"the fairy godmother of medical research." Hmmmm.
For me, as a teacher of Language Arts, I can't help but think about how important it was for the Laskers to have a facility with language in order to do all of the following: "They were extraordinary networkers, lobbyists, minglers, conversers, persuaders, letter writers, cocktail party--throwers, negotiators, name-droppers, deal makers. Fund-raising-- and, most important, friend-raising---was instilled in their blood, and the depth and breadth of their social connections allowed them to reach deeply into the minds--and pockets--of private donors and of the government" (111)
If either of them could not clearly articulate ideas in speech and writing, they would not have had the kind of success that they experienced. LANGUAGE IS POWER!
Diction=word choice. "Moribund" is an ironic term to describe the American Society for the Control of Cancer.
The thing I really appreciate about Mary Lasker is her ability to strategize her campaign against cancer. She makes choices about audience, etc.
All this reading and writing, all this language: "regularly corresponding with Farber", "Farber wrote back long, detailed meandering letters", "She spoke and wrote passionately and confidently about her cause, emphasizing her point with quotes and questions", "a retinue of assistants to scour newspapers and magazines and clip out articles containing even a passing reference to cancer--all of which she read, annotated on the margins with questions in small precise scrip, and distributed to other Laskerites" (114-115).
Poor Albert.
Word: annealed
Is anyone else out there?
Yes I am here!!! I haven't been on for a while so I am kind of mashing up two sections in one! This chapter by far would have to be my favorite! It was so cool to see how the fundraising was formed and compare it to how we fund raise now. On a side note I fund raised for Milan's Miracle Fund, Maddy Gumbko and I started to raise money at school back in sixth grade and since then we have helped with the annual run and other projects. We both went with family and friends to donate the check to the Van Andel Institute. When we were there we got a tour of the building and got to see the laboratory's and what the money we raised was going to. We also met a couple doctors from around the world who are trying to find the cure to pediatric Cancer. It was interesting to be able to have a real life connection to how Farber felt when he received donations and what the money was going to. I think this part of the book was farther back but it really interested me, when the baseball player came in to visit "Jimmy" it made me think of the Make a Wish foundation. how a child with Cancer is allowed to pick one destination or person to visit and that wish was granted. I know that Jimmy did not know about the baseball players visiting him but maybe that sparked people later on to think about starting a foundation. Also the whole aspect of advertising and socializing rally fascinated me. Who knew that one lady could organize so much. When Farber received enough money and built his hospital i thought it was very kind of him to take the time to make it someplace more playful and fun rather that a death chamber. When they used the sentence "It was Disney World fused with Cancerland" it was very powerful. On another side note will the words you are mentioning with their definitions be on the test in the fall, kind of like a vocab test but mixed in with the comprehension part? Just curious
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that you are making so many connections between the text and what you know from your own experience, etc. Great reading strategies in action there. I too found the sentence about Cancer land and Disney land noteworthy. It juxtaposes two completely different images.
ReplyDeleteYou know, as I read, I am just documenting the words I find interesting, the words that I too am learning as we go and so that is really all that is. There are definitely lots of people on the test, but I just don't think it would be fair with a work this size to have a vocabulary section. Learning new words is so important. I continue to learn all the time. It's great to hear from you.
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ReplyDeleteI kinda still here! (sort of, marching band starts up soon, so reading is going to be a lot slower) This section of reading made a lot more sense to me, since I understand where the need for fundraising and grants become so valuable to any institution for that matter. I volunteer(get trained) in a research lab, where we grow cells to evaluate the growth of certain compounds in the cell based off different chemicals injected into them, .... sorry got off on a tangent there ^-^, but I understand how hard it is to get the funds to keep the research going. Though it seemed by the end of the chapter, that the Laskers were starting to transform what was a purely scientific organization, into a fund-raising juggernaut, that began shifting its focus from a science perspective to a more business approach. "Clarence Little... found himself increasingly marginalized by the Lay Group... the lobbyists and fund-raisers were 'unjustified, troublesome and aggresive'" (Mukherjee 113). Does this signal a change in the way cancer research is performed? I like how Mukharjee swithches from the research side of the effort to cure cancer into the financial side, it allows the reader to learn as a whole how the entire system of cancer reasearch has been transformed comin ginto the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
ReplyDeleteon an off hand note, what do you suggest with remembering the major plot points and characters introduced in the novel? There are a lot of different scientists being brougt up with many different "discoveries" throught the chapters, while the chapters vary very differently from one to the other. Do you think a chart would help, or something more along the lines of a timeline?
One thing that really stuck out to me in this section was the way that the Laskers were portrayed. Mary Lasker is described as "wealthy, political savvy, and well connected" (108). She is truly one of the elite. Often in literature, the rich and powerful aren't characterized in a positive light. Obviously, Mary Lasker is a truly great human being that made great progress in the battle against cancer. However, I wonder what the scientists' side of the story was when the ASCC was being taken over. When the committee's constitution was rewritten, no more than four "professional and scientific members" (113) were to be included. While the ASCC was obviously failing, it seems to me that the scientist's point of view in the society would be a vital part of the new ACS, even as it transformed into a primarily fundraising organization.
ReplyDeleteJust some thoughts! I suppose this is somewhat similar to Sharath's question, as well.