The name of my disease for my first plague was called Adversity created on October 19, 2015. I started my plague in Central Africa. As soon as I started accumulating DNA points I started with water transmission and later insect transmission. I went with heat resistance and started with the symptoms of insomnia and anemia. By 12/9/15 I had already infected 103 people. By the time I could see the infection spreading and reading the news scroll on top of the screen I lost track of the 1,000,000 count and by 2/3/16 I had already infected 19,847,713 people. On 3/30/16 Central Africa started to work on a cure – that’s when I started getting worried. In May 2016, Turkey, New Guinea, and India, among others, started working on their cure research. I evolved my plague by activating the air transmission and drug resistance ability. By 11/6/16, Russia, China, and the U.S.A. were infected while cure research reached 25%. On 12/2/16, the first death occurred in Afghanistan and at the same time about 5 people were infected in Greenland at this point. I think my first death took awhile, roughly a little over a year because I waited longer to evolve the more lethal symptoms of my plague. On 12/10/16 a friendly notice of a global research was underway in developing a cure for Adversity. On 2/13/17 there were no more healthy people in the world. On 3/1/17, cure development reached 75% and this was when I think I used all my DNA points to reach the second levels of transmissions, symptoms and abilities. 26 days later 92% of the cure was complete. On 4/11/17 the cure came to a 100% completion and finally on 5/9/17 Adversity was eradicated in 579 days and the human race was saved. 

The name of my second plague was called Lucky K created on October 19, 2015. After being eradicated by plague number one, I raised the ante for Lucky K. Lucky K began in Australia. It infected 103 people by 12/3/15. From what I noticed, both my plagues have a relatively slow start. With Lucky K I noticed I did not see a lot of red areas infected and it also took awhile for it to spread. I started with the typical water transmission and started with the rash and sweating symptoms, which in my opinion paves the way for easier infection since Australia is a hot climate. By 2/26/16 my plague spread to China, Argentina and South Africa and on 3/3/16 I reached the 1,000,000 mark of infecting the world. By 4/7/16 I started seeing more red-targeted places. On 6/9/16, Australia started to work on a cure. By 7/18/16, the first recorded death was in India. However by 9/10/16, only 10 people were infected in Greenland. By 10/6/16 there was 25% cure development. By this time, I already upgraded as much as I could. By this point, the map was all infected, and on 12/7/16 no healthy person was left in the world. I just kept on waiting for what was to come afterwards and I only had 5 DNA points remaining. On 1/16/17 my plague, Lucky K, destroyed the human race despite having a 33% cure in the works. Then a glimmer of “hope” occurred on 2/12/17 stating that my Lucky K plague had mutated and the scientists introduced synthetic genes in hopes of finding a cure. However, after this date Lucky K was victorious and killed the human race in 484 days, including Greenland. 

As the creator of Adversity, I was somewhat saddened my plague did not entirely eradicate the human race. Since Adversity started in a poor nation I thought it would actually be more infectious and lethal than Lucky K. I also found it a bit odd that although my infestation with Lucky K did not start out rapidly, I figured it would be like Adversity. Considering that starting at any wealthy nation, there was a bit of a lag in spreading and I thought they might be more able to find a cure. Playing this game made me realize how fast a plague can be transmitted in just a matter of days. Even if there was a cure to be found, a lot of people may already be infected or have already died. We need to take care of ourselves and be ready and mindful of our surroundings just in case a plague does happen because this is seriously devastating and frightening.

In Carrie Mae Weems’ series, “From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried,” Weems uses appropriation to modify the images taken by J.T. Zealy. Having seen one of the photographs of J.T. Zealy’s titled Jack from the 1850’s, I had an idea where this set of artwork was leaning towards. It portrays sadness, darkness, helplessness and focuses around a ‘scientific subject’, which happened to be slaves during that era. In Weems’ series, her appropriation shows more than just a picture but rather instills a story behind it. She changes the color scheme from black and white to a deep red that makes the images look more powerful. Her use of the color red deeply captures the attention of the audience. As far as being able to read the text while observing the image, I feel that it can be done. The text serves to enhance the experience and gives the viewer something to think about while looking at the work. Without the text, the images may seem mysterious but may also give the viewer slightly more freedom to ponder what the subject may have been feeling when the image was taken. It may be more open to differing opinions without the text. However, with the knowledge that this took place in the 1800’s, we cannot overlook the discrimination and racism that happened during this time. I think Weems’ photographic project went outside the box and captured what I feel these subjects in the picture are feeling. She delivers short powerful messages with a bit of empowerment.