The film, The Island, deals with a fictional ethical issue that is quickly becoming a reality. Should cloning humans for organs be allowed? In The Island, clones are being made in order to provide their counterparts with organs, body parts, or anything else harvestable. This “luxury” is extremely expensive, so all of the clones are of rich and famous people. The clones were kept in an asylum where they were monitored all day. To avoid rebellion, the clones were tricked into believing that they were survivors of an apocalyptic contamination of the earth. They were told that there was only one safe haven left on earth, an island and the only way to go to the island was to “win” a lottery, which was thought to be a random selection. Actually, when they did “win” the lottery, it meant that their counterparts were ready for a part. During the movie, two of the clones escape and expose the inhumanity of the situation.

With animal and plant cloning currently being experimented and perfected, human cloning is becoming an increasing possibility. This movie didn’t go into detail about the side effects of human cloning, such as deformities or deaths. It dealt more with how clones would be raised / kept. Clones are genetic copies of the individual from which they were derived so they would be capable of rational thought. If the clones were aware that they were created to be harvested for their parts, there would have been an uprising. This is why they were told the lie about the island. This raises questions about the morality of harvesting clones for organs. “Should one living being be killed to save another’s life?” and furthermore, “Should one living being be killed to donate parts?” I use the term “donate” lightly when speaking about clones because donate implies that there’s free will.

Another issue The Island raises is whether or not clones have the right of free will, or if they have any rights at all. The main character, Lincoln Six Echo, starts to doubt that there is even an island at all. He becomes angered at how closely they are monitored and wonders why. In order for clones to have rights, they would have to be humans. Again this is yet another controversial topic that seems to appear in the film. To prevent the clones from reproducing with one another the overseers implement a proximity rule that keeps men and women separate. Regardless of the rules, Lincoln still makes a friend with a clone woman named Jordan Two Delta. This incident shows that clones may have the capacity to love and the urge to mingle with the opposite sex. It is apparent that the most complicated problem that rises when pondering the ethics of cloning is the question of their rights.

Some of the female clones were created to give birth to children for regular people. The movie didn’t elaborate as to whether these birthing clones were of a woman who could not give birth or someone who was a good candidate for birth. The woman in the movie that birthed the baby was, of course, elated to have given birth and wanted to see her baby after it was born but the doctors quickly took the infant away to give to the non-cloned mother. The clone that had given birth was then killed since she had done her job. This raises a whole new issue of the ethicality of using clones as living vessels for child birth. Should a life be taken in order to give a life?

The film takes a dramatic plot twist after Lincoln and Jordan escape from the cloning asylum. The issue of cloning is not addressed much anymore until Lincoln meets his counterpart. One can imagine the eeriness of standing face to face with “themselves”. The problem with clones living among their counterparts is that there would be an identity conflict. People could commit crimes and blame it on their clones or vice versa. When a clone is made they are meant to be exact replicas, so they would also have the same fingerprints as their original copies.

As for me, I am against human cloning altogether, but if they are created, I believe that they should be given the same rights as ordinary humans. Rights are something that everyone is entitled to; animals even have rights, so there is no reason why clone should be without them. Some say that clones are not humans but I beg to differ. If you look at the genetic make-up of a clone and an ordinary human, you would not be able to tell which one is a clone.

As I stated before, clones have brains and are capable of thought and hence free will. Now those who are for cloning humans for organs try to argue that we could “make the clones dumb” to stop them from feeling or thinking. Is this not the same logic that slave owners used to keep their slaves suppressed? The clones in The Island were ignorant as to what they were but did that make it right? Just because someone is dumb doesn’t make them less than human or give one the right to kill them.

When faced with the earlier issue about the clone mother, one must wonder what kind of complications there are for clones to have children. Surely there is bound to be some sort of problem with clones reproducing either with each other or an ordinary human. Also, using someone as a means to an end is, especially involuntarily, is wrong. I’m pretty sure the clone mother, if given the chance, would have kept her baby and would have wanted to live.

