UNWIND Roland's Character Profile

Maths Week 9 Recap

Maths- Week 9 Recap

For the past however many weeks, we have been working on numerous problems in maths involving a range of things, e.g; scientific notation, circumferences, ratios, decimals fractions and percentages, etc. We've been doing a mix of independent work and group work. For independent we do things such as presentations, blog posts, mathletics, and other things to help us improve in certain areas. During group work, we are given a few problems and set the task of finding the solution (or solutions if it's an open question with multiple answers)

This is one of the more recent problems we've been given, involving circumferences, diameters, pi, radius and a number of other things.

Describe a mistake or misconception that you or a classmate had in class. What did you learn from this mistake or misconception?

With this specific problem, I at one stage confused the wheel with a 70cm diameter to the wheel with the 15cm diameter but I figured that out pretty quickly. I almost mistook the diameter for the radius at one stage too which wasn't ideal. Form that I learnt that sometimes I need to look at things more carefully.

What were the main mathematical concepts or ideas that you learned or that we discussed in class? 

I didn't know a lot about pi, and I didn't know how to find the circumference of a circle, which we learnt about. I was also unaware of the concept of (or more so the official name given for) scientific notation. 

UNWIND Lev's Character profile

UNWIND Risa's Character Profile

UNWIND Connor's Character Profile

Taha Wairua

Taha Wairua 

In health, we are currently doing a unit on taha wairua (also known as spiritual well-being). You're spiritual well-being relates to various things; your values and beliefs, personal identity, self awareness, traditions, culture, religion, your goals, what you believe in, the way you live, and much more. 

At the very start of this unit, we did an activity on our personal identities. We wrote down as many things as we could thing of that make us us, and then chose the five most important ones. From their, we were given scenarios and asked which ones we would use during said situation. This is my identity page:

As part of this module or unit, we also had to do a task where we took a personal values assessment and had to answer some questions about a couple of the values we chose.

FROM THE VALUES YOU CHOSE, WRITE ABOUT THE TWO THAT ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU	WHY IS THIS VALUE IMPORTANT TO YOU?	RECALL A MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU REALLY ‘LIVED’ THIS VALUE.	IF THIS VALUE IS NOT BEING RESPECTED BY OTHERS, HOW MIGHT YOU FEEL OR REACT?
Reliability	It’s important to me for my friends, peers, and teachers to be able to rely on me so they know they always have someone to go to, no matter who they are.	My friends can always rely on me, I don’t share things that people have asked me to keep secret with anyone else, which I hope shows I’m reliable.	I wouldn’t trust someone who isn’t reliable
Respect	Respect is a very important value to me, more so treating everyone the way they deserve to be treated and treating everyone equally.	I’d like to think I’m always as respectful as I can be, but I went to the memorial on Deans ave last night. It seemed like a respectful thing to do, especially considering one of my best friends was affected by it.	I strongly dislike people who disrespect others who haven’t done anything to deserve it.

Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking

What is it?

Human trafficking is the highly illegal act of transporting people between countries or areas, usually in order to sell them in forced labour, or for sexual exploitation. It's an extremely serious problem, and is happening to both boys and girls, adults and children, all over the world. In Cambodia, you can find children as young as six and seven working in brothels after being abducted from their homes. Between the years 2012 and 2017, more than 3,000 people became victims of human trafficking in Vietnam alone. At this time, it is estimated that around 1.8 million children are currently being exploited in the sex trade around the world, and that's just children- not including adults. Human trafficking is a disgusting crime, and there isn't enough being done to eliminate or prevent it.

Who can this happen to?

Although human trafficking can happen to anyone, some individuals are more vulnerable than others. It is well known that human traffickers target -more often than not- young girls, but are there and other things that make these young women especially at risk? Online human traffickers tend to target those who talk openly about their home lives (more specifically, why they hate them), whether it be one on one or in chat-rooms with hundreds of people. They also target both men and women who are desperate for work. It isn't hard to be lured in by empty promises when you're really in need and can't see any better alternatives.

