Dogma of The Flies

This action project is for unit 2 of our Forbidden Books class. For this unit, we continued our learning of banned/censored books in America. To further gain understanding about censorship, we went on a Field Experience to WBEZ and spoke with Natalie Moore, a journalist who has had a book banned in the Illinois prison system. We also talked about censorship pertaining to religion and its teachings. Along the way of exploring censorship in religion, we took a look at the origins of Christianity and Islam and compared the similarities between them and their standards. We even went on a Field Experience to a mosque so we could have the opportunity to learn more about Islam. As we looked at the origins of those two religions, we also learned about Dogma and how it not only shows up in religious teachings but, everyday life.

For unit 2, our class read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. We read this book because it has been banned in American schools for religion, sexual content, and the use of racial slurs. Our class also chose independent reading books that have been banned/censored, to support the theme of this project. I chose Lord of The Flies and it has been banned from schools all over the nation.

For this action project, we were instructed to make a podcast with one of the leading characters and interviewing them about their dogmas. I chose Ralph because he showed really strong leadership qualities and the need for maturity and guidance. His dogmas were trying to get the group of boys to act civilized and follow his rules. Along with believing in following the rules, he also knew that when people are left to their own devices they revert to savagery, and that the leader doesn’t necessarily need to be the strongest person but, the smartest. Below you will see the podcast and the script for the interview, enjoy!

It was 1942 and the world was in the midst of a World War. A group of young boys (ages 6-12) were being evacuated from their homes in England, via airplane. A devastating crash killed all of the adult pilots, leaving the children alone and stranded on an island, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

 When the boys first gathered together on the island, they had to figure out how to take care of themselves without any adults around (which didn’t go so well). As they tested their freedom, their choices most often reflected their age levels and them satisfying their desires of the moment, without thinking through consequences.

 As their imaginations grew larger, so did their “imaginary” fear of a beast on the island. This threw everybody into a larger survival mode and episodes of irrational thinking. As they fought for survival, their choices began to show the lengths they would go to protect themselves, even from each other.

 The focus of today’s interview is on the boy’s leader, Ralph. We’re following his story and his experiences he had to endure. This journey begins with us back on the island that Ralph was rescued from so many years ago. We came back to this specific spot so that we were able to get the full experience of Ralph’s triggered memories; Times that were especially difficult to think about.

 Opening sounds
(Plane flying and crashing sound effect)
(Fades into seagulls and ocean)

MM: What are you thinking about Ralph?

Ralph: I don’t know … just being back here, it’s bringing up a lot of memories.

MM: Do you think about it often? (pause) (Ralph sighs)

Ralph: I don’t think there’s a day that goes by that it’s not on my mind.

MM: Have you seen any of those boys since you were rescued?

Ralph (laughs a little - sad laugh): No … It was best for us to be apart.

MM: Why is that?

Ralph: It was hard because what we all did, what we turned into - or what others turned into - really caused a lot of trauma for all of us so we decided it was best for us to not see each other to prevent any negative rehashing. I remember saying to my self, “They were savages, it was true, but they were human” ().

MM: Yea, that makes sense.

MM: How did you react when you realized you were stranded and there were no adults on the island? 

Ralph: I reacted in the way I think most 12-year-old boys would act at that moment, I was excited. I was with Piggy at the time and I was just ecstatic, running around doing handstands, swimming in the water, and playing in the sand. Normal things a kid would do when they have no one to be scolded by. 

MM: What was the process of being chosen as the leader of the group and was there anything going through your mind?

Ralph: The boys chose me because I was the one that most resembled an authority figure. My belief was that we should remain civilized and maintain a decent amount of rules. One day we were all discussing how it was important to keep our fire going to be able to get rescued. I was also trying to set some ground rules and I said, “We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there … and if we have a signal going they’ll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there” (52).

MM: Who was your ally from the beginning?

Ralph: Probably looking back on it, my main ally was Piggy. I often get sad when I think about how I used to treat him.

MM: When did you first realize things weren’t going the way you planned?

Ralph: One thing that was the turning point was when the younger children imagined that there was a beast on the island, so everyone started being afraid for their survival. It made them want to pick on the weaker ones even more because they didn’t want to be reminded of their own weakness and vulnerability. That’s when things turned lethal.

MM: When did the group of boys start to turn against you?

Ralph: Unfortunately that was my fault. It was one day where I said that even Jack would be afraid of the beast which made him very upset. He tried to have me removed as leader and steal some of the boys that were on my side (which he succeeded at). I remember saying, “The thing is - fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream” (111). I was trying to convince the boys that the beast wasn’t real or a threat, because it had them so dependent on Jack, which brought out the savagery in them.

MM: I know this part is hard to talk about, but can you explain how the deaths happened?

