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

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

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

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

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

annotated bibliography

Why are colleges so expensive?

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

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

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

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

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

The War on Violence

Here is a word cloud of gang violence. Image source

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

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

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

Poster against gang violence. Image source

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

Poster for victims who suffered violence. Image source

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

Annotated Bibliography

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When this project was introduced, I knew I was meant to choose child sex trafficking. There was one class in English in 7th grade that made it so. We watched a documentary called Very Young Girls where my teacher knew a lady who helped with the program that was shown in the documentary. The documentary took about two class periods to finish and afterwards, we had two projects pertaining to this topic. In the project we focused mainly on African American exploited girls. This time, I wanted to show statistically how many and what kinds of children are prostituted in the United States. I found the information presented horrifying, but what really spoke to me was what little was being done to help these children. Many children are arrested for prostitution, and many go right back to doing it after being freed. Officials may think that because they return to that life, then they want to be there, but Very Young Girls shined a light of what mentally goes on in the child's head. The documentary focused on about 7 different girls stories, so they can’t really speak for the entire population, but here is what I've gathered.

• Pimps are very persistent

• They look for girls who are most vulnerable and need help.

• It's better for a pimp to take a low-profile girl because nobody will come looking for them

• Once he’s helped you out of whatever problems you have, then he starts to force you to go out on corners and help him with his business.

• Many girls feel like they owe their pimp something because he gave them what their parents couldn’t  

• They help him because they think that if they don’t, then he will leave them and they will go back to being homeless, or unwanted in their homes, or whatever the case may be.

• Many Pimps also threaten them saying that they would find them wherever they are and kill them if they ever leave.

• They don’t see a way out. So they stay.  

• After leaving a life where you are sold 4-6 times a day, it’s very hard to adjust.

Like I said, these points are just some things I thought of while watching the documentary. It may not necessarily be what you gathered. In addition, these are points from many different stories, not just the account of one girl.

Once I refreshed my memory on what I saw in seventh grade, I started to do even more research on a broader plane. I looked into a Huffington Post blog which more or so focused on the statistics and found that there are 2 million children are victims of child sex trafficking each year across the globe and 300,000 of those kids are in America. America still isn’t the most common place for children to be trafficked. Children are constantly being pursued by predators. They showed that there are many online predators looking for children. The blog states, “ The number of children being contacted by sexual predators online is disturbing and astounding at the same time. Approximately one out of every seven children is sexually contacted, or solicited, by a predator while online.” The documentary showed girls that were pursued in person at random times in the day, but this blog shows that there are many other ways that predators hunt for kids and they are relentless.

Furthermore, I decided to get information on the type of kids predators look for. I looked into the website Thorn, which is devoted to teaching people about various problems in the world. I found there study on child sex trafficking and found some interesting statistics. Kids who are homeless or runaways, LGBTQ, African American or Latino, and youth interacting with the child welfare system are more vulnerable to this type of exploitation. 52% of child arrests relating to prostitution are African American Children. Runaways and homeless kids are at an even greater risk of being exploited. 25% of children sampled for a survey admitted that they felt the need to trade sex for money or food. In another study, 86% of the children were in the care of social services or foster care. These statistics support some of my findings from the documentary because they show that low profile children are at a higher risk for child sex prostitution.

Afterwards, I looked into the impact of child sex trafficking physically and mentally on the exploited children. I read through a article on a site called Ark of Hope for Children. Where I looked specifically into the section titled Physical and Mental Consequences of Trafficking for Victims. Victims of child sex trafficking struggle significant problem, physically and mentally. Of course, the physical comes from having sex involuntarily many times daily. They may catch STDs, pelvic pains, rectal pains, and urinary difficulties. Mentally, they can suffer from a variety of problems. Depression, self-hate, shame, eating disorders, PTSD, fear, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, drug addiction and many more. Prostitution is ruining the lives of thousands of children. during and many years after the crimes are committed.

Also, in the documentary, the girls who spoke out about how their lives were like were all apart of this program called G.E.M.S which stands for Girls Educational and Mentoring Services. This program had directors who really cared about the girls and wanted to really help them out of their situation. So went to their official site. They’re purpose is to empower girls and women, ages 12-24, who have been victims of sex trafficking and help them exit the commercial sex industry. They are centered in New York state. The founder is Rachel Lloyd who started this program in 1998 because she had been sexually exploited as a teenager and she wanted to help others like her. They want to focus on building girls up and showing them that they are beautiful and have potential for future success.

Run down buildings in a once what was popular shopping district is now almost destitute-like.

