What do you imagine would be an ideal body type? You probably think skinny, thin and tall. Now did you achieve that body type or are working towards that body type? Our society is making it seem like there is only one beautiful, healthy body type. It can be very difficult to feel comfortable in your own skin when you are constantly fed this narrative that fat people are ugly or people who are too skinny are unhealthy. It’s like you are only allowed to look a certain way to be deserving of self love. That’s why The Body Positivity Movement was created “…to help people with marginalized bodies (read: fat, queer, trans, bodies of color, and more) feel entitled to self-love, something that had previously been reserved for people in privileged (read: thin, white, fit) bodies,” stated by Julia Malacoff in “Where the Body-Positivity Movement Stands and Where it Needs to Go”. I want to impact the Body Positivity Movement positivity by trying to clear misconceptions that body positivity can’t be for fat or too skinny people. Everyone deserves to love and be comfortable in their own body.
I’ve always been a person to not care about expectations on my appearance but sometimes it can be hard. People constantly compare themselves to each other whether it’s consciously or subconsciously. It’s hard to see my friends cry themselves to sleep knowing they don’t have society’s ideal body type. “That is an enormous (and nonsensical) leap from trying not to hate yourself or making the effort to stop forcing yourself to fit into an impossible cultural standard.” says Kaila Prins, a body positivity wellness coach and burlesque teacher in ‘What Does Body Positivity Actually Mean?’ by Psychology Today. The standards society makes doesn’t mean you are healthy being a certain size but it doesn’t mean you aren’t healthy either. It is unrealistic. I don’t want to see people in my life starve and degrade themselves because they think they look ugly. Diversity is a good thing and we should accept our unique looks.
There’s been a lot of misconceptions about body positivity. Especially nowadays, there’s been a lot of backlash to plus-size people promoting body positivity and the audience saying it’s promoting obesity and unhealthy lifestyle. Why can’t plus-sized people love themselves? Are only skinny people allowed to promote body positivity? Plus-sized people aren’t any less human than anyone on the streets. They have hobbies, interests, and goals. Some people have to live “overweight” in society to maintain a healthy body. It is disrespectful to assume someone is unhealthy because they aren’t the skinniest. In some cases, people don’t take care of their body and overeat but it’s unrealistic to let that group of people represent the whole plus-sized community.
body positivity
There is no perfect body. We are all unique and beautiful.
Body positivity isn’t about being skinner or losing weight. It’s about feeling comfortable in your body and responding to your body’s needs such as hunger. There is no image of what a “healthy body” should look like. Everyone’s body is different therefore there shouldn’t be a standard. Everyone’s version of healthy is different. When plus-sized body positivity influencers decide to lose weight, they are portrayed as “traitors” for not showing body positivity by changing; this misconception has led their supporters to turn on them. These misconceptions make it extremely hard for anyone to promote body positivity. If plus-sized influencers have to live plus-sized forever and can no longer change their body how they want because they would be “betraying” the movement, then what’s the point of promoting to be happy with your body? Dieting and changing your body has nothing to do with body positivity as long as you feel comfortable and happy, there should be no problem. There’s research that states if you hate yourself, you won’t take care of yourself. Therefore, if plus-sized influencers can’t diet or lose weight for their personal reasons then I see no reason why they’ve been supported so long.
Deep insight of plus-size models and judgements as a body positivity influencer
I don’t blame supporters or daily people for not understanding the body positivity movement. There is no official definition for body positivity. Our society has fed us too well with lies and unrealistic expectations. I always thought body positivity was very straightforward but after diving in, I realized how big the spectrum is. Not only plus-sized people getting backlash but skinny people are getting backlash also. I’m glad certain magazines decide to ban photoshop on their pictures and clothing brands expanding their sizes. There is progress to be made but at least we are going somewhere. I wonder when people will feel like being fat isn’t gross or only skinny people are pretty. I hope I can learn more on the pressures of not only being an influencer but a body positivity influencer. How does it feel that your image is based on your body? Is it scary to change your body and constantly be examined by your supporters? Being a promoter of body positivity, is it more beneficial to you or your supporters? Why?
Picture from [National Geographic] (https://www.nationalgeographic/) of a starving polar bear.
What is something that you care about? Do you have any pets at home or care for any? Have you seen something that you felt was wrong and wanted to do something about it? Well, that is what this all is about. I wanted to bring attention to climate change and the effect it’s having on polar bears.
I saw this kind of influence on tv of polar bears starving and even in some cartoons. I didn’t pay it much mind. It was until I actually looked into the topic that I started to care about it. I am a person who loves animals and I care for a cat of my own. I hate seeing animals being mistreated and hate to see animals in poor conditions. Another reason why I care about this subject is that we can do something but a lot of people don’t care. The earth is getting warmer due to climate change and is affecting the animals in the arctic mainly polar bears.
polarbearpopulationmap-updates2019
Graph showing the 19 polar bear subpopulation from the [WWF] (https://arcticwwf.org/newsroom/stories/polar-bear-assessment-brings-good-and-troubling-news/) article.
From the research I have done about polar bears there are 19 subpopulations of polar bears. About 2 of the 19 subpopulations have a stable population going for the past 8 years. For about 7 of the other subpopulations, we don’t know how they are being The decline in sea ice due to climate change has affected how polar bears reproduce and hunt. There is a time in the year where sea ice is supposed to freeze and make more, but in recent, this process has been shortened and less sea ice has been made due to climate change.
PolarBears_iceloss
Graphs from the [Carbon Brief website] ( https://www.carbonbrief.org/polar-bears-and-climate-change-what-does-the-science-say) showing the trend of sea-ice from 18 of the 19 polar bear populations in the past 3 decades.
Since the ice caps are melting polar bears are having to move closer to land when their main food source seals are at sea. This causes polar bears to starve for days, have no stamina, and die from starvation. Polar bears also need a lot of food to survive so they wouldn’t even be fine if they found a new source of food on land. Polar bears have been seen to up to a total of 200 pounds of food in one sitting. I also found out from the national geographic study on polar bears that they use about 12,000 calories per day even though they mostly stay still. There was a study on a polar bear for 9 days. By the end of the journey, she had lost the cub she was traveling with and 22 pounds of her body weight.
polarbear_cubsinden_575x377
Picture of polar bear cubs in their den while their mother hunts from [Carbon Brief] (.https://www.carbon brief.org/polar-bears-and-climate-change-what-does-the-science-say)
Greenhouse gases are a major threat to polar bears causing global warming and sea ice to melt. Even though there have been some measures to stop greenhouse gases it is not enough and they are still rising and won’t stop until 2040. But by the time 2040 does come the population of polar bears will be about 40% of what it is now.
There is still time to help. There are ways I can help and so can you. There are sites online where you can [donate] (https://polarbearsinternational.org/donate/us/) to save polar bears. Or even adopt one which I don’t recommend if you don’t have any animal experience or can deal with a 1-ton bear living with you. I have many ideas I can do to help this post. Let’s all work together to save polar bears and stop global warming, all we need to do is try.
Education is the backbone of our society. Sometimes, it’s more of an invisible one. If you aren’t in school, it’s especially easy to brush the whole idea out of your way, because it no longer concerns you. Doesn’t it? Except education is the biggest tool we give to the next generation. What we teach, what we don’t teach, who we teach, who we don’t teach. How we teach the next generation to follow in our footsteps, or how we teach them to create their own path. As important as education is, there are still so many issues with it. Are teachers really being appreciated? Are students actually learning? Do they want to go to school? Why are we giving one set of opportunities to one group of kids, while another group’s opportunities are being taken away? Throughout my research, I wanted to learn about these questions and more, and see what I could do about it.
My mom has been a teacher for 20 years. Now she is getting her PHD in music education. I’ve seen her many schools, seen how she teaches, and even how she learns from her students. I’ve been to teacher strikes, seen the arts as more than an add on, and been there to watch from the other side. Something that struck me about all the schools I’d ever seen was funding. I remember going to a school when I was younger that had classes for engineering for toddlers. There were smart boards in every room, bathrooms on every floor and a clean feel to the entire school. Other schools I went to were great, but I remember things like having the only bathroom be in the basement, having 30 kids or more in classes while other schools only had 15. It was one of the first things that came to my mind about schools, and I was curious about the federal budget, so that’s where I started.
SOURCE 1:
The first source I looked at was called “Federal Spending: Where does the money go?”. This source goes in depth about the way federal spending is used in the United States. This article shares that federal spending is divided into three sections: Discretionary spending, Mandatory spending, and interest on debt. This article also goes into depth about the way federal spending was used in 2015. In that year, the budget was 3.8 trillion dollars, which was 21% of the US economy. The Discretionary spending made up 29.34% of the budget (1.11 trillion), the mandatory spending made up 64.63% (2.45 trillion), and interest on debt was 6.03% (229.15 billion). It gives pie charts as well that describe the way this money was used for each section.
The ‘National Priorities Project’, which is the site where the article is found, seems to be a well respected and trusted force. There isn’t a direct author of the article, but there is a team for the organization which includes Lindsey Koshgarian, Ashik Siddique, Lorah Steichen, and their consultant Jason Leveille. Their mission is to inspire “individuals and movements to take action so our federal resources prioritize peace, shared prosperity, and economic security for all”. The bias of this source would probably be to only show the flaws of the system. Some of the information is also a little outdated, from 2015. It is helpful in understanding the past, but in order to get the best possible information it must be corroborated with a more recent source.
{You and the World} (www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/)
These pie charts are really attention-getting because they aren’t balanced. There are times when some things are prioritized over others, but it poses the questions: ‘who decides what is prioritized? And for what purpose? Is profit valued, or people?’. The discretionary chart is the most shocking, because the Military gets 53.71% allotted to it, whereas other categories like food and agriculture (1.18%), science (3.51%), housing and community (5.68%), and education (6.28%) get the far lower end of the deal. And why was the military given so much in the first place? The other chart is also imbalanced, but it seems more reasonable that ‘medicare and health’ and ‘social security, unemployment, and labor’ were given more money.
Screenshot 2021-03-26 at 6.24.55 PM
{You and the World} (www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/)
The specifics:
Science: 0.78%- 29.81 billion
Energy and Environment: 1.17%-44.85 billion
International Affairs: 1.31%-50.22 billion
Housing and Community: 1.60%-61.48 billion
Transportation: 2.22%-84.99 billion
Education: 2.67%-102.26 billion
Food and Agriculture: 3.54%-135.7 billion
Veteran’s Benefits: 4.19%-160.63 billion
Interest on Debt: 5.97%-229.15 billion
Military: 15.88%-609.3 billion
Medicare and Health: 27.42%-1.05 trillion
Social Security, Unemployment, and labor: 33.26%-1.28 trillion
The final graph had the best representation of the federal budget as a whole. The website showed the different percentages and values for each slice of the pie, as seen above. Again, the military in the whole amount was surprising compared to all others that were scrunched up near the top. There was also a solid percentage for education, 2.67%, which would be corroborated to make sure the information was still accurate.
After looking at this source, I had a better understanding of the way the federal budget was divided. But I also wondered: “Is the federal budget the main source of funding for many of these programs? To what degree does the money given to each change the outcomes?”. I needed to not only corroborate my information, but I needed to see how it related to my issue of Education Funding.
SOURCE 2:
This site was an infographic. There is a series of graphs that show how the federal budget was used in 2019. It gave information on the revenues, where the money came from, and how the money was spent. Just like in source 2, the site described specifics in Mandatory, Discretionary, and Interest on Debt. It even provided additional information on deficits and surpluses, and each category of the federal budget provided more facts and graphs to hopefully display the information. This infographic came from the website “Congressional Budget Office”, which was a site founded in 1975. Each year, the economists and budget analysts produce dozens of reports stating objective, impartial analysis on the economy. It was important to keep an eye out for any biases, but the site was true to its word and provided only the facts. It seemed to be a reliable source.
