The Health Issues That Occur in Our Society

By Alyssa Mendez

              Many issues occur everyday in our society. The main issue that happens to be popular is health. Not a lot of people have a  proper way of taking care of themselves. As years passed by, the percentage for health issues has been increasing.It causes difficulties for a person when they actually have a situation with health and not having the medication or right help to cure these problems. Health issues happens often everyday and many people happen to avoid it constantly because they don't want to believe that it's serious or they don't want to be embarassed. Focusing on what's not important in your life. In order to do certain things, the body has to be in great shape so you can handle the task. Here are the main issues that occur in today's society.

           In the year 2005, over 35,000 people were diagnosed with HIV infection. HIVcan be caused by having unprotected sex and being around a person with open sores or wounds. When diagnosing a patient that has HIV, it prevents doctors from curing the patient because they do not want to be affected by this infection. Also, the main focused about HIV in a person is the type of medication they will need to take for the rest of their life. Some people can take a medication and live a long, healthy life. On the other hand, it takes months or years to figure a cure for a certain patient because some medications does not work as good as others. If the HIV increases the spread, their is a possibility of death can occur to the person.
           
         Asthma has a estimation of 7.8% in the U.S. population. Causing people to sleep well and have heavy breathing. In order to purchase medications, you would need health insurance, which some people do not have. It is hard to obtain a medication that is expensive. Some Asthma can become chronic. Chronic Asthma can sometimes be cured by steroids. With the steroids, they are consequences you will have to face such as breathing, appetite, personality and weight. That's when obesity comes into the picture because it switches up your body type.

          Obesity is one of the biggest issue in America. What causes obesity is the food that people choose to eat, which is not healthy. The lack of patience when they are being rushed and have to eat a quick meal. That is why people have lunch and dinner at a fast food restaurant. Fast food restaurant are fast to cook and have reasonanble prices, when some people happen to be on a budget. Having to buy healthy food is at a high expense for some people who can't afford it. Not having the right help for the body, they choose to eat the wrong meal. Which can cause a person to have a hard time breathing and walking.

           Many people are not taking their health serious, which makes the situation becomes worst. Not taking care of your health can cause damage or death, which will be difficult to handle certain things in life. I suggest that people should get a checked up constantly because anything can happen. If feeling something strange or painful, it's best to go see a doctor as soon as possible before anything become to spread inside the body system. Getting the proper care and help would not increase that much of a problem to your health.

            

We Are No Longer To Be Hungry...

By To-Yin Cheng

Obesity is an immense health issue throughout the world in modern life society. There also lead us to a strange phenomenon. According to World Trade Organization (WTO), people died by obesity and over-weight are higher than to people who are died by underweight. Although hunger is still a complicated issue in this world, it is hard to imagine that a wealthy environment also bring us to the death pathway. We have more than 1.6 billion people are overweight and obesity. There are 2.5 million people are died from these illness. What should we do to deal with this public issue? Is that only change our life style or what society brings the image up of a normal affordable unhealthy food?

 American fast food culture that has been influence around the world with affordable price and convenience. It is surprisingly if we take one food out like French fries which supposed to come from France, however, French obesity rate are not as much as America.  French are more likely to spend time to eating and use fresh nature ingredients. Compare to American culture, American fast food companies are promoting food can be given you in shorten time with low price and supersize. Advertising send the image to children to buy their food with toy and playground. Supposing that we disregard to the process of food production, like pink substance which makes chicken nuggets. The nutrition we got from the fast food is not going to fulfill our daily need. We mostly received salt, fat and carbohydrate. , there are lack of vitamin and mineral.  Therefore, our body is not working well, our brain will tell our body to eat more to get to nutrition that we suppose to get.

 If we continuously eating fast food, it will lead we to obesity and we also have to pay for the result. Americans spend almost $100 billion on fast food each year, at the same time, the health care for obese people in the US are over $100 billion annually. People should concern about the position they are in, they are either the obesity people or the people who are paying for the cause.

Healthy DIE-T

Maripat McGlynn

A Healthy DIEt

Over the past century, people have been more informed than ever on their health and how to prevent diseases. It seems as though almost every disease or condition has a coalition that is fighting for a cure and give ways on how to prevent a person from getting the disease. We are also all aware that nutrition and exercise are two of the most important factors in preventing disease. But then why is it that our main issue in America is directly related to food?  Obesity has risen immensely over the past 20 years. There is not one state in the United States that has an obesity level below 20%. Thirty years ago not one state in the United States had an obesity level above 15%. Half were below 10%. What is the cause of this phenomenon? Advertising agencies and big corporations would like to say people are demanding more food. In reality I believe people are just being bombarded with more food.  They are manipulated into eating, smelling and thinking about food 24/7. It’s an obsession. But it is so common and "normal" to be surrounded with food billboards and restaurants everywhere that we do not see the problems with it.

