"The Pura Principle" Thoughts

I thought that "The Pura Principle" views illness in a very interesting way. A short story, "The Pura Principle" documents the life of Rafa, who is the the main character's brother. Rafa, a Hispanic man in his early twenties, suffers from cancer. Instead of letting this illness get in his way, Rafa tries to persevere through it because in simple words, he does not want to look like a bitch.  Consequently, Rafa gets a part time job but loses it due to his illness, marries a girl named Pura who steals from him and Rafa's mom, and leaves multiple days at a time with no warning. Yunior, the main character, also mentions that though he is much stronger than the now weak Rafa, he stills fears Rafa because Rafa keeps the attitude that he is going to live forever and retain his strength.

In my opinion, the main message of the story is that illness cannot keep some people down.  I think that this message is actually buttressed by the genre of this article: a short story. All of the anecdotes that Yunior reminisces about his brother shows that Rafa did not let cancer get in his way.  Rafa did whatever he wanted (i.e. get a job though he couldn't leave the couch half the time), and did not really care about the consequences. Thus, he proved that illness did not control or really influence his life.  In my opinion, only a short story could portray this message. Due to the fact that the short story actually gave real scenarios about how Rafa's illness through debilitating did not get in his way, I think that the short story genre was the best way to express the message. I do not think that fiction would be able to express this message as well because though it may have examples, they may not necessarily be true or realistic. Thus, the fiction article would detract from the main message of persevering through illness.

Waltz With Bashir Prompt

In my opinion, one of the most memorable scenes of the movie is when the main character, Ari, talks to the female psychologist.  During their conversation, the psychiatrist mentions a patient that she had years back who also participated in the 1982 Lebanon war.  She describes this man as having said that he was able to fight during the war because he imagined that he viewed all of the carnage through a video camera.  Thus, he tried to convince himself that everything he experienced was made up.  One day, though, this man experienced horses dying. The man realizes that though he was immune to the image of people dying, he could not tolerate watching the defenseless horses die for no apparent reason.  At this point, this man's video camera stopped, and he became cognizant of the terror of war all around him.

This part of the movie stood out to me because it shows how soldiers are adversely affected by war. Though they try to pretend that everything around them is pretend at times, a traumatic event usually occurs which makes the soldiers comprehend the terrors of war.  I like this scene because it also reminds me of the book All Quiet on the Western Front, where the main character also describes that he could not stand the horses made when they died although he was immune to the sounds that humans made when they were killed.

The main goal of this movie was to illustrate the horrors of the 1982 Lebanon war.  Through the various soldier's stories, the audience could deduce how awful the war really was, and how it was very traumatic for some of the combatants. Though this film was animated, I still think it got the main message out.  The whole point was to listen to the soldiers stories and see a pictorial representation to understand what the war was like. Also, the real images of the dead bodies in the end was effective in portraying the main message of how bad the war really was.

Research Log for Evidence Paper #2

1. "Heart Disease Facts." Cdc.gov. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 Jan. 2011. Web. 3   Apr. 2011. 1-2. <http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm>.
I choose this article because it gives statistics about the amount of Americans who have heart disease and the amount of Americans who die from heart attacks annually.

2. Asgary, Sedigheh. "Effect of Immunization against Ox-LDL with Two Different Antigens on Formation and Development of Atherosclerosis." Lipidworld.com. 24 Nov. 2007. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <http://www.lipidworld.com/content/6/1/32>.

I choose this article because it describes how LDL becomes plague, which forms atherosclerosis.

3. Gostin, Lawrence. "Law as a Tool to Facilitate Healthier Lifestyles and Prevent Obesity." Journal of the American Medical Association. PubMed.gov, 3 Jan. 2007. Web. 3 Apr. 2011.                    <http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/297/1/87.short>.

I choose this article because it relates to the action stases; the disclosure section lists problems and article later discusses solutions.

4. Crawford, David. "Population Strategies to Prevent Obesity." BMJ. PubMed.gov, 5 Oct. 2002. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <http://www.bmj.com/content/325/7367/728.full>.

I choose this article because it proposes environmental factors on how to prevent obesity and cites some studies.

5. Thomas, Helen. "Obesity Prevention Programs for Children and Youth: Why Are Their Results so Modest?" Oxford Journals. PubMed.gov, 27 Sept. 2006. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <http://her.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/6/783.short>.

I choose this article because outlines failed programs to prevent obesity in kids.