Cringe. By Owen Welsh

Even my captions were awful

If you've ever written something before, (which I'm sure at least a few of you have) you know that after a period of time, say six months or so, if you look back at it you'll think "Wow what was I thinking, god this is awful.". This happens without fail to most things we do, as soon as a hobby becomes uninteresting we quickly grow detached and repulsed by the idea of ever being a part of that community. Yet even if we recognize this vicious cycle of love to hatred, we still repeat it day after day and year after year until suddenly you're in your mid-fifties with your kids moving out and you realize that you pushed away every friend you did have just to satisfy the wants of other people.

But I can't just let you sit through the ramblings of 15 year-old High Schooler without some sort of anecdotal evidence to back up my claim. If you took a cursory glance at this blog back around October of 2016, you would have noticed a post entitled, "Desks are important too!" It even included an exclamation mark in the title to show my faux enthusiasm for the topic of desks. Reading through it now, I can tell you that the content is mediocre at best, the post just states lists and the reasons why I selected a particular part of each list, not quite the next Tolstoy. Though at the time I felt as though Shakespeare had risen out of his grave and possessed my pale and dainty hands as I wrote the ballad of desks in an English classroom. Looking back at my sonnet now, however, tells me how I'd be insulting any famous writer by even thinking about comparing my work to theirs.

Yet I still fall into the same trap as before, I still look at my work now as if it is the best thing I'll ever write in my time on this pale blue dot, even as I know that by the time the school starts up again I'll forget about my current feelings and look upon this very blog post with disgust and disdain. The frustration this realization causes is unimaginable, the fact that your best work will never actually be your best work kills all motivation to continue, and is the basis of the philosophy of Nihilism. Nihilism states that if you aren't furthering anything with your actions, you shouldn't do it, yet by pursuing these futile attempts at writing, I'm furthering myself to become a better writer and thus eclipse my previous ideas. So I resign myself to this infinite cycle of progression and disdain towards my erroneous ways, as the only thing a person can do is to endeavor to try.

Vitro - Fertilization by Carlie Wilson

Carlie Wilson

February 28, 2017

Throughout this week in English, our class has been preparing for our scientific debates. Many social issues were debated, such as animal testing, the use of GMOs, and the practice of genetic manipulation of human embryos. My group was given the topic of genetic embryo manipulation. Being that I was a cross examiner, I was not able to share all of my ideas and opinions on the matter. After doing thorough research and reading potential consequences, I was able to quickly determine that I was against the technology that could possibly change the human race in devastating ways. In the process of vitro- fertilization the parent of the unborn child will be able to choose the embryos that are implanted into them. Although there are many positive outcomes of IVF, including the ability to treat inevitable diseases in a child, the negatives clearly outweigh the good.
If the process of IVF is abused, the human race can be facing a huge social divide. An IVF or “designer baby” procedure can cost up $100,000. According to the 2014 bureau census, the average income for an American family is about $51,939. That means that the cost of a designer baby can cost over double the amount of a family's yearly income. Households with the privilege of having a designer baby will not only be able to choose desired physical features, but they will also have access to high IQ genes and practical personality traits. Thus, making it easier for them to have more life opportunities such as jobs and college acceptances. Today, America is already divided into the lower class, middle class, and high class. With the use of IVF to choose embryos, America will be divided into two clear groups. People who can afford a pleasurable lifestyle and those who can’t.
Social hierarchy is not the only possible negative effect of IVF. In 2011, the Global Religious Landscape conducted a breakdown of the world’s religious beliefs based on 2,500 international censuses. Of the 7.12 billion living humans on this earth, 5.8 billion people affiliate themselves with a religious denomination believing in at least one god, which means that 84% of the world’s population believes that creating life is reserved for a higher power. This also means that over half of the world’s population would argue that genetic manipulation is a form of mimicking god or as the Washington Post would say “playing god”. With the option of IVF to essentially make humans, billions of people around the world will be threatened of their religions that date all the way back to 1800 B.C.E.
Another issue worth mentioning is overpopulation. Genetic modification would ensure babies a healthy life which would increase their life expectancy. For every two deaths there are four births which means that the human race is already rapidly producing more humans compared the amount of humans that die each day. By expanding a human’s  average life expectancy of 67 years, the world can expect a social crisis and a devastating economic decline. Starting with the decrease of water and food sources all the way down to the inability to control political aspects such as crime and ability to govern the people.
The points that I have brought up are the few of the many concerns that the human race should consider before legalizing vitro-fertilization for non-medical reasons. Unfortunately, not every person on this earth will be able to live a good quality life, but is it our job to change the fate of an unborn baby? Is it ethical to essentially plan out a life depending on a group of people’s opinions? I hope that the world understands the many dangers of the future IVF technology that will change human society forever.