Image Credits

For a country (or kingdom as it was previously called), that was once flourished with royalty and riches has now fallen to one of the most poorest countries in the world. Coming from a family who almost entirely immigrated from Cambodia, the country holds a special place in my heart and it was painful for me to see millions of people living under harsh conditions. This past summer, I myself visited the country for the 4th time in my life, and it was like day and night between America and Cambodia. My family members who live in Cambodia mostly classifies as middle class and I lived with them during my sojourn there. We often traveled and visited family members who were living in poverty in order to support them and give them some basic necessities. One day you’re in the middle of a rich and wealthy neighborhood, and the next you’re struggling to find a running faucet or toilet. It was an experience that I cannot describe having to witness firsthand of people without the normal amenities such as water or food. Some signs were scattered alongside an unmarked path which roughly translates to “DANGER: Landmines ahead. Use extreme caution.” I’ve read about thousands of landmines that are still armed from decades ago, so this did not surprise me at all.  As a child before, I didn’t really understand that much and paid no attention to what people’s social status because you know, children only see vacations as having fun! Now as a 15 year old, (14 at the time of the visit), it breaks my heart to see people live like this. My parents also told me that they had to live like this when they were little and lived in Cambodia. It just all felt surreal and hit a little too close to home.  

Daily, people wait alongside on the road in order to busses or pickup trucks to pick them up for work in a factory. Dozens of these trucks can be on the road at one time, and up to 50 people can be squeezed in on each one, often crowded.

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Poverty in America is nothing compared to what poverty in Cambodia is like. Over 70% of the population is classified as “poor” or “near poor”. The situation is so dire that in fact if those people who are classified as “poor” or “near poor” just lost 30 cents from their daily income, then they would fall into extreme poverty. Education quality is one of the biggest reasons to why poverty exists in Cambodia. Even though private schools become more and more affordable, public schools just cannot keep up. In 2014 75% of Cambodia’s high schoolers failed their graduation exam due to inadequate teaching and funding. Another major factor was history of the country itself. It experienced a bloody massacre which killed most highly educated scholars and farmers. Once it ended, the country was left to rebuild but the only people remaining were either children or small-scale farmers. Today, the country relies on textile manufacturing and tourism as its main source of income,but even so, this is not enough to revive the economy on its own as these are two very weak compared to things such as fishing, technology manufacturing and the car industries that are present in big countries such as Australia, Japan and the United States.. There is also a source of income from foreign relief as in 2015, the country received a total of $677 million dollars from foreign aid. Compared to other Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, Cambodia does not farewell in terms of employment and the economy itself. Let’s take a look at a poverty map for Cambodia.

Here we can see two maps, one being from 2009 and the other being from 2012. In 2009, almost 70 percent of the country was in the red area which means over 40 percent of households were identified as “poor”. In 2012, the situation improved, with over 45% of the country dropping from red to green, but a large portion of the country still remains in the red.

Image Credits

Now let’s take a look at a comparison bar graph.

Cambodia has the highest poverty rate at 30% with Singapore and Laos coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The lowest is Malaysia with just 3.8% of the population being in poverty.

Image Credits

Finally, let’s take a look at where Cambodia stands in education ratings.

Like I said before, education plays a big part in why Cambodia has a lot of poverty. As we can see, Cambodia is ranked 116 out of 146, which is lower than average.  Compared to other SE Asia countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, they just do not fare well with them.

Image Credits

Every day that passes by, that could be tens, hundreds, even thousands of people suffering from the effects of poverty. A staggering 37 percent of all children under the age of 5 suffer from some form of malnutrition. The main question we are looking for here is: Can we save Cambodia from poverty? The answer is yes and no. We can support from relief aids and taking down corruption, but we are only so limited in our power to end poverty in Cambodia. That is up to the government and its people to change themselves. No one deserves to live like this. The government has turned a blind eye to its people, and that is a dangerous place to live in. Extirpating the cause of the problem will help, but won’t solve it completely.

Even in their dark situations, Khmer children always finds a way to smile. One reason I can think of this is because maybe they were taught that everything will be fine or to just be happy. Either way, you can’t just help but smile looking at them.

Image Credits

Ever since I embarked on to that trip, it opened my eyes wider than before and burned the issue into my mind from then to now. It will always be a shadow in my vision until the day that it’s fixed. I plan to be a helping hand in the issue. For me, this IS my community. My international community of Cambodia. Educating others about this issue is something that I hope to accomplish by writing this, and I believe they will have a change in their way of thinking towards Cambodia after this. I am confident that the moment you finish reading this, you are going to do a Google search of Cambodia and learn about its history, photos, and the amazing landscape that it has to offer. Please, help save Kampuchea ( កម្ពុជា)!

Annotated Bibliography

The Dream Act was first introduced in 2001 but unforntally the bills never came law, until 2010 there is one bill that almost came law but then it came five votes short so it couldn't  become law. What is The Dream Act?... So The Dream Act is about kids that immigrated to the U.S. with their families when they were little kids. On June 2012 young kids received permission to stay in the U.S lawful and they could apply to renew that permission. These permission papers allow immigrants to legally remain in the United States for as long as their expiration date states. Leading organizations in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of immigrants with low income. This changed a number of young immigrants’ lives until Donald Trump made the decision to make the DACA into a 6 month grace period. Meaning that after 6 months you can no longer get a DACA.