 

Where does it happen?

As I previously mentioned, human trafficking occurs almost everywhere, but it is a much larger problem in some places than it is in others. Take Russia, for example. Russia, being the World's largest nation, have between 5 and 12 million migrants working in conditions of slavery. But people aren't just being trafficked into Russia; there have been more than 2,400 trafficking cases between the years 2015 and 2017, and this is due to the fact Russia and it's government see human trafficking as a 'political issue' rather than a problem which is affecting millions, which is what it really is, and basically have a complete disregard towards it. Therefore, they don't prioritise even attempting to fix it. In Syria, things have gotten progressively worse throughout the civil war. The Syrian government do not fully meet the bare minimum standards when it comes to the elimination of human trafficking, and during 2017 didn't demonstrate, in any way, any efforts to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention measures. And, to make matters worse, the government of Syria continues to maintain it's forcible recruitment and use of child soldiers. They also make no attempt to protect and prevent children from being recruited by armed opposition forces or designated terrorist organisations, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

10 Countries with the Highest Number of Child Soldiers

Definition-

Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by a state or non-state armed group and are used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, for sexual purposes, as messengers, or as spies. 

Below is a map showing 10 countries with some of the highest reported numbers of child soldiers

Child Soldiers

Warfare is grim enough without the involvement of young children, who if it weren't for their participation in armed conflict would still have long lives ahead of them, and the number of reported child recruitment is only growing. Figures verified in 2017 from Iraq show there were 109 reports of recruitment and use of children in warfare, and an additional 717 children were either killed or maimed. Another report, done in Syria during 2017, shows that the Syrian conflict had been the cause of 910 deaths of children, and a further 361 being severely wounded and/or crippled. The Democratic Republic of Congo is believed to be home to 10% of the entire population of child soldiers -making the Democratic Republic of Congo responsible for the use of approximately 30,000 children in armed combat. The Houthis rebel organisation in Yemen has enlisted roughly 18,000 children, and in the Central African Republic, over 10,000 children were used in warfare just between the years 2012 and 2015.

The recruitment of children in armed forces is a cruel and unjustifiable act. It gives children reason to live in fear, it deprives them of their freedom, and yet, it still happens in more than 85 countries. An investigation executed in 2018 shows that in South Sudan, there is an unbelievable number of 19,000 children in total who are apart of armed forces. Not only are these children's lives being put in jeopardy, but a large number of them had no part in enlisting themselves.

However, in contrary, many children are an exception to this statement. Although a large portion of child soldiers had no choice in their enlistment, either because of threats or the fact they were abducted, an even larger portion enlisted out of their own free will, and purely for revenge. The Séléka is an alliance of rebel military groups in the Central African Republic who can be held accountable for orphaning many children. Twelve-year-old Francois is one of these children. After his cousin and aunty were murdered by the Séléka, Francois joined the Anti-Balaka in order to avenge the deaths of his loved ones. Seventeen-year-old Choko shares a similar story, joining the Anti-Balaka after the Séléka came into her home and murdered her mother and father. These children did not see their military leaders as 'bad people', but rather as their saviours. Although in the minds of people like Francois and Choko their leaders don't seem like bad people -and why wouldn't they think that? They fed them, looked after them and "respected them"- they did exploit them, using them for their own personal advantage and putting their lives at risk.

UNWIND Consciousness- Predictions

 C O N S C I O U S N E S S
P R E D I C T I O N S  F O R  F U T U R E  B O O K S

There are still four more books to go in this series, not including the first book which this Novel Study is based on ('Unwind') which was written in 2007.

UnStrung: released in 2012

UnWholly: released in 2012

UnSouled: released in 2013

UnDivided: released in 2014

UnBound: released in 2015

Having not read the other four books yet, here are my predictions.

I think it will stick with the three main characters -Risa, Connor, and Lev- and will probably introduce some new main characters along the way. I think it would be interesting if somewhere along the line it includes a point of view from the baby that Connor decided to save after it was storked, just to see how her life turned out.

