A completely different topic: Reading Henrietta Lacks' story

I have had a chance to completely immerse myself in the story of Henrietta Lacks. When I first purchased this book, I realized that I was completely unaware of her presence as well as her importance in the history of medicine and scientific framework. What most caught my attention is how the story is presented to the audience; not only the medical implications, but also the human side. Henrietta represents many sensitive topics. She is a poor woman, almost an orphan, housewife, mother, worker, African-American, and diagnosed with cancer. Did I miss something? As we can see her story embodies provocative issues in everyday life and society. It encompasses poverty, racism, oppression, gender, and most important: ethics.

     As a kind of biography, I will mention some important details which in my opinion are relevant to understand her story. She was born in Roanoke, Virginia, on August 1, 1920. Her mother died when she was only four years old and lamentably her father did not have the patience for raising his children. In consequence, Henrietta and her siblings moved to her grandfather’s house in Clover (also Virginia) where her family still farmed the tobacco fields.          

     While living in Clover she met her cousin (and future husband) David Lacks with whom she spent time planting and harvesting tobacco, and most important growing up together. Henrietta was considered to be the prettiest girl in her town, with her beautiful smile and walnut eyes.

     She had a little crush on Crazy Joe, who was also her cousin; however, the relationship that she developed with ‘Day’ was deeper. Because he was deeply in love with Henrietta, Crazy Joe was called like that. He even stabbed himself in the chest when he realized she was getting married to Day. So it was done, Henrietta married to Day and they kept working on the tobacco fields till their Cousin Fred Garret came from Baltimore bringing the good news: he got a job in Turner Station. Due the rise of steel production at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point, employment began to increase as well as the number of African-American workers. It suddenly became “the promise land” for black families from the south that started migrating and heading towards a new life. The work in this “promise land” was not easy. All the black workers were immersed in a poisonous environment; they were constantly breathing in toxic coal dust and asbestos. Needless to say, all of these toxic wastes were brought to their own homes and spread to their families. Despite this fact, Fred convinced his cousins that they should migrate as well.

     Since 1951, Henrietta started to feel strange and find inside her cervix a prominent lump. She asked her husband to take her to the hospital because she was already bleeding. After several exams, Henrietta’s biopsy report from the lab said that she was diagnosed with “epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, stage I”. Henrietta’s gynecologist, whose name was Howard W. Jones, his boss, Richard Wesley, and Telinde, a cancer expert, discussed if it qualified as cervical cancer--and the procedures to cure her. Telinde had a good reputation; he was one of the best cancer experts in the country. Within his methods, he treated both carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma using an aggressive treatment to prevent women dying from metastasized cancer.  He often used patients from the public wards for research, usually without their knowledge. Many scientists believed that since patients were treated for free in the public wards, it was fair to use them as research subjects as a form of payment. After knowing her results Henrietta signed an Operation Permit form giving consent to the staff of Hopkins Hospital to perform any necessary procedure or treatment (radium treatment, in fact). Even though nobody asked her if she wanted to be a donor, doctors at Hopkins removed pieces of tissue from her cervix. Doctors also did not tell her that the treatment had left her infertile.

     After the first radium treatment, she was sent home with instructions to call the clinic if she had problems (and she had some later on). Two days after Henrietta went home, the Gey Lab was able to grow her cancer cells: the first immortal human cells. 

New grammar that I've learned

I still remember the first time we covered FANBOYS in class. I was just starting my second year at university when my grammar teacher explained to me and my classmates this new acronym. He started by telling us the following: “just join the first letter of each word I am going to write on the board.” He wrote down: FOR (reason), AND (conjunction), NOR (negation), BUT (contrast), OR (disjunction), YET (unexpected outcome), and SO (result). Then, he asked us about the relationship between these new items. Most of them were familiar to me. I had been using some of them for quite long time, but I never realized their function within a sentence. What is the purpose of using coordinating conjunctions? Well, obviously the words “coordinating” and “conjunction” help me to develop an explanation. These are “connecting words” that connect (I know it sounds repetitive) two ideas as one in a single sentence. However, if you missed the comma before each of these items you will be in presence of a run-on sentence. So, if you are connecting two ideas using conjunctions, be careful, and do not forget the comma!

