Magazine Article For this assignment we had to choose a magaizne that we would like to write for. We had to read the magazine and decide what makes it unique, why it's out there, what ethics values, qualities and acheivements that the magazine values highly. We also had to find 5 stylistic features that set the magazine apart form others. Then we had to take this information and write a magazine article.

Living with the Scars

When most people think about scars, they think of huge, ugly, disfiguring scars. "They don't realize that little scars can be just as hard to live with," claims Melanie, who found this out the hard way. An accident caused Melanie to have a disfigured finger for the rest of her life. Even though it was years ago, it's still a sensitive subject with her, and she gets tired of the same reaction.

Melanie was about four when it happened. It was a nice day, sunny and breezy. Her father was across the yard digging up a stump from a tree that he had recently cut down. Her mother was inside with the kids that she cared for during the day. Melanie went into the garage to find something to do. The garage had a big roll-up front door, and a regular back door. Both had been left open because her father was in and out of the garage.

Not finding anything of interest to her in the garage, she started to go through the back to the backyard. She paused in the doorway; her father working caught her attention. As she stood there in the doorway, her hand resting on the doorjamb, there was a gust of wind. It caught the backdoor and slammed it shut. Melanie is not sure how it happened, but her middle finger of her left hand got caught in the door.

Not panicked, she pulled her finger out of the door, and went to put in it her mouth to ease the stinging. As she put her hand up to her mouth, she caught a glimpse of her finger. "All I saw was red. I had never seen that much blood before, and I was terrified," remembers Melanie. She screamed for her father, and looked up at him. He threw the shovel down and came running to her side. Her mother came bursting out the back door. Her parents both got to Melanie at the same time and she showed them her hand. They quickly rushed her inside and sat her down in the kitchen. Her mom grabbed one of the dishtowels and wrapped it around her finger to put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. After a few minutes, her mother undid the towel a little to try and see what had happened to her finger. She realized that the end of Melanie's finger wasn't there. She tried to tell her husband without letting Melanie know. Her father understood her mother's meaning, but so did Melanie. Her father went out into the garage to see if he could find the end of her finger. Her mother was unaware that Melanie knew, and Melanie was too overwhelmed to say anything. It was hard to believe that the end of her finger was not where it should be.

Her father found the piece of her finger on the floor of the garage and brought it inside and put it in the freezer. Melanie's not sure who called the paramedics and when, but they were soon at their home. The paramedics wrapped her finger in an ice pack. They took the piece of her finger and got her out to the ambulance and she and her mom got in. Her father stayed with the children at the house that her mother watched during the day. Melanie doesn't remember much about what happened next. She had to lie still on the stretcher for what seemed like hours. At some point she went for x-rays. They finally moved her from lying in the hallway, and moved her into a room. She started complaining that she was hungry, but she wasn't allowed to have anything because she was going into surgery. The nurses told her parents that she could have some crushed ice, and her mom stood there and fed it to her.

Her mother left her for a few minutes to call her father. She wanted to tell him to bring some books for Melanie when he came, but he had already left. Soon he got there, and had brought some books. He held up Melanie's little yellow jacket for when she went home and said that she had a visitor. Then he moved the hood of the jacket that had flopped forward to reveal the face of Melanie's favorite doll. Melanie was glad to have her doll to lay with her.

Eventually it was time for surgery. The nurses asked Melanie if she wanted her mother to stay with her, and she said yes. When the surgeon entered the room, however, he said that her mother could not stay. Melanie got mad that she had been asked, but her mom didn't get to stay anyway. Her doll Molly was allowed to stay however. So her mother left, and the surgeon began. The nurses told Melanie to turn her head the other way; she was not allowed to watch what the doctor was doing.

The doctor explained to Melanie that he was giving her hand a shot to make her finger go to sleep. She felt a prick in-between her thumb and index finger that turned into dozens of pricks, then nothing. Melanie isn't sure how long she was in surgery, but it wasn't too long before it was over. The nurses made a big deal out of how good Melanie had behaved, and she was given extra stickers. Her doll was given a little cardboard nurse's hat to wear.