By the way Connor was talking at the end of the first book, I think he's going to attempt to put an end to Unwinding once and for all, with the help of a large portion of the kids at the Graveyard. Whether he's going to succeed or not, I'm not sure. 

I'm also not entirely sure what's going to happen with Lev. At the moment, he's in solitude. When he's out and they've gotten all off the explosive chemicals out of his bloodstream, he's going to a Juvenile Detention Centre for a few years, and then (hopefully) Marcus is going to be his legal guardian. At least, that's the plan. Maybe he'll try and escape the detention centre, or maybe he'll make an agreement, or get let out early and end up going to the Graveyard to help Connor and Risa.

I think Cyrus might appear a lot more in the next book, considering the work he did in protests, and how he went before congress to testify. Maybe he'll even join Connor and Risa in their mission to change the Bill of Life and end the system of unwinding. I believe some of the other smaller background characters will reappear too. At the end of the book, we know for a fact that Hayden was at the graveyard with Connor and Risa.

UNWIND Consciousness

C O N S C I O U S N E S S

How is it that Connor was not unwound? p318

When they searched the buildings and found one of the dead security guards, they stole the guards identity, and thus Connor Lassiter became nineteen-year-old Elvis Robert Mullard.

Whose arm does he now have? P319

He has Roland's arm, which he can quite clearly identify by the distinct shark tattoo on his forearm.

On p321 Risa tells Connor how she won't be unwound. Do you think her decision to not accept the spine of an Unwind was purely ethical, or was she also playing the system in order to stay alive?

It was ethical- if I were her I wouldn't want to have a transplant either. But she definitely was playing the system too. If she remained paralysed- at least until she's eighteen- they wouldn't be allowed to unwind her cause they wouldn't be able to use her spinal chord or any of her other damaged parts.

Since the explosions at Happy Jack, what have people been doing? What has Cy-Fi's role been in this? P325

It began to make people start talking about the ethics of unwinding, mostly people who beforehand had pretty much looked the other way. There were protests against unwinding in Washington, and Cyrus even went before congress and testified. There was also rumours and talk about lowering the legal age of adulthood from 18 to 17, which would save a lot of the kids, and though it wouldn't save everyone, it's a step in the right direction.

Lev's parents disown him. Who is trying to become his guardian? P328.
His brother Marcus petitioned for guardianship, who was also disowned by their parents. Marcus was the only person in Lev's family other than Pastor Dan who tried to change his parents mind and try to get through to them and Lev.

Why has Pastor Dan resigned? P329
Because although Pastor Dan still believes in God, he doesn't believe in a god who condones murdering innocent children and human tithing (better word for it is human sacrifice), and therefore decided to leave the church and wants no part in it.

P331-332 explain what has happened to Harlan Dunfee. What do you think about the Admiral and his wife's plan? Was it what you expected?  
The admiral and his wife signed the papers to unwind their son Harlan, and immediately regretted it. Their plan was nothing like what I thought it would be -in other words, nothing like the story everyone had been told- all they wanted was to bring their son back together in a peaceful and non-violent way. They just wanted to do it in the most meaningful way they could without causing more death. The admiral really did just want to help all of those children, he's not a murderer like everyone made him out to be.

Who takes over the graveyard? P331
With the help of Hayden, Risa, and a few others, Connor took over.

UNWIND Unwound

U N W O U N D

Connor and Risa are sent to Happy Jack Harvest Camp. Describe what it is like, and explain why it is like this. P265-266

Every harvest camp is purposefully placed in very scenic areas. The grounds are all extremely well kept, much like a resort, and there are a lot of bright pastel colours, with as little red as possible. Happy Jack is situated in Arizona, with views of forests and red mountains. The boy's dormitory was painted light blue with green accents, and the girl's was painted lavender and pink. They hide the barbed wire hence which surrounds the perimeter of the camp with hedges, and everything is bright and colourful.

