Photo Essay

Statement of Purpose

My audience is my classmates and my professor, because each of my classmates will get a chance to look at my photo essay. The context will be a normal day of class, but we are going to pull up our essays on our computers and we will move around the room looking at each other’s essays.

            My anticipated expectation for evaluation is that people will understand and get a chance to see what it is like to have Juvenile Dermatomyositis. I hope that through the photos people will also see the emotional experience that it is to have JDM. My story will talk about how my cousin Caroline went from having a completely normal life to it all changing in a few weeks. I will show photos of how she looked and felt “normal” and healthy, to pictures of her illness and how her body changed physically. For my essay, there is not anything to really argue, it is just telling a story and letting people know what JDM is and how it changes people’s lives. Sometimes it can change them for the better and sometimes it can change them for the worst. I want to show how illnesses can change people’s lives for the better and how they make us who we are. My argument is that even though some of us have illnesses that we should not let them define us although they are a part of us, it is not all that we are. I want my audience to agree with my argument and to see how it is possible to achieve all of this. 

Photo Essay 

                                                                                                                                                                                             

 Closing Comments

I followed my original design plan that I was going to use for this essay. I added somethings about how I wanted my readers to feel after viewing my photo essay, and I hope that I accomplished this.

Reference List

Flounder, Charlotte, NC. Personal photography by author 2012.

JDM, Charlotte, NC. Personal photograph by author 2013.

Megan and Caroline, Charlotte, NC. Personal photograph by the author 2013.

 White Christmas, Grand Rapids, MI. Personal photograph by author. 2012.
Narrative

Caroline Farley was born in April 2000 into a family that was full of dancers and singers. She took dance and singing lessons all throughout her childhood, and was very talented. In 2011 she was at a camp in Florida when someone contacted her and her mother about auditioning for Broadway. They flew to New York and after many different auditions, she got a part in the musical “White Christmas.” They toured all over the United States and it was an awesome opportunity for such a young girl. After the tour, she went back to school in North Carolina and was in many plays at her junior high, including “The Little Mermaid.”

In January 2013 Caroline noticed a rash on her hands, but everyone thought that it was just the dry winter air. It turns out the Caroline has an auto immune disease called Juvenile Dermatomyositis. It can cause a skin rash and muscle weakness. Caroline was in the hospital for a few weeks and then was put on medication. Unfortunately, she is still weak and dancing is tiring, she can still sing. A lesson that can be learned from Caroline is that we cannot let bad things in life bring us down. We need to get right back up and continue doing what we love. 

Nar