Here's a link to the article I mentioned about community schools as a reform strategy in and beyond Phila.:

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/community-schools-south-philadelphia-mayor-.html

My main thoughs while reading the bioethics-related readings were about just how complicated these bioethical issues are. Usually we don't even have a unified philosophical or practical theory of what gives a life meaning or makes a life good, so how can we even approach these questions of wheter this condition or that one makes a life better in a scientific way. I think the best tool we have are individual experience, and maybe some informal standard of pleasure=good, pain=bad, but thats not much.

I really enjoyed reading Eli's take on cure and restoration. I especially enjoyed how Eli complicates the idea of cure to include people with chronic illness. 

I was a bit confused by Berube's quotes regarding Sandel and Glover. I was unclear what their position was, and whether Berube agreed with them. 

Anne's Reading Notes from Americanah [p. #s from hardback edition]

Day One, Chs. 1-11
Part I, Ch 1
3: she could pretend to be someone else...adorned with certainty
5: the more she wrote, the less sure she became
6: things she'd learned not to say aloud/cement in her soul/piercing homesickness
7: no cause: layers of discontent, looking out the window
11: welcome to a fellow African
13: market woman imunc to the cosmetic niceties of American customer service
16: perverse pleasure in her intimidation
17: How easy...to create with strangers the versions of our lives that we have imagined.
Ch 2: Obinze: O bean ZAY

After learning about the “diversity” paradigm (disability is just another form of bodily/ mentally features) and the “elimination” paradigm (Peter Singer), I found it particular interesting when reading about Michael Bérubé’s (and also Tom Shakespeare’s) thought. “To me, disability is not neutral, it is a decrement in health. Not a tragedy, granted, but not just another difference like sex or ethnicity.” This seems to be in the middle of the “diversity” paradigm and the “elimination” paradigm and most likely to be accepted by the general public. This middle ground really reminded us that though most disability was definitely not the most difficult forms of life, it still “diminish flourishing”.

Upcoming restorative justice workshop at Haverford, April 1 and 2:

https://ems-web.quaker.haverford.edu/MasterCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?data=hHr80o3M7J65DeAPzMCFKbfeCUypW781odxbKTyT7W2qNH4vGXM9KsQGkSJ3Z91b

"...Imagine a building in which political philosophers are debating the value and the purpose of participatory parity...Now imagine that the building has no access ramps, no Braille or large-print publications, no American Sign Language interpreters, no elevators, no special-needs paraprofessionals, no in-class aides...Only when we have fostered equal participation in debates over the ends and means of democracy can we have a truly participatory debate over what 'participatory parity' itself means."  -Berube 198-9

One of the articles that we read for class this weekend reminded me of a The New Yorker article published in 2014 that asks the question: what do you do if your child has a condition that is new to science? This article follow the medical journey of Bertrand Might, son of Matt and Cristina Might, who was discovered to have a rare, genetic disorder that was not characterized or known to clinicians at the time of his diagnosis. The process of his diagnosis was long and arduous with many wrong-diagnoses along the way.

Disability rights advocates are one of the most vocal critics of the emergence of powerful gene editing technology, such as CRISPR-Cas9. The priority of disability rights advocates is to combat discrimination and prejudice, not search for ways to manipulate genes in ways that have a potential to eradicate specific disabilities. The readings for this week gave three interesting perspectives on genetic and reproductive technologies; all of who had personal experiences with disabilities. When I first learned about CRISPR-Cas9 in my advanced genetics class, I was completely in awe that humans are starting to have so much control on the creation and growth of life.

I enjoyed last class in which we discussed activism and how our personal experiences with other people shape us and the kind of work that we do in our lives. It was nice to be able to open up to another classmate and talk about difficult topic and how that has shaped me and influenced me in the kind of work that I want to do in the future. Their stories were heart warming and inspring, they were a very intelligent and nice group of ladies. As for my last praxis visit, Aubrey and I spent the entire time fixing the website again (which is still not done). I'm sure once we're done with it it's going to look amazing-- so happy that she's good with tech stuff.