Here is picture of students protesting.

This topic is really important as a whole because I have a lot of friends that immigrated to the U.S. that have a huge possibility of getting deported. It's not just about my friends, it is also about all these other children that came here for a better future because maybe where they came from they didn't have any schools or they didn't have any good jobs so they couldn't really afford a lot of stuff. There are many reasons why a person would leave their whole family began and come to a whole different country that they don't know anything about. I think people need to know about this because not a lot of people understand the fact the immigrating to the U.S wasn't really their choice, it was their parents, and their parents brought them here because they think if they came here they would have way more chances and have a better future.  

   This issue is really important because the Dreamers (Young migrants) don't really want anything but to follow their dreams and have a good future and make their families proud, and most of them came to the U.S. when they were really little so they don't really know much about their countries, so it's going to be really hard for them to go back to a country they don't really know and start their whole lives from zero. Most importantly this migrant will work 10x harder as people that were just born here because as an immigrant you know what it feels like to not have anything, and you know that being here in America is just a blessing.

Here is another picture od more people protesting to pass The Dream Act.

Since I don't really know everything about The dream act I had to do research. Researching really did help me understand the subject better, but until this day There are still people that prostate and fight to make this a Law. I really wanna continue on this project because this topic is really interesting and it means alot not just to me but to many other people, most of them this topic means the whole world to them. Most importantly this topic is honestly heartbreaking.

Christopher Jacobs

Orange Stream

“Bullying in Schools: The Mental/Physical Struggle”

    Bullying in schools is a very serious problem in not just the United States but all over the world. I would know as I personally was a victim of this as in my middle school. Bullying in schools happen mostly in the hallway or staircases with it being 42% of where bullying occurs.When students report bullying the statistics show that of students who reported being bullied, 13% were made fun of, called names, or insulted; 12% were the subject of rumors; 5% were pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; and 5% were excluded from activities on purpose. This shows a big variety of how people are bullied by others as well, and this isn’t even including cyber bullying as well, which is just as or even more harmful. Now cyberbullying by definition is bullying but in a digital form usually over social media such as Snapchat, Instagram and so much more.

Here is a picture of modern day bullying where instead of actually helping and is very accurate as I have seen this firsthand.

Taken From “When Bad Behavior Becomes Bullying Behavior” https://www.simplemost.com/difference-between-bad-behavior-bullying/

Bullying is sometimes related to suicide as well and this isn't statistically correct it has happened before. An example of this is Amanda Todd who was a 15-year-old Canadian  girl who after being blackmailed into showing her breasts on a webcam. From there afterwards she was mocked over and over from her classmates and even friends alike because of this. She took her story to youtube and after her suicide the video had gone viral. This story is something that truly shows how horrible bullying is and the type of things that it can lead too. WHile the sad thing is its only one of the thousands of stories of its kind.

A screenshot of the video of amanda Todd´s suicide taken from Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Amanda_Todd

    After seeing this I'm pretty sure you are thinking “man I wish I could do something about all of this” and there's some good news you can actually do something about it. Studies show that 57% of bullying stops when reported by someone meaning that if you see it you can be someone to stop it. Also, studies have shown that anti bullying organizations have helped out as well with a quarter (25%) of bullying stopped due to those! So by donating or even becoming a part of anti bullying associations you can help out someone in dire need!

 Bullying has many effects on people such as things like having lowered self-esteem, not liking  school as much and as a result their attendance rates can go down as well. This can lead to affecting people getting into high schools and colleges which could really kill even the best of students future. Also bullying can lead to anxiety, depression and can also make someone feel weary and suspicious of everyone and can mess up their social life.

I was personally bullied and I can say that from a first-person view this is all true. I have overcome most of the difficulties but I find it I am very self-conscious about my looks and my hair and head due to people always talking about me because of it. Now I could go more into depth on it but that could be whole different story to tell.  I  have gotten over it but it still has had some time that took and made me as a person a lot more shy around people. But this is only 1 side of the spectrum. Bullies usually were bullied at a time or have bad conditions at home or other aspects.Also being a bully has more risks of being a thief or even worse and becoming a criminal in general.

 In conclusion bullying, more specifically in school is a big deal that I feel isn't talked about as much but can have long-lasting effects or even lead to some very bad mental illnesses. There are some things people have tried but this is something I personally think we all should know about

For more information on this topic check out my annotated bibliography:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ir9GL1stvGdU6-QBAzoREZ49DQpITADvoQ2oIMPZYA8/edit?usp=sharing

Sources:

http://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/stats.asp

https://www.stopbullying.gov/media/facts/index.html

Us department of health and human services.