I had so much fun in class last week. It is the first time I am involved in that kind of activity in which creativity was the protagonist while learning grammar. We were given several words to create original, meaningful, and different sentences. What do I mean by ‘different’? As we already discussed in class there are different types of sentences which are S-VI (Subject-Verb Intransitive), S-V-O (subject-verb-object), AND S-LV-SC (Subject-Linking Verb- Subject Complement). When it comes to create sentences within a paragraph, I am not always aware of the different function that a word has. I used to put attention only to the different kind of verbs within a sentence (intransitive, transitive, and linking verbs), but now I am more aware of other components such as nouns, adverbs, and adjectives.

So far this semester...

So far this semester I have noticed that I am aware of the different errors that people tend to make while writing. I really have enjoyed the different in-class activities when we have to proofread and analyze newspapers. During those activities I could realize that even a journalist may present errors of punctuation; sometimes they are not consistent while using them. I consider that it is important to discuss consistency in class because it reveals our own style of writing and also help us to develop a “readable” piece.

As a non-native learner of the English language, I am also aware of the different structures, forms, and functions that written and spoken English present. I know the importance of syntax; the different parts of a sentence such as subject, verb, object, etc. and the different word classes such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.

One of the problems that I am still struggling with is the use of “phrasal verbs.” I have problems to recognize whether the preposition or adverb is part of the phrasal verb or it is acting by itself within the sentence.  I also get confused because the meaning of the verb sometimes completely changes. During my first years studying English it was very complicated to learn new ones, I used to learn them by heart and then forget them the following week. One of my friends also struggled with that. However, between her and me, the problem was solved. We created some fun mnemonics—with drawings included in order to learn those new words. We even encouraged each other to use those phrasal verbs in context, in every day conversation.

I previously mentioned that I am aware of the different parts of a sentence; however, it is still difficult for me to identify, for instance, intransitive verbs or indirect objects. But I am optimistic and I think I would learn how to identify them during the following weeks. It is never too late to understand new things that is why I see myself as a life-long learner. I am willing to comprehend the variety of conventions that languages in general present.

What have I learned so far?

During the first weeks of this semester I have had the opportunity not only to discuss and learn many things regarding grammar patterns, but also criticize different teaching methods. While participating in the Socratic seminars developed in class, we have shared our opinions and brought up thoughts and ideas on what it is the best way to teach grammar. One of the things that we criticized was the traditional instruction at schools. It is a bit frustrating and sad to know that there are still some teachers that use traditional methods to explain, for instance, punctuation, and do not care too much about the meaning and ideas that their students want to develop. On the contrary, they only focus on form and structure of a piece of writing. In my opinion, the traditional method does not work because its characteristics do not include the encouragement to compose a piece of writing focus on content and creativity. I think it is essential to keep in mind that punctuation is a process (with developmental implications), acquired over time, and an indicator of language awareness; therefore, we need to be careful with the different tools that we use to teach the proper use of grammar and punctuation to our students. Even for us it is difficult to accomplish grammar or punctuation rules because they are constantly exposed to different adjustments and modifications. When I first started to learn mechanics in English, it was difficult to figure out where a punctuation mark had to be placed. It was different than the punctuation I learned in Spanish. As a second language learner, I am aware of the different challenges that young native speakers face; as a future teacher, I am willing to help my students to succeed in grammar.

Finally, I would like to mention that this course has been really helpful for me. Listening to my classmates’ discussions and sharing different perspectives have helped me to broaden my knowledge about grammar and also about American classrooms. My knowledge about the American culture is not that deeper as theirs, obviously.