Ralph: There were three very impactful deaths, the little boy with the mulberry birthmark, Simon, and Piggy. The little boy was killed in the big fire that was out-of-control, Simon was killed when all of us let our excitement and fear get the best of us, and Piggy was flat out murdered.

MM: Finally, talk about the day of the rescue, how did you get discovered on the island?

Ralph: That day was definitely very chaotic. There was a lot of fighting that day and sadly, towards the end, my dear friend Piggy was killed. Luckily, however, there was a fire that broke out that caught the attention of a nearby ship and they came to save us.

MM: Thank you, Ralph, for coming out and letting me interview you!

Ralph: No problem, thank you for having me!

Citations:

Bloom, Harold, and William Golding. William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Faber and Faber, 1954.

Plane sound effect:

https://youtu.be/d3NxEGSrDeE

Ocean sound effect:

https://youtu.be/zqY1ZE8pr1w

The Mystery of the Headaches

This is the first AP for our STEAM course, Disease. For unit 1, we learned about the anatomy of the body, diseases that affect us, and the components that make up blood. We went on a Field Experience to the Museum of Science and Industry to the You! The Experience exhibit to see visually all of the things we had been learning about. For this AP, we were asked to pick and research a disease and interview a person that had or has it. We gathered all of this information and put it into a patient profile, which then explained how the disease worked, affected their lives, and so on. The reason why this project is important to me and why I chose Glioblastoma is because my grandpa had it when I was two died and from it. Along with creating a profile, we also made a life-size tracing of a person to a drawing to display where the disease occurs and what body system it affects. I also made a slide show covering the basic facts of GBM, which you will also see below. Overall I enjoyed researching diseases and the impact that they have, and I hope you enjoy my project!

Robert 

Robert is a 68-year-old man. He is married and had four children but his oldest son died a couple of years ago. About six months ago, Robert had a bad seizure and was taken to the hospital, where they ordered a cat scan. They ended up finding three tumors and he was then diagnosed with Grade 4 Glioblastoma. He had been suffering from symptoms such as drowsiness and severe headaches for probably about two years prior to his diagnosis. He was also on blood pressure medication so every time he would have a chain of bad headaches, his doctors would just adjust his medication. They thought the headaches were because of stress from work and High-blood pressure issues so they never thought to look at his brain, because his symptoms didn't appear to be out of the ordinary. He also never mentioned to the doctors how severe his headaches were.

Unfortunately, there is no known cure for Glioblastoma so Robert is still living with it every day. He keeps his spirits high but knows that one day soon, he might not be here. Every recorded patient with Grade 4 Glioblastoma hasn't lived past three years. His family tries to visit him in the hospital every day while he continues his treatment. Though his condition worsens every day, his friends and family always brighten his day and help him forget about the pain he's going through.

When Robert was diagnosed six months ago, he only had three tumors. Now, Robert currently has 5 tumors in his brain and the doctors are not sure about what exactly caused them. Most of them are in the frontal lobe and one of them is in the occipital lobe. The form of Glioblastoma he has is not the rarest type of cancer but it is not widely known, so as I said, there is no current cure. The way his tumors are makes it impossible to operate and remove them. This is because they are interlocked and webbed, like two hands being held together, to parts of the brain and itself. If they tried to remove them, it would take out the entirety of the frontal lobe and a big chunk of the occipital lobe. He is currently bedridden and suffers from multiple seizures a week, because of all the pressure in his brain.

Though there is no cure, Robert is currently following a course of treatment. The doctors didn't believe in not helping him so instead of surgery, they sought out radiation therapy. When they first began therapy on his three tumors, at the time, he was confused a lot and had trouble communicating and remembering who people were. He underwent radiation every day for an entire month and started to show some progress. The largest tumor in his brain shrunk so he was able to communicate better and he was starting to feel good. Unfortunately, not long after this, his body produced two more tumors and his health went downhill from there.

Grade 4 Glioblastoma 

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary malignant brain tumor. Sixty-one percent of all primary gliomas occur in the four lobes of the brain: frontal (25%), temporal (20%), parietal (13%), and occipital (3%). GBMs present at a median age of 64 years but can occur at any age. Men have a slightly higher chance than women and the same for Caucasians relative to other ethnicities. GBMs can be classified as primary, de novo, or secondary, where a low-grade tumor transforms over time into GBM. A majority of GBMs are primary, and these patients tend to be older-aged and have a poorer prognosis than patients with secondary GBMs. So far, four GBM subtypes have been identified (classical, pro-neural, neural, and mesenchymal), each with distinctly different patterns of disease progression and survival outcomes. Below you will see my drawing of the disease and a slide-show with some extra facts about GBM.

MEM. Disease Drawing. 2020.