Course Reflection

After taking huge lecture after huge lecture with old, boring professors, it was unique to have a class with under 20 people. I loved having the ability to speak up and be heard. The discussions were always respectful, and it was always interesting to hear everybody's differing points of view. I was also impressed that the group projects went as smoothly as they did.

This semester, I learned a lot about writing, and my own writing style was greatly improved. I ended up becoming very passionate about my paper topic, health insurance, even after spending an infinite number of hours researching it. I am looking forward to Jr. English (which is usually required by med schools, even if you place out of it) so that I can continue to improve my ability to write, which is a skill that is crucial for any professional. Thanks everyone!
-John Wallis

The Pura Principle

I liked this story a lot. All different types of people have a lot to say, but not everybody is a formal college-educated author. It is unique to hear such an emotional story come from such a colloquial writer. You would think that the reader wouldn't be able to take such a writer seriously, but I feel like the cursing and trash talk is something that many people can relate to. Because of this, it helps the reader connect with this specific illness narrative.

My favorite aspect of the story is how Rafa is sick, making it easy to feel sorry for him, but that he is an extremely unique character. Most writers glorify the sick, but this author included every flaw of his brother. Even though he showed that he loved his brother, sometimes it seemed as though he didn't like Rafa. I really enjoyed hearing such a unique perspective on such a common topic as cancer.

Waltz with Bashir

The scene that stood out to me the most in Waltz with Bashir was when the soldier ran into the line of fire and started dancing with his weapon. Based on the title, this was a critical point in the film, and it was done extremely tastefully. I have not seen many serious films that use animation, but this scene would not have worked any other way. The mixture between dancing and shooting was both abstract and perplexing. After getting angry enough to threaten his own friend, why did he suddenly start dancing? I especially loved the points where I couldn't tell whether he was trying to waltz or just evade the shower of bullets.

I was surprised that an animated film could portray the emotions and depth that it did. Usually animation seems to be used for humor. The one problem was that I was unable to identify people when they were showed at various ages. Other than that, the fluidity of the waltz showed me that animation can be extremely effective in portraying emotional imagery.

4 Annotations

1. Zeleny, Jeff. "Romney to Obama: 'Why Didn't You Call Me?'" Nytimes.com. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. .
This article said that President Obama has considered the health care law in Massachusetts passed by Mitt Romney as the model for the national plan. In response, Mitt Romney said that he disagreed with Obama's plan. He even said that had Obama called him, he "would have told him, 'What you're doing, Mr. President, is going to bankrupt us."

2. Shear, Michael D. "Boehner, McConnell Push Full Assault on Health Care Law." Nytimes.com. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. .
In both an article and a video, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican leader Mitch McConnell promise that they will continue pursuing "full repeal" of Obama's health care law. In response, President Obama put out a video in which he was talking to a person who benefited from the fact that the health care bill raised the age that kids can be on their parents health insurance.

3. "On Second Thought." Editorial. Nytimes.com. Web. 3 Apr. 2011.
"A federal district judge in Florida backed down, as he should have, from his effort to bully the Obama administration into halting implementation of the new health care reforms even before the issue of the law’s constitutionality is resolved by higher courts."

4. Eliminating Waste in Medicare Advantage Will Not Affect Benefits. The White House. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. .
In this video: "Mike Hash of the White House Office of Health Reform gets into deeper detail on how reform would eliminate wasteful subsidies to insurance companies in the Medicare Advantage program, without hurting benefits or care and leaving the trust fund intact. To the contrary, it will strengthen Medicare's long-term stability and save seniors money."

5. Davenport, Jim. "Appeals Court Speeds up Health Overhaul Appeal." Yahoo! News. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. .
This article talked about how a federal appeals court has decided that they are going to speed up the timetable for the consideration of a Florida judge's ruling that Obama's health care bill is unconstitutional.

Research #1

1. Cutler, David M. and Zeckhauser, Richard J. Handbook of Health Economics, Volume 1. Elsevier Science, 2000.

(I could not find the city where it was published)

Pages 576-577: Moral hazard is essentially the difference in mindset when people know that they can buy something without paying in full. This applies to health care because people with health insurance will use the health care system more as long as it is covered under their insurance. They also may not take care of themselves quite as well because they know that they can just go to the doctor. On the other hand, somebody without insurance may want to take very good care of themselves to make sure that they don't have to pay for medical care. People with insurance will portray overall riskier behavior.

"Optimal insurance plans would pay for treatment only if the individual would have

chosen the same treatment had he borne the full bill"

Page 607: Adverse selection is essentially the differences in insurance costs and options. This becomes a problem because sick people that need more insurance will have to buy more generous plans, causing healthier people to avoid these risky plans. Also, healthy people may not feel the need for insurance. This means that the only people buying insurance are the people that are the most costly to insure.

2. Barnett, Randy E. "Is Health-Care Reform Constitutional?" The Washington Post, 21 March. 2010. Web. 3 March. 2011.

-9th and 10th Amendments

-Commerce Clause

-"...never before has it (Congress) used its commerce power to mandate that an individual person engage in an economic transaction with a private company."

John Q

The scene in which Ms. Payne and Dr. Turner were first telling the Archibalds that their son was very ill was a great example of rhetorical appeals.

First, there is of course pathos because everybody is sympathetic towards a family finding out that their loved one is fatally sick. The acting in this scene by both Denzel Washington and Kimberly Elise was sensational. They captured not only their love and concern for their son, but also a seemingly real love for each other.

Second, there is ethos. Dr. Turner shows his competence as a heart surgeon through his use of medical jargon as if it is common terminology. With this, he also shows a lack of initial compassion towards the Archibalds' predicament because he does not even want to take the time to explain exactly what is going on in their son's body.

Finally, the writers used logos to try to show how conniving Ms. Payne was. She makes the argument that they should let their son die without surgery because the surgery could kill him. In no way does this make sense because if they do nothing he essentially has a 0% chance of surviving, and only through surgery do these odds increase. She was trying to outsmart the humble parents into not trying to have the expensive surgery.

This whole movie used the rhetorical appeals to make the audience feel strong emotions throughout. I felt angry at the system, which made me excited to write my paper on health insurance.

Philadelphia

In Philadelphia, the camera zoomed in for several close-ups of Tom Hanks in which he made subtle gestures or faces that ended up being crucial to the movie. In the end, I found each of these to symbolize the 5 stages of grief that a patient (or people close to that patient) go through when they find out that they are going to die.

1. Anger: After being turned down by the tenth lawyer, there is a close-up of Andrew Beckett, standing in the doorway looking angry and hopeless.

2. Denial: When Beckett and Miguel are talking about death for the first time, Miguel says that maybe Andrew should start planning his own memorial. Tom Hanks looks extremely surprised, then shakes his head and says the word "NO." It is then that they go to a costume party.

3. Bargaining: When talking about his will with Miller, Beckett makes it clear that he wants a lot of his money to go to charity. This is like a last attempt to gain some good karma.

4. Depression: Out of nowhere, Andrew gets extremely emotional when listening to La Mamma Morta by Maria Callas. He cries and feels the weight of his situation. He is clearly not yet ready to die.

5. Acceptance: While lying in his hospital bed, Beckett blatantly tells Miguel, "I'm ready." This is the definition of the acceptance that every person hopes to achieve right before they die.

One thing in the movie that surprised me was that Beckett's family was picture-perfect throughout. They were extremely supportive of his partnership with Miguel as well as his plight with AIDS. In reality, many AIDS patients were disowned because of their homosexuality. I am still curious as to why the creators of the film made his family life flawless.