 In urban neighborhoods where a lot of lower income families live, fast food is a staple. There is a fast food restaurant on almost every corner. It is no coincidence that these cheap, unhealthy restaurants are located in the poorer neighborhoods. They are put there on purpose because the people “need” cheap, fast food. We all have been informed of how bad fast food really is for people. We see the affects everywhere. But when an overweight person dies from a heart attack because they were too heavy and were eating tens of thousands of calories a day in McDonalds, we don’t feel too bad for them. We tend to think to ourselves, "Well they should have just stopped eating all that junk. They know it’s bad for them." But could it be that this food is addictive? That maybe this food was created to be addictive and unfullfilling? I'd say the answer is yes. At the same time that obesity is rising, other serious eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are afflicting more and more people. Our country has become image obsessed. The diet industry is profiting from feeding us junk and then taking the pounds off. What we don’t realize is that how are they going to keep getting that money if we don’t keep cycling. Therefore people are struggling with food, and body issues more than ever before. It is mind boggling as to how people are profiting off of others illnesses but they are. The only way to stop it is to inform, make people aware and to realize that our bodies deserve respect. Diet, junk and unrealistic goals are cycling. Balance is the key.

Equal Education: Fact or Fiction

                               
 By Joshua Lynch
                                       Equal Education: Fact or Fiction?

    The lesser more detached minds would argue that "the level of education that a child receives is solely their responsibility." As ridiculous as that statement is in and of itself, they would justify this argument with an all too familiar defense, "it's all about equal opportunity, not equal results. Well, there are many things clearly wrong with these two arguments. One being that how could we expect a child to grasp the responsibility of its future, when their brains aren't even mentally developed enough to do all of their times tables! The second rebuttal requires a more in-depth look, "Is education really equal?  " The answer to that is "NO".

There are many factors that a little too conveniently cause some children to receive a lesser quality education. One of the biggest factors are that we rely on property tax to fund our schools. Well, if property tax varies from location to location, and property tax funds school(which means funding varies), well how exactly can educations be equal? It can't, because the amount of funding a school receives directly determines the amount of resources available to these children. so if a school can't afford up to date books and students are required to learn from books that are no longer relevant, which ultimately means that that the sum of their knowledge is not relevant. Thus increasing the gap between them and their competition. One of the major and most important resources that these inner city, low funded schools often lack is access to good teachers. The job of a teacher requires that they enjoy their job. Because if a teacher is interested in these children and their education then that allows the kids to feel a sense of worth. And if a teacher isn't being paid enough,and is struggling to make ends meet, then how on earth can they enjoy their job. And if they can't provide that caring intimacy between teacher and student, then that deprives the child of feeling self worth. And I know from personal experience, that when a teacher shows that they care, it can push even the most lost child to do better for themselves. So not only does a lack of money effect the material resources of a child, but it also deprives them of important emotional resources that are a major part of the educational process.

Another factor that comes into play when having the conversation of equal education is a child's home environment. It's hard for a child to go to school and concentrate if he hasn't eaten a meal last night, or the morning of. Also looking at the system of values that often come with living in an impoverished inner city neighborhood. Due to the lack of return from a poor education, people often cling to the material. Because that is more immediate, it can be touched, so it's hard for a kid who is being picked with to worry about school when his peers are telling him he just needs to be fly. This can cause a young, pressured mind to stop school and resort to other means to make money.

There are so many socio-economic factors that come into play when talking about educational inequality. The argument equal opportunity not equal results is complete nonsense and is just the lazy way out of dealing with our problems as a nation. The problem is that we as a nation are so fixated on race that we see education as a competition. We see it as a means of affirming which race is more intelligent the the next. But, the sad thing is that as we deprive others, in the end we deprive ourselves because we're a nation first. Our country is like a centipede, we're all legs, if one fails, then the others have to pick up the slack. So it's mutually beneficial if we made an effort to educate EVERYONE. If we continue down the path that we're headed, then we will continue to fall behind as a nation globally

Can You Spell 'Education'?