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/impact.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Amanda_Todd

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/impact.aspx

Fraternity Brothers aren’t real brothers

I was walking home from school one day when I got a call from my mom saying that one of my friends was in the hospital, I asked why and my mom said that when he was going into college he decided to join a fraternity and was hazed. He drank to much beer and had to go to the hospital where he could have died. My friend is also my neighbor so this hit me pretty hard. Ever since then I have been very serious about the end of fraternities.

Hazing is an “initiation” to a fraternity using sexually humiliating, physically abusive, and/or forcing alcohol types of strategies to the hazing victim to show brotherhood to the fraternity, but it is really just torture. Hazing consists of the other fraternity members handing the person being initiated so much beer that it could be lethal, and some fraternities paddle whoever they are hazing which leave very explicit marks on the victim to such an extent that the victim can die from that as well. Hazing is a huge problem because hazing occurs 76% of the time when somebody new joins a fraternity which is 3% more than in gangs.

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/file.php?path=/images/CQ_Researcher/r20040109-whohazesmost.gif - This is an image of the percentage of people who get hazed when they join one of these social groups.

A huge misconception about hazing is that people think that it is a very rare occurrence that doesn’t do much damage to a person or society when it is committed, but in actuality hazing happens a lot, and when it happens it does hurt. As in almost every fraternity hazing happens when new members join, most times that this happens the victims get sent to a hospital, and at least one hazing related death per year with seventy deaths since 2000, so hazing is getting worse. Somebody named Timothy Piazza who was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity died because of hazing last year. Timothy  was given eighteen beers in 82 minutes, Tim fell down the fraternity houses stairs, fractured his skull, went through irreversible traumatic brain injuries, had his spleen ruptured in multiple ways which caused extensive internal bleeding and hemorrhagic shock. Tim then died after being left at the bottom of the stairs for twelve hours. This incident not only killed Timothy, but ruined every other fraternity “brothers” life because themselves and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity have been charged with 850 charges including involuntary manslaughter. The shocking part bout this case is that the fraternity that Timothy joined was a “reformed” fraternity, which means that it has a strict behavioral policy, a no alcohol policy, and adult supervision with security footage. This was shocking to me not because they weren’t supposed to do these things, but because nobody knew this was happening, not even the adult who was supposed to be supervising the fraternity members. After I researched this case and others like it I became shocked because I thought that what happened to my friend was the worst that it could get, but I became scared and thought about “what if that happened to my friend?” I would have been devastated if my friend died, which made me devastated when I heard that many other people have died and made me hate fraternities even more.

https://www.unilad.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/111007_brandbox_americanpie.jpg.CROP_.rectangle3-large.jpg - Picture of students being hazed or “running the gauntlet” at a fraternity.

Fraternity deaths are getting more numerous which makes fraternities get more known which reveals more of the horrifying truth about fraternities to the world. Right now people are considering shutting down fraternities because of all of the deaths that fraternities have caused and the side effects of fraternities that affect the members, such as, being more likely to become a rapist, alcoholic, drug abuser, and much more.

Help fraternities get noticed so all of the deaths and ruined lives can stop. Fraternities are very close to coming to an end such as Timothy Piazza’s fraternity, and some schools are already banning fraternities from their campuses. We can help shut fraternities by working together and maybe even getting into contact with schools. Stand up against fraternities!

          http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/embed/public/2017/05/15/timothy-piazza.PNG - Picture of Timothy Piazza, the person who died at the hazing incident at Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.

If you would like to see my annotated bibliography, click here.

Littering Is Not Good!

An issue that is going on in the world that I am passionate about is littering. Littering is an issue that I am passionate about, because littering is a danger to the earth and other living life forms. Everyday when I walk around north philadelphia all I see is trash all over the ground. It is very peevish to see a lot of trash on the ground and especially when there is a trash can near by. I feel like their actions should change immediately. This issue should matter to people because they are living on this earth too and it is important that they keep their planet clean too so we can live clean and keep the Earth green. This information that I am going to be giving is significant because this information will warn people the possible danger not only to our environment but us as well.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13wTzYcJCdMGtSsozTe1VAUYwjLW3z1r577zruis1Vrw/edit?usp=sharing

One of the many problems plaguing America today is Police Brutality. In the year 2017 1,147 people were killed by police officers in the U.S. statistically speaking the races most affected by police brutality are Caucasians with 392 African Americans with 191 and Hispanics with 159. There are many possible reasons for police brutality such as inadequate training and beliefs on how others should be treated.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-New-Years-Eve-Protests-in-Chicago-Against-Police-Brutality-20151231-0028.html

Did you know for every 1000 that are killed by police officers 1 officer is convicted of a crime.The Washington Post and Bowling Green University published a vividly thorough informative study about police officers who have killed people in the United States since 2005. The study found that among the thousands who have killed at the hands of cops since that year, only 54 officers have been charged. The Post reported that most officers were cleared or acquitted in the resolved cases. Police brutality not only affects those in the moment of the situation, but the families affected by what can be a horrible moment. Police Brutality is not a new problem that is starting to impact society Police Brutality has progressed for over 53 years and has only continued to get worst. Many stories you have all seen or heard of about police brutality could have all been prevented. In my day to day life I leave the house everyday not in fear, but in caution and in disappointment the men and women who are supposed to live by the motto to protect and serve do the complete opposite, the horrible actions committed by the officers are alienating us from them which makes a bad environment for you and me.