Screenshot 2021-03-26 at 6.28.20 PM
{You and the World} (www.cbo.gov/publication/56324)
This showed very similar percentages to the year 2015. Since source 1 had been out of date, this source was very helpful in figuring out what was accurate and what was not. They were actually very similar, and there weren’t huge changes. Mandatory was still about 61% (2015 65%), Discretionary was 30% (2015 29%), Interest on Debt 9% (2015 6%). However, 2020 was also a huge year for the economy, with Covid 19 and lots of unemployment. It was much easier to understand the struggles of the past with this graph, but there was still more to understand. After learning the federal budget only accounted for about 8% of education, it was easy to wonder if this section of research was all that helpful. But things had changed a lot in 2020 and 2021, so it still felt like there was information missing.
Screenshot 2021-03-26 at 6.29.53 PM
{You and the World} (www.cbo.gov/publication/56324)
As for this graph, I wanted to compare it to the one found in source one:
2015:
Social security, Unemployment, and labor: 33.26%
Medicare & Health: 27.42%
Science: 0.78%-
Energy and Environment: 1.17%
International Affairs: 1.31%
Housing and Community: 1.60%
Transportation: 2.22%
Education: 2.67%
Food and Agriculture: 3.54%
Veteran’s Benefits: 4.19%
^^^^^^^17.48
Military: 15.88%
Interest on Debt: 5.97%
2019:
Social security: 23%
Medicare & Medicaid: 24%
Other & Nondefense: 30%
Defense: 15%
Net interest: 9%
As you can see above, the two years were actually very similar. Percentages were used to have a more equivalent comparison. Everything was close together, which was helpful to know because in a regular year, it seemed that this was what the percentages would be. The categories were a little hard, because they used some different sections throughout the sources. However, most of the gist was still there. This information was corroborated across sites and years, so it was pretty clear what a regular year would be like. However, Covid 19 had changed the economy, and it felt important to gather that information in the future.
This source helped me corroborate the information in source 1. I knew what I had was an accurate representation of a regular year in the United States. But I also realized that a regular year wasn’t the only thing I needed, because in order for my information to have an impact, it needed to relate to our situation now, in 2021. I also needed to be able to see how much the information I found impacted my issue in the first place. If the federal budget doesn’t have a huge impact on education funding, it would be more beneficial to focus my efforts elsewhere.
SOURCE 3:
This article, “Fixing Chronic Disinvestment in K-12 schools” by Lisette Partelow, explores the question and problem of Chronic Disinvestment in K-12 schools. They explore deep cuts in education, and how schools have responded to that. Specifically, the article talks a lot about the aftereffects of the 2008 Great Recession, where many states systematically disinvested in K-12 funding. They describe the effect that money, salaries, and lack of funding affects schools and describe ways to address and solve these problems. They came to the conclusion that “If education is truly to be an engine of opportunity and economic mobility, states and the federal government must invest far more in the communities that need resources most.”. This website, “Center for American Progress” has more than a hundred people working on it, all different types of researchers and positions. It is clearly a well established organization. It has a real author, a full bibliography at the bottom, and is very thorough. It is very likely a reliable source. The source’s bias would most likely be giving information that states their cause only. They are less likely to show things that contradict what they are saying, so it would be helpful to again corroborate other sources.
“On Average, 47 percent of K-12 education funding comes from state revenue, while local government provides 45 percent, and the federal government provides the remaining 8 percent.”
“In addition, the federal government can play a role in investing in teacher pay, first, by rejecting administration efforts to cut funding and, then, by expanding existing funding streams. It can also bring forward any of a number of proposals to improve teacher compensation that have recently been introduced in Congress.”
This bit of information was really helpful, because it helped clear up some questions that were brought to attention in source 2. The first quote specifically was able to show how much schools were really impacted by the federal budget, which was only 8%. This was able to put things into perspective, showing that state revenue and local government were far more influential.
But, like the second quote shows, the federal government can still play a substantial role. They do have the power to reject efforts while expanding others, and can create new proposals that can cause far more change. So, they are still an important factor for the success of school funding.
Screenshot 2021-03-26 at 6.51.29 PM
{You and the World} (www.cbo.gov/publication/56324)
This particular graph shows the progress from 2008 (The Great Recession) to 2015. But progress has been all over the place. While some states were able to make a comeback, many of them only caused a range of 0-10% increase. Even more of the states had from -1%—30% and greater. After 7 years, the majority of states have barely made a comeback and even decreased education funding for particular states. This graph clearly shows the problem the nation faces. Education is how the nation teaches students, how they empower students, how everyone learns. If education is not prioritized for students what kind of nation will the United States become? What nation will be lead as the next generation follows in the same path? It’s a very powerful image.
This source had a lot of helpful information and was able to put into perspective the effort that has been given to this problem in the past. I was also able to see that the federal budget only made up 8% of education budget, which led me to realize that the federal budget wasn’t even that influential in this issue. Of course, the federal budget still has an impact, especially with either speeding the process along or slowing it considerably. but it did make me rethink my topic.
SOURCE 4:
This article, ‘Special Report/ The Funding Gap’ by Amy M. Azzam, was about the funding gap in schools. They say that a big concern in schools is the achievement gap, but behind that is the concerning problem of the funding gap between high poverty and low poverty districts, and low minority and high minority districts. The article discusses a study that looked at annual financial data for the 2001-2002 school year. Then, they suggest courses of action and goals that need to be achieved in order to help solve the problem. This source is reliable because it’s data comes from U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of education, there is a reliable author who researches and writes articles for student education. The site is a little outdated, so the bias had to be kept in mind because not all the statistics would necessarily be the same.
“ The Education Trust recommends that states adopt the following proven policies to close the school funding gaps:
Reduce reliance on local property taxes to fund education.
Target extra funds to help low-income children.
Fix funding gaps for individual schools within districts
Improve state education funding in terms of increased spending on public education.
Closing the achievement gap starts with closing the funding gap. Only by providing the necessary resources can states help ensure quality education for all students”
This quote was very helpful, because it provided a clear statement for what needed to be done in order to help close the funding gap. It talks about starting small by fixing funding gaps within districts, and using money to the best ability. Instead of sharing the money evenly, share the money equitably. It addresses the issue that some kids need help financially before they can focus on their schoolwork, and to work to add more opportunities and increase spending over time. It’s not a quick process, it’s one that takes time and dedication. But it will pay off, because as the second to last sentence says “Closing the achievement gap starts with closing the funding gap.”. It’s like that saying, where you give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. But it would also be super helpful to give a man a fishing rod, a tool to help them learn. That’s what the funding is for these students, because once they have tools to help them, they can focus on school for real and have many more opportunities to succeed. Maybe this isn’t the only way to help, as the last sentence suggests, but those resources may be the difference needed for many students who struggle in their families in high poverty districts. Once the funding levels out, it can surely only help the achievement gap shrink as well.
This source helped to give me an idea of what direction I could take this project in order to have the best impact.
SOURCE 5:
This article, “Impact of the President’s FY 2020 budget on K-12 Information” was about the president’s proposed plan for many cuts and eliminations that would impact the budget for education in 2020. It gave detail about which programs the plan would affect and why they mattered. This source was a little tricky to test reliability, because it was a PDF. It came from the organization “First step” and the only person I could find listed was the Assistant Director, Drew Aherne. It’s bias was also the fact that this entire article was a proposed plan, and didn’t show exactly what had happened. But it did show the kind of power the Government and President had, and what the impact could be.
“One major request that would have a negative impact on K-12 education is the elimination of 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which are a critical source of funding for many local afterschool programs and serve about 1.4 million students at over 9,500 locations. Another harmful request is eliminating the Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program that provides grants to state and local education agencies to increase student achievement through teacher development and class-size reduction. These grants are important because teacher quality is one of the most significant factors in promoting student learning.”
Teacher quality is clearly an important factor in student learning. A lot of teachers would probably be way more enthusiastic if they had higher pay. But this also brings into question a lot of these actions. Education was already struggling, causing students to suffer and strikes to be held because teachers were fed up. Plus, now there is online school where students are losing motivation and struggling with mental health. Now more than ever schools need support and the government need to give back to the teachers that have been driving the whole process. There cannot be continual budget cuts and eliminations of programs that benefit so many schools. There was already so much cause to add more funding to schools, but now, in a crisis, a pandemic, these problems need to be addressed and solutions need to be found.
This helped to show the effect of the people in power on education.
Overall, I learned a lot, but I think I need to redirect myself and go into more detail about the questions I have asked throughout my research. There are many problems to address in order to create an impact and educate people on this issue. My research has been all over the place, but it has helped to narrow down where I should go and what I should do. I will continue to do research to answer the following questions:
-What can we as citizens do to help?
-How has 2020 impacted Education Funding?
-Where can I find information to prove the point that Education Funding is an issue we need to address?
I will work to create a more polished presentation of my work and find a way to spread my work even online.
SOURCE 1:
“Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go.” National Priorities Project, www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/.
SOURCE 2:
“The Federal Budget in 2019: An Infographic.” Congressional Budget Office, 15 Apr. 2020, www.cbo.gov/publication/56324
SOURCE 3:
Lisette Partelow, Sarah Shapiro. “Fixing Chronic Disinvestment in K-12 Schools.” Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2018/09/20/457750/fixing-chronic-disinvestment-k-12-schools/.
SOURCE 4:
Lisette Partelow, Sarah Shapiro. “Fixing Chronic Disinvestment in K-12 Schools.” Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2018/09/20/457750/fixing-chronic-disinvestment-k-12-schools/.
Tik Tok is one of the biggest social media platforms at the moment. Users and content creators are attracted to the platform for its easy outlet of creativity allowing for people to express themselves in various ways. However, not all that glitter is gold when users begin to feel silenced or limited when speaking about important issues like police brutality and much more. Furthermore, when the algorithm and for you page begins to feel like yet another thing ostracizing Black people and their advocacy for different issues.
The Tik Tok algorithm is a significant factor in determining which videos get the most attention and likes. However, the algorithm has not been equitable and fair for all on the platform. Black creators have been very reliant on TikTok out of all social media platforms because news travels like wildfire and it would allow the Black Lives Matter movement to grow and gain publicity and support. Additionally, I learned that black creators had no one to blame but TikTok’s “Community Guidelines”. The Community Guidelines were very strict in the summer as everything with the Black Lives Matter movement was progressing more than ever. The Community Guidelines were so strict that they filtered through creators’ videos judging the nature of the video. Things like hateful ideology and behavior, slurs, weapons, drugs, dangers to children, frauds, and scams were all sifted through and analyzed through videos. While these things are very important to sift though they are not the center of discussion. It is frustrating to creators, specifically Black creators when their videos are taken down even though they are not violating guidelines.
Many people made it a point to point out that there are major and visible inconsistencies in the Tik Tok algorithm. Being heavily user reliant doesn’t help even out the playing field of which videos ultimately make it to the for you page. Additionally, Black Lives Matter is a very social media-based campaign and movement so when you limit the potential of important videos about these topics on people’s pages you are also limiting the potential of how much attention these important topics get.
After being called out, Tik Tok quickly issued an apology for making the Black community feel invalidated or silenced. They explained that it seems to be caused by a technical glitch in the software however, people were still not buying it because why we’re the only hashtags targeted about the Black Lives Matter movement?.
*Photo #1; This is a picture pulled from the Tik Tok website of the Community Guidelines and all of the categories that determine if a video is allowed to stay up or not.
Photo 3; This is a photo of a statement uploaded by Tik Tok to their account from CEO Kevin Mayer
Overall, although Tik Tok issued an apology and statement to the Black community people are asking Tik Tok to take steps and measures in ensuring an equal playing field for all videos on the For You Page.