What is the exact percentage of the Unwind that you have to keep alive? Why is it not 100%, as Risa believes? P269

They have to keep 99.44%, because they have to keep in mind vestigial structures like the appendix, which are now entirely useless.

What do the unwinds call the place where unwinding occurs? P271

The Chop Shop. There's a red carpet leading up to it and the band plays on the roof as people walk the red carpet to their death. Fun.

Lev too, is at Happy Jack, but as a tithe. Why is this?  

Because it's part of his plan. Him, Blaine, and Mai are preparing to become clappers and blow up Happy Jack harvest camp.

On p278 Connor and Roland finally have the fight that's been brewing between them. What does each character realise during this?

Roland realises he isn't the killer he thought he was, and isn't capable of the things he thought he could be. Connor finds the answer to the question Hayden asked not long ago. Would you rather die, or be unwound? He realises that maybe death is a better alternative.

P284 - What group has Lev joined, who recruited him, and when will they follow out their plan?  

Cleaver -the helicopter pilot from the Graveyard who was beaten to death and taught Roland how to fly a helicopter- recruited all three of them, and they plan on blowing up Happy Jack by simply clapping their hands, and causing absolute chaos.

'We have no cause but chaos'- Cleaver

It was an expression of all the things they felt inside. It was the spirit, and the nature, and the manifestation of all they had become. They weren't just the messengers, they were the message.

Roland is called for unwinding on p286. Why is this?  

Even though Roland has only been there a few days, his blood type AB negative is rare and in very high demand, therefore they're unwinding him as soon as they possibly can.

Chapter 61 is arguably the most confronting chapter in the book. Here we have Roland's first person narrative of being unwound. Do you think this chapter is necessary?

I think it is yes, because up until this chapter the author has never gone into detail about how people are unwinded- do they get put on anaesthetic? Where do they begin? It's also something that all of the characters show interest in (well... curiosity, not interest) throughout the book. It also shows you what's in store for Connor in the next few hours.

Why do you think Shusterman chose to have Roland's experience detailed? Do his memories alter how you view him?  

Because Roland is a very controversial character. No one really likes him, no one really understands him. Adding snippets of Roland's memories did change the way I thought about him to an extent, and the origin story of his shark tattoo was kind of interesting. The memory of his mother comparing him to his dad, who I'm guessing isn't a very good person, and how his babysitter either killed or permanently disabled his little sister was sad. It makes you start to understand why he is the way he is a little bit more.

Why does Lev decide not to clap? P310

At first, he physically can't bring himself to do it, and then he sees that Connor is still alive and decided not to.

Sonja Terk Delauney- Orphism

Sonja Terk Delaunay was a French-Ukrainian abstract artist,

                                                                                              

wife of fellow artist Robert Delaunay. She spent

most of her life working in Paris, and was responsible

 for co-founding the art form 'Orphism', a type of art 

involving lots of bold colours and geometric shapes.

Sonja was born into a Jewish Ukrainian family, and moved 

to St Petersburg in Russia at the age of seven. 

She first thought of this type of geometric cubist art when her son was born in 1911, and she decided to make him a blanket out of bits of fabric similar to those she had seen in the houses of people in Russia when she was younger.

O R P H I S M

Orphism, also known as Simultaneism, derived from Cubism, and was named in 1912 by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire.

Oil painting 'Triptych' by Sonja Delaunay, 1963

Oil painting 'Rhythm Colour' by Sonja Delaunay, 1964

Orphism thumbnail sketches

10 Countries with the Highest Rates of Child Labour

Child labour is work done by children which harms them or exploits them in some way, either physically, mentally, or morally (e.g blocking access to education, which they have a right to). The map above lists ten locations with the highest rates of the worst kinds of child labour. Under each location, it states the amount of children in that country estimated to be in child labour, as well as the most common types of labour in said country.

Child Labour:

Although it may be prohibited, child labour is still a socially acceptable and very large problem. 197 countries still have reports of child slavery and child labour, in some places, children starting as young as five. But why? Many families who are in poverty opt to sell their children into slavery to pay off their debt. Others don;t have a choice. Child labour is a breech of children's human rights. It robs them of their freedom and education, forcing them to work in dangerous and sometimes lethal conditions, just for mistakes that they didn't make Child labour is a massive problem, and something needs to change.