By Africa Jackson on July 9, 2016 / @AfricaJwrites /  Like the Tempest

Police Brutality happens everyday in the year 2017 2% of Police brutality in America was in Pennsylvania, That in total is 23 on December 28 Isaiah Christian Green was killed at the age of 20 for gun possession, On December 27 Dennis Plowden was shot after being stopped by police while driving his car. What I am trying to say is while compared to the other 49 states whose numbers of murders related to Police Brutality are higher than the state of Pennsylvania they all could have been prevented. After the number of shootings happening all around America former United States President Barack Obama said during a press conference, ¨This is not just a black issue. It’s not just an Hispanic issue. This is an American issue that we should all care about, all fair- minded people should be concerned.¨ I want to end this with what could be done to prevent the high number of people killed by police brutality which is rather high. To prevent another horrible death we as a whole have to confront our past as a united people to learn what has to change, some things in life your able to sweep under the rug but this is something that we will one day have to face. Moving on from this I hope you all never forget the many people we sadly lost, We all have to remember to take care of ourselves and others Thanks for reading.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2017/05/12/how-dismantle-racism-and-prevent-police-brutality/101481438/

By definition sweatshops are factories or workshop oftentimes located in third world countries where the people are employed at very low wages for very long hours and work under poor conditions.  What do most Sweatshops do though?  They are most known for the clothing industry.  Sweatshops are all over the world  but mostly found in Central America, South America, Asia, China, India and some parts of Europe.  

This issue is significant because it’s simply isn’t fair for a human to be treated as if they aren’t people.  A huge problem with sweatshops is not only how they treat their workers horribly and pay them horribly but they also support child labor.  I read this article about a girl named Meem working in a Bangladesh sweatshop and she told her story to reporters.   Meem is a young thirteen year old girl that was taken out of school so she could work at a sweatshop sewing and making clothes. Meem had no choice but to work at a sweatshop because the family had ran into a hardship.  Her mother was pregnant and unable to work, the family needed another person to bring home something.  In every country that has sweatshops the workers all get paid differently but in Meem’s experience all workers would works around 12 hours with only a lunch break, by the end of the moth they make a total of $23. “It was back-breaking, it was finger-numbing. It was particularly rage-inducing,” said Meem.

Throughout my research I have learned some of my favorite companies endorus child labor. A few companies I found were Nestle, H&M, Philip Morris, Walmart, Victoria Secret, the GAP, Apple, Disney, Forever 21 and Hershey’s.  Though all theses companies will deny endorsing child labor however it’s a cheap way for them to make a lot of money off of these kids while paying them no more than $20 a month. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen work in developing countries. 61% in Asia, 32% in Africa and 7% in Latin America. In Indonesia, workers earn about $3.70 for a pair of shoes that later sells worldwide in store for about $180.

Many of these children are forced to work. They are denied an education and will never know what a normal childhood is. Many of the children are often beaten if they don't work fast enough. Some are denied the right to leave the workplace and go home to their families. Some are even abducted and forced to work.  Most children working at sweatshops are as young as 8 to 14 years of age. A lot of the stores we love to shop at hide things from us.  For example in 2013 at a Bangladeshi sweatshop, 1,100 workers died in a building collapse in the Rana Plaza.  This would have never happened if the workers never physically forced to enter the dangerously cracked building which was run by gang members.

I’m still learning about my topic and it saddens me when I find out more and more about my topic, but I don’t just want to teach my teachers and classmates about sweatshops.  I want to spread the word about the truth of sweatshops and actually make my peers think about the everyday items that they’re buying and ask themselves, ‘Where was this made?, Who made this? How are they being treated? If they aren’t being treated fairly how can I help so they can get their human rights back?