With advances in technology, more and more things are becoming possible. As a result, more ethical questions must be answered. The Island brilliantly depicts the situations we may have to face in the future. The conclusion that is inferred in the movie is that cloning is immoral. It’s wrong to kill an innocent person for the benefit of another.

Interviewing my grandma

I did this interview when I was in the ninth grade. I recently found my old flash drive and this was one of the files on it. I think it's pretty good for ninth grade!
On July 30th 1936 a baby by the name of Betty Mencel, was born. Later to be known as Betty Heflin after marrying Herbert Heflin. Little did she know that in just 5 years her life would change due to the second world war. Although Betty Heflin was only 5 years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the U.S. declared war, she still remembers how it was living in that time.
The United States entered the “world wide war” in 1941. At that time Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in office and the economy had just been brought up from the Great Depression. “I remember hearing about it on the radio,” said Betty Heflin with a spaced look on her face, as if she were reliving the moment. “I was so young I didn’t really understand what was going on, but when I saw my mother shaking her head and tears coming into her eyes, I knew it couldn’t be good.
Betty Heflin was the 8th born of 9 children. She recalls that she used to think her older brother was her father. Although, during that time most African Americans were poor. Betty Heflin, however, was considered to have a “rich family.” Her mom worked cleaning houses and sewing clothing. She stated, “The blacks that worked cleaning the white people houses were better off than the ones that worked in the fields.”
1941 was also the first time the Army Air Corps opened its enlistment to African Americans. James White, Betty Heflin’s older brother went to war during that time. Although he wasn’t in the Air Corps branch, James White was only 18 when he became a soldier. With a smirk on her face, Betty Heflin remembered “Me and my mamma didn’t want him to go. . .but he insisted on it. . .he wanted to fight for his country.”
Betty Heflin remembers that during the war there were many blackouts. When there was a problem, a siren would go off, letting everyone know there was an emergency. Sometimes her second oldest brother, who was a boy scout, would ring the church bells in case of an emergency. When the siren went off it was to tell everyone that they should stay together in a house or find a certain place to go to, like a school house. Betty Heflin lived less than a mile away from Camp Blanding in Starke, Florida. Camp Blanding is a military installation near Jacksonville, Florida. Today it is the Florida Army National Guard’s primary training area. It is located in north-central Florida. While smiling, Betty Heflin told me that “ I remembered the soldiers and how they would patrol the area in trucks, or they could have just been passing by to get to Camp Blanding.”
Another thing Betty Heflin remembered from her childhood was that during the war the food was rationed. Rationing is when goods that are used for the military are sold but only a limited amount per customer. “Oh yes, we had tickets for certain products that we could get at the commissary on the military base.” Betty Heflin stated. She remembers that they could only buy a certain amount of butter, and sugar. The rationing system was set up by the OPA, or Office of Price Administration. The “tickets” that Betty Heflin referred to were actually coupons. Each household received ration books filled with coupons to buy scarce items that were used by the soldiers fighting in the war. Also, butter and sugar weren’t the only items that were rationed. The list also included shoes, meat, coffee, and gasoline.
With the large number of men gone to help out with the war effort, the economy still had to continue; hence many women began receiving jobs that were once held by men. Even though Betty Heflin’s mom already had a job before World War II, her auntie however, didn’t. Daisy Able worked as an at home mother with 4 kids at the time the war broke out. When her husband went off to war, Daisy was forced to get a “man’s” job so she could support her family. Betty Heflin’s mother provided a great deal of help for her only sister. Even with 9 children she still found the space and time to care for her sister’s. “Man, that house used to be so packed at times I thought we were having a get together or a family reunion. . .it was fun to me!” Betty Heflin had two older sisters and six older brothers. One of her sisters was working and 4 of her brothers had jobs so they were able to support the two families, but just barely. In addition to jobs Betty Heflin also remembered how women began playing sports now that the men were gone. Sports like baseball were being played by women because the American people still felt the need for entertainment.
Just 4 years after the United States entered the war, it was over. The Allies won and there were new economic opportunities for grabs. Betty Heflin remembers it as a “welcome home party” for her brother and uncle. “I didn’t pay no attention to the war I just knew that my mom said my brother was coming home, and I couldn’t wait!”
Today you can find Betty Heflin in Ocala, Florida living with her daughter Faye Goring. She is retired and she is my grandmother.