My topic is about something I don’t think a lot of people really care about. At first, I didn’t really care either. Actually, I just didn’t know anything about snakes and what they went through. A couple of months ago I really wanted to own a snake. I was super close to getting one. My dad and mom didn’t think it was a good idea but I still wanted one. I did a little research and everything seemed fine. Snakes are very cheap too, so I thought it was perfect for me. Then my mom started sending me articles about the things snakes go through and why it wasn’t good to have them as pets. I chose not to get one because I didn’t want to deal with my parents, not because I had realized it wasn’t good to own snakes. When the Y&TW project was introduced, the first topic that I came up with was this one. Why people should stop getting pet snakes. I thought it was going to be the easiest since I already had a couple of sources, and it was something I thought not many people would pick. However, I wasn’t personally very passionate about it. After a while of doing research for this project, I actually started caring more and really understanding some of the horrible things that pet snakes go through that not a lot of people actually know about.
Snakes are captured from their natural habitat to be transported to different continents, this process is sometimes very cruel and they are treated with very little care. Many die in the transportation process. Once they are sold to people that most of the time don’t have all the information needed to be able to provide their pet snakes with all of their needs, they are put into their new environment that is nothing compared to the experience they have in the wild. Tanks can’t provide snakes the necessary space they need to stretch, hunt and roam freely.
A lot of snakes sometimes try to escape their habitat which can be bad for them and the environment in multiple ways. They can experience trauma due to failed escape attempts and they can get hurt trying to escape. If they do successfully escape, they can cause the killing of native wildlife.
Breeders selective breed snakes in order to make different scale patterns, skin colors, and fur. This has various negative effects on snake’s physical and mental health. People that want to get snakes most of the time want them because their appearance is interesting or they just look cool. They don’t really pay attention to their needs. They view them as a “new hobby” or a “new collection” but not as a wild animal that isn’t meant to be domesticated.
It’s so normalized to have snake pets. You can just walk into a pet store and there are snakes sold there as if they were hamsters or dogs. My dad used to have snakes when he was little, and I have a couple of friends who have had or still have snakes. I think if people were more informed about everything a snake can go through from the moment they’re captured to when they’re bought, not as many people would buy them. They’re not an easy pet to have. They have complicated needs that most people just can’t provide for. I want more people to know about this because it’s really sad to know that this snake industry is so common after knowing the things snake pets go through.
What is Autism? How does it affect a person’s life? Well, let’s start with Autism and what it is. People are born with autism. You can’t get it from any immunization. In 2020, the CDC reported that approximately 1 in 54 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism. Most children are still being diagnosed after age 4, though autism can be reliably diagnosed as early as age 2.
Autism Prevelance
The autism diagnosis rate increase from 2004 to 2020.
As more people are being diagnosed it gets harder for other people to get help so there are many places that you can go and get the help that you need. The first place is going to be a meta site, like Autism Navigator. Autism Navigator was founded by Nancy D. Rich Wiseman this is a source where they help you. The site can steer you toward resources for the future. If you have someone you love that has autism and show you what are going to be the challenges that you are going to face. This also gives guide books that give you books that are full of information.
The second source that is also going to help is going to be Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks was found by two people Bob Wright and Suzanne Wright and their jobs are to provide the families with insurance and much more. They have shown that they can because they have helped over 22.6 million families since 2005 and planing t keep helping every family that they can.
The third source Autism Society. Autism Society is a source that helps you understand what it is like to live with autism but this can your opinion on what you are there to see that are many other ways that you can see this is just showing you what it is to live with autism it does not give you the full experience that you need to see.
I want to change people’s opinion about autism; it’s not just saying “oh, he’s is diagnosed with this, so he can’t do it”. There have been many autistic people (or people with autism-dependent on your stance on person-first language) that the challenges of living with autism and have shown that they can be better a someone that is neurotypical. This has been proven to be true because I have family members with autism (or autistic family members). see is that they are not scared to show who they are really are they don’t care what other people think about them they want to show that they can show people that are neurotypical that not all neurotypical people are scared to show who they are they want to sho that they can.
or the people that are neurotypical, you don’t have to hide who you are some people hide who they are and if you think that you are the only one. There are many more than just you. You are not alone because I have family that is like this but there is a way to change this you should not hide from what your real colors are you should always show the true colors that you are it does not matter if you aren’t the same. Just remember that you are special then if people don’t agree with that explain to them why you are special from other people.
Are you someone who lives on planet Earth? Do you breathe? Do you or anyone you know have asthma?Well,listen up because while we talk, my planet, our planet is making a huge change, and not for the good. The problem here is climate change, and the real main problem is us humans. Many glaciers are melting, the average temperature of the planet is rising every day. Scientists are discovering that in a short amount of time, our planet could go through a change; causing an increase in many diseases and deaths.
Our planet is important to me because I’d like to travel around the world some day. When these changes happen, the adventures I might want have, the places I want to explore and see with my own eyes could change before I’m even an adult with the means to experience them. To say the least, the end of the world has begun, in a slow but very real process. This isn’t to scare you.here’s still time to make a change, and prevent this from happening.
“How can I help out?”
I’m glad you asked, there is a lot of stuff you can do! But, before I show you how to make a change yourself, from the comfort of your house; I want to explain what causes these changes.
One way that you might already know to protect the planet is recycling. This is a great way to protect our atmosphere. The plastic, and all the trash you throw out, is sent to junk yards, and then it sits in landfills or is burned. But, plastic is hard to get rid of, it takes years for it to decompose, and most of that plastic winds up in the ocean. This causes many more problems. Once it’s in the ocean, sea animals digest most of the trash without knowing what it is. This trash also kills coral reefs, these reefs produce half of the planet’s oxygen. So, the plastic bottle you toss in the trash kills ocean animals and it decreases our planet’s oxygen supply. You remember oxygen? It’s that gas we humans need in order to survive.
Animals around our planet; like the wolverine in the Arctic, are trying to adjust to climate change. For many animals, their chances of survival are low. Their habitats are being erased; they are no longer not finding homes in which they can live safely..
For animals, it’s their habitat, for humans it’s our health, and depending on where you live, it can also have changes in your environment, and leaves a lot of people without homes. As the heat rises, wildfires start in many places, a very good example of this, is in places such as California. There have been wildfires, due to the heat, and the heat rises due to the toxic gasses produced by factories. The gasses break the ozone layer, which protects us from harmful radiation from the sun.
Of course all of this might seem crazy and some people might not care. But, I do. Many beautiful natural treasures in this world are in danger. Maybe you don’t care because it might not impact your life directly, but many people have been impacted. .
The effects of climate changes are reaching places that haven’t even been discovered yet.Sadly two things could happen to these places. One, they might be underwater in 10 or 5 years. Scientists had predicted that many changes were gonna happen in later upcoming years, but more recently, they found out that these changes are more closer than they had expected. Climate Change Is Accelerating, Bringing The World ‘Dangerously Close’ to Irreversible Change .Secondly, places such as a coral or a beautiful field full of flowers, could turn gray, due to the plants being dead after being in contact with a lot of toxic chemicals.
So, if you’d like to explore the wonders of the world, make a change! You don’t have to do god/ goddess work. Just recycle, use your own personal bags at the store, try and save electricity, and water. Many of the power that goes to your house are from power plants that make toxic gasses or support an environmental organization so they can make big changes, with the help of you.
Did you know that there is a huge issue going on, around in the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community? Did you know that there are people who are getting verbally and physically assaulted, even murdered, just because of the way they look? Did you know that some of these AAPI hate crimes are not being documented/filed as a hate crime? Did you? Well if you didn’t, you can now. In this post I’m going to go more into depth about (what I believe) hate crimes that are targeted towards the AAPI community. This is a major topic that is, thankfully, being more publicized and talked about, but (in my opinion) aren’t being dealt with properly and aren’t given immediate consequence, to the people who are assaulting/murdering the AAPI community. As a person of the AAPI community, I would like to show my knowledge of what I learned from my research about this sensitive yet really engaging topic. I hope this can help/add to your knowledge about this topic and soon will, hopefully, make a change in our society to make these Anti-Asian hate crimes stop.
This chart shows the increase of Anti-Asian hate crimes in 2019 to 2020.
Now, in my opinion this topic just hurts and disgusts me by how many AAPI are getting assaulted, cause as an Asian-American living in the U.S. I am constantly scared by what if I’m the next person that’s going to get assaulted, or even murdered, just by how I look. Or even worse, if one of my family members gets assaulted. I just can’t get that through my mind and how much it hurts me to see my community hurting like this. When I read or watch articles/videos about the AAPI community getting assaulted, or murdered, just really infuriates me how society treats us AAPI.
WARNING: THIS VIDEO MAY BE SENSITIVE TO SOME VIEWERS!
I am really passionate about this topic because I learned that some of these horrific assaults/murders happening to the AAPI community, aren’t even being documented/filed as hate crimes.
I watched this podcast by The May Lee Show, talking about why some of the AAPI’s assault cases are not being documented as hate crimes. When I watched this podcast, I respect on why some opinions that were being made, like why the prosecutors aren’t digging enough to find the answer that the defendant wants, but I just don’t agree with those opinions. To paint a better picture of what I’m trying to say is by looking at the recent case of murders, by a man named, Robert Aaron Long, who killed a total of 8 people in Atlantic spas. When I first saw this news, my reaction was like, “are people getting this bored in the Pandemic that they’re starting to kill people ‘for fun’?” But soon to later find out that despicable man, killed 6 women of Asian descent out of those 8 victims because of his “sex addiction”. Then to hear that these spas shootings probably wasn’t towards a particular race. Yet this white man goes on a mass killing spree into spas, that are predominantly Asian spas, and decide to kill 6 Asian women, was because of his “sex addiction”, isn’t called a hate crime (case still under investigation)?! Another key thing I realized was that the officer, who was the spokesman on this case, said that the attacker was just having “a really bad day.” So you’re saying a white man killing 8 people, with those victims, 6 of them are from Asian descent, to come to a hypothesis, that the attacker was just having “a really bad day.” That is the dumbest, stupidest, inconclusive, white supremacist answer I ever heard. Plus, the white spokesman who said that Robert was just having “a really bad day”, promoted a sale on anti-Asian t-shirts, on Facebook. That said “ ‘imported virus from Chy-na.’ ” So, this sounds like that white spokesman was first, racist and second, biased. Side Note: It seems like the Police Department hasn’t said anything about how long Robert will serve in jail, but if it’s only, like 4 years…why, all of those victims because of his idiotic actions.
WARNING: THIS VIDEO MAY BE SENSITIVE TO SOME VIEWERS!
This issue is a very significant topic to learn about, especially during these times where the hate crimes towards AAPI are significantly unfolding faster and getting worse till this day. Learning about this topic can tell you that America isn’t just about the “American dream”, but can reveal about the actual history behind America, that was always covered up.
To continue with that, let’s talk about a word you probably heard many times before, stereotype. Yes, that famous, loathsome word, that impacted so many AAPI’s during their childhood and till today, still. First, I would like to talk about a term that falls under with the word “stereotype”, The Model Minority Myth. That word just means that, “a persistent stereotype that paints Asian Americans as inherently successful and problem-free, particularly in contrast to other minority groups, had helped keep the story ‘from being a big deal before this’.” said by NBCNews. Second, I really disagree with that myth, using this information about how the Model Minority Myth impacted the AAPI community, many times in their life is a good way of knowing how America decides to treat us AAPI community, by making up a whole Myth just to make the rest of the world think that we’re smart, well-off, or that we’re always going to be successful in life. But no, that is completely false. AAPI are not born smart, they are trained just like every other kid in school to get good grades and soon to be successful in life. But I guess America thought that they needed to degrade another race, to make the AAPI seem to “know more” than the other students. Like have they never heard of studying, the people in America didn’t have to make a whole racist myth because AAPI are “good” at studying. LIKE WHAT?! I just think that was the most idiotic conclusion America came to.
