Designer Babies and My Moral Codes by Isabel Learis

In the Article "Designer Babies" by Patrica Smith in the Upfront Magazine, it talks about how scientist are getting closer to be able to assemble the perfect baby. Personally, based on my moral codes and beliefs, I don't believe in being able to "design" you own baby. 

The article talks about how the issue of designing babies is very controversial. Some places, like China, people are okay with this and are interested in the research, but in some places such as Canada and France, they have gone as far as passing laws prohibiting scientist from altering genes. This also can create tension between those countries because of their opposing views. Also in the article it discusses how scientist are yet to discover how to affect the genes that have involvement with people being smart, athletic, and even social. Those genes are hard to figure out because they also need to look out how they interact with a child's behavior and environmental influence. 

I believe that designing your own baby is wrong in some ways, but can possibly be beneficial. For example scientist believe that they might be able to create a baby free from birth defects. I feel like things like this can be good, but sometimes it can be taken too far. And even if your kid has one, you learn to love them. Also I hope people do not figure out how to give babies traits like athleticism and intelligence because then people will be choosing their baby like they choose what they want on their Chipotle burrito. Also I think if your baby isn't as social or athletic as you wanted them to be, you love them no matter what and learn that they can be something they wanna be, not that you want them to be. But if you can choose that kind of stuff, you don't learn to have that connection with them. 

In conclusion, babies should not be designed unless its a hundred percent necessary, and in a lot of cases, I doubt it is. 

Who Killed ROmeo and Juliet by Isabel Learis 811

In the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet, the two teens fall in love, even though they have feuding families. In the end, they both end up killing themselves because they can’t be with each other. I believe Romeo and Juliet’s death can be blamed on their families, but in specific their parents.

If in the first place Romeo and Juliet could tell their parents things would have been fine. In act 1, Scene 5, Romeo goes to the Capulet party, in which he is not invited. If the families were not enemies, he would’ve just been invited and secrecy would have never been a problem. Line 69 in that scene says, “Tybalt: Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe, A villain this is hither come in spite To scorn at our solemnity this night / Capulet: Young Romeo it is? / Tybalt: ‘Tis he, that villain Romeo.” That night, Romeo and Juliet met and instantly fell in love, but as you can see from the excerpt from the play, the Capulet’s were not fond of Romeo or his family, referring to him as a villain. If they had just been friends, the families, they would have just let the kids been married and things would have been easy, but no.

Another reason their families are responsible for their deaths are because Juliet’s father forced her to marry Paris. Because at this point she was already married to Romeo ,she of course had to somehow get out of marrying Paris, which she was quite unhappy about. At this time, Romeo had already killed Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, and was exiled. Juliet then fakes her own death, but Romeo doesn’t know she is faking, so he kills himself, and when she sees him dead, she kills herself in Act 5 Scene 3. Line 119, Romeo says, “Here’s to my love (drinking) O true apothecary Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” If Juliet’s parents known she loved Romeo and were good with the Montagues, then this wouldn’t have happened and both Romeo and Juliet could’ve gotten married.

As you can see Romeo and Juliet’s death can be blamed on their parents and families. If they hadn’t been stubborn and in a feud for so long then the two could just go about being in love. but because the families were the way they were, Romeo and Juliet’s love ended just as quick as it began.