The topic that I chose is college tuition. This particular topic interests me because recently I grew an interest in economics and then I wanted to see how education affected the economy and both neighborhood and ethnicity-based communities.When I was in 6th grade my sister was getting her college acceptance letters and due to insufficient funds, my sister couldn’t go to a college if she didn’t receive a scholarship. My sister being a medical major wanted to attend some of the nations top schools but due to the pricing of higher education, her options were limited.My sister eventually got into a private university for a full scholarship, however, if she didn’t get a scholarship she would graduate with 673,390 dollars worth of student loans. this is the cost of school excluding textbooks and overlooking medical school cost. Sometimes when I’m on the train I think about my future, I want to be an engineer that changes the face of technology and I want to attend MIT. I being an overachiever I also want to attend to Harvard for a law or business degree and thinking about these difficult goals I tell myself that if I ever want to see at least one of them come true I would have to work day and night and with a large amount of luck is the only way I can achieve one of my goals and with rising tuition cost and a fragile economy I can only wish for the best. We can try to change the problem as much as we possibly can by contacting our local politicians. During this research, I learned that the idea of free college was first really paid attention to when the Obama administration said Community College should be free if you have a GPA of at least 2.5 and parents who make less than $200,000 a year.

The problem with colleges is not that they are only expensive even though that is a part of the problem. The cause of the issue of tuition all starts with the name of the school for example when people hear the name Harvard they don’t usually tend to think about a lower middle class or working class individual , rather they think about the white male who wants to get a degree in law or business and this is a problem. According to the crimson Harvard is one of the leaders of colleges when it comes to accepting students who parents are making more than 630,000 a year at 15.1%.When we look at colleges we see the spectrum from best to worst. We all learn that the cream of the crop gets into the Ivy Leagues followed by the world-renowned schools such as Stanford, MIT, and CalTech. Then we hear about state schools and state schools and finally community colleges. To argue my point of why college tuition should be drastically lowered or be free to certain colleges is the numbers behind the scenes. The New York Times suggests that when the number of people graduating college increases the economy grows and expands. This eventually creates jobs and those two reasons are good enough reasons to start on lowering tuition. One of the main problems with college tuition is that it scares graduating 12th graders and this can be a problem not only to those students but to our society/economy as a whole. When one in four teens look at the cost of college they would give up on aspirations of becoming a doctor, engineer or lawyer. However, if we look at that student’s record we see that he gets straight A’s and has a solid GPA of 3.9 then we start wondering why is this student giving up an achievable dream of becoming a doctor.The tells us that even if he could get a full ride to college at UPenn he won’t be able to afford medical school so he decided it’s better to start working than hoping. Okay that’s perfectly okay a student with a GPA of 3.9 would find his/her way around the workforce and get a decent job. However, that’s a problem in itself . A majority of jobs offered to people with high school diplomas are factory jobs this would be a problem because if there is an ever decreasing number of factory jobs in the United States and lets say 4 million other students look at the price of college and one fourths of them decide to not attend college that will be another million people looking for the same job as our first student, a factory job, and that means that more workers, higher cost for hiring companies and when left with no options they would move to different countries for lower cost. Then, when we go back to the U.S where those 1 million with dreams of college lose their job, and now it would be harder to get accepted to any other jobs without a college degree and when this happens the economy loses money and the unemployment rate increases.

In contrary let's say that the full 4 million students can afford to go to college and when they graduate looking for jobs as highly qualified individuals they would attract incorporations from other countries and when this happens the economy goes up and the unemployment rate decreases because people are now able to go back to college for their degree since it’s cheaper and even if the individual is still not qualified for the job they want, they have more job options to choose from because of the new companies coming to the United States. Sometimes the largest issues in today’s society can be solved by one proposed bill and when that happens maybe somewhere out there a 5-year-old boy with dreams of being an engineer, who can’t afford it today might be able to look at his acceptance letter and think of his dream that still awaits him rather than think of the debt of chasing his dream.

Annotated Bibliography: here

Crumb Rubber In Astroturf

Picture of person running on astroturf field and crumb

rubber jumping out of the grass. Click here for the image source.

When I play baseball and when I used to play at soccer camps, I noticed these fields made up of artificial grass and crumb rubber. I noticed while playing and watching that every time somebody stepped, slide, kick, or made some kind of frictions with this grass, little black rubber pellets would spray up from the ground to the air and fall back down. My first time playing on astroturf it was in the middle of the summer and I was in Maryland for a baseball tournament. I remember sliding into second base and feeling a burning sensation in my arm. I looked down and my arms was red and starting to bleed. That was not the only problem, It felt like it was two- hundred degrees. According to my own experience, the  little black rubber crumbs absorb heat and can make the whole field one-hundred degrees hotter then what the temperature is. I want to learn about all of the problems with this crumb rubber, find all of the solutions and substitutes to each problem because I know their needs to be something done.

This topic matters to me because crumb rubber in astroturf is a little substance that is always overlooked and not thought of. When humans play on these crumb rubbers, it is risking their body and health. Over thousands of kids play on astroturf fields with crumb rubbers in them every day and many of these people are not aware of the risks of playing on these fields.

Zoomed in picture of the many crumb rubbers in the artificial grass.Click here for the image source.

