My Artist Statement for Project 3- I'm sorry I forgot to post it sooner.

For my third New Millennium Studies assignment, I decided to write a short story based off the stem cell research articles and told by the point of view of a patient of stem cell treatment and her family.

The short story I wrote, which takes place in the near future, focuses on a sixteen year old, female protagonist who agrees to undergo the stem cell research of Parthgenisis (which includes creating an embryo in a woman’s womb and transferring that human embryo’s stem cells to the patient in question) in order to cure her lifelong handicap that prevents her from walking. As the family prepares for the first stage of the treatment, the news of the girl’s treatment in disclosed to the public. For months, encounters with the press, mobs, skeptics of the treatment, devout Catholics and animal rights lovers (who have problems with the mortality aspect of the treatment), cause the family to have second thoughts. In the end, the girl decides to go through with the treatment because the hope that the treatment will cure her is too good to pass up on despite the grief her family has received and despite the controversial, morality debate that surrounds her treatment. In the end, the Parthgenisis heals her of her handicap and she begins to learn to walk.

I chose this medium and this particular storyline because I found myself inspired by the quote of hope and possibility that the mother of the girl with type 1 diabetes stated in the video we watched in class when she was asked if she about her opinion about the treatment and the controversy surrounded it. As a person who could possibly benefit from stem cell research someday, I wanted to explain why someone would peruse stem cell research from my point of view as an American teenager with a disability. Thus, I decided that a story would be the best way to expand on thus this theme by creating characters who need to decide if they want to take a leap of faith and trust the treatment or not.

The guiding question that this short story addresses is that one’s ethnical code can only be created based off of the childhood lessons of following one’s heart rather then peer pressure. This story addresses this guiding question at the end when the girl’s family allows her to decides to go through with the Parthgenisis even though there is no proof that the treatment will work because there is the posbility of hope that the treatment will act in the daughter’s best interest and cure her of her handicap. And because the daughter is willing to undergo a controversial process because she believes it will make her normal, rather then being pressured by anyone else’s point of view. This is also the main idea that I was trying to get across to my audience.

I wanted my audience to moved by this work and consider the dark theme that the main character would be comfortable with a “a baby or monkey dying” during the process of her treatment just so she could have the experiences that her handicap denies her. I want them to be able to reflect on this theme in the story and see that there is a gray line regarding the mortality of Parthgenisis and decide their own opinions about stem cell research after reading this point of view.

The main source that I used to guide this paper was the NOVA: Alternative to Cloning website in order to gather information about the Parthgenisis process. However, I also used the Peter Singer article Equality for Animals in order to gain the point of view of Vegetarians and those who belie that animal testing is wrong.

I think the strength of this story is the character development and the information used about stem cell research to further the plot. However, I think the weakness of this project was my spelling, grammar and typos that occur throughout this story.
I think that this project differs from most of the other projects that have worked on for New Millennium Studies and other classes is because that this project explores a much more personal issue for me because the inspiration behind the main character’s thoughts on her handicap are my own thoughts regarding my disability. I think that this project counters my tattoo project for New Millennium studies because while I argued in that project, that feelings of peer pressure from friends, religious groups, work reasons influence one’s decisions, the short story presents a contrast with the female protagonist making her decisions to further her identity because it will benefit her.

I enjoyed writing this story, and I hope it will impact my audience’s point of view about stem cell research.