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A sensitive social issue in America is Transphobia. For clarification Transphobia is “intense dislike of or prejudice against transsexual or transgender people” by word of the dictionary. My goal in learning about this topic is to educate myself about a community I am surrounded by. The reason I leached to this social issue is because I am a Transgender male. I find this topic underrated and I want to open it up to the world more. Although my topic is centered to a specific group of people, it connects everyone in a different way. These people are apart of family, have friends, are someone’s coworker or partner. Events that occur to trans people effect others lives and emotions.

Ever since the precidency of Donald Trump sprung on the United States, hate towards groups of individuals has become more exposed due to the bravery our presdient gives to people who spill hate speech. In 2016 after Trump was elected the rate of hate crimes went up by 300. Since January 2017 at least twenty-five transgender individuals have been killed, 80% are transgender people of color, the most ever reported. The Trump administration has continued to put public attacks on the transgender community including his attempt to ban transgender people from the military.

The first reported transgender death of 2017 was on January 4th, Mesha Caldwell was a fourty-four year old African American woman who was a hair and makeup artist. She was shot to her death on a Mississippi road. Her murder is still being investigated to this very day but this is seems to be a trend among the other twenty-four deaths that have occured since 2017. Since the beginning of 2018 at least four trangender people have been shot or killed by any other violent means.  There is 1.6 million to 2.8 million homeless youth in the United states, twenty to forty precent of those children are trangender youth. More than 1 in 10 trandgender people are evicted from their homes. When seeking for a homeless shelter most do not have LGBT friendly communities and supplies. 22% of homeless transgender people are assulted while staying at shelters. The ignorance to the community has been recognized and several people have made their own shelter specifically for LGBTQ people and if not they are open to making theirs LGBTQ friendly. For example, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has promoted and created educational rescources for serving LGBTQ youth.

Sexual abuse is a big factor in most LGBTQ people’s lives. 47% of transgender people are sexually assualted during some point in their life. One in two transgender people are sexaully abused or assulted. Transgender youth and Transgender people are color are more commonly sexually abused than anyone. 13% of African American transgender people are sexually assaulted in their work place.  

My research has impacted my thoughts on this social situation because I always knew hate crimes occured but I never thought about how frequently they occur. Social actions to handle this problem occur all the time, including, awareness on social media, protests and contributing at local activist centers. Hate crimes transpire every day but its up to the youth to set a path of equality and freedom of speech for the generation after us. It’s up to you if you take part.

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Why are colleges so expensive?

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This graph shows how colleges are getting more and more expensive over the years.

Colleges are so expensive these days. It’s one of the main reasons to why some people don’t or can’t go to college. But it doesn’t make any sense. If elders are always trying to tell you to get a good education, then why is education so expensive? I have a personal connection to this topic because I am hoping to eventually go to college. Also, my sister is in college and she is struggling to pay for college. It’s important to know because almost everyone wants to go to college and get a good education. Colleges are really expensive.  But why? It’s because colleges know a few things according to Andrew Jenson. They know that you need college more than college needs you. Colleges are also trying to compete with each other at all times. So when one not so famous college goes up the famous colleges like Drexel and MIT goes up to look better.

Another reason college is so expensive is that they need to pay for a lot of things, from staff and building says Wendover Productions.  Paying the right staff for things kids are interested in means more money. When a new popular major comes in, the college has to spend lots of money to find a good professor to teach that major. So money is used to get professors. Professors are used to attract students. And students are used to get more money. Also, the colleges want to attract students with a nice building. The bigger and more attractive the building, the more expensive the building is to make so colleges need to cover that cost. Lastly, there is Federal and State money. Federal and State money helps colleges cover the cost.But with less federal and state money the more students have to pay.

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This graph shows that inflation is a big reason on why colleges are so expensive. Also, it rises much higher than any other thing like house prices.

Some countries like Germany, Sweden, and Norway have free college. You're probably wondering how the college makes money. Well the college isn’t completely free says Abby Jackson. Colleges get money from taxes. But paying a little more on taxes is still better than paying thousands of dollars as a student. Now I’m not saying that that college should be free in America.

The War on Violence

Here is a word cloud of gang violence. Image source

Imagine hearing gunshots not blocks away your own home. For some people this is an everyday occurrence. Gangs are organized social groups who commit crimes. Some gangs partake in violence to receive social status, partake in theft, vandalism, murder, etc… to receive respect from their gang members that they probably haven’t received or earned in their own lives. Gangs are very passionate about respect, so passionate that they will do anything to protect their own members or their turf, this is where the violence part comes in. Out of passion, gangs inflict violence on each other to maintain respect. Not only is this problematic because of the deaths it is causing in gangs, but it is also harming innocent people who might just be pedestrians or bystanders. This issue is growing, because now it is affecting whole neighborhoods and branding them as “bad” or dangerous neighborhoods. This leaves a bad reputation on the neighborhood, the people who live in the neighborhood, and the entire city.

This is a photo of the streets of Kensington. Image source

I live in Kensington, gang violence is a huge problem there. I have a personal connection to gang violence because it could affect the way I live or harm me. Not only me but my friends, family, and neighbors could all suffer from gang violence. I don’t want to see my neighborhood have a bad reputation or be dangerous. My neighborhood isn’t the only neighborhood with this problem. People need to be informed if they want to be safe or to have a positive effect on their neighborhood. Making a change to make your neighborhood a safer place is not hard. You can make a change in a big way or small way. It is important to have safe living conditions for our generation growing up and the next generation to come.