Next, I am going to talk about my research/some stories I found about, what’s happening to the AAPI community, and how they’re being impacted by the Pandemic. First, let’s talk about this source, where they talk about how “Hate-fueled attacks on Asian Americans spiked across major U.S. cities last year — in some cases by triple-digit percentages — …” I think that is disgustingly high by how many hate-fueled attacks (hate crimes) there are towards the AAPI community. Like are you serious, the triple-digits?! They just had to go that far. Second, there is a source that talks about how brands are responding towards AAPI hate. Here is a quote that I took from the article that I really love, “ ‘No one is paying attention. No big news outlets. No brands. No influencers. No hashtags,’ he wrote.” “ ‘Silence…The model minority myth placed on Asian Americans through a systemic, racist system has made us raceless. That dynamic has resulting in silencing us even in the greatest moments of appropriation and violence…Don’t let us die in silence.’ ” I just love that quote. I loved how that person brung up how the government excludes us, AAPI, completely as a race. It’s disappointing that AAPI doesn’t even count as a race, to some people. Third, there is a news source that talks about how hundreds of people are escorting elderly AAPI and roaming around Chinatown, to keep the APPI community safe. I love that idea because the ones that are most vulnerable, in these times, are our AAPI elders.
Fourth, there is another news source that talks about how “Additionally, according to the study, between February and May 2020, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) received reports of 389 coronavirus-related hate incidents. Of those, 145 involved anti-Asian sentiments, representing 37 percent of all complaints.” That just upsets me, that the NYCCHR had so many reports on coronavirus related hate crimes, that the NYPD (in the video above this quote, in the source) had to make a “Asian Hate Crime” task force just to stop this nonsense. Fifth, this source talks about how an elderly Asian woman was waiting in front of a bakery in Chinatown. Until, an attacker decided that it was okay to start calling racial slurs at her, then push her harshly on the concrete ground until she fell unconscious. And later had to get 5-10 stitches because of that hate crime. I was just at awe when I read this article. I was just dismayed, how that man had the guts to do that, to an AAPI lady, who wasn’t even provoking him in any way. Finally, the final source I found, talks about people’s experiences and how they’re trying to cope with the hate crimes towards the AAPI community. And one quote that really resonated with me is, “Unfortunately, Asians are often targeted for violent attacks because Asians are stereotyped as weak and non-confrontational, …” That quote was just so immaculate and accurate because I do believe that is true. It seems people like to stereotype AAPI, as the type of race that are weak, or won’t tell the attacks to authorities cause we’re shy (stereotype). But no, of course we will tell some type of authority, we’re human too. You attacked us, that hit us to the point where we had enough of this AAPI hate.
To wrap all of this educational information, some of you may not be part of the AAPI community but you can still help. These hate crimes are still happening, the AAPI community will stay here as long as the AAPI history lives on, in America’s exposing reality. What I am wondering for my readers is, if there was a protest near you, will you protest with the AAPI community? To let people hear that the AAPI community will not stay silent no more, to the point where we can prove that we are happy for who we are. Are you going to give support and respect to the AAPI community? Are you going to be
there, like when we were there for you? Are you? I really hope you do and use this revealing/exposing information about America’s real history towards the AAPI community. Help spread the word to stop AAPI hate. If you would like to help the AAPI community please donate to this gofundme, if you witness a hate crime toward an AAPI, report it to https://stopaapihate.org/, and if you would like to know more information about what’s going on in the AAPI community, go to https://nextshark.com/news/.
Human trafficking leaving effects on victims is basically guaranteed, whether they’re physical or mental. Human trafficking is something that can happen to anyone, most commonly women and girls. Many females don’t feel comfortable going out in public because of the possibility of being trafficked. That doesn’t mean that men and people who don’t identify as either (male or female) don’t also experience being scared of human trafficking because it can happen to anyone. It is very important for people to recognize how this constant fear of being trafficked holds back people from living their life. It leaves people just as a shell of themselves. When someone is trafficked they are stripped of their humanity. They are bought and sold at the hands of strangers. Hopefully spreading awareness of the effects trafficking can leave on people will make people sympathize with people who have experienced this.
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This image shows a point I made in my post. That Human trafficking spares no souls and can happen to anyone.
As a teenage girl, Human trafficking and other types of sexual or just abuse overall have always kinda had a little spot in the back of my mind. I have never experienced anything more than unwanted nudes or catcalling by older males when I am walking in the city. And that is common for most teenagers. I think everyone should know more about the after-effects of someone that experienced human trafficking is very important because then it might be taken more seriously. Some people that have experienced Human trafficking or rape might be hesitant to come forward because some people might not believe them. According to the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center, about 20% of America’s population are survivors of childhood Sexual assault. As many as 90% never report anything to law enforcement and 30% will never report it to anyone. According to the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organization, in 2018 at least 48.5% million people were enslaved in human trafficking.
This infographic shows many statistics of human trafficking
The most common effects Human trafficking can leave on a person is depressed, and PTSD. Those are more mental, More physical ones would include sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse, or pregnancy. Having such concerns especially at such a young age is already very common amongst teenagers (especially this like depression, anxiety, and stress). An Interesting fact to keep in mind if you are talking to someone with past experience of being trafficked is that the effects of the trafficking can be emphasized based on past trauma, whether it’s violence abuse, or sexual. Another less talked about or less known effect is a victim can adopt a lack of independent skills, often relying on people they trust to help them live a normal life. These effects can also happen after they experience being trafficked. Often due to not being supported by family and loved ones or how the law failed the victim in trying to seek justice. It is so important that we focus on these effects as much as we should ensure more victims feel safer sharing their stories. Obviously, that trauma will never go away but there is so much good a person can do when they let others know that they are not alone.
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This other infographic shows more statistics about human trafficking, more globally based.
So in conclusion understanding, the long-term effects that human trafficking can leave on a person is a very crucial step to making them feel like themselves again. We also went over a few heartbreaking statistics. Overall I am very pleased with the information I learned while working on this post. I would like to learn more about survivors and how their story has inspired others to go on. Another interesting topic to me is the effects human trafficking can leave on the victim’s family. So in general I am proud of my work and the information I have gathered.
This is a Ted Talk by Noy Thrupkaew. She talks about how human trafficking is a part of our daily lives, more so than you’ll think. How it is more than what we just think it is.
“Body shape is something that a majority of women struggle with, as many believe their size is too big, too curvy, or even too skinny.” (The catalyst.) This is a quote I took from an article in a high school newspaper. It touches on what I believe to be a huge issue in our society. Toxic beauty standards. In our society we’ve set an unrealistic standard for ourselves. We look at highly edited pictures of so called “instagram models” and believe that is what we should look like. Young children look into the mirror and wonder if there’s something wrong with them, and wonder why they don’t look like the models they see on TV. All over the world people try to change their appearance because they’ve come to the belief that they don’t fit into the standard. The toxic, unrealistic standards that are portrayed everywhere.
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An image showing how [body dysmorphia] (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Freverehealth.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fdysmorphic.png&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Freverehealth.com%2Flive-better%2Fwhat-is-body-dysmorphic-disorder%2F&tbnid=xRMohUBVSX_lvM&vet=12ahUKEwj5u47t78zvAhUiAN8KHfdsCUgQMygGegUIARDiAQ..i&docid=HwhjpIwyzQE8nM&w=701&h=701&q=body%20dysmorphia&ved=2ahUKEwj5u47t78zvAhUiAN8KHfdsCUgQMygGegUIARDiAQ) can look.
When I was brainstorming what I wanted to focus on for my you and the world project I thought about issues that matter to me and things that affect me personally. One of the biggest that came to mind was toxic beauty standards, and specifically how they’re portrayed on social media. Beauty standards are something that have been around forever. While conducting research for this project I found a blog post that listed Standards for women’s bodies from 1292 B.C to today. It described the traits that were most desired and expected from women in each time period, it was this article that gave me new meaning to the term, “Toxic beauty standards.” Why is it that the so-called standard of beauty changes all the time? Why does our society constantly change what our bodies should look like, and why do so many people fall into the trap of thinking that they aren’t beautiful because they don’t fit into the standards that are constantly shifting?
Something that’s most definitely not talked about enough is how beauty standards directly affect people. Especially young girls and teenagers. Unrealistic beauty standards are shown all over the place, social media apps fill their explore pages with instagram models showing off their “Perfect lifestyle.”
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“Instagram model” who often shows off her so called [perfect lifestyle] (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fneoreach.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F06%2FTop-10-Models-on-Instagram.jpeg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fneoreach.com%2Ftop-instagram-models%2F&tbnid=dRW8k9Pprye0SM&vet=12ahUKEwjotaPa98zvAhXHBt8KHZ49AVUQMyguegUIARCcAg..i&docid=4i56BqQ3cr5PoM&w=1393&h=900&q=instagram%20model&ved=2ahUKEwjotaPa98zvAhXHBt8KHZ49AVUQMyguegUIARCcAg)
Magazines print the newest it model on their front pages.
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Models posing for a [Vogue] (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.etonline.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fvideo_1920x1080%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2017-02%2F1280_kendall_gigi_ashley_vogue_020817.jpg%3Fitok%3D-baLoriu&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.etonline.com%2Fnews%2F209818_kendall_jenner_gigi_hadid_and_ashley_graham_slay_the_cover_of_vogue_stunning_group_photo&tbnid=xtPRkBwKAlYIHM&vet=12ahUKEwiulK7g-MzvAhUGT98KHYaFDtIQMygBegUIARCkAQ..i&docid=yRJhO07Rf3iYgM&w=1920&h=1080&q=gigi%20hadid%20kendall%20jenner%20vogue%20cover&ved=2ahUKEwiulK7g-MzvAhUGT98KHYaFDtIQMygBegUIARCkAQ) photo shoot
In our society it’s hard to live without constantly comparing yourself to the people around you. This constant comparing and doubting yourself can lead to a lot more serious issues and can take a large toll on your mental health. One of these side effects is developing an eating disorder. According to the alliance for eating disorder awareness, around 30 million Americans have experienced a clinical eating disorder in their lifetime. And an article by Jessica Defino for Hello giggles stated that “Studies prove that beauty standards directly contribute to anxiety and depression. They can trigger body dysmorphia and disordered eating. They can fuel low self-esteem, self-harm, and even suicide. All of these conditions have risen in recent years, and all of them are unequivocally connected to beauty standards.”
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Infographic showing different [stats] (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fthebodyimagecenter.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F09%2FNEDAW1-730x1024.png&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fthebodyimagecenter.com%2Feducation-awareness%2Feating-disorder-statistics%2F&tbnid=N5c06vymT4GxWM&vet=12ahUKEwjf6YGs-czvAhWJdN8KHfNVBgoQMygCegUIARCCAQ..i&docid=8cipRVgBTa9MIM&w=730&h=1024&q=how%20many%20people%20have%20eating%20disorders&ved=2ahUKEwjf6YGs-czvAhWJdN8KHfNVBgoQMygCegUIARCCAQ) about eating disorders
This quote really ties it all together. The effect beauty standards have on people across the world. They’re terrible for our mental health, can lead to serious medical conditions, and drastically lower self esteem. We must reflect on this as a society. Why do we constantly promote an unrealistic standard when we can just focus on celebrating the beauty each individual person has? And why have we decided that a certain set of traits is the standard for beauty?
The spread of misinformation on the internet has become more and more rapid over recent years and I think it should be recognized as a serious problem. This can be a very dangerous issue as hundreds of millions of people use the internet each day for information and when things that are untrue get shown, posted, or written on the internet, and people believe it, some really bad things can arise from it. This is important to me because I have always used the internet a lot and with online school I have been having to use it even more than I usually do. So when I see something like a harmful post with misinformation on social media, it concerns me that I am not always aware of digital falsities being shown to me.
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A chart showing the concern of internet misformation in different countries
There are many ways to avoid and spot out non credible sources though. A New York Times article writes about ways to recognize misinformation especially for older people as a lot of the time the older demographic are the ones who can be targeted through platforms like Facebook. There is also a lot of concern for the future of information on the web, as pew research center interviewed about one thousand technologists, scholars, practitioners, strategic thinkers and more about this issue and stated: “Some 1,116 responded to this nonscientific canvassing: 51% chose the option that the information environment will not improve.” In other words saying that more than half of the people answering believed that this will be a future problem we won’t be able to fix any time soon. The Government has noticed the rize of digital misinformation as well, shown in an article by trendmicro.com that writes: “Governments are starting to recognize that fake news is something that must be actively fought. Various government agencies are now setting up services to debunk stories that they consider to be false. They are also considering imposing regulations and punishing sites that do publish misinformation.” This could be good for the future and might prevent the problem of misinformation on the web from getting worse.