Written by: Samantha Mesa     

    Sometimes people don’t understand what it’s like to have a great teacher that makes you fall in love with a certain subject, or topic. Fortunately, I’ve had many experiences with great teachers that have made me enjoy coming to school every day. Other times, one may question a teacher’s reason for choosing the profession in the first place. My sophomore year of high school, I had a geometry teacher who made me love math, more than I ever had in my life. In the beginning of the school year, I found out that I was going to have geometry first thing in the morning at 8 am, which was completely insane, in my opinion. Words couldn’t explain how fearful I was because I thought I was going to fail everything I did in that class. Thankfully, the moment I got there, my mind was changed. My teacher had been able to get my attention and made me understand everything I was learning. Then, that same year, I had a social studies teacher named Mr. Boyle, and I was convinced the only reason he became a teacher was to ruin everyone’s life. He gave us papers and work to do and never went over anything in class. That teacher had been working at my high school for about 20 years, and was said to have ‘given up’ on everything. While in class, he sat at his desk, attempted to teach, and when he felt the students weren’t listening, he gave up and let them run the class. This teacher has tenure, which according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is, “the right to remain permanently in a job.” This professor is under a contract that allows him to keep his job, regardless of his performance as a teacher. Waiting for Superman, a documentary by Davis Guggenheim, shows this situation perfectly. In the film, Guggenheim follows 5 students and shows their struggles for a better education. Throughout the movie, the students are shown trying to get picked to enter some of the best schools in their areas and examines why schools and the education system, as a whole, is failing. He also presents copious amounts of statistics that back up his claims of teachers not doing an adequate job. By the end of the film, he presents the harsh realities that a lot of children that go to school are not being taught the necessary amount of things for the child to succeed. The film Waiting for Superman, by Davis Guggenheim, details a growing problem of inadequate teacher performance in the public school system, citing tenure abuse and lowered standards of educational expectations as a source of declining student proficiency.
    Public schools around the United Sates have declined in their abilities to educate students. Throughout the US, most, if not all, states are completely below their goals for student proficiency amongst 8th graders for math and reading. According to statistics in Waiting for Superman, only 14% of 8th grade students in Mississippi are proficient in math and in Pennsylvania only 26% of students are proficient in reading by the 8th grade (qtd. in Waiting). Also, it has been found that when students have high performing teachers, they’re likely to advance three times as fast than those with a bad performing teacher. This shows exactly why it’s important to have a good teacher. Even with the differences in teaching abilities, these teachers are being paid the same as those performing worse. On top of the fact that these teachers are getting paid the same, a low performing teacher is likely to only cover 50% of the material required each year, whereas a high performing teacher can cover 150% (qtd. in Waiting). Some of the unlucky students are then left without a proper education and would probably fall behind a grade level or two because they got stuck with a teacher who wasn’t doing their job, and a child could be deprived of an education they deserve. It is clear that a student cannot be blamed for poor teaching, therefore, one must understand why poor teaching is tolerated in the public school system.
    One of the main problems detailed in, Waiting for Superman, is the ongoing issue of tenure and tenure abuse. Tenure is usually given to teachers that have been working at their schools for more than 3-5 years. Some teachers in public schools are granted tenure by law, after they’ve gone through a trial period, and may not be dismissed without first going through a year-long process and a public hearing in which charges of incompetence or misconduct must be proven. Also, in America, many children do not meet the criteria for grade-level advancement in schools due to insufficient teaching, leaving them unprepared for future challenges both in school and in their careers. Few have seen the astonishing statistics showing student proficiency in math and reading throughout the United States, but it’s also not really a surprise to some that students aren’t doing so well. In conclusion, more work must be done in this country in order to eliminate bad teachers and raise the standard at which teachers are held accountable so as to allow good teachers to thrive. The future of America rests on the back of education reform, but if the current problem should persist for too long, there may not be enough people left to bring about improvement if they don't even know how to spell it.

                        

Education is an expensive future

by: Loren Hall

Education is the key to creating a future. American citizens who earn a college degree make a much more considerable amount of money than those who don’t have one. There was once a time where people could get by with a sixth grade education. Those times have LONG passed. Then there was the era where simply having a high school diploma would suffice, but those days are gone as well. In today’s society, it is almost impossible to find a job to live and thrive off of without already possessing a degree. However, for us African Americans, it’s not that simple.

We are stuck in a viscous cycle that is keeping us down. We want to go to college to get an education and get ahead in the world, but we can’t advance because of one simple problem. We can’t get into the colleges. In general, White Americans have a better education than we do because they can get into the prestigious schools, like Yale, Harvard and Princeton. African Americans make less money, live in poorer neighborhoods, and live in conditions that do not allow them to make the money necessary to achieve. I can use myself as an example. Straight out of high school, I was accepted to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida. I went there for one semester, and was already in debt. Coming from a low income family, we didn’t have the money to pay for the school. People on the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum would argue that FAFSA is there to help us,. In my situation, they gave me as much aid as they were willing to give us and there was still a $5000 balance left that my family was unable to pay.

Because of the pressure put on society, we were unable to get any loans to pay it off so I had to leave. I am now at Community College of Philadelphia, the one place I did not want to end up. Community colleges are designed to be much cheaper, with a perceived poorer education than one of the high end schools, and there for the majority of minorities end up at these schools. Hundreds of African Americans are in the same predicament as I am. At Community College of Philadelphia, 73% of its population is non-white. However, at Temple, a more prestigious Philadelphia school, 60% of its population is white in contrast to its only 14% African American population.

We don’t have money because we don’t have education, and we don’t have education because we don’t have money. It’s an impregnable cycle that needs to be addressed.

Education Plays a Major Role in Today Society

By Jennifer V

Education,future

         Education is highly important in today society. Education is a formal process of learning in which some people consciously teach while others adopt the social role of learner. Education plays a major role in everyone life without education a person will not get far in life. Education prepares a person to adapt to new skills and value that will be very essential in today society.

  

     In the pictures above it represent a diploma, money, and inspiring word that also motivate people to continue with their education. Having an education also means having money a better future and having all the knowledge that a person needs in order to be successful in everyday life. By having an education can also mean happiness because when having an education a person can feel proud of their self that they accomplish a goal in their life, and are able to get a job in the future. Having a high school diploma is still better than having no degree at all, but it won’t get a person a good job in the future. Going beyond high school and getting a college degree is a smart choice because the higher the education the better opportunities a person can get. Just by going to school and getting an education can help people learns new skills and learn the value of an education.

      Many children go to school and gain plenty of skills. Families with all the right resources have their children enrolled in preschool education. To help their children learn and adapt to new skills. Sometime the people from the low income families are denied the opportunity for preschool education because they do not have the right resources and don’t have enough money. I consider that all children should have the rights to have preschool education whether you’re a low income family or not. Being denied preschool education will not allow a child to be advanced for when they go to kindergarten and it will not allow them to learn new skills such as, holding a crayon, pencil, or identifying shapes and colors. This is all very important and all children should know how to do these things when they are young.  Education help people learn how to read, write, and do math also they learn other languages. Learning to do all these things helps children prepare for the future. Everyone needs to learn how to write for whenever a person gets a job or for filling out forms and etc. Also, reading is very essential because there’s important signs everywhere, there words and books everywhere, even on the Internet. Reading is a good way to gain a lot of knowledge. Math is also an important thing that everyone should know. Math allows a person to count money so a person won’t get gaged at the store or mall. Everyone use math a lot in today society because numbers are everywhere. Learning a new language can be very beneficial because it allows a person to be bilingual and knowing more than one language can be very essential when maintaing a job or just in life.