Not only does child labour deprive children of their right to education, but it can also be extremely dangerous. For example, mining. In Tanzania, there are eight-year-old children going down into mines, up to seventy metres deep, and inhaling toxic gasses for hours on end. They work with mercury, which if accidentally consumed can cause problems in their nervous system, digestive system, and immune system. It can severely damage their lungs and kidneys, and in worst case scenario, kill them. That's not even including day-to-day accidents. Mines tend to collapse, which can and has trapped the children working inside, and crushed them. Mining is only one of the only deadly forms of labour, proving my point that child labour is extremely dangerous.

UNWIND Graveyard

G R A V E Y A R D

Which job in the graveyard does Risa get assigned to? How does this come about? P201
She gets assigned the job of being a medic. Just as she steps out of the line with the boring - to say the least- job of dishwasher, the boy that Connor punched in the face to get out of being in the same crate as Roland walks up behind her. Connor had broken his nose, and she instructed him on how to stop the bleeding. Risa was then promoted to medic.

Why doesn't Connor volunteer for "work"? P205

Because to him, it seems like the admiral is using them all for his own personal gain. Most of the unwinds however don't really care, because, as Hayden said "I'd rather be used whole than in pieces". Even if they aren't getting paid for the work that they're doing, it's still better than the alternative.

"About six girls- all seventeen years old, it looks like," says Hayden. "I guess no one wants to be a house-girl for more than a year."

"This place isn't a refuge, it's a slave market. Why doesn't anyone see that?"

"Who says they don't see it? It's just that unwinding makes slavery look good. It's always the lesser of two evils.

How does Roland unsettle Connor? P206-207

He firstly informs him that Cleaver is teaching him how to fly. He then tells Connor about his theory on the admiral. Roland told Connor that he doesn't think it's a camp for saving unwinds, but instead a camp for the admiral to choose new body parts for himself from. Connor doesn't exactly believe him, but he doesn't entirely shoot his theory down.

P208-209 detail Lev's arrival, and Connor's reaction. Make sure you fill in your character profiles for both characters.
Lev's arrival was the same as Connor, Risa, Hayden, Roland and everyone else's arrival. A big group of them arrived in an old unregistered jet, in this case and old Fed-Ex jet, packed into crates in groups of four. Connor was both relieved and infuriated. He remembered how Lev had betrayed him and Risa, but he also remembered how devastated he was when he thought he had been unwound.

P214-215 Connor learns the truth about the Admiral here. How does the Admiral gain Connor's trust?
By giving him a true and logical explanation to all the numerous odd things he'd heard about him. The admiral explains to Connor that the so called teeth he got from an unwind were dentures, and the picture of the kid on his desk was his son, who's teeth he got his dentures modelled to look as similar as possible to.

What, according to the Admiral, is it that Connor is becoming famous for in the Graveyard?p212
Mostly for his skill in fixing broken things, but also his reputation for being impulsive and getting into fights.

What happens to the Goldens?p217
Someone killed the Goldens by locking them in a crate with no air holes. Connor suspects it was Roland, but as we later find out it's actually Lev, Mai, Cleaver and Blaine, who have much bigger plans in store than killing five kids.

How does Roland begin to assert his power in the Graveyard? (you'll need to look throughout the section)
He begins to share his theories about the admiral with all the other kids in the graveyard. He tells them about how he believes the admirals teeth and other parts of the admiral aren't really his, and scares some of them into believing that they're next. This of course isn't true, and at this stage I'm not sure whether Roland believes it himself or not, not that it really matters since he seems to be very persuasive, and the others very gullible.

P222-226 give us an insight into how the Unwinding Bill was passed into law. Summarise what happened, then explain whether or not you think it is plausible.  