2 Teach is 2 Learn 4 ever (my volunteering experience at an elementary school)

Turie T. Small, an elementary school located in Daytona Beach, is an institution dedicated to discovery and learning. They believe that education is an essential ingredient for a child’s future success. Their philosophy is explained in their vision statement:

We at Turie T. Small will work to create a motivational and meaningful environment to all. We believe every child will learn and reach his or her full potential. Our students take pride in themselves, take responsibility for their actions and develop an attitude that education is vital. They will apply these attributes to setting goals for the future in order to be successful contributors in our democratic society. We are building today for a better tomorrow. We are doing it all at Turie T. Small.

I did my volunteer hours at Turie T. Small. With my major, English education, it only makes sense that I experience working at a school. For the short time that I volunteered there, I was faced with quite a few learning experiences. For example, the students had to get in groups to read together. Everyone took turns reading a page out of the book but when we got to the student I was tutoring, he read too quiet for anyone to hear. One of the teachers informed me that he was not a very good reader, which I knew was not true because I had just helped him with his homework and he read exceptionally well. While everyone else continued reading I convinced him that he was a good reader and that he should read. So, when he gave it a try, he surprised a lot of the other students that thought that he simply could not read. After that day, he began to open up to his peers and make friends.
I knew what to do in the situations I faced at Turie T. because I had had prior experience with young children from helping out at my mom’s home daycare. I believe that every child has the capacity to learn, some just require additional attention or effort. Of course there were those students who were problematic. Some students, mostly the older ones, had made up their minds already that they would not do their homework. Dealing with these students took an extreme amount of patience. I knew that they did not want to do their homework but knew that they would have to. When dealing with these types of students I made sure I was firm but understanding. Once I related to them, we were no longer enemies and were able to tough it through their homework.
There were also students that were born leaders. One of them, Destiny, was always the one who volunteered to read first, pass out folders, or anything else she could do to help. Another student that is bound to succeed is Benny. Saying that he is smart is an immense understatement. Anytime I was paired with him for tutoring, I knew my job would be easy. Then there was Moniqua, she was always in the know about the happenings at Turie T. Small. Sometimes the teachers would ask her if they were unsure about it themselves. Her only downfall is her talkativeness which I think she’ll be able to control later on.
The experiences I had volunteering at Turie T. Small Elementary School will stay with me forever. As volunteers, it was our job to help teach the children but in actuality, we were the ones being taught. Volunteering at Turie T. was definitely a positive experience for me and I wouldn’t mind doing it again for my next volunteer hours.

African American History - What I'll do to succeed in this class.

I believe that African American history is an essential subject for every student, regardless of ethnicity, because it shows the ability of a group of people to succeed even when the odds are against them. In order to complete this class, I have and will continue to make sacrifices. I plan on completing all assignments as soon as possible. To insure my success, I am willing to give up anything that might obstruct my way. I understand that there may be questions that I don’t know, books I’ll dread reading, or essays I will be reluctant to write. But I believe that with determination and perseverance, success is inevitable. In past classes, I have always been one to contribute to classroom discussions. I intend on continuing this habit while in African American History. My knowledge on the history of my people is extremely limited as I’ve gone to schools that devote only 28 or 29 days to teaching students the subject. It’s because of my lack of knowledge on this topic that I will be bringing eagerness and questions to the academic atmosphere.