       Many people value their education. By having an education opens up plenty of opportunities. The higher the education the more money and better employment a person will have. In today society many people are starting to value education more because According to the U. S Department of Labor and Census Bureau seventy five percent of future jobs are likely to want at least a license or certification so many people are trying to get the education they need to go to college and try to have a bright future. Just by having a college education and degree get a person to have more option to open employment than opposed to a high school diploma or a dropout person. Valuing your education is worth much more in today society than it was in the past.

      Having an education is very essential and everyone should take advantage of their education. An education will help a person be prepared for the “real world”. Education allows people to have lots of skill and knowledge and it’s always good to learn new things each day because the skill you learn in school you use outside of school. Having a preschool education and having a high school diploma is really good, because it can help a person be successful especially if a person goes beyond high school. Having a college degree is more beneficial in today society, because it’s good to have a high school diploma because you can go to college, but more jobs now in days prefer a person to have some type of certification or at least an associate’s degree. I consider everyone should know the value of an education and know that having an education is just for a person own good.

By: Ashleigh Niemiec

Home schooling - Pros & Cons

Home schooling is also known as home education usually taught by the parents. This forms of education has been growing in the past few years from seven to 15 percent. It was common before in the past when schools were far away and children were taught at home. But home schooling has many pros and cons that effects both the students and the parents. The success of the students lies with the proper instruction, the student themselves being motivated when it comes to studies and the parents who is teaching the courses.

The pros for homeschooling would include educational freedom meaning learning at their own pace, no peer pressure or bullying to disrupt the learning process. Many believe home schooling allows both the students and parents religious freedom. It is easier to take the students to museum and other cultural events that would support and stimulate the learning process. But the most important accepts are closer family relationships and more one on one learning. The students do not have to deal with other disrupted kids that takes time away from the learning process. Students are not subjected to drugs, alcohol or other bad behaviors. Less time is lost each and everyday commuting to and from school.

Home schooling also have many cons to the education process. Many students miss out on the socialization process that they would get if they were in a school. Another worry among parents that wish to home school their kids if their own ability to teach correctly. Many home school students are shocked when they graduate and move onto college and have to deal with the large amount of students in the school and in each classroom. They are used to a one on one learning in a quiet setting.

If you weight the pros and cons of home schooling, you will find that home schooling is a good choice for both the students and parents if they have the time, energy and motivation. Some students even take home school courses online.  Every parents must weight the pros and cons for their own children to see if it the best situation for everyone. Statistics shows that home schooled students are at least 4 grade levels ahead from the 8th grade on over the students who go to a regular school.

     

Urban VS. Suburban School Districts

By: Tai Virgil

"The better the educational system, the higher advantage and opportunity at success you will have." Many would argue against, but I myself would agree.
As children, our developmental years of education are some of the most important as they shape, mold and teach us the keys to success. At a young age, although we may rarely realize it we are taught the importance of life lessons such as etiquette/behaivor, dealing with the opposite sex in an appropriate manner, following directions, and punctuality (just to name a few). What we take from these lessons normally prepare and prep us for the "real world", a world full of people with drive, ambition and most of all competition.

Unfortunately, not every child will receive the same quality of education, one of the main reasons being location. With statistics showing that students attending suburban school districts graduate at a much higher rate than those who don't, it raises the question if the quality of education that you receive determines your success. Being as though, school districts are funded by taxpayers throughout the city/town, the more money that it cost to live within an area the more money it is that goes towards the educational system of that area. In most cases, rural areas pay higher taxes than urban areas, leaving the educational system with an advantage funds wise.

Regrettably, children do not have the ability to chose where they live meaning that the educational system provided to each child is a gamble. Those who are fortunate enough to live in an area in which may offer a better educational system are provided with a higher advantage of success just through the tools offered to them. These tools include better books, more up to date technology, and sometimes even what may be considered as better “certified teachers” by society’s standards just through the use of funding.

Studies show that students who live in urban environments often change schools more frequently than those living in suburban environments in hopes of seeking for better education. In reality, it's the parents seeking brighter opportunities for their children. But, unfortunately the constant mobility of moving from school to school impairs a child's aptitude, causing them to become below grade level in the subjects of reading and math.

Because urban environments are labeled as violent and belligerent just through the showcase of media, many teachers are afraid to make the decision to work there. Causing not only staff to be scarce, but also breeding a sense of precaution when working with students. This causes a disconnect between the teachers and students, causing the educational connection from teacher to student to become less than heartfelt. It then becomes to the teacher "just a job".

It's important that we get our school districts all on one accord. Each child has an equal amount of potential when starting their first years of schooling, but in order to exercise this potential we must provide the necessary tools. This means that we must understand that students from different environments will go through different issues and problems so teachers must assess and assert themselves differently to get through to students. Suburban kids will not go through the same issues as urban kids. What they may see while walking to school in the morning, will not be the same as what one will see riding the bus. We must encourage teachers to become a louder voice and larger advocate for these issues. Budgeting must be made in the correct manner, while prioritizing the necessities of schools in each area. This means, we must make sure people that are in positions to do such jobs are qualified and motivated to take on such a large job.


