Nina G. Jablonski's Skin Deep

The PBS series “Race: The Power of an Illusion” effectively works to expose race as a social construct and deconstructs the false notions that race is a biological marker. The series first discusses that all human beings originated from Africa but dispersed about 70,000 years ago to various places in the world. As a result of this migration, people were spread to different locations throughout the world with different environmental conditions that affected their physical traits. It was many years after the migration in which people began to display these new physical traits such as slanted eyes, fair skin, and differing hair textures. While the series notes the physical changes that occurred during the migration it also emphasizes that race while it may seem apparent in skin color and other physical features has no real biological basis.

Caucasians have the lowest amount of melanin in their skin cells when being compared to other cultures. Melanin is crucial to protecting our skin from UV rays, and so someone with a darker skin tone is better protected.

Anthropologists and geographers have studied and overtime come to the conclusion that distribution of skin color is not random. Darker skin color has been found to typically come from near the equator and lighter skin colors are typically coming from closer to the north and south poles. Over the years, researchers have found that darker skin colors has protected the

In Purple Bathing Suit poem, Louise Gluck develops a difference between needing someone even if they are not perfect in their eyes and being unsatisfying staying in a relationship can be. There were a few things in Gluck’s poem that made it fascinating, such as the individuality related to gender, the level of love/hate relationships, and the truth of realizing that real reason you stay.

The pet I am honoring for Dia de los Muertos is my dog Sa$ah. She is big, cute, and short. She has a clumsy, funny, and crazy personality. She was important to me because she was always a pet that I could go to if I felt sad. Fortunately she hasn’t died yet.

5. In the film, Dr. Jablonski explains that melanin, located in the top layer of human skin, absorbs UV radiation, protecting cells from the damaging effects of UV. Genetics determines the type of melanin (i.e., brown/black eumelanin or red/brown pheomelanin) and the amount of melanin present in an individual’s cells. Based on this information, write a hypothesis for where in the world you would expect to find human populations with

Masculine-focused groups like fraternities or all-male schools are built off the idea of brotherly love. These groups exhibit certain qualities of personalities of their members that differ from the norm of social interactions and love. A possible way of explaining the differences between the love people are generally accustomed to and a love between males in the context of brotherhood groups is science. Barbara Fredrickson, author of Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do and Become, describes love as a “positivity resonance”, using science to explain how it can be thought of as a connection between individuals through small, positive interactions. Susan Faludi, author of The Naked Citadel, illustrates a

There is a massive difference between wanting to keep a tradition alive and being so avid about living in sameness that it becomes dangerous. Fluidity and being open to revision is necessary in order to survive in an ever changing environment. In The Naked Citadel, Susan Faludi recounts the events that occurred during the period that Shannon Faulkner fought for acceptance to the Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. Throughout this time, the school community experienced utter chaos as a result of mixed emotions about letting a female gain the honor of becoming a cadet. In The Minds Eye, Oliver Sacks shows the necessity of change in order to survive by describing the changes that blind people made in their lives in order to become as successful as they are today. When an individual is forced to change, they are more likely to tackle the situation with an open mind as a method to make the best of that situation. In contrast, when change is not necessary, it can be much more difficult to adapt due to the presence of fear and insecurities.

In Chapter 5, Jacqueline Novogratz is directed to a group of single mothers working on a baking project that was organized by the Ministry for Family and Social Affairs. The group of 20 women makes and sells baked goods at government offices in town and sews dresses and crafts on order (73). In concept, Novogratz likes the idea of this business, but she immediately realizes that it is run less like a business and much more like an extension of a donor project without regard to financial sustainability (74-76). She agrees to help if they agree to drop the charity subsidies and run it like a real business. Her primary goals are to increase sales and cut costs (77).

Geographical isolation in the past has caused a variation in skin color; natural selection selected specific skin pigments depending on environmental factors. Early humans who moved to Europe were introduced to a place that had less sunlight than their former place of residence. Overtime, light skin (skin with lower levels of melanin) was selected for since there were not as many UV rays that the skin needed protection from. But, what was wrong with having dark skin in Europe? How is extra melanin a disadvantage in this case? One thing to remember is that even though the sun can provide UV rays, sunlight is also a great source of natural vitamin D (Jablonski; Kirchweger). Vitamin D helps bones absorb calcium and is particularly essential for developing embryos in pregnant women. The adaptation for lighter skin was important because the skin needed to absorb as much sunlight as it could in order to receive optimal amounts of vitamin D (Kirchweger). However, too much vitamin D can be fatal. So as high amounts of melanin protected the skin from excessive UV rays in Africa, they also protected it from excessive vitamin D (Kirchweger).

Most of the time, People don’t want to be the cause of evil. The reason why people blame others so they don’t get the backlash on the event. Though sometimes, People won’t always escape from their fears. In Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare, many factors contributed the titular character’s downfall toward his demise. The factor that contributed most in Macbeth’s downfall was Macbeth himself due to him being too ambitious for his own good and His willingness to listen to the Witches’ prophecies.

For my first book talk I read Under Their Skin by: Margaret Haddix. I did not believe I would like this book because normally I do not like Sci-Fi, but after reading this book I have changed my mind this Sci-Fi books was one of the best books I had ever read. I could not imagine having the responsibility of a secret that could change the life of every human and robot at only twelve years old. They were the only humans on the whole entire planet that had found out the secret. It started with parents remarrying and getting stepsiblings that they were not allowed to meet. Then they went on an investigation that led them to a life changing discovery. My favorite character in this book was Nick. Nick was so trusting and really seemed to have good

What does influence skin color variation is the size and distribution pattern of melanosomes as well as other factors.

Skin Deep is my 4000 word major writing piece for ENW315114. It explores the theme of vanity and human perception of beauty. Originally, I was inspired by the blurb of a book, ‘The Regulars’ by Georgia Clark and Which Witch, a song by Florence + the Machine. Human beauty and witchcraft are both fascinating to me, and I wanted to be able to bring them together in a story that has meaning. The story is written in second person and the present tense, to involve the reader in the story, heighten emotion and action, and make the reader think about their own perception of ‘beautiful’. The intended audience is young adult, as they are particularly vulnerable to issues with self image and being objectified for their looks. The narrator is unreliable

A Doll’s Essay In Victorian England, many men would have more power and stature then most women. This problem showed how women were treated by society’s perception of women. This would make them live as fragile and delicate dolls.