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Chart showing that facebook is the worst social media when it comes to misinformation
This isn’t just an indecipherable problem though, they’re many examples of misinformation you can find. In an article written by Paris Martineau, she goes over and cites many occasions where people had made stuff up and faked numbers for differing reasons. She mentions in 2013 when youtube had to deal with people using bots to fake views. This led to the bots views rivaliving the number of real viewers and youtube had to find a way to step in and stop/get rid of these bots. However a more unique example is shown in a story by the Washington Post titled ‘A Gay Girl in Damascus’ comes clean. In this story, a 40 year old man was pretending to be a gay girl protesting in the middle east who was writing about it through blog posts. These blog posts and the gay girl he was pretending to be became a big deal in the media until one day a blog post comes out from her “cousin” saying she had been kidnapped. After a while the American man came clean about himself running the account and admitted that the whole story and girl was all fake. This wasn’t the most dangerous case of misinformation obviously, but it goes to show how easily someone can make something like this up on the internet, which can be really threatening in the wrong hands.
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Quote from article talking about false information on the web
After researching all this I have concluded that I had good reasoning to be concerned and it’s easy to see I am not the only one. I have definitely picked up a lot of knowledge about misinformation and how to prevent and notice it, which can probably help me in the future. Overall this is something that I am happy to see being dealt with and pushed back on, but a lot of the articles on this topic are from 2016-2017 and I hope people will continue to care and make an effort to check their sources past the peak of this problem’s media popularity, especially with covid and information about the vaccine.
“Don’t give him money, he’s going to buy drugs with it.” “She’s too young to be homeless, she’s probably faking it so she can get more money.” These are the things that I hear from the people that I talk to almost everyday, which is really sad because I honestly thought they would help and also support me, while I try to help the homeless. I live in a neighborhood where I see a homeless person either sleeping on the ground or holding up a sign that asks for food wherever I go. Before I came to the United States I never really saw or thought about homelessness; but since I started seeing more and more people on the streets, I felt this thing, a sort of passion, that I have to help them. There are many different ways and reasons on why we should help the people that are currently homeless , but just remember, [try not to give them money](Helping the Homeless: Making a Difference for Someone on the Streets (darkpeakgear.com)) Some people would go and buy drugs or alcohol and get addicted to it, and we don’t want that because we want to help them and not hurt them. I never really showed that I cared about homeless people in front of my friends and even some family members because they think that homeless people do not deserve our help. People think that others lose their homes because they are suffering from addictions and then they don’t show up for work, don’t pay the bills, and end up homeless. Which sometimes is true, but not all the time. Around 44% of homeless people were employed. For women in particular, domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness. According to the most recent annual survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, major cities across the country report that top causes of homelessness among families were: [(1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, and (4) low wages,](:Homeless_Stats_Fact_Sheet.pdf (nlchp.org))
homeless
As you can see, the number 1 reason for homelessness is job loss, alcohol or drug use is in second place but we also have to see that there are more reasons why people became homeless and not just because of addiction.
I believe that we should do everything we can to help people who are currently experiencing homelessness. However it is tough because there are many people without a home right now everywhere around the world. If we try really hard, I know that we can help them have a better life. So my main idea was: we should, or at least try to, build hotels around the world for homeless people. They would get a small room to themselves and they would get a small job; maybe like a school crossing guard, a school janitor or even something at the hotel, just so that they get used to the feeling of working. I think this will be a great start for them to remember how it is to have a house and have to earn money. After saving up their money and being able to get a place where they could stay, they would leave the hotel and hopefully start a new and better life. Like I said before, this will be hard, but they are humans that need our help. Anyone could end up in this situation and I know that everyone would want all the help they can get.
Oppressed? Terrorist? Women with no rights? The twin towers? All these words have been associated with Muslims for many years, especially Muslim women that wear the hijab. The cloth that they wear on their heads have been given so many negative meanings to it, people would rather be blinded by the media and ignore the meaning of the word hijab. When we think of the word hijab, we would usually think of a scarf a muslim women would wear, which is correct. But the word hijab applies to both men and women that practice Islam to be modest and control their gaze. As the world is very misogynistic, men that dont wear their “hijab” get a pass and don’t get shamed while women do. The stereotype of “oppressed Muslim women” came from the media mixing up culture and religion together. For example, there are cultural places in the middle east that have laws for women to cover their body, those are the places that are seen as the symbol of Islam.Many cultures have a part in making Islam look “bad” or “ unfair”. Many cultural practices dont even fall into Islam and would be considered a sin.
I chose this topic because it’s one that I’ve always been interested in and doesn’t get enough attention. Especially as a Muslim women that decided to wear my hijab, I can’t stand for the wrongful ways the media has portrayed my religion, especially the women. We already live in a sexist and misogynistic world and seeing muslim women be the symbol of oppression isn’t fair. Fun fact actually Islam was he first religion and group of people to give women rights before the Europeans did. Culture and religion have been mixed up and falsely represented in the world. Muslim populated countries usually run on culture more than religion, like for example have laws for women to dress modestly. Even if tourists come they would need to cover their bodies. Why? To respect the culture that was made by the people that are following Islam. Now here’s the bad side, the media (specifically streaming networks like Netflix) Have made it seem as if the hijab is an oppressive tool used against muslim women. The scarf that they wear on their heads are “strict” or “passive”. But you see, the hijab for most women is seen as powerful, inspiring, and amazing! But we will always be put into [the three categories of being oppressed, veiled and the worst of all homogenous.] ( https://muslimgirl.com/watch-dismantling-the-mainstream-medias-image-of-the-muslim-woman/)
‘Now It’s a Sign of Protest:’ Muslim Women in Denmark Defy the Face Veil Ban
And its not only the media that plays a part of this bad face of Women in Islam to be known to all, its also the beauty sense and different ways people believe women should be like. A girl from Palestine or Nigeria could be forced to wear her hijab while someone who loves their hijab moves to the USA and is pressured to take it off. “Take it off you’ll look better that way” or “Put it on and you’ll be seen as more prettier”. People have taken the meaning of the hijab and made as if it’s something to throw around. Muslim girls that choose to wear it know that it was the biggest decision in their life. There are some that took it off but still respect it while others would bash it because they felt oppressed. But they are reminded it was because of CULTURE not RELIGION.
Watching Tv and Movies everyone should know that at least one show they watched had a muslim lady (Most likely arab and black hijab) having a bomb. Or taking off her scarf to feel free. Yes many muslim women take off their scarves but thats for their life journey. Tv shows would make removing the hijab a sign of freedom aka being able to run away from a strict family and live life with her dream white boy. For example, the Netflix original show [“The Elite”] (https://nwhsjagwire.org/showcase/showcase-showcase/2019/12/08/misrepresentation-of-muslims-in-hollywood/) has a character named Nadia Shanna that removes her hijab for the sake of her lover Guzman. There is no problem with Muslim woman taking off their scarf for themselves but I will forever have an issue with media companies believing its okay to think that I would remove my scarf to feel free with a white man. They are showing a lot of “White savior” complexes on screens, saving her from being oppressed. Islam is the second biggest and growing religion in the world and stereotypes like this are still being spread and damaging the way women in my religion are seen.
I don’t have to show my hair or body to feel empowered or be a “#girlboss” I already am one. [Modesty empowers] ( https://theconversation.com/how-muslim-women-break-stereotypes-by-mixing-faith-and-modesty-with-fashion-110767) and I see beauty in my religion and faith and strive to strengthen that. I am not oppressed. I am not a terrorist. No I did not bomb the twin towers. I am a Muslim women looking and fighting for the proper rights and representations in the media, because for I am tired of being seen as less than.
Doing research for this project was definitely fun to me surprisingly and kind of saddened me. I always thought Islam was being seen as an oppressive religion was an “All muslim” problem but it mainly focused on the women in Islam. Before they talk about the men its always being talked about the headscarves, the way we dress, or our face coverings, being seen as bad, scary, and un-american. I would like to learn more about why people think like this? Why does me wearing a scarf scare people so much? Why are you scared of a piece of cloth on my head? Is the media going to change the way of how Islam is seen since it’s the second biggest religion in the world? Don’t they think it deserves more respect to its title? As my research proceeds to grow, I hope to find more answers to these intriguing questions.
Have you ever noticed a homeless person in Philadelphia that needed help but you didn’t exactly know-how to help them? The Philadelphian community is suffering to get Homeless people, families, and children off the streets. This is a big issue that should be discussed and fixed to get people off the street and help anyone in a bad situation. “Homelessness In Philadelphia.” I chose this issue because it needs more discussion, more awareness, more attention to make the issue a little better. My family and I, at any free moment we have we always try to donate or give something to the homeless people on the streets. This issue matters to me because I try to put myself in anyone’s shoes, and if I were in a dire predicament, I would want people or anyone in my corner to care enough about me and my situation to want to help. This topic is essential for others to know about to help but to know that there are many non-judgemental people in the world who are willing to help you or anyone you know that is in a challenging situation.
Homelessness is a massive issue in Philadelphia. According to Know Homelessness, there are about 5,700 people that are considered homeless, but 950 out of the 5,700 are unsheltered. Philadelphia has the lowest number of street homeless people than any other city in the U.S. Things you should know about homelessness in Philly also talked about how 1.6 million people that live in the city of Philadelphia, and 400,000 of them were found to be living below the poverty line in 2015. They can’t find jobs or have jobs but don’t get paid enough to pay bills, and the rent gets higher. People no longer have enough money to spend, etc. to add on Project Home stated: “A person would have to work 86 hours per week at the minimum hourly wage of $7.25 to afford even a modest one-bedroom apartment.” this just makes me think like how does the government expect people to be able to live comfortably? But then it goes in talking about children experiencing homelessness, and it exactly said: “3,899 School District of Philadelphia (SDP) students experiencing homelessness, 58 percent remained in their school of origin, 19 percent attended different schools, and 5 percent enrolled in more than two schools.” These are some excellent points to bring up because I know that some people in this world take children to a very soft spot in their hearts.
[The amount of people unsheltered in Philadelphia](https://projecthome.org/homelessness-in-philadelphia)
Now that we have some background knowledge of the issue, we can see how recent events made the Homelessness population go up even higher. As we all should know, Covid-19 is a big deal now, and while we were in Target, Walmart, and other stores arguing over who will get the last pack of toilet paper, I don’t think we ever thought about how this pandemic will affect the homeless. Well, the City of Homelessness enlightened us on the experiences of homeless people during the pandemic. They first started by stating: “After SEPTA enforced new Covid-19 rules and placed barrier decals to ensure social distancing, fewer homeless people were seen sleeping on trains, though many still ride the rails for hours in a semi-hypnotic, drugged state. Even in a pandemic, the trains serve as a kind of temporary home.” Then it went in on how Liz Hersh, the director of Philadelphia’s office of homeless services, talked about how the “city streets are home to about 850 unsheltered homeless people.” City Life gives us the perspectives and quotes of actual homeless people. “T.S. Eliot ( a homeless person) talked about how December is one of the cruelest months because of the holidays that are coming around, and it reminds you of everything that you’ve left behind.” going back to my thought of putting myself in someone else’s shoes I would be really sad about not having any family on special holidays.
Lastly, Understanding Homelessness talked about the challenges that homeless people face, such as “Safety & Security, Physiological Needs, Cleanliness & Hygiene, Barriers to employment,” etc. It had a page called the “Explore Data,” and you can find your state, city, country, or region to see how many homeless people there were in January 2015. 1 Dot=5 Homeless people. One of the parts that I enjoyed about this sit was that it has a section that tells you and shows you how you can help homeless people. For example, it says that you can help with “Addiction services, Better data collection, Clothing supply, Finding jobs, Flexible housing types, Food provision, Fundraising, Health services,” and many more.