It started with the Heartland war, a war fought between two sides; Pro life and pro choice. However, as the admiral explains, there were actually three sides in the war. Pro life, pro choice, and the remains of the American military, who were tasked to stop the other two sides from destroying each other. The bill of life, started as a joke, no one took it seriously, but then that same year a scientist won the Nobel Prize for perfecting a process called neurografting, meaning they could officially use every single part of a human's body -every single cell- in a transplant. As the war got worse, they brought both sides to a table and came up with a solution. The third side (the American military) proposed the idea of unwinding in the hopes of shocking both sides into seeing reason, but unfortunately neither side saw a problem with it, and therefore The Bill of Life was passed and the war came to an end.

The Admiral was there when the Bill of Life was signed - do you think this detracts from the believability of the commonplace nature of Unwinding?

If the admiral was there when the bill was signed, it means it happened a lot more recently than I thought, but for younger generations I suppose it probably still seems fairly ordinary, because they don't know any different.

In your opinion, do you think the book should have a few more generations between those who signed the Bill, and the present state in the novel?
I think it would be interesting to get the perspective of someone who was around Connor, Risa and Lev's age when the bill was passed. Because they would've lived their entire lives having nothing to worry about, and then all of a sudden get thrown into the possibility of being sent to their deaths by their own parents. However, I feel like most parents of children of that age when the bill was passed wouldn't agree with it -if I were them that would seem barbaric- and opinions probably changed over the generations.

What job does Lev volunteer to do? P236

He volunteers to work on an oil pipeline along with Mai and Blaine until they turn 18. What Connor and Risa don't know is that it's part of their plan, and that job was called specifically called because Mai, Blaine, Cleaver and Lev all knew no one in their right mind would choose it.

Which part of Harlan Dunfree does Emby have? P240

He has one of his lungs, the one which gives Emby asthma.

Chapter 39 is from Roland's point of view. Why do you think Shusterman changes the narrative here? What do we learn in this short chapter?

We find out that he really didn't kill the Goldens- however he did pull a lot of questionable pranks on people. Roland is a horrible person but apparently he isn't horrible enough to be a killer.

By the end of this section, things at the Graveyard have deteriorated, with the unwinds turning on the Admiral, and tearing the place apart. Which character is beaten to death on p250?

Cleaver, who Connor soon finds out is the real murderer. He doesn't find out who his accomplices are though.

What does the Admiral refuse on p255? What is the doctor's reaction to this?

He refuses to get a heart transplant, because he refuses to support the act of unwinding in any way, even if it decreases his chances of surviving drastically.

Why does Roland have the Juvey-Cops called?

Because he thinks he can bribe them into capturing Connor and Risa but let him go, if he tells them where they can find hundreds of rogue unwinds.

P259 Why doesn't his plan happen?

Because the Juvey-Cops already knew about the graveyard, and the hundreds of unwinds, and the fact that it was being run by the admiral. They just didn't care. If the unwinds were out of their way and off the streets, it isn't their problem.

Michael Mew Inspired Art

In art for the past few weeks, we have been working on completing Michael Mew inspired mixed-media art, using things such as leading lines and focal points.

After choosing and cutting out potential focal points from magazines for our piece, we drew some thumbnail sketches, using different pieces, different colours, and rearranging things on our page as we went. The media I used to create this piece was mostly water paint (a lighter shade of blue, a darker shade of blue, brown, and black) and the pieces I chose from magazines, but I also used pencil to sketch the bird. The focal point in my piece is the hands, and the bits of collage surrounding, and to the top left of the hands, create leading lines.

In our piece we also had to include one of five birds native to New Zealand (The Mōhua, the Riroriro, the Tīeke, the Korimako/Kōparapara or the Pīpīwharauroa). I chose the riroriro, also known as a grey warbler. The riroriro is part of the Acanthizidae family, a family of passerine birds, and are usually seen living in temperate forests.