Poster against gang violence. Image source

Gang violence is something that has a long history. Sadly there is a lot of facts to back it up. A statement from USLegal says that “Gang violence means criminal and non political acts of violence committed by a group of people who regularly engage in criminal activity against innocent people.” This source is a negative towards gangs but it can still be true. This means that gangs can and do that stuff. That it why it is important to be aware and be safe. Another statement from NCBI says “During childhood and adolescence, the formation of groups or gangs is a normal part of the growing process. Playmates, school friends, Boy and Girl Scout troops are each examples of the natural inclination to form group attachments that provide a stable social outlet.” this source is important because it is explaining how gangs start and what to look out for. It is important to be educated in subjects like gang violence which are very dangerous and can affect your safety and security.

Poster for victims who suffered violence. Image source

Through extensive research about gang violence, I have concluded that gang violence is not just a two-sided topic. Gang violence is something that has been completely stereotyped, but stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. I do not understand the pride that gangs need to maintain. I question the reliability of the opinions of those who are not victims of gang violence or gang members. Going forward in research I hope to find a simple way to improve this solution.

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In Africa, African Wild Dogs used to range to 500,000 in 39 countries. But now because of issues like roadkill and destroying habitats, there are only thought to be about 6,600 left. Seeing that big of a change in the world is quite upsetting, especially when there are tons of other endangered animals out there. Just from seeing those few sentences I can tell that there are some people who would already like to read more into this topic and how much of an impact this has in the world.

Personally I feel connected to this topic because I love animals. I know it seems like such a basic thing to say but it’s really is true. I haven’t had any real pets besides from a turtle if that counts but if or whenever I see a pet in public I take any chance I can to pet them and be all over them. I think this topic on endangered animals and protecting their habitats is something others should know because besides from them being needed for loving and caring for, but as a source of inspiration. From what I heard from The Wildlife Conservation, protecting animals and their habitats lets us protect the planet as a whole. There are so many things that we can still learn about them. Plus, they haven't done anything to us, there just species living on the Earth same as us. So there's no reason to hurt the space they live in in any way, shape, or form.

Now, for those wondering what some of the issues going around are, there's a lot. But I picked out some of the worst ones I saw. Starting with small wild cats very little is known about them but that's what makes it much of a problem. Of all the unique different types of animals out there if you can’t say much for just a simple cat then there's the problem right there. But from what was gathered these small cats are being threatened by loss of habitats, killing, and conflicts with humans, livestock and domestic animals. They can be found in parts of South America, Asia, and Europe.

Moving onto another animal that is in need of help is the Ethiopian Wolf. These wolves are one of the rarest and most endangered canid in the world so that on it’s own speaks for itself. But ironically another thing that stops the wolves from thriving is the growth of the human population. With more and more humans in the Ethiopian highlands it forces the wolves out only into domestic dogs that carry diseases. As a result of these diseases three out of four of the wolves die. Now with only 500 left to remain in the wilds of Ethiopian people want to do anything they can to find a place for these animals and to get them treated for their diseases.

Nobody likes poopy water so I wanted to know how to avoid being in the situation where I have to drink the poopy water. So for the you and the word project, I am focusing on green vs grey infrastructure, and how all of the bigger cities have outdated sewage systems and pipes. It’s a really big problem that I had no idea about. Throughout the states the storm water management is mostly comprised of pipes that lead to bigger pipes or “grey infrastructure.” This is only a problem when there's just a little too much rain for the sewers to handle. So when that happens there is a backup which causes the mixed waste and rain water to overflow into the water sources. Just a reminder that's where we get our our drinking water from. This is a big enough of a issue for the EPA to address it., and so , that gave the cities some time to fix it. Philly, in particular is very far ahead in our green infrastructure with green roofs and  other things like that to help slow down the stormwater runoff as much as possible. The Philadelphia Water Department (PGW) has great explanations of their visions that they have for the city that you can check out here.

The general idea of green infrastructure is pretty simple actually. We all know that plants are living things, and they consume water just like we do. So green infrastructure is just using that to slow down the stormwater, not necessarily to catch it all in the soil, more like giving the sewers enough time so the storm water can get through without overflowing everything. It’s really smart if you think about it because usually it only rains hard for 5 or 10 minutes. With grey infrastructure the sewers will overflow pretty quickly but that wouldn’t happen with green infrastructure. The plants would soak in and hold up the water long enough so that the water that fell onto the streets and roofs can get down the drain fine without overflowing. Then the water in then soil will get released and there would be no problem with there being too much water for the sewer to handle.

Although bad drinking water can be disgusting and undesirable from the city you live in, that's not the only problem caused by stormwater overflow. The other big one in cities would be flooding streets from extreme backups in the sewer. Other than that there can be really bad for outcomes for wildlife around the area or even downstream. Wanting to improve the city's stormwater management for our purposes is a perfectly good reason but there are other life forms suffering from polluted water coming into the city's watershed. The Delaware river is Philly's watershed, meaning we use it for our drinking water but it is also home to other living animals. The Delaware river is one of the most polluted rivers. Most of the pollution comes from dumping toxic chemicals in waterways that lead to the river but other than that when the sewers overflow with the waste water that is also going into the river.