This is a video of teachers a from New York City school district who speak about the issues of urban education.

POVERTY..Who is to Blame?

BY: Stephany Bernard
POVERTY

  I came to ask myself and even others on who's to blame for the poverty we see today. What is poverty? Poverty from my readings has two different definitions and terms. There is absolute poverty and relative poverty.  Absolute Poverty is living below what is considered living under satisfactory conditions financially, housing standards, and wages. It is the federal government poverty line which is an income figure that is adjusted yearly to reflect the feeding requirements for families based on their size and composition.  On the other hand Relative poverty is a fluctuating deprivation by which people of the bottom of society are judged on how they are supposed to be living in comparison to the nation in a whole.  Who is to blame? I did a survey with 8 different people ,  4 woman, 4 guys and what I got in respond to that according to my survey was that the government was responsible for the poverty in our country. I had a few responses of people saying that laziness and drug use was a major factor to this and we can end poverty amongst our people by not making the wrong decisions. What’s your judgment?

Dineen Johnson Light Skin vs. Dark Skin in the Black Community

                 

Racism is a belief or principle that inherits differences that exist amongst human races.  These differences are determined by cultural or individual achievement.  African American people are beginning to separate themselves as two different races dark skin and light skin blacks.

  Beginning with slavery it is a fact that lighter skinned African Americans were house slaves and the darker skinned African Americans were field slaves being left outside in unbearable heat left to do the hard work.  In the media today you can see that light skinned black people are favored over dark skinned black people. It is said that Beyoncé and Halle Berry both fair skinned women are two of the best looking women on T.V.  Lil Kim and Trina both who were brown skin when they first entered the music industry are now light skin, due to bleaching their skin.  There are a few dark skin people in the industry such as Lil Wayne who do not like dark skin women and has even written lyrics bashing dark skin women.

                “Beautiful black women bet that bitch look better red.”

Not only is Lil Wayne dark skin but so his daughter.  How can you hate your own complexion?

                From my own personal experience I do believe that the black community believes that light skin blacks are more attractive than dark skin blacks.  A lot of males I know believe that to have a lighter skinned female on their arm is like having a trophy.  They say that they get more respect from their friends and there are viewed as “the boul with the bad ass red bone.” As if it is an accomplishment. The same with females, they believe that having children with a dark skinned male would give them dark skinned children, something looked down on.  They think that dark skin children are ugly.  One of my female friends believes that:

                “If it aint light it aint right.”

so sad and so true.

A black man AND ONCE UPON A TIME a well known rapper Young Berg speaking on his dislike of "Black Butts"

Race and Ethnicity

Submitted by Ryan Laverty

Race and Ethnicity

           I was born in Pyungtaek, South Korea to a mother that never seen America before moving here.  My father is of Irish descent and is the fourth generation to live in America after my great-great-grandfather arrived at Ellis Island to escape the famine in Ireland.  As proud of my heritage it was difficult for me to deal with racism.

Less than 1 year old in Seoul, South Korea

            From an early age my mother wanted me to be “Americanized” and tried to hide any signs that would make me “too Korean”.  This resulted in my mother never teaching me to speak Korean.  Throughout my early years being a mixed race was very common among my friends and neighbors due to living on military bases. Many children had parents of different races.  When I reached third grade I moved to the Frankford section of Philadelphia outside a military base and it was where I first experienced racism. None of the other children wanted to be my friend and many peers would make fun of my mother when she picked me up from school.  There was open discrimination and prejudice from the noon time aids at recess and even the crossing guard.  While walking down the street my father was spit on by someone just because he married a “chink”.

            After these events my family decided to move to the Olney section of the city. At first, everything was great, the neighborhood had people of many races and everyone got along very well.  It was in this neighborhood that I gained friends of Asian descent.  I began to notice that I was never allowed in their homes or when their mothers saw me playing with them I would over hear another language.  One day after school my friend took me to a local Korean Community Center to hang out but I was asked to leave because I was not a full Korean.  This was when I learned that my friend’s parents did not like that I was not a full Korean and they looked down upon my family.

            This discrimination and prejudice shaped how I viewed my family.  This brought me closer to my little sister and other family members because we all had felt our race being used to hurt us.  I could never understand why my family on my father’s side treated me as a loving family member but other people in the neighborhood just saw me as a “half-breed”.

I grew up experience incidents like this in many neighborhoods and in school. Even now some people do not realize I’m half Korean because it should not matter what race I am.   I used to get angry about racism and even tried fighting every bully who used racism towards me but now I just laugh at how ignorant and stupid they sound. 

A few months ago at a bar I was drinking at started talking to me and thought I was white and told me “White Power!” before he went on a racist tirade.  Instead of getting angry I turned his arguments against him and made him feel stupid for talking like that. After speaking up other bar patrons also began saying they were tired of his racist ways.  The guy has not returned to the local bar since.

I feel if I didn’t say anything that guy would still be getting drunk and hurting people with his racist remarks.  It is better to speak out against racism than to ignore that it still exists.  I think if more people stood up for what is right, things will change and maybe all laws and policies that are still discriminating to a person’s skin color will change.

