Introduction
For my fourth Apollo project I chose the topic of Cancer. I mainly focused on what lifestyle choices effect your chance of getting cancer and what you can do to prevent it. I decided to choose Cancer as my topic because it is a very common sickness and I wanted to learn and understand more about the topic and learn how I can decrease my chances of developing it.
Language Arts
For the language arts portion of my project I focused on poetry. I analyzed three poems about cancer, which were "Have You Ever Been Punched?, "Cancer Won't Change Me", and "An Open Letter to Cancer". I chose to analyze these poems because they were each very different. Each poem told a different story about cancer and from a different persons perspective. For example, the poem "Cancer Won't Change Me" is from the perspective of someone who has cancer. Meanwhile, the poem "Have You Ever Been Punched?" is from the perspective of someone who's family member has been diagnosed with cancer. Each poem also has a different mood. For example, "Have You Ever Been Punched?" has a much darker tone, but "Cancer Won't Change Me" has more of an upbeat and inspiring tone. After I analyzed the poem I created a blackout poem about cancer by synthesizing the poems I analyzed. If you would like to read my poem I put the link to my poem below.
Art
For the art portion of my project I synthesized nutrition and cancer to create a painting. I decided to incorporate nutrition into my project because poor nutrition is one of the leading causes of cancer. For the background of my painting I collaged different nutritions labels fo the nutrition portion of my painting. I wanted to find nutrition labels for fattening and unhealthy foods because those are the types of foods that increase your risk of developing cancer. Most of the nutrition labels I found were for donuts, ice cream, and foods from fast food restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King. Over top of the nutrition labels I painted cancerous cells for the cancer portion of my painting. Below I included a photo of my painting.
History
For the history portion of my project I created an instagram account to inform people about cancer and what they can do to prevent it. I incorporated synthesis into my project by synthesizing cancer, nutrition, and eating local into one instagram account. One of the main things I focused on was nutrition because poor nutrition is one of the leading causes of cancer. I explain what foods you can eat to prevent cancer and what food increase your risk of developing cancer. For example, tomatoes prevent cancer because they included lycopene, which is the compound responsible for their red color. Studies have shown that lycopene could reduce your risk of prostate cancer. An example of food food that increase your risk of cancer is microwave popcorn. The lining of the bag used to make microwave popcorn contains perfluorinated compounds, which is a chemical scientist believe causes cancer. They use this chemical to make microwave popcorn because it reduces grease and prevents leaking. I also inform people about how eating locally can prevent cancer.