[Amount of Homeless people in Philadelphia in January 2015](http://www.understandhomelessness.com/)
After all of my research, I feel that I have more knowledge of the different things that factor into people becoming homeless and how I could help them live better in this world in the situation they’re in. I’m wondering if more people were to take just an hour out of their day could the homelessness population decrease? What is one good strategy you have to help homeless people? I hope to learn more about how to make things better in the world in general.
Everyone has someone they love. Whether it is a family member, friend, or significant other. Love is supposed to be one of the greatest feelings in the world. Loving someone means you are happy to spend time with them, do things for them, and feel safe around them. But what happens when being around a person you love starts to hurts? What if you’re always scared or gloomy when that person comes to mind? Is that still love?
Having such a relationship with someone is known as being in an abusive relationship. Most people have heard of such a term before, of being in a relationship with someone that is constantly manipulating or harming you, whether it be physically or mentally. This kind of relationship doesn’t only occur between 2 people that have romantic feelings towards each other. It can also happen between friends or family. Abusive relationships are very common. Mentalhelp.net states “Every minute, approximately 20 people are the victims of physical abuse by an intimate partner in the United States.” This is also backed up by the fact that there are about 27,000 calls made to the National Domestic Violence Support Hotline every month.
Abusive relationships are not exclusive to only mental trauma. Most of the time, there is a lot of physical abuse involved in these kinds of relationships. Though women are the more common victim of abuse, men are not in the clear neither. According to Mentalhelp.net, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been physically abused by a significant other. Abuse doesn’t recognize gender as much as we think it does.
There are plenty of ways to recognize an abusive relationship. One of the most obvious ones is physical abuse. If someone ever physically harms you, then that is a big sign that points towards an abusive relationship, and the issue should be dealt with immediately. Another big sign is just the way you feel. If you feel like they are controlling everything you do, are careful about everything you say to them, or just feel upset in any way around someone. If you recognize signs like these then you should put some distance between yourself and that person.
Of course, leaving an abusive relationship is easier said than done. There are plenty of difficult situations people are in that won’t allow them to leave the relationship. But no matter how difficult it seems, you can get out of it. Maybe not on your own, but there are plenty of people out there wanting to help. Talk to someone close to you that you trust about your situation. If there’s no one that you’re still in contact with, then you can go to the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help.
Abusive relationships have serious effects on the physical and mental health of the victims. Some of those can include sleeping troubles, weakened immunity, anxiety or depression, increased risk of heart attack or stroke, etc.
Abusive relationships are quite common. You or someone close to you could be in one and you might just not have realized it yet. I’ve seen people close to me deal with being in an abusive relationship on their own and when they finally told me, I felt horrible. I wish I had realized before so they didn’t have to be in that relationship as long as they were. But I can’t go back and change the past so instead, I’m trying to share what I’ve learned with others so they are not oblivious to what’s happening like I was. If you are a victim of an abusive relationship, you can talk to someone close to you or go to this site for more help. If you know someone that is in an abusive relationship then try to talk to them, but keep in mind, talking about things like that is not easy so be patient. Love is never supposed to hurt.
I was a selected student participant in a “roundtable” designed to bring together various groups of voices to talk about what the intersections of inclusive, culturally responsive education and digital learning look like for them. I spoke with fellow high school students and district-level leaders about school materials and pedagogy. The information collected was then used by New America to help compile a set of recommendations for educators and district leaders. This is the notes New America took during the zoom session.
Being assaulted could happen anywhere, anytime. Even at work. Being sexual assaulted ins’t just being touched or raped, there’s so much more of sexual assault that you probably didn’t know was assault. It’s best to know what is sexual assault so you know when to protect yourself. This could happen to both men and women, but why don’t we look the percentages shall we. 32% of employees didn’t know jokes could be sexual harassment, and 15% of female educators and 6% of male educators experienced sexual harassment or assault.
More than 25% of women experience sexual harassment in the workplace, and 37% of harassed women reported harassment negatively influenced their career advancement. As you can see by the percentages on (https://goremotely.net/blog/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace-statistics/), women are more assaulted. But it is important to acknowledge the assault against men too. We all need to protect ourselves, but women have to even more than men. I’m sure you’ve heard of the saying, “What were you wearing?” Well, I have something to completely debunk that. There is an art exhibit that is a perfect imagery to show people who say things like that, that that doesn’t matter at all. It doesn’t matter what the person was wearing, that does not give you permission to touch or rape them. When you watch this 1 minute video (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/powerful-art-exhibit-powerfully-answers-the-question-what-were-you-wearing_n_59baddd2e4b02da0e1405d2a) and analyze the clothes, you even see baby’s clothes up. That just goes to show you that it doesn’t matter what you wear, the problem is with the people doing the raping. People also say “why didn’t they just fight back?” Kids can’t fight off someone so much bigger than them. And women do fight back. There are so many examples I can show, but I’ll just show one.
This man’s name is Kirk Taylor. He held a woman who was unnamed and raped her. She managed to get away and tell the police, but look at him. You can clearly see that she fought with everything in her. But he was too strong. So I’m saying this again, it’s never the victim’s fault. Sexual assault against women is a big issue. Men and women both could be abused, but it is mostly women being abused and assaulted by men. You can see by this on (https://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/sexual-abuse-and-assault).
As a woman myself, I even experienced sexual assault, and I’m only 15. Says a lot huh. Some women don’t know the different ways of how they could be assaulted. And that’s important to know so if God forbids someone ever tries something, you could defend yourself or know that you have a right to fight back. The different kinds of sexual assault are inappropriate touching, vaginal, anal, or oral penetration, sexual intercourse that you say no to, rape, attempted rape, and child molestation. There are ways to try to avoid being sexually assaulted, like never leaving your drink anywhere at a party because someone could slip in a pill, and to bring your own drink to the party since the punch could be spiked. You should also always have some type of weapon with you. But sadly, sometimes even after doing all these things, something could still happen. If you were to ever be raped, don’t shower or anything. Go straight to the hospital and they will use a rape kit on you to get any DNA and proof. As I said before, there are ways that women protect themselves. But I didn’t say any. So here are some ways to protect yourself. You can see more here: (https://health.allwomenstalk.com/ways-for-women-to-protect-themselves-against-danger/). Besides using bear spray and your keys or pocket knife, you should study self defense and also be in a group of three or more people. It’s dangerous to be alone. It would also be harder for someone to kidnap you if you aren’t alone. Another thing you need to do is not be too helpful. A lot of people will take advantage of your kindness and could lure you somewhere without you realizing it. You should always check underneath your car to make sure no one is under there. Also, look in the back of your car before getting in. Always be very careful and always watch your surroundings.
If you are living alone, especially if you are a woman, you should make sure your home is safe and to be aware of your home. A couple ways you could stay safe at home is by having a motion sensor outdoor light, securing your garage, using smart locks, and to have a security camera. There are more things you could do listed here: (https://www.safewise.com/blog/9-safety-guidelines-for-living-alone/#:~:text=%209%20Ways%20to%20). It’s always good to have something like theses just to be safe. Sexual assault happens to women between the ages of 14 and 20. They are three times more susceptible than adult females and younger ones in other age brackets to be assaulted or raped. Fifty percent of rape survivors were doing other things or asleep at home when the crime happened. Almost thirty percent were on their way to work or school, doing errands, or shopping. Twelve percent of females were working when they were assaulted, seven percent were attending school, and five percent were doing some other activity. It could happen anywhere, which is horrifying. There is much more to read about these percentages in this article (https://thewebaddicted.com/resources/sexual-assault-statistics-in-the-us/), but here are a few more things I want to mention. 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her life time.
Males ages 18-24 who are college students are approximately 4 times more likely than non-students of the same age to be a victim of rape or sexual assault. 52.4% of male victims report being raped by an acquaintance and 15.1% by a stranger, and in eight out of ten rape cases, the victim knew the aggressor.
Now, I want to talk about 1 of many experiences with some type of assault. I won’t go into too much detail, but in 7th grade, a guy who liked me lifted up my skirt and tried to look underneath it. Luckily I had shorts on underneath, but he had done that when school was out, and after he had done that, he ran out of the room and I couldn’t go after him because I didn’t have all my things together. I couldn’t do anything to defend myself, and that really messed with me for the rest of the day. I felt disgusted and dirty. Even if it was something “minor”. The next day I confronted him and made sure he knew I didn’t like what he did if he thought I did. He never tried something like that on me again. He apologized to me later on that day, and even though he did change and isn’t like that anymore, it still bothers me. It’s no fun to experience things like this. It makes victims feel dirty, and wish that they could wash it off, but can’t. Sexual assault is a horrible thing, it’s a shame we have to always be looking over our shoulders just to feel safe.
Could you imagine your existence only being relevant for the identity theft of your creativity? The Black/African American culture is appropriated everyday, by not just white people, but also non-black minorities. Appropriating culture is the social equivalent of plagiarism, and adapting to an element, or elements of one another’s culture or identity. It’s not a problem to borrow from our culture, but you also have to know appreciating and appropriating, have two completely different meanings. White people will take our hairstyles, fashion, vernacular, and skin tone, without permission or give the credit, and will rock it like they started a phenomenal trend, but will degrade the true meaning of the culture’s components. Unfortunately, when the black community showcases black culture, we are less valued for rocking our culture, that white people and non-black minorities stole. If white people and non-black minorities are the problem, then they have to be our solution, and I want to help show them what they are doing wrong.
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of the saying “Do it for the culture”, but never understood the significance of the quote. The term was created by the famous rap group migos, which is the only style of music that hasn’t been predominantly stolen from whites. No wonder it’s still labeled as the “ghetto factor” of music, because it hasn’t been normalized by white people yet. The appropriation of black culture is very significant because there are numerous ways you can harm a black person when doing so. We’ve been denied education, work, health care, shelter, and more, all because of our cultural components that whites are applauded for, when we are discriminated against. Yes I am an African American, but also light skinned, which basically fits the “beauty standard”. Women with lighter skin will always be the “beauty standard” according to society today, since it is the closest to white skin. Not to mention the discrimination against women with darker skin. But what people fail to realize is having lighter skin doesn’t make you any less black than a person with darker skin. I’m not under 120 pounds, I have round hips with curvy thighs, thick beach wave hair that is taken care of by protective hairstyles, full heart sized lips, and so much more that white people and non-black minorities feel the need to steal. I’m not saying that these features can’t be appreciated, but the trauma that the black community has been through just by walking out of the house with our music playing , or wearing our fashion, is just not ok.
When you have huge celebrities appropriating black culture like it’s nothing, of course it’ll be justified and defended. People have always provided others who have a platform with excuses for their unacceptable behavior, as if they’re superior to someone who works at Mcdonalds. Social media will accept a white girl with cornrows over a black girl with the same exact cornrows, because they favor black culture, but not black people. It is extremely important for people to know about this because the favoritism towards white people and non-black minorities against black culture can be extremely dangerous to the black community, because the racism that is dealt with is ignored.
Obviously feeling mocked, othered, and judged aren’t as serious as being in danger, but if you don’t see that as an issue, then you are the problem and don’t consider black people human. It’s just human decency and black people deserve to be treated with it too. The public will post “Black Lives Matter” or whatever trending incident that happened with a white cop, and black male, but will still appropriate black culture, and not realize that it is a part of systemic oppression.
Believe me I know what you’re thinking, “how has she not mentioned the usage of the N word by non-blacks yet?”. Well to answer your question, I’ve specifically avoided that topic, just because it’s a critical conversation for me, and my attitude towards it isn’t the most appropriate for a school project. I get very angry and argumentative when it comes to the usage of the N word by non-blacks. To make a change, I definitely want to create and plan a mini course, educating SLA students, non-blacks specifically, about the dangers of appropriating black culture, and how it is a system of oppression. As a black person, being born in black culture myself, my research has definitely impacted my understanding of acknowledging that non-black minorities aren’t fully innocent at all in this situation. I just hope people now know that wearing cornrows isn’t “just a hairstyle”.