Racial Segregation

Soranis Phal


          If we predated race back to an earlier time in history, race is not determine biologically. There is no type of genetic materials that determines a person belonging to a certain race. Race is more towards a modern time in history to justify the reason why there are slaves in American history. In the film “Power of an illusion”, is a documentary of race in historical time during racial segregation among the blacks and whites. According to demographic studies there is the notion of the red and green line that divides the whites and blacks demographically. The whites would be demographically in one area and isolated from the blacks. The reason why is because the whites would be able to have more power and opportunities verses the blacks. This would also become harder for blacks to build their own adequate because banks would see that blacks would be a financial  risk compare to the white. This also leads to why whites would live together because they are afraid of losing their own wealth by living among the blacks.

           Therefore, racial segregation has been continuing even until this day. Public school are still  racially segregated where you could fine a majority of blacks attending only a specific school with no whites or vice versa there would be a majority of whites and fewer blacks in that one specific school. Although, it is consider illegal to stop a person from attending a school because of the brown vs board of education to stop segragation but it still exist in the segragated house patterns that still base on the race. Schools like the  inner city with public schools that have more blacks and little diversity is because demographically the blacks are the majority that lives in these inner city compare to the whites living in the suburb.  

           These racial segregated school can also impact on the economic wealth that is being funded to certain schools. Schools with majority of whites would have more funding compare to a public school with majority of blacks. Therefore,  this brings inequality in terms of the opportunities given to whites are better than black. Whites would have more opportunity in life compare to the blacks that would have less opportunities.

         Even though we try and stop racial segregation it still exist in our society. Although there are laws stating it is illegal to have a segragated school but the homes and demographics of our race are still segragated and so it leads to kids going to school being segragated with less opportunities.

A story about Race

Elena Lazarova



                           Race is defined by some of the dictionaries as a group of people related by common descent or heredity.  Surprisingly race is a new terminology in our vocabularies.  Years ago people were not divided based on their origin and skin color. However, in a certain period in history race became something that defined us as humans or less then humans. Before the creation of slavery, it was considered that all man were equal. In order to use people as slaves the white man invented the terminology," less than a human being" for the African descent people who were brought to the new land and forced to be slaves. Race then became power for some and misery for others. Race then was a factor that could determine people's life to the point where someone could decide who is human and who is not.
                    Unfortunately, discrimination based on race continued even after the Civil War, when slavery was officially banned. Racism still existed. In the beginning of the 20th century segregation was a huge part of people's everyday life.Blacks and Whites had to go to different restaurants, attend different schools and use different bathrooms. Mainly in the South part of the United States people organized strikes with slogans like, " Stop race mixing ! ".During the 1960's institutional discrimination took the lead. The system was build like that so loans were given mostly to white families.They could purchase houses in the rich Suburbia or the green lining area. While blacks were forced to settle down in the red lining area, where the region was poor, taxes were low and education system was not that developed. Back then race determined who could have the chance to live the American Dream, which during this time period meant living in the Suburbia, and who could not.

                                       Nowadays, race seems to be less meaningful than it used to be. However, the key word  is "seems". Racism is not directly shown but is existing under the radar. Some people are still part of anti-racial organizations that provoke only hatred and anger. Historian Robin Kelley said, " Racism is not about how you look;it is about how people assign meaning to how you look". The story of race is complex and may challenge how we think about race and humans. The main question is,"What is race" ? Are we really so different" ?  Race is just an illusion created by the human kind. People always wanted to be different, that is why people created race.So we can de different and unique. Unfortunately, that provoked moments in our history that we should be ashamed of. Race is something that define us, whether we like it or not. Race is an assigned status that nobody could change. All we could change is our own perception about race. "What is race" ?  Race is just one word that has no power, until the moment we decide to make it powerfull.

Race and inequality

Justin Sharpley

Race is, to say the least, a sensitive subject. I think the only way we are going to solve a lot of the problems we face in the issue of race is to approach them head on and discuss them.  In class we learned about some of the problems in the past, redlining, block busting, laws with segregation built into them, and  the lasting effects of such practices, the inability of a family to buy a home and build equity, the corner stone of building wealth and providing a future for your family and future generations.  This was without a doubt some of the worst things our country has done to its own people. I think for my blog post I’m going to concentrate more on inequalities and segregation.  Learning what we learned about the housing practices, the geographic segregation that we see today makes sense (not saying it’s right but saying, we can see where it came from and why it is the way it is)

 I think another issue this creates is a cultural segregation. I feel that African Americans’  culture is segregated from other cultures in  a lot of ways. One of which is advertising, and media in general. For instance McDonald's has a separate website for African Americans. 365black   there are numerous companies that advertise products that are general use and some of the ads feature strictly white people, then another ad for the same product featuring strictly black people.

Another way this type of thing is perpetuated is through the media most people consume, namely music. I love hip hop, but it seems strange to me that there are so many songs about money, about how you have to get money and get yours. It seems to be drilling this idea into the listener’s head that all they need to do is get money and everything will be great. So instead of trying to pursue a career or earn a savings, the more impressionable listeners are simply trying to get money. Ignoring the larger problems, and if you want to look at it deeper, look up the chain to see the person who ultimately decides which records to play and promote, on the radio or at the record label, you’ll see 90% of the time it’s someone who has wealth, and who has an interest in keeping the less wealth distracted from the real problems in their lives. 