Here is some artwork by Michael Mew

Harriet Tubman- Paragraph Writing

S E E L   P A R A G R A P H S

This week in social studies, we have been looking at SEEL paragraph structure, to show our knowledge on properly writing paragraphs using the SEEL structure, and to show what we've learnt about Harriet Tubman and slavery over the past few weeks. We started by outlining the components of paragraphs (Statement, explanation, example, and link), and then we wrote our own, based on the latest topic we've been studying in social studies- Harriet Tubman. After writing our paragraphs, we exchanged books with a partner and gave feedback on the use of words, information, and structure they used in their paragraphs. Using this information -keeping our partners feedback in mind- we then re-wrote our paragraphs. I was given the feedback of trying to use quotes to back up my information, and making the link in my paragraph a bit clearer.

Here is my final paragraph on Harriet Tubman:

Harriet Tubman was and African American woman and abolitionist, born into slavery, whose work with the Underground Railroad as a conductor helped to free over three-hundred innocent men, women, and children from slavery. Over the time span of ten years, harriet made 19 trips to plantations and other locations where slaves were kept, saving many people -never losing a single escapee along her journeys- and aiding them by providing food, water, and other basic necessities. She also kept these fugitives safe by hiding them in safe houses (more commonly known during this time as ‘Stations’, which were run by station masters and conductors such as Harriet), along with the help of many other people. Despite Harriet’s immense efforts, she never seemed to think it was enough. I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more, if only they knew they were slaves- Harriet Tubman. This woman was extremely brave and optimistic, and her achievements as a conductor freed the lives of many.

Chicken Leg Dissection

Yesterday in science, we did an experiment and dissected a chicken leg as part of our medical science module. We had to identify the bones, tendons, muscles, fat, and blood vessels and nerves (if we found any). 

Aim: Locate and describe the various tissues and structures of the drumstick and thigh of the chicken

Materials:

• Chicken drumstick with thigh
• Dissecting probe
• Scalpel
• Dissecting scissors
• Paper towels
• Forceps
• Dissecting Tray
• Gloves
• Disinfectant spray

Method:

1. Place the chicken leg on a dissecting tray and examine the exterior features. The tough outer layer is called the epidermis (skin). The small bumps covering the skin are where the feathers were attached
2. Examine the lower leg. This is called the drumstick and it is the equivalent of a human lower leg. The large muscle at the back if the leg is the same as your gastrocnemius. It also includes two bones - the tibia and the fibula.
3. Examine the upper leg. On both a chicken and a human this part is called the thigh. Ir contains a large bone called the femur.
4. Carefully pull the skin off by sliding it down and off the lower leg. You may need to use your scalpel to remove but, but be careful not to cut any muscle tissue.
5. The yellowish material under the skin is fat (or adipose).
6. The muscles of the leg, like all muscles, work in bundles. Separate a bundle if muscle by inserting your thumb into the muscles of the lower leg. You will notice that the muscle bundle is covered in a silvery lining called the fascia and this makes it hard to separate. Push hard enough and you'll find that separating the muscle bundles is easier.
7. At either end of the muscles, you will see white cord-like tissue. These cords are called tendons. Tendons attach muscle to bone.\
8. Using the scalpel, carefully remove all the muscles from the lower leg, Using your dissection probe examine and blood vessels you find and try to determine which muscles the blood is supplied to.
9. Near the bone you should see thin, thread-like strands. These are the nerves.
10. Using the dissection scissors, cut across the tendons that join the muscles to the bones. Be careful not to cut any ligaments that attach bone to bone. You should end up with all the bones still attached to each other, but no muscle tissue present.
11. Move the bones around the joints. The main joint between the bones of the lower leg and the femur is a hinge joint like the one in your knee. Note how the bones can move only in one plane.
12. Using your scalpel, carefully cut the ligaments, keeping the bones together.
13. In the joint between the bones is a piece of cartilage. Cartilage allows joints ti move smoothly and protects the bones against shocks to the body.
14. Break one bone in half and examine the marrow. This is where blood cells are made.
15. Clean up your work area. Ensure you clean your bench using antibacterial spray/disinfectant, and wash your hands thoroughly.