The climate crisis is a huge impending problem that we must fix before it’s too late. We can’t continue to ignore the impacts of the crisis, and we have to stop burning fossil fuels. During the pandemic it’s been hard to think about all of the crises that are still happening and destroying our planet. But they’re still there, and there are things that everyone can do and learn about. But instead of focusing on the problem, I wanted to learn about the solution. So, my focus is on renewable energy. We need to eliminate fossil fuels from our atmosphere and transition to renewables. Something really important that everyone should know about is that we do actually have all of the technology to stop this and change. We’re not waiting for a big breakthrough, we have the solutions, we just need to implement change.
Transitioning to renewable energy is a crucial step in stopping climate change. And you may think that this is too big, and yes it is going to take a lot of commitment. It will involve transitioning to electric appliances, and switching energy usage.
This is a video made by Grist that shows how a hypothetical town could completely switch to renewable energy. It’s a small scale example that has to leave out the fact that individual cities can’t completely do this on their own because everything is connected to the power grid, but it still shows that it is possible to transition.
And it will cause many people to lose their jobs in the fossil fuel industry. But you know what? Renewable energy will create millions of new jobs, and benefit the Earth. You may also wonder how in the world are we going to do all of this change? Well, we already have the technology and the plans to do it. Some of the renewable technology that we already have includes solar, wind, and hydro energy. Those are popular, efficient, renewable energy sources. In my research I found other, innovative renewable energy sources, such as using kinetic energy. There are floor tile designs that capture the kinetic energy of people walking on them. In a Wired article about these floor tiles, they said that the tiles have “been used to help light soccer pitches in Brazil and Nigeria, a hallway in Heathrow Airport, and offices and shopping centers in London.” There is so much technology that we can use to transition to renewable energy, and we can do it now with plans that are already laid out for us. The Green New Deal is a plan for the United States to dramatically change the current system. It says that the “United States has historically been responsible for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions, having emitted 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through 2014, and has a high technological capacity, the United States must take a leading role in reducing emissions through economic transformation.”
The Green New Deal states facts about many of the current crises, such as income inequality, and racial injustice. It’s not just a plan to switch to renewable energy, it’s a plan to make the US a more just place for everyone. So, now you know that we have the resources and a plan to transition and stop this crisis. There’s more. In october of 2019 Philadelphia pledged to commit to 100% renewable energy. They passed a resolution that said that the city would be renewable by 2050 or sooner. And “over 170 cities, more than ten counties, and eight states across the U.S. have goals to power their communities with 100% clean, renewable energy,” according to Ready for 100. A recent development in the push for climate action is the call for a climate emergency by President Biden from AOC and Bernie Sanders. President Biden said he would back the Green New Deal and help make real change with the US in the climate crisis, and now is the time for him to fulfil his promises. The call for a “climate emergency” comes in the form of a House Bill that “compares the action needed on the climate crisis to the wartime mobilization during World War II” according to Grist. It lays out many of the disastrous impacts of climate change, and the impacts that the US will and has been taking. It also lays out a plan for President Biden to take, by first declaring a climate emergency, and then having many response projects that will help restore the United States, such as modernizing infrastructure so it’s best for citizens and best used with new affordable energy. Something really great that Grist said when reporting on this is that “the National Emergencies Act could give Biden real powers: The president could use the declaration to reinstitute a ban on crude oil exports, send emergency aid packages to states, or even redirect billions of dollars of funding away from defense projects and toward the production of renewable energy.” This is really amazing. The President can make priorities, and have a big impact on how we solve this crisis.
I’ve learned about the different goals, and bills that have been made so that there is more action on climate change. I’ve also learned about how we can go renewable and what technology there is that can help us do that. It’s clear that there are a lot of people that want to do this, and are pushing for a change. There are many plans, and things that we can do to transition to renewables and help the Earth. My question is why aren’t there big changes? The Philadelphia pledge to go renewable was made two years ago and I can’t find any recent developments. So that’s what I want to know now, what do we do next? We have the plans, we have the technology, it’s time to make the change.
Usually, when I start brainstorming for projects, the first thought that comes to my mind is, “how can I make this about my life, specifically?” That really wasn’t the case with this project. I’m not addicted to drugs, I don’t struggle with alcoholism, but I was surrounded by these types of addictions in my family and in my city, I believe I’m quite familiar with the issue.
I believe that educating more people about it will create a safer environment for people who genuinely need help, and it will also better us as a society, moving forward into the future. But first things first, communication and comprehension are key when it comes to understanding something you’ve never been through personally. Don’t enter your opinions anywhere they’re not needed.
The first thing that comes to mind when discussing this topic is the harmful assumptions our society has created involving drug addicts. The main assumption about drug addicts made by people who are totally uneducated on the topic—they have no self control or willpower. This is so far from the truth. Addiction is a relapsing disease, it’s literally a mental illness. People in society tend to respect people with mental illnesses more than people who suffer with addiction specifically. It’s literally the same thing.
Anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge will know it’s not as easy as simply choosing not to take a drug anymore. The brain has something called the “reward circuit”, which is commonly discussed while exploring the topic of addiction because it interferes with the way someone lives, making them believe they are incapable of living without this drug or substance.
Visual representation and deeper explanation of “Reward Circuit”
To dig a bit deeper, I researched about the way addiction affects an individual’s personal life, their relationships with their family, friends, and/or job. Becoming addicted to a drug or substance affects the people around you, which is why many addicts don’t have many people there to support them, making it harder to confront their addiction. There’s only so much people can do for family or friends that struggle with addiction, and they get tired of it, causing them to give up on a person entirely. From someone who has family members with a past of addiction—no one wants to see or be around someone who is clearly not sober.
Addiction is directly related to things like crime, family problems, abuse, mental health issues, and financial struggles. When someone is intoxicated/on some type of drug, they’re more likely to commit some type of abuse, which relates to family/friends/partners, of course because they’ll be the ones dealing with it. Family and financial problems caused by addiction are sorta tied together, so they affect each other. Overspending on drugs/alcohol creates financial problems, which eventually leads to family problems.
Addiction is linked to so many things that we’re blind to. It affects everything, every aspect of your life, sometimes without you noticing. I’ve already learned so much about addiction just with the little research I’ve done so far. I used to be quite ignorant to the issue, but this project has opened my eyes wider than I expected.
Are you someone who wants to travel, or someone who just wants to see their friends again? If so, are you still wearing a mask and following social distancing guidelines? There are many places where COVID cases are reaching high peaks, and people’s health is being greatly affected. Learning more about this issue and educating others about it may as well be the most important thing during a pandemic as large as this one. My general goal is learning more about how to fix the issue of public safety. I want to tell everyone about the importance of wearing masks. If we want to go back to living normally, traveling, meeting up with friends or colleagues, we need to make sure we’re still following social distancing guidelines and continuing to wear our masks.
I aspire to travel places around the world. This matters to me because there are many places I haven’t been. I’ve always seen pictures of places like Akihabara in Tokyo, Japan. It looks like such a nice place to me and it seems so fun to travel to. I share my interest in traveling with new people I meet and my friends, because someday I’ll hopefully be able to travel with them. Traveling isn’t the only thing that I’m so passionate about. Usually people have something they want to do and they’re passionate about it, and for me, at this point I’m just passionate about seeing people again! It has been so long since I have seen anyone from my old school in person, and since I have seen any of my friends. I don’t think that I’m the only one who feels this way about wearing masks, though. I feel like people in other parts of the world feel like this too, because of their area’s situations.
Recently, people have been talking about lifting mask mandates. Personally, I am not a fan of this idea. If people are thinking of lifting COVID-19 restrictions when there are still places where cases are high and staying high, even more of the population will be affected. One of the places that wanted to reopen, even, was Texas. Texas is one of the places where COVID cases are staying high, and only 12% of their population have gotten the vaccine. Almost 2.3 million people were affected, which is crazy. This issue is significant to everyone. Have you seen the charts of how many cases there are in places like South Dakota or Rhode Island? In this article, it shows this map:
Map of how high COVID cases in an area are depending on their color.
If we look close enough to the darker red areas, there is a key that specifies that those are the areas with the most cases of COVID-19. Fortunately, most areas are lighter which means there are less daily cases, but that does not blow past the places that do have many cases. Communities of people can’t grow and continue like this. It’s a health issue, and we need to focus our attention to it. Even though cases have slowed down in many other areas, us as a population, us as a community, should continue to follow social distancing rules.
In the article Guidance for Wearing Masks by the CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention), it says that the virus can be spread by even a few respiratory droplets from one person to another. When people gather and talk to each other without a mask, they can spread the virus so easily. The fact that it can spread like that is scary to imagine. When wearing one, it should fit snugly over your nose and your mouth, the input and output for the virus. We should prevent that from happening and cover these areas to stay safe. Everyone above the age of 2 should wear one around people they aren’t usually around to be careful. Within this article, there is another that goes more in depth about the safety of wearing one. In the article, they mention double masking. Double masking is proven to be more effective than single masking. When wearing a single mask, there are still those corners that can allow respiratory droplets in, which isn’t safe. Wearing more than one mask or double knotting your mask can help counter this issue.
During research, I’ve learned so many more issues within the issue. For example, overcrowding in prisons. Surprisingly, I wasn’t even thinking about how the virus impacted prisons because there are so many people there who are put together in small cells for years. I’ve watched TV shows that show prisons and crowds of people in the yards or in their cafeteria, and it makes me wonder how many people could be infected and spreading it to others. Some of these people could be even getting out soon, and if they are infected they will probably be put back into holding, like a hospital, but then hospitals already have many people who have illnesses. I keep wondering how people manage to separate prisoners and get them masks and socially distance them so they don’t spread the virus to new prisoners, or even who is guarding them.
I drew an image of 2 people who are 6 feet apart and wearing masks.
Wearing a mask is not optional, it is your duty! You might have the chore to do the laundry, or take out the trash. This is just like that. Even though it could seem annoying, it is very important for you to spread the word that this virus isn’t over. If we continue to wear our masks, we’ll be able to breathe in the fresh city air again and meet up with people sooner. So, this is a sign that you should go put on that mask!
When someone asks you “What is one of the biggest problems in the world today?”, what is your first reaction or answer? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. One of the biggest problems in today’s society is cruelty towards animals. This isn’t just every-day domestic animals, but also farm animals and livestock. This topic is relevant and interesting because it is about respecting life in the best way possible. I am personally interested in learning more about animal cruelty because I love animals and I want to be a veterinarian one day and it hurts me to know that some people abuse and intentionally or unintentionally hurt or even kill animals. From learning more about animal cruelty in Pennsylvania, I get a better understanding of the topic and can start with making changes in my state and my surroundings first. Other people should also understand that pets and animals do so much for the human race, supporting, providing comfort, providing food, and just being treasured and helpful to humans. Animals do so much for us, so why can’t we make sure that while they’re alive, they are respected and treated with some type of decorum?
Before the laws are discussed, what about the basic facts? There is a lot to know about animal abuse in Philadelphia, but the most general information helps give a solid understanding of the severity of animal abuse and its effects. Research has shown that animal abuse crimes can be linked to violent crimes towards people. Hoarding also endangers an animal, the hoarder trying to take care of more animals than they can. The gender and age range for intentional animal abusers are mostly men under 30 and for hoarders, it is women over 60. The most commonly reported cases are for dogs, cats, horses, and livestock. The weak protection for livestock under state laws makes it so that only the most shocking cases are reported. “Data on domestic violence and child abuse cases reveal that a staggering number of animals are targeted by those who abuse their children or spouses.”, according to The Humane Society of The United States. This shows that there is a direct link between domestic violence and animal cruelty. With this information, I hope that people can take it into account when reading about the laws. I also hope that people can realize the severity of animal cruelty and know that these things need to change.
