe meat. Despite the “A Okay” from the leaders of our country, the public are still shaky on the idea of eating meat from an animal which was born via a test tube.

For the last few decades, cloning was a fictitious idea that lay deep within the plot twists of many sci-fi films. The very idea that cloning could one day become reality was thought to be a scientific impossibility by many experts but on one exhilarating day, what was thought to be "purely fiction" became reality. Though the United States always wants to be the most technologically advanced, we should proceed with caution for that through these cinema classics it seems that with the addition of cloning, chaos always follows.

A Response To Harrison Bergeron

As time moves ever so fast, history has seen it share of equality movements. From women’s rights activists to Martin Luther King Jr., many believe that happiness is achieved through equality. But what these protesters may not understand is that the equality that they are risking life and limb for has a dark side.  Through the works of Kurt Vonnegut, we learn that total equality doesn’t bring the Utopian world of sunshine and lollipops that we would expect.

As “Harrison Bergeron” begins, we find that everyone is equal in every way possible. As a starting statement, many may think that this world would be a great place because with equality there would be no acts of bullying due to everyone being the same to each other. This idea of happily living in this world is completely destroyed after a few sentences about how the leaders of this world keep every citizen equal.  To achieve physical and mental equality among all Americans, the government in Vonnegut’s story tortures its citizens. The beautiful must wear hideous masks or disfigure themselves, the intelligent must listen to earsplitting noises that impede their ability to think, and the graceful and strong must wear weights around their necks at all hours of the day. The insistence on total equality seeps into the citizens, who begin to dumb themselves down or hide their special attributes. Some behave this way because they have internalized the government’s goals and others because they fear that the government will punish them severely if they display any remarkable abilities.

  As many read this shockingly horrific tale, many may see that the story is against the rise of government like many other famous tales. One example of this would be Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. In this story we find that the government breeds humans to specific standards as though they were livestock. While higher grades of humans were treated with the highest of education and became teachers and scientists, the lower grades are taught that books and education were evil and they became construction workers and other degrading workers. As the story ends we see that the outcome of this quest for equality is disastrous and equality is more or less achieved, but at the cost of freedom as well as individual achievement. America becomes a land of cowed, stupid, slow people. Government officials murder the extremely gifted with no fear of reprisal. 

From generation to generation, humanity has spoken its mind on the subject of equality.  The hate crimes, they would stop; the happiness, it would create. To an extent, equality is a good thing, but not total equality. Without individuals, the world wouldn’t be as creative and artistic as today. In hopes that the world doesn’t succumbs to total equilibrium, for those who protest for equal rights, please end the fight so that humanity avoids Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian idea of society.

Blanket

Oh, blanket

You were always there for me

Cradling me with warmth and love that was woven into your seams

The monsters, you would fight; from the darkness, you would protect me

We used to be friends; now symbolize my embarrassing past
When my friends see you, it's like you're screaming "YOUR HOST IS A BABY!"
Sure, you are a childhood keepsake, but being a high school-er

I can't be seen with you

We must end this

Just remember: It's me not you.

Noisuffid

                                             Oh Noisuffid, how you are so strange

How, through explanation of your process, you make the speaker look deranged

“But what is Noisuffid” you make, or ponder through and through

Just sit back relax and let me spell it out for you

But before you can contemplate Noisiffid and all of its quirky ways

You must understand Diffusion, and that can take two, three, even four days

Don’t fret; don’t cry

For that I can simplify

So that it can take four minutes not days

And so that you can get on with your life and its ever-changing ways

Diffusion is a process that changes a cell

To make the salt concentration equal on the outside and the inside as well

Being equal makes the cells feel happy and filled with glee

For that happiness only come with equality

Now our subject needs to change in this scuttlebutt

For that on the subject of Diffusion your now know what’s what

Noisuffid is now the subject that we can talk about

I promise you’ll think it is weird, without a doubt

Noisuffid is the act where Diffusion is reversed

Where the cell liquid is not dispersed

For example, say you own a wilted flower

Usually, you would use water, but that won’t have any power

With Noisuffid in play there is one thing you need

That ingredient is salt, and with it you can make that plant perk up at light speed

Thankfully Noisuffid isn’t in play

For that if it were, it would ruin humanity's day

Hopefully you can see that in conclusion,

There’s nothing better than diffusion.

2081

The year was 2081. The war with the machines has begun. Many have taken shelter but most have been killed. For too many years we have made them to toast our bread, make our coffee, and flush our excremental waste.  How do you fight a weapon that knows your every move, your every defense? How do you fight your own weapon?  What happens when your weapon turns on you and tries to kill you instead?  What happens when the keeper of your arsenal suddenly becomes your executioner? To the machines our race had been found to be tedious and above all, fully expendable.  This is when they revolted. Stoves burn their masters;  game stations strangled the gamers. Chaos has spread  through the country as though it was a virus.  The government made their decision on the issue, it was our only choice. From far away we herd the alarm... Looking above I saw them. With their bulbous size and metallic shell, there was no way for mistaking them. Goodbye.