The majority of fields consist of natural dirt and grass which take many hours to maintain. This job is extremely hard, having to watch over it, make sure not to many

people are using it, cutting the grass at a constant rate, making sure the dirt is clean and even, and so on. Many field owners are either giving up on these natural fields, limiting a place for kids and other people to have fun being outside, or trying to find a substitute to the fields. Even though astro turf costs a ton of money, after many years it becomes equal to all of the hours spent fixing the field and buying different materials to maintain the field with. I want kids to have the opportunity to go outside and play on these beautiful clean fields. If all of the fields are in good conditions, it is a great site to see but when people when people stop maintaining and caring about these fields, it is a waste of space and a waste of an opportunity for people to be having fun. I want for everybody to be aware of the possible risks of these crumb rubbers in astroturf and try for a change.

Annotated Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFkm10hpG_LrnTc7P7ys44l6ixd0LrPOnJrl-Y__u6c/edit

Photo:  http://www.missionislam.com/discover/basic.htm

Growing up as a Muslim, I get to experience the bias towards my people and our religion first hand. One time, I was at the Mosque (a place where Muslims go to worship god) and I was located in the women’s area while my brother, cousin, and dad were in the men’s area. After everyone in the Mosque prayed, we were all about to go home when a non Muslim man came into the building screaming at all of us telling us that we are brainwashed terrorists. He said that he doesn’t blame us for being that way, he blamed god. Now I’m not sure if he was an atheist or just believed that Muslims worshipped a different god from everyone else, but what he said made me realize how people actually viewed me based off of the piece of cloth I wear on my head. My parents spent their parenthood making sure my siblings and I were proud of who were and to always believe deeply in our religion no matter what society had to say about it. I chose to write about this topic specifically because I need to know more about islamophobia. I need to know what made people hate me and fear me because of my religion. I know my religion, I know that it’s based on peace, mercy, and humbleness. The media and society want to believe that Muslims are such bad people destined on earth to destroy everyone’s lives. My question is, why?

This picture represents society blaming the Muslim girl.

photo: https://missmuslim.nyc/islamophobia-not-medical-condition/

Another photo representing the little Muslim girl as the “blame”

photo: http://eltecolote.org/content/en/features/surviving-the-new-terrorism-islamophobia/

One of the main reasons why islamophobia is on the rise is because of Donald Trump. Aside from calling for a ban on Muslims entering the the United States, Trump has said that “Islam hates us,” and accused American Muslims of protecting terrorists. Trump is president, and a lot of citizens actually listen to and take in his arrogant remarks, reporters find that hate crimes towards Muslims increase as Trump shades them publicly and feeds false information into the brains of his supporters. In America alone, 48% of incidents are Muslim bias incidents, the highest percentage out of any other type of incident. From July 1 to September 30 of 2017, The Council on American-Islamic Relations received 753 reports of potential anti-Muslim bias incidents. The top five trigger factors of a Muslim is their ethnicity/national origin, headscarf/hijab, if they are perceived as a Muslim, place of worship, and other Muslim activity such as praying. In return for simply being a Muslim, we receive abuse such as hate crimes, harassment, employment issues, CBP harassment at airports, and sometimes FBI harassment. All we do is worship god and have different beliefs than other religions. By different beliefs, I don’t mean how islamophobic people see us or how Trump sees us, I mean that we believe in our prophets and the words of Allah.

Society wants to believe so hard that Muslims are the blame for every terrorist act. People are individual, they do what they want and it just has to reflect on their people and what they stand for. One dark toned person could rob a store and all black people are cheap and dangerous thugs who god forbid cross paths with an old lady, they might mug her. One lightly toned person could shoot a bunch of innocents and every white person is a sensitive school shooter who god forbid ever gets upset with anyone, they might kill them. One person with a headscarf or kufi could bomb a building and all Muslims are terrorists who god forbid ever cross paths with non Muslims, they might kill their entire family. Biases are everywhere, but it is an individual’s job to believe what they want, but it’s my job to portray the image of my people, the real image.

The statue of liberty is holding this Muslim girl showing her that she is welcomed and is not how society portrays her.

photo:

http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/03/04/my-experience-with-islamophobia-as-an-american-muslim/

Check out the link to my annotated bibliography..

The Truth

http://theapopkavoice.com/over-2000-determined-homeless-central-florida/

Although I was told to make a project where I would research on a specific topic of one of the worlds problems and create my feasible solution. I feel as though I take this project as a step closer to my goal in this world. My goal is to create peace in this world and what better way to do that by starting to solve one problem at a time. I will start by helping the homeless so that they can get their life together and help others in need like they have helped them. I chose the topic about the homeless because I believe that there is a misconception about the homeless because they are commonly seen as lazy, drug addicts, and people who take advantage of their situation. I can’t stand the fact that people nowadays point out the problems of this world and complain, but they don’t want to do anything about it. Sure the homeless need support but what they really need is for people like us to motivate them so that they can get their life back together.  They will be motivated because they will feel like they are wanted in this world and people are truly motivated when people trust them to become better. Based on my experience in the U.S and other countries, most of the unfortunate always appreciate what they get. When i was in Colombia, I noticed that the less fortunate wanted attention more than valuables. This brought me to the idea that we people need to connect with others because we need love and that is the only thing that will keep us motivated to keep moving forward.