Now that the basic information is figured out, what about the laws and punishments for animal abuse? There are set punishments in Pennsylvania for animal cruelty, as stated in Animal Cruelty Laws in Pennsylvania. This site states that animal cruelty is a serious charge the culprit can be fined, be charged with a misdemeanor, a felony, or go to prison. It is illegal to abuse, beat, torture, abandon, or mistreat an animal and the punishment depends on the circumstances of the case. Neglecting an animal in any way, whether it be not providing necessities, locking it in a car during hot weather, or tethering it up for more than nine hours without the needed care, is met with a penalty from a fine to felony charges, all based on the severity of the risk or injuries. Medical procedures that aren’t done legally and by a certified vet fall under animal cruelty. A fine is given for poisoning an animal and if it is done unintentionally, it’s considered a misdemeanor. According to E.A. Gjelten, “ It’s a felony in Pennsylvania to participate in organized animal fighting in any way, from owning or training the animals to betting on a fight or simply attending as a spectator.” After Libre’s law, animal-abuse legislation named after an abused puppy was passed. Libre, a Boston terrier, was found starving, covered in mange, barely alive on an Amish dog-breeding farm in Lancaster County in 2016. He was saved by a delivery-truck man, being saved from his impending doom. When his law was passed, dog tethering laws have been improved, stating that a dog cannot be tied down for more than nine hours in 24 hours and the tether must be three times the dog’s length. In harsh conditions, a dog can’t be tethered for more than 30 minutes and must always have access to water and shade. Animal cruelty penalties are strengthened as well. Humane Society officers and veterinarians can’t be sued for wrongly accusing someone of animal cruelty. The abuse of horses is treated the same as cats, dogs, or other pets. Anyone that is officially convicted of anything animal-cruelty related has to give up their animal (Philadelphia Inquirer).
When researching animal abuse, the data that does and doesn’t exist about cases is astounding. The information about reported animal abuse cases is important to know to see numerically how harsh animal cruelty is. As stated by Pennsylvania Capital-Star “In 2017, 965 offenses were reported. In 2018, that number climbed to 11,836. By 2019, the number of offenses reported was 8,405. The total number of animal abuse cases filed from 2017-2019 statewide is 4,804, according to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.” Many animal abuse laws and policies have been put in place to prohibit, limit, and, overall, stop animal abuse and cruelty. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) monitors the offenses and provides data on it that can be viewed. The number of cases in 31 Pennsylvania counties ranges from 19 to 888 in 2018, because there is a difference in how cases are reported. In most counties, charges can be directed straight to a district judge, but, in Philadelphia, it has to be brought to a detective. Humane officers also need to notify the defendant that they have been charged with an animal abuse offense, so if they ignore it or let the animal go, the police can’t do anything, explaining the low number of cases in Philadelphia. Overall, Pennsylvania has over 4,000 reported animal abuse cases around 2018. These are only the cases that were officially reported, and it’s counting up to thousands. If all of the animal abuse in Philadelphia were reported and documented, who knows how many cases there would be. So many animals, so many years, but what impact has been made? What has been done to stop this pain?
What can be learned from this research after further inspection? What’s the takeaway? I have realized that animal abuse in Philadelphia is a much bigger problem than I initially realized. This matter is very important and should be taken more seriously. It also should be discussed a lot more than it is. I wonder what other animals are being abused that isn’t really discussed. I question what matters are being taken to not only fine or charge animal abusers, but to also limit the number of cases and make animals safer and treated better than they are. How are livestock being treated? Or farm animals? I hope to learn more about specific cases in Philadelphia and police involvement in these matters and if they are truly doing their job when it comes to animal abuse.
When you go out to dinner and order a hamburger, have you ever thought about the cow whose life was taken so that you could eat that meal? According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, approximately 9 billion animals are killed in factory farms every year, and the Sentience Institute estimates that 99% of animal products in the US come from factory farms. Many of those creatures live their entire lives in tiny crates, receiving little to no care and as much food as their bodies can hold. When their time is up, they’re sent to the slaughterhouse. Factory farms are essentially giant warehouses designed to produce and kill the maximum number of livestock they can, under controlled conditions and using intensive methods. Factory farming began in the mid 20th Century, to keep up with the increasing demand of meat. However, in the process of making that meat cheaper and more easily accessible, we have lost sight of the fact that animals are sentient beings — they want to avoid harm and stay alive. The factory farming industry is a cruel and inhumane place for animals.
The above image displays young chickens cramped into a large warehouse.
This project is all about educating myself and others on a topic I’m passionate about, and I chose to work with factory farms.
I have been a vegetarian for years. I chose to stop eating meat because of the inhumane cruelty that goes on in the meat production industry, as well as the climate and environmental issues. While the safety of the environment is very important to me, for this project I chose to focus more on the wellbeing of the animals.
My family has friends who own a small farm. Growing up, we visited a lot, and I saw firsthand what humane farming looked like. The thought that an animal could be raised any other way, especially in the harsh conditions of factory farms, was distressing. This issue became very important to me.
Warning: The following video contains graphic content which some people may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
The cruel methods used in factory farms are like no other. In many of them, animals live in too-tight cages and too-packed pens. They receive minimal medical care if any, and according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s statistical service, roughly 10 percent of the livestock die even before reaching the slaughterhouse. No matter the animal, chances are that in most large factory farms, they will be mistreated. For example, chickens raised for meat are forced to grow so large that oftentimes, their legs can’t support them. To force them to eat and fatten faster, bright lights shine almost 24/7 so that they stay awake. The end of egg-laying hens’ beaks are cut or burned off to prevent them from pecking each other. Pigs are stuffed into crates so small that they can’t turn around. Because they are highly intelligent creatures, their stark surroundings can cause abnormal behaviors like chewing on their tails. This can lead to infection, so workers sometimes cut off the tail, or even a pig’s teeth, usually without painkillers. Sows are moved between their gestation stalls and farrowing crates to give birth, both of which are small and restricting. Cows raised for beef usually live in sparse pastures with many other cattle, typically without shelter. Practices like branding and castration often cause them pain and discomfort. Dairy cows have unnaturally high milk production rates, and they usually have most of their tail and horns removed without painkillers. These cows are artificially inseminated once a year so they keep producing milk, and once they give birth their calves are taken away from them, which causes extreme stress for both creatures. The female calves are the next dairy cows, and the male calves are used for veal. When dairy cows have passed prime, they are slaughtered for beef. Turkeys are forced to grow so big so fast that it can cause pain and other physical illnesses. Because of their disproportionate bodies, turkeys cannot physically mate anymore. They face year-round artificial insemination, even though turkeys are only meant to reproduce once a year. Many fish meant for food are raised in overcrowded farms. There are very few regulations on fish farming, because fish are often not seen as sentient beings even though they are. Because of this, fish usually aren’t stunned before they are killed. Some of the processes used to kill fish are bleeding them out, blunt force, suffocating them or freezing them.
This image
shows pigs, each confined to a crate so small that they can’t turn around.
Going forward, I’d like to research more about the steps people and organizations are taking to end this inhumane treatment in the food industry. So far, my research has made me more and more determined to spread awareness and take action against factory farming. Learning about the harsh conditions and treatment these animals have to face has been hard, but it is an important issue that I think everyone should learn about. No animal deserves to live in a cramped cage their whole life, rarely going outside, and being forced to eat the most food they can contain. Moreover, while it may cost more money and take more work, every animal deserves the right to lead a happy and healthy life. If factory farms continue functioning the way they are currently, almost every animal product you eat will come from an animal that led a painful, harrowing, and traumatic life, right up until the end.
This photo displays a group of people celebrating their pride.
My project is about the inequality, injustices, and (mental) health of people who identify as LGBTQ+. The LGBTQ+ community experience a lot of judgment, because of their sexuality, which is then inflicted upon the way the person who’s judging treats them. People who are against LGBTQ+ display their hatred and unacceptable behavior towards them through the law, hospitals, careers, jobs, and much more. The judgments and hatred upon members of the LGBTQ+ can be rooted in religion, beliefs, traditions, stereotypes, society’s norms, or maybe even from someone’s assuming and hypocritical ignorance. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I want to make it my goal to learn more about my community’s history. Over the course of decades, the LGBTQ+ community has experienced great oppression, hatred, ignorance, injustices, and some of the problems listed beforehand have even led to some being murdered. If I make an attempt to learn about LGBTQ+ history then I am making an attempt to educate the ignorance that’s been placed within the mindsets, religion, beliefs, traditions, and societies of humankind. I want to make a change because it is hurtful and painful watching the way the world treats and views LGBTQ+ members. A person should not be shunned, because they are not straight. Everyone deserves the right to live their life truthfully instead of feeling like an outcast to society. People have hidden who they were in fear of rejection and hatred from family, friends, loved ones, and including the oppressors. Living a life where you are forcing yourself to be someone you’re not can lead to depression, sadness, a (mental) health downfall, or even worse suicide.
I am interested in such a sensitive and important topic because as I stated before I am a member of the LGBTQ+ community. I identify as pansexual, which is not the same as bisexual although some people believe. The prefix “pan-“ means “all.” Similarly, pansexuality means that you’re attracted to people of all genders. This also includes people who don’t identify with any gender(agender). Note this, pansexuality doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re attracted to every person. For example, heterosexual males aren’t attracted to every female, and vice versa. This word pansexual simply indicates that you find yourself being attracted to people of all sorts of genders. Acknowledging the injustice and sorts of neglect that the members of the LGBTQ+ community face make me feel the pain and hurt that they feel.
It is important to me to be able to speak about these things, because if one fears all fear. I want to be the voice of those stitched and frightened mouths. I want people to no longer live in fear, but live with who they truly are: beautiful. This topic is important for everyone to be educated about because it is best to vocalize all inequality, not just the inequality that they just see. As humans, we were “created equal,” but nobody cannot be equal if we have rights being taken away from a group because of their identity. It is important for humanity to begin placing themselves in the shoes of its victims because where one cannot sympathize is where one cannot care. We cannot pick and choose who to give freedom, rights, privileges, advantages, etc too because doing so is like making a snowman and forgetting its eyes and mouth.
This topic on LGBTQ+ inequalities and health is significant because the system is failing to treat everyone as if we were all created equal. Someone’s sexual orientation should not dictate how important and how much freedom one has. The view of how society treats a person can also affect that person’s health. The feeling of not being wanted, because of who you are, is dreadful and can lead to you becoming depressed, anxious, self-hating, suicidal, etc. People should be able to acknowledge the warning signs and how inequalities that people who identify as LGBTQ+ feel. When it comes to the comfort of speaking on sexual relationships, it is often a very sensitive topic towards LGBTQ+ because of how badly they are treated within clinics and hospitals. The level of discomfort keeps them closed off and silent about the things that should be normal, but because of their sexual orientation and identity, they are looked at as if they’re not normal. A person shouldn’t have to keep something in and stay closed off, because of their difference to the world. We need to normalize everyone not being straight because there are different sexualities and relationships. When it comes to my research, readers can be educated with the data, statistics, definitions, and explanations of each individual topic that has been researched. The research would explain stereotypes, data, and the meaning behind the different injustices and oppression that LGBTQ+ face. You could collect valid information and data by reading the articles and my analysis of each article.
So far, my research has given me a better understanding of how the stereotypes and problems of the LGBTQ+ community start. From the beginning, I knew some things about how stereotypes begin and who or what creates them but I didn’t know about how little it takes for that stereotype to pass on. I’m wondering about who specifically started the stereotypes and inequalities towards this specific group of people. I question society because how can people just become so hateful and unaccepting because of someone’s sexual orientation. I just don’t understand how someone’s identity can bother other people when everyone wasn’t made the same. Moving forward, I hope to learn more about the data and statics of health, suicide, depression, anxiety, homelessness, and neglect.