This is pretty crazy considering the corner stone for the civil rights movement was equality for all and a desire to end segregation, yet it’s still happening on a pretty large scale and some of it is even supported by the African American community.  I feel like the different cultures in this country are moving further apart faster than they are coming together. If something isn’t done to change this I feel it may be an insurmountable problem before too long.

Ethnicity: We need a change !

Submitted : Yahne' Coleman


     Ethnicity plays a role in America this very day. Its in our housing , school education , prison system and even who we elect for President. Life for minorities has always been a struggle. Today many people walk around as if racism doesn't exist but it does. In our society people talk politically correct but all the hate and racism is engraved in our laws.

From years ago we as Black people was not allowed to live in certain neighborhoods , the nice ones. Caucasian people felt as though we were a hinder to society. There for when the Fair Housing Act was passed and we moved into those nice neighborhoods we always dreamed about , guess what. . .the Whites quickly ran. Anywhere Blacks were did not have value , consider to Whites. So the nice neighborhoods and houses that we longed for was considered trash within months. The taxes wasn't good which left low funds for our schools and hinder our children education as well.

Now in the present you see bad school systems and not enough resources in every Black community , it never changed or progressed.  We are affected by our past.  The fact that racism is living deep in our laws will only keep us at this low level. The results are bad education , bad jobs and just NO OPPORTUNITIES.Today there is literally millions of African Americans in prison and the numbers are just increasing. We are only repeating slave history.

                 Even though every Caucasian person isn't racist there are still more out there. I feel as though we need not to be ignorant and educate our self and our children. We need to come together and finally get the rights we deserve. On paper we are all the same , in God eyes we are all part of him and equal. Our ethnicity is clearly the reason we don't experience the things a White person that is just like us , same knowledge , same sex and same age experiences. We all need to love one another and teach love to our children because racism and not born its made. The fight for equality isn't over !

http://www.nber.org/digest/nov06/w12078.html

A Girl Like Her

By: Alexis Y. Ortiz

Gender can be defined as the roles or expectations that go along with being male or female. Gender is something all people do, that distinguishes them as wither male or female. Gender is a socially constructed.

Sexuality is a persons sexual orientation or prefereance. Our society would prefer for relationships to be held within heterosexual couples; however with biology comes variation. There are homosexuals, trisexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals and transgendered individuals among others. A person has the choice to be with whichever sex they desire, although it may not be acknowledged by spciety or the government in most states.

Gwen Araujo was born Edwin Araujo with male genitalia and reprodcutive organs. Shortly into his child his mother noticed that her was more interested in feminine opposed to masculine activities. He was a boy who according to his mother played in girls clothes and toys never trucks or guns like most boys. In an interview his mother gave she explains that Gwen never felt like she was born into the right body. She was not gay, she had just been placed into a body that she could not identify with. In a movie portraying her short life, Eddie began going by Gwen in high school and would wear articles of clothing and accessories that would give him a more feminine appeal. By the time Gwen was in her last year in highschool she was passing as a woman.



Somehow Gwen managed to fool her boyfriend into believing that she was in fact a natural born woman. Her boyfriend was completely oblivious about who she really was. Sylvia Araujo, Gwens mother, decided to tell her boyfriend the truth ultimately leading him to make the decision to discontinue the relationship. Gwen reportedly became very upset and began to spin down a negative spiral. She was reportedly self medication with alcohol to dull the pain she was experiencing from her lovers deep rejection. Not so long after she went to a party and never came out alive. A group of young men forceably revealed her secret and killed her because of it.

Eddie was born a boy at least that is what his birth certificate and genitals would say. What would Gwen Say? Gwen would probably say that she was a whole lot of woman. Her sex may have been male but her gender was as much of a woman as I am.



Happy Halloween!

Submitted by Mirra Watkins

     Halloween….  Known as a day of masquerading for children to trick or treat.  I have always known it to be such a day, to dress up and be whomever or whatever you admire and love: Captain Jack Sparrow, Princess Peach, Batman, Spiderman, etc.  However, due to most of us “doing gender,” I don’t think many realize how Halloween has contributed to the reinforcement of gender socialization (see how our society makes distinct differences in how children should dress for Halloween in the pictures below).  One mother’s decision in 2010 shook up this notion.

     Sarah Manley’s five-year-old son, Boo, decided to dress up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for his preschool Halloween party in 2010.  Much to my and his mother's surprise, it started an uproar.  To add more shock, the controversy did not start because of Boo’s fellow preschoolers teasing him for wearing, what many would assume, a "girl’s costume," which Boo (and I upon hearing the story) expected.  No, it wasn’t his friends who criticized him.  In fact, the children enjoyed his get-up.  The disgust and disapproval came from none other than the children’s parents.  Manley, retelling the incident on her blog, stated that “Two mothers went wide-eyed and made faces as if they smelled decomp…And Mom A says in disgust, ‘Did he ask to be that?!’…Mom B mostly just stood there in shock and dismay.”  Another mother found the audacity to tell Manley how Manley “should never have allowed this” and that she would have to put her foot down in years to come.  Sarah Manley received much backlash not only from the mothers at her son’s preschool but online as well after she vented about the issue on her blog.  In the New York Times online blog, Manley discussed how she “received some pretty terrible comments and name-calling about [her] 5-year-old that [she] couldn’t reprint.”  One individual went as far as tweeting Manley's husband’s police department in order to have her children taken away.