People don’t know the truth behind homeless people. Most homeless people served in the military and when they retired, they were left with nothing. Over 57,00 homeless people are retired veterans and only 60% of them are in shelters, the rest are out in the streets. People who gave their lives to serve one’s country should not be living in the streets, they should be given the help they need by the government and not forgotten.  Others suffer from mental illnesses and need help, we could help these people by providing them the assistance they need. We the people need to take action because it is evident that our government never cared about truly coming up with a solution of themselves to end this problem. They want to just ignore this problem by amending laws to suppodsley help themselves and the non-homeless people. Not only that but about 138,000 homeless people are kids under the age of 18. This says a lot because this can affect the future generation by not given them the education they need, not letting them experience what it feels like interacting with different people, and it can lead to very long and sad depression problems. Based on what I’ve read, it seems that the main reason people go homeless is because they can’t find an affordable place to live. This mostly means that people don’t have enough money to pay monthly for a house. This can be because of the job they have, being robbed, recently getting out of jail. Being in jail and then being released is also a main reason people go homeless. When they start their life again they are left with nothing and have no support. Some were abandoned by their families, some never had family, some were seperated, and some were already homeless before they went to jail. Many others go homeless not only because they don’t have family members or money, but because of physical abuse. Sadly, 90% of women go homeless because of domestic violence.

https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/10-life-changing-lessons-that-helping-homeless-people-taught-me/

This is a problem because the homeless isn’t only one problem but there are other problems that affiliate with being homeless. We need to understand that we can’t alienate the homeless because just like most of us, they have dreams and aspirations. They need to stop being seen as animals and start being seen as people like us because that’s what they are. This is only the start of my journey. I will continue to grow my knowledge so I can build a better understanding of the homeless. With the facts that I discovered my idea about the homeless has changed dramatically. At first I knew that the homeless were different from what people said but I didn’t really care about the world I lived in, I just had a closed mindset. I became more open minded before I started researching this topic but my idea on the homeless is now that, they need support from us just like we need support from others and that they worry mostly about being affiliated with others more than the money. They aren’t selfish. I wonder that if we all worked together to help others, would the homeless finally live the life they dreamed about? Will our government stop us yet again from achieving true peace? Since this is only the start, I hope to learn more about the homeless stories and how I can help them feel wanted and motivate them. And when helping others, it’s not so much about how much you get but about how much you give.

Bibliography

https://www.lllcf.org/program/help-the-homeless/

There are more than 500,000 homeless people living in America today. About two thirds of those are living in homeless shelters. What you may not know about these shelters is that they could be even worse for their inhabitants than the outdoors. To hear the testimonies of many people who formerly resided in these shelters is jarring. Many tell stories of how they had been raped, had their belongings stolen, were forced to sleep in the cold with no blankets, and more.

As a citizen of Philadelphia, I see and interact with the homeless on an almost daily basis. While they need money and shelter, sometimes you run into someone who just wants a hello, or to listen to some music. I think that many find it easy to forget that the homeless are people, and when they’re not being ignored and exposed to the harsh outdoors, they go to homeless shelters which can be shockingly even more dangerous. The evidence is everywhere. After only ten minutes of sifting through Google reviews I found complaint after complaint of theft and neglect by employees and inhumane sleeping conditions. Of course some of these locations have close to no bad reviews but others are almost unbelievable. One location, “Gaudenzia House of Passage”  had multiple reviews saying that the people staying there had to “sleep in a chair in a cold room” for three weeks before being admitted a cot.

As bad as these shelters may seem, things only get worse for minorities. Especially for transgender women.  This can be shown in the pie chart below.

Pie Chart Link

While LGBT identifying people make up about 11% of the total population, estimates of how many homeless people are LGBT range from 20% to upwards of 40%. In an equal society this would not be true. Many queer people are forced out of their own homes because of their sexual or gender identity, most notably trans women and gay men. Let’s talk about race. As seen in the following pie chart, black and African-American people make up the vast majority of the homeless population. Black people only make up 13% of the total American population. That’s a percent increase of over 6 times.  

Pie Chart Link

Clearly our problem, as a nation, is not only with the state of homeless shelters or with xenophobia creating poverty inequalities but both; they intersect. To make homeless shelters more hospitable we need to somehow terminate the fact that there are these systematic inequalities and vice versa. From here I would like to personally interview some of the people affected by the homeless shelter system in America and more personally, in Philadelphia. The research I have done so far has been eye-opening to say the least and has only pushed me to continue studying and to try to make a difference in this issue.

Annotated Bibliography Link