With her hand bandaged, Melanie could finally go home. She mentioned to her parents again that she was hungry. It was dark outside, and she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast that morning. Her parents scraped together what little money they had at the time and treated her to a hamburger from Burger King. Her mother sat her in her lap and held the burger for her so she could eat.

Melanie had been given a sling to wear to keep her hand elevated. Whenever she went out with her parents while her hand was bandaged, people always asked her what happened. One particular time an older lady stopped and asked what was wrong with her arm. Melanie's mother gave the lady and explanation, and moved on. Melanie looked up at her mother and asked, "Why do they always think it's my arm?" Melanie didn't like all of the attention she was getting from strangers.

Not too long after the accident, Melanie celebrated her fifth birthday. Her parents had a party for her, and before the party, her mother gave her a pretty pink chiffon scarf. The scarf confused Melanie, until her mother took and folded it up into a sling for her hand. She now had a pretty pink sling to match her dress, and someone put a little pom-pom monster on it. For months, Melanie had to go and visit the surgeon in his office to get check ups. The trips to Margate were made more interesting by getting to drive by Lucy the Elephant every time.

Once while she was sitting in the waiting room, an older lady came out and stopped to talk to Melanie and her mom. They were talking about Melanie's finger, and the lady showed Melanie her finger. On the same finger of the same hand, the lady had lost almost her entire finger. Melanie felt some comfort in this; she wasn't the only one who had a problem with her finger. The surgeon was careful not to get up Melanie's hopes that the end of her finger was going to reattach. One office visit though, the doctor took off the bandages. The end of her finger had turned black. He then began to scrape off the dead skin. Melanie felt a little stinging. Her mother thought that the surgery had failed, and her daughter was not going to have her finger back to normal. Suddenly the doctor said, "look at this." Both Melanie and her mother looked, and there was Melanie's finger, back in one piece. They surgery was successful. On another office visit, the doctor showed Melanie where her fingernail was growing back. Melanie was overjoyed.

Not that her finger was okay and she had to wear less and less bandaging, Melanie didn't like people talking about her finger. She went to Wildwood with her parents one weekend to visit her grandparents. She went to church that Sunday and while in Sunday school, the teacher made her stand up. "Do you see her arm?" She asked the other children. "That is a miracle. She could have been wearing a cast." Melanie did not like this at all. All during her school years, children would ask her about her finger. It had completely healed by the time she started Kindergarten. She had even had feeling in it. But her finger was deformed, and this interested the children. She spent most of her early years explaining to everyone new that she met what had happened to her finger and why it looked funny. It hurt her when kids would make grossed-out faces when she told them the story of what happened. "I couldn't understand it. They asked why my finger looked funny, and I said because it got cut off. That wasn't ever good enough for them. So when I started telling them the whole story, they got all grossed out. I couldn't understand why they would ask about what happened, if they couldn't handle the story. I couldn't see anything gross about it. At least I still had my finger and it looked almost normal." To this day Melanie doesn't like talking about her finger. "Yeah, it's there, and I can use it. Who cares what it looks like? I've still been able to play the piano and everything else that I've ever wanted to do. I still don't like it when people ask me about it. They still keep pressing me about what happened, and I still get that grossed-out look. I don't mind explaining it to someone who's never met me before, but I don't want to talk a lot about it. I'll tell you what happened, tell you that it's just like any other finger, and that's it." Most people have at least one scar on their body. For the majority, it's not a real problem. For some, living with a scar is more of a problem. The scar can affect the person and their family. There are a lot of things that influence how we feel about scars; location, age, sex, and how the scar occurred. There are some treatments for scars, however no scar will ever be removed completely. They may improve naturally over time, but all scars are permanent. Sometimes it's possible to improve the appearance of a scar by surgical removal or other therapies. There are scar support groups and organizations around the world that you can contact if you feel overwhelmed by your scar. Ask your doctor for the name of a support group in your area.

American Academy of Dermatology
PO Box 4014
930 North Meacham Road
Scaumburg, Illinois
1-847-330-0050

Gold Skin Care Center
Century Plaza,
2000 Richard Jones Road
Suites 220 and 221
Nashville, Tennessee
1-615-383-2400