     What’s upsetting to me about this controversy is the hypocrisy of our society and their unrelenting ways to commit everyone to their very specific and limiting gender roles…even on a holiday made for dressing up and being someone that you're not!  What’s even sadder about this situation was the many negative comments Manley received about her son being gay or that she ‘outed’ Boo.  Despite the fact that young 5-year old Boo, as his mother said, has "no sexual conscious choice."  The negative comments further support the social belief that, as quoted in Sociology Matters, “men and women who deviate from traditional expectations about gender roles are often presumed to be gay."  Manley’s son, Boo, was expected to dress up as someone "masculine" for Halloween (most likely similar to the costumes above).  Because he didn't, he and his mother were chastised.  Far as our society’s homophobia and standards of gender roles goes, a boy dressing up as Daphne, Snow White, Storm, a Powerpuff Girl, or any other female character is a huge NO-NO and should be frowned upon and stopped.

     Many fail to realize and to understand that at such a young age, children do not know or understand sexual identity or sexual preference.  According to MSNBC, experts say that it is not unusual for boys under five to dress up in clothing or costumes usually associated with girls.  Not only that, however, many girls dress up as boys (or what’s typically associated with boys) and our society sees no problem with that! Manley said it best in her blog that if her daughter “had dressed as Batman, no one would have thought twice about it.  No one.”  What makes a girl dressing up as a male any different than a boy dressing up as a female?  Nothing.  As children see it, they are just having fun.  However to our society, it is a stigma.  A stigma so influential that children around five years of age become aware of the "differences" between our two genders and the desire to "cross-dress" disappears.

     Sadly, this issue came into light because of one Halloween costume.  I cannot imagine the difficulty our society will have with the larger issue of parents allowing their children to causally "cross-dress."  How will our society handle our children wanting to dress in everyday clothes that are stereotypically associated with the opposite sex?  Will we reprimand and scold our children in order to mold them into society’s acceptable and restrictive gender roles?  Or will we learn to accept, making our children’s happiness our top priority rather than our society’s standards and expectations?  Will we evolve and become a nation that does not subject its children to dimorphic genders?


To read Sarah Manley’s full blog post, go to http://nerdyapple.com/my-son-is-gay/

The roles of gender and sexuality in American Society. By Ken Shaw

We have truly come a long way from the viciously intolerant times of our parents and grandparents. It wasnt even 80 years ago when expressing your true sexual preference meant you had a chance to go to jail if anyone caught you. Closeting your emotions and beliefs because of the stigma behind it. The old days when men and women alike were expected to fill the "cookie cutter" mold that society put in place. Going against the norms of the times ended in being labeled as a "freak" and excommunicated from society.

Many movements and causes shaped and truly changed our generation's views and opinions on the matter. And we truly do realize how lucky we do have it in today's times. The equality for Americans that go against the social norm still is lacking key elements such as the right to marry and all the privledges that come with the title, but 50 years ago they were'nt even considered American in society. Slowly but surely the LGBT community fought for the freedom to express your true gender and sexuality without facing the adversely negative stigma and labels that come with being LGBT. Through the cruel verbal and vicious physical lashings they took to get their message of tolerance and equality across to the masses and it was truly being recieved on open minded ears.

 I honestly dont know much about the LGBT community and their trials and tribulations that came with the fight. But I truly commend the people that constantly fight and rally behind obtaining equal rights. The ones that marched and lobbied to government officials to at least grant them the right to marry a partner wether man or woman that they truly love and live out their version of this so-called "American Dream". So I leave you ( my fellow classmates) with this:"Could you truly thive in a country that did'nt consider you a equal because of your true expression of sexuality and gender"? 

To Be Or Not To Be The American Family

Aydaia Hills


 The American family consist of a white family, mom and dad who is married with two biological children one girl and one boy. living under one roof in a nice big white house with a fence and a large yard. The dad would be the provider making a well over average income while the mom would stay at home to cook, clean and take care of the children.

Family defined by the U.S. Supreme Court consist of three different family views. One is a traditional "nuclear family", that is  when two parents and their children live in a household, and the parents presumed to be acting in the best interest of their children.In such a family, there is no need to give the children their own voice even when parents do such things as institutionalize their children.second is an extended kind model of family made up of a community of parents, siblings, grandparents and other relatives which should be recognized as a primary family, even if their blood ties are not as strong as a nuclear family. Last is an individualist model where family members are fairly autonomous and that individual should be respected. 






we all know that in today's society its rare to find many families still living the American family tradition. Now a days we have family households of people being raised by single parents, gay parents, grand parents, siblings and so forth.Which i believe is great, I think family should consist of a house hold of anybody that live under one roof or many roofs that love, cherish, care, and take care of one another.




I define my family as an extended kind model. I was raised by my god parents since i was three months old. Our house hold consist of my god mom and god dad who were married, and my god brother and sister. So it was just the five of us. We had a really nice home I would consider it to be the American family home. My god father and mother was both the Provider. Then my god mom got sick and became a stay at home mom while my god dad still worked. When I turned about 13 my god dad past away, then my god sister and brother became the providers of the house. So its not always what you want it to be its what you make it. Just because my god parents became sick and my god dad past away doesn't mean we were no longer a family. We still loved each other the same way, we still provided for one another, we stuck by each other side and still til this day we are sticking it through together. Now that's what i call a family!