WP1 - Statement of Purpous

My Grandpa died of lung cancer before I was born. I never had a chance to meet him. To play sports, celebrate holidays or enjoy his hand picked Christmas presents. He was taken from me by a terrible disease and left me in this world without a grandparent.

When I was 8 years old, cancer struck again and took the life of my grandmother. She had brain cancer. I was living overseas at the time, so I never had a chance to say goodbye. I had to hear about it over the phone instead. It just wasn't right.

Unfortunately, I am not alone. One of my best friends in college is a guy named Andrew. He's a really relaxed and fun person, and I love to hang out with him. And while he's pretty good at hiding it from most people, I know that he has an enormous weight on his shoulders. It affects him everyday, and makes it difficult to enjoy his life. For the past year, his mom has been fighting breast cancer.

Stories like this are the reason that I chose my photograph, and will guide me and give me purpous as I write about it. People need to understand why this picture is important. Why the people in this picture are important.

Millions of people have died from cancer, and millions more have had their lives damaged because of the people it has taken away from us. Cancer has caused death in people that are very important to me. That is why I want to inform others about about the risks and dangers associated with cancer. Connecting with this photograph I hope will be the first step.

In order to do this, I need to consider when writing my primary audience. While our class is small, informing even one young person about this disease is very important. And who knows, maybe they will decide to get involved and do something about it! Every dollar donated to cancer programs brings us closer to finding a cure. Every hour volunteered with cancer victims can make a huge difference in someone's life. And every person that decides to get screened, or tells someone close to them like their mother or husband to get screened, can potentially save a life.

Unfortunately, I also have to remember the context that most of my readers will be coming from. As college students, we are generally pretty healthy, care free and disinterested in the future. It's not really our fault, it's just the way that we are.

A lot of college students are also breaking free from the restraints of childhood, and might avoid anything that makes them feel less independent. We want to be strong and survive on our own, so going to the doctor seems silly and can take away that feeling.

Because of this, it will be important for my writing to relate to the students in my class on an emotional and personal level. They need to understand the fear that cancer victims feel when they are diagnosed. They need to have empathy for the emotional pain cancer causes.

I also need to put cancer in context for my readers. It probably seems like something that will never happen to you. But facts are facts. And the fact is, millions of Americans have died from cancer. Chemotherapy and other cancer treatments cost thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. It's aso true that a completely healthy person, college student or even a child can fall victim to this disease. It can happen to you, your friends or your family. Anyone, anytime. And chances are at some point in your life, someone close to you will have to battle with cancer.

Finally, I want this blog to communicate a message. I want to connect my readers not only with the little girl and her mother in the picture, but with real stories and information that they can connect with. And the best way to do that is with the internet. I want to incorporate blogs, pictures, video and other multimedia into my project so that it can jump off the page and make an impact on the person reading it.

Cancer is a scary and terrible disease. But my purpous and goal as I write this semester will be to inform others of ways to prepare and hopefully avoid cancer, and teach them how and why they should get involved in the fight! We are stronger together than we could ever be alone.

WP1 - Prewriting Assignment 3

Cancer is one of the scariest words that can come out of a doctor's mouth. Cancer is vicious, destructive and deadly. And even though there are ways to fight the disease, it is extremely difficult. And for many, the battle is ultimately lost to death.

In 2006 over 500,000 American's lost their life to cancer, contributing to 23.1% of all human deaths in the United States. To put that number in comparison, that's more than the number of people who died from diabetes, influenza, alzheimers and all other unintentional accidents combined.

But death is simply the end result. Trying to fight and battle cancer is perhaps the most difficult part of all. For many, chemotherapy is the best option, because this treatment kills cells that multiply (including cancer).

Chemotherapy also has many adverse affects. The most visible sign is hair loss, which can make even a beautiful woman with long hair go bald in a matter of weeks, just like the girl in the photograph.

Chemotherapy doesn't stop with your physical appearance. It also affects the way that you feel. Most people who undergo chemotherapy feel nausea and vomit regularly. Chemotherapy is also very tiring, and can leave victims feeling exhausted constnatly. And even if it works and kills the cancer cells in your body, the results can come at a cost. Chemotherapy can also cause damage to your heart, liver and kidney which can also cause other health problems.

All of this information provides important context for the photograph I have chosen. Not only does the bald appearance of the girl give a clue into what she is dealing with. But it's important to understand why chemotherapy is hard, and what this girl has probably been through. Even with great treatment from wonderful doctors, there is a very real possibility that the girl could die. Or has died from chemotherapy.

I also look into the mother's eyes and wonder if there is a financial situation in this story. Deciding what kind of chemicals, duration and even where you undergo the treatment can have major implications on the cost of chemotherapy. In this picture it looks like the girl is in a hospital (the most expensive choice) which means the mother is probably paying a lot for her treatment.

All of this makes you think about the story behind this photograph. What kind of stress has this family been through? What bills do they have to face on a weekly basis? And for the poor little girl, what has this done to her? Does she enjoy life at all any more? Will she get better?

Cancer is a terrible disease, and this photograph to me brings a human face to the problem. Cancer kills people just like us. Our friends and relatives. The people closest to us. 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men have a chance of developing cancer in their lifetime.

What are you doing about it?