Here are some photos of the dissection, showing the removal of the epidermis and the inside of the lower leg, where you can see muscle, tendons, and the tibia.

 

UNWIND Destinations

D E S T I N A T I O N S

This section opens up with Lev in a pawnbroker's. What does this tell you about how his character is changing? Lev came from a fairly wealthy family, this shows you that his financial situation is changing quite noticeably, as he went from theoretically being able to buy something whenever he wanted, to being so desperate for money he has to sell stolen goods just to afford food. This also shows he's becoming a lot smarter when it comes to survival tactics and how to make money and use bribery to his advantage. He's basically learnt how to bribe and trick adults into doing what he wants them to.

While being transported to possible safety, some of the kids on the run wonder, "Would it be better to die or be unwound?" If given the choice, which would you choose? Why? This response requires more than one or two sentences! Put forward at least three reasons why you think what you do.
I have absolutely no idea. If I were unwound, would I be extremely sad my parents signed a form allowing my death? Yea. Would I hate them? Probably. But at least I'd know that someone who is in need is getting my organs. Death, on the other hand- even if you are a donor, they don't donate every single cell to someone else, however that is because in this current time no one has figured out how, and nothing is technologically advanced enough to perform such a procedure. If I were given the option between dying peacefully, or being unwound for no logical reason, when I could live a long happy life, then of course I'd choose death. The thought of someone deciding whether another innocent human being get's the right to live or die is TERRIBLE!

I mean. I'd rather neither. Living would be more ideal...


Another question the kids in the book discuss is, "If every part of you is still alive but inside someone else, are you alive or are you dead?" They also wonder if consciousness can exist even if it's spread out, and if the soul remains intact. What do you think? Read Thomas Hobbes' Ship of Theseus puzzle to help you make a decision. Be sure to reference it in your answer! http://metaphysicist.com/puzzles/ship_theseus/

If every part of you is alive, but inside someone else, then you're technically still alive. Evidence from later on in the book strongly suggests that you can also still think and feel and control your body, or more, the person which certain parts of your body are in's body. But, you don't know you're 'living in a divided state', it's like you're dreaming. So are you really alive if you're not living you're life, but more so co-piloting in someone else's? I don't think you are.

The question to ask, is if something is slowly but completely taken apart and then rebuilt somewhere else, while other replacement pieces are substituted on the original, which one is the original?

If you were born whole (which... You are... Usually), and lived your life in your own body, then that should be the original. When people are unwound in this dystopian world, and their organs and other cells are put inside other people, it's no longer their life that they're living, it's someone else's. Therefore, I think that if every part of you is still technically alive but inside someone else, you aren't truly alive. You're dead.

This section of the novel sees Lev and Cy-Fi finally make it to Joplin. As they get closer, Cy-Fi's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic. What are some of the things he does, or things he likes, that are not his own behaviours or memories? The most prominent behaviour is the need to steal. More specifically, steal shiny expensive things. Cyrus's accent also changes, although at this point I'm not entirely sure which accent is Cyrus and which accent is Tyler (ITS TYLER NOT TAYLOR MY BAD). He starts to talk less, he no longer leads the way, and his face and hands, and sometimes the rest of his body too, start to uncontrollably twitch.

What was Cy-Ty hiding in his backyard? Pg 185-194

Lots and lots of very expensive jewellery, which explains the urge he had to steal shiny things as he and Lev got closer to Joplin. Because that's what Tyler did, he stole things. And that's why he went back to Joplin, because he wanted to fix what he had done

The section ends with Cy-Ty reaching his destination. What do you think of his parents' behaviour? What does Lev's support show you about his character?

I feel like if my dead child, who is my dead child, but at the same time isn't my dead child because it's my dead child's mind in someone else's not so dead child, I'd be a little scared too. Wow that made no sense. I think the shock was warranted, however they should've understood that he was scared too and at the very least tried to comfort him. But they didn't, not until Lev very urgently begged them to tell Cyrus what he needed to hear.