One of the most exciting aspects of molecular biology is that young adults my age are getting in on the ground floor. There is still a multitude of information yet to be discovered and its applications are nearly endless. Through gene therapy we see the possibilities of eradicating cancer, curing the blind, and preventing deadly illness. The recent advances in these fields are vastly exciting and I find it impossible to imagine where it could be even one year in the future. Science does not reject new ideas that stand in conflict with the accepted doctrine but, on the contrary, is constantly adapting to new information so as to form a holistic view of the world around us. Science is not so arrogant as to know it is right but is eager to destroy, adapt, and rebuild itself in order to come closer to accuracy. The idea of science and, more specifically, molecular biology is thrilling and the opportunity to eradicate currently terminal diseases is one that I can’t stand to miss.

BELL

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist.

Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the top musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written,with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station

was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty?

Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Companies pour millions of dollars annually into advertizing and presentation. Tests have proven that if two of the exact same object are presented to a person, one in elaborate packaging and one not, the former is chosen as the better product. The point of the subway experiment was to see if this principle transcends into areas other than consumerism such as beauty and the arts. The main question posed by the experiment is this “In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?” Judging by the numbers it’s clear that most of us would rather adhere to our schedule then to stop and notice such beauty. It was noted, however, that children would stop and listen and only move when their parents tugged enough and still then always looking back at the performer. Do children notice more then we do because they aren’t so preoccupied? Are we too preoccupied for our own good?

Pigs; three of them

This web article outlines a recent advancement where scientists grew pork meat in a Petri dish by culturing a pigs myoblast cells (the cells that give rise to skeletal muscle tissue). Cloning also has the ability to end world hunger and yet people starve to death every day. Why? Part of the answer is that the technology is still in its relatively early stages but another part is controversy raised by the “left” or liberals. This group of people is against the consumption of cloned meat even though it has been deemed safe for consumption by a number of world agencies and governments based on scientific research. Still though there are a number of groups that are explicitly against the consumption of cloned animals. This behavior of refuting scientific evidence based on morals and values isn’t just found in liberals but is found in all groups who refuse to compromise in light of scientific research. In turn, they commission research in their favor and instead of science being used as a tool to find new truths and further our understanding, it has become a vicious battle of he-said-she-said propaganda so one side can prove the other wrong. Has science become degraded in modern society? Are its findings as valid as they were 100 years ago?

Thanksgiving Dinner

That is by far the biggest most audacious thanksgiving dinner I have ever seen before and I've never wanted to eat something more. At my house we always eat Italian for dinner because my grandma is from Italy and she cooks the dinner. We usually have baked ziti, olives, stuffed mushrooms, homemade bread, and some sort of vegetable. My grandmas always makes pumpkin pie just for me though and whatever we don't eat at her house I get to take home for myself. My grandma is the best chef in the entire universe besides the guys at Texas Roadhouse. Did you know everything is made from scratch there? I was working one day and we had to make soap. The soap for the bathrooms...is made from scratch...at Texas Roadhouse. But I digress. I mostly enjoy spending time with the family at thanksgiving but the food is what keeps me coming back.

One Act

Me and Bryson Young have been considering doing one act plays, monologues, and dialogues after school in the auditorium. The goal is to get a drama program going at school running seperate from the Drama Program and Drama Club. We want to do this for 2 main reasons:

We can work on more worthwhile plays
We can work with people who actually care about what they are doing.

We don't plan on it being very large but we do plan on having dedicated cast members which is something that both the drama program and club lack. We are not simply going to put on plays but are going to give criticism in order to improve our acting and make quality productions. We are looking at a once act right now called The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From. Despite the plays seeminly docile subject matter it is riddled with adult material. We arn't quite sure how this will go over with the school, but art shouldn't be restricted in any instance.

You wake up too late in the day, a world of orange specked with shade: A tent gone stuffy in the midday summer heat. Content to lie in a while listening to nothing in particular while fat blowflys drift lazily through the air outside. Climb a dune tonight to witness the stars in fantastic numbers, not hidden by the lights of the city. Below them rolls the tide in a timeless tribute to tradition. Returning once again below the tree-line where a small fire will shirk from the darkness while you sip cheap beer.
-Harmon y

The Moving Wall

I went and saw the Vietnam wall this weekend. All along the bottom of the wall are tokens of affection and remembrance left by the families and friends of those whose names appear on the wall. Before going to see this memorial I was told I would be moved emotionally by the power it carries with it. After viewing the wall, tokens, and people around me I felt nothing whatsoever. This made me wonder if it was natural for me to feel nothing in the presence of such a supposedly awe-inspiring event. Looking back at the names it became obvious to me: they were just names, nothing more. I did not see suffering. I did not see sacrifice for my freedoms. I saw over 50,000 names on a wall. If I were to view the actual wall in Washington, would I have felt differently? I doubt it would influence me anymore then the mobile memorial. The way I perceive the world may be slightly different then the majority of Americans but as an individual I’m too distanced from the event to feel emotionally about it in any way. The work of art is unimpressive and is lacking in emotional impact.