Works Cited

"Cancer Statistics 2009"A Presentation from the American Cancer Society. 2009. American Cancer Society. ACS

"Cancer." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 01 October 2004, 9:35 CST. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 10 Aug. 2004. <Cancer> <Chemotherapy>

WP1 - Prewriting Assignment 2

This picture can be described in one word - closeness. This image is cropped to focus entirely on a mother and her daughter. There is nothing else in the background.

The photograph could have been taken in other ways. We could have seen the girl in her hospital bed. There could be IV's and medicine in the background. Or perhaps we could have seen these mother and daughter outside of the hospital environment, perhaps going for a walk or having dinner. But the photographer instead decided to go in a different direction.

The focus on the people as opposed to the background or the conditions they are living through is also important. It made me think of the fact that people often label cancer as a disease, and it's victim's as a number. It's important to remember that these are real people being torn apart by this terrible disease. My grandma died of brain cancer, and one of my good friend's is losing his mother to breast cancer. These are terrible things that are happening all over the world, and in this case our focus is brought to a little girl who has had to grow up so fast.

This photograph didn't use any color. And I think the person who took this did it for a reason. Color is often synonymous with happiness, feeling and good things happening in life. Perhaps the photographer intentionally made this photo black and white to demonstrate what might be missing from life when someone has cancer. It's a powerful method of ethos to show us that while life goes on when you fight a battle with cancer, it can take away the very things that make it so special. Hope and happiness, freedom and relaxation.

While the picture is black and white, the people in it are certainly not. This image was clearly not taken for a family album or for friends. I think it was taken to show the world. The girl is sending a powerful message of ethos. We know she is sick, and that she is struggling. But she has not given up. She is still fighting. And she can still smile in a dark world. Her presence lights up this frame, and in a way overpowers the lack of saturation in the photograph.

Overall I feel this picture used elements such as cropping, focus and desaturation to tell a vivid story in just one snapshot. The cropping shows two people, and the focus is on what this disease has done to the, and how they have responded to it. The lack of color I says that cancer takes something from you. But their pathos shows that love can overcome anything, and gives us a powerful feeling of ethos. We care about the people in the image, and we want this little girl to get better.

WP1 - Prewriting Assignment

I don't know the girl in the photograph. I don't have any information about her life. I have never spoken to to her, and I probably never will.

I don't have any information about this picture either. I don't know where or when it was taken. To be honest, I found it completely by accident. I was looking for something totally different.

But I had an instant connection with this picture from the moment I looked into this girl's eyes. Even without information or details to put this scene in context, I feel like I already know so much about them.

This innocent little girl is sick. She has cancer and is fighting her disease with chemotherapy. These treatments would be difficult for anyone to endure. But they are especially difficult for a little girl. The pain she is feeling is real. You can see it in her tired eyes. This disease is hurting her, and she wants the cancer to go away.

But this little girl is not alone in this fight. She has a loving mother who has been by her side every step of the way. This girl trusts the mom sitting beside her. She takes comfort in her presence. Their touch and intimacy is visible to the naked eye. And their love radiates powerfully through this still image.

This photograph is black and white, but the moment it captures is filled with color. You can see and feel the love shared between them. This mother and her daughter care about each other. They trust each other. They would do anything for each other.

They look happy in this picture. Happy simply to be together. Happy just because they are alive.

But if you look just a little deeper, you can also see sadness. It's not obvious at first, but it's there. This girl has been through something terrible. She has struggle alone in complete darkness. She has screamed, drowning in hopelessness with no one there to save her.

And this mom has endured unimaginable pain. She has had to watch on the sideline, as her child tries so hard to fight an impossible battle. Tired and broken, this disease is slowly killing them both.

Yet hope can be the light in a dark world. And despite all of the bad, I also see hope in this picture. There image doesn't have a background. There are no scary hospital buildings or nurses with more pills to swallow. No expensive bills to pay with money not had, or a lonely bed to be confined to. That's not what this moment is about. This moment is about love.

Love is beautiful. Love is strong. And love can concur anything. That's what this photograph is about. That's what this moment, frozen in time, is about.

I don't know this girl very well. I don't have any information about her life. I have never spoken to her, and I probably never will.

And yet, I know so much about her.

My Photography Experience

I have had a lot of experience using photography in my life. When I was a kid my mom used to take pictures to document everywhere that we went. Naturally I developed an interest in photography and began asking her if I could use the family camera.

At the time we had a really expensive camera, so instead of letting me use that when I was little (and could potentially break it), she instead bought me those cheap kodak cameras that you use one time, take out the film and throw away.

I remember even after taking my first pictures how amazed and captivated I was by photography. To me it was almost like being able to control time or freeze frame it for a second. I could take a picture of my friends, a building or even animals and know that I could keep that image forever.

I have always been sentimental and photography was also important to me with my friends. I have always taken a lot of pride and interest in photographing memories so that I will never forget them. On vacations or at summer camps I was always the kid with the camera, wanting to have picturesm of the amazing things that we were doing. After all, what if we never get to do them again?

With this knowledge, it's no surprise that I chose Journalism as a career. Documenting events and news stories in my life and in the lives of others just interests me. It was definitely an easy career choice when I was planning out my career in high school. I think my love and interest in photography (and a transition into videography) has had a big effect on the decisions I have made in my later life. I don't know what I would be doing without it.

And so you will probably find me in 15 or 20 years. Documenting the news with my camera by day. And taking pictures with my camera on thenights and weekends with friends and family. I absolutely love pictures, and I don't think that will ever change.