PIC: Original Research

In my first blog post, I talked about the Syrian refugee crisis. I explained how there are over 11 million Syrians being forced out of their homes, and almost 4 million being forced out of their country completely. How people are forcibly being removed from their homes without all but the most basic necessities, because of a war that they don’t take part in. There are refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt, in need of water, clean water, blankets, and hygiene items. People are being exiled from their homes for upwards of 17 years, and there are over 2 million child refugees, most of which receive no educational support at all.

UNHCR Logo.

After some additional research, I also learned about how the refugee crisis has impacted the surrounding countries, such as Iraq. The Huffington Post says that there have been hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fleeing their country, because of the increased population in addition to the fighting occurring in the country. I also learned about what things are being done about the issue, such as the International Rescue Committee, or IRC. The IRC is supporting refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, and Jordan. They have reached hundreds of thousands of people with medical supplies and winter emergency kits, in attempt to help the millions of refugees around the region survive the risks that surround them. They provide sanitation, clean water, education, and emergency kits to refugees living in camps. They support women and girls who have survived sexual violence, and help to reunite children that have crossed the border on their own with their parents and families. They are one of the multiple organizations trying to help the refugees in need to survive and make it through the hardships that they have and are experiencing. I also did an interview with Melissa Fleming, Head, Communications and Public Information Service Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency, or UNHCR.  The following is the transcript for the interview:

This interview aided me in multiple ways. It helped me understand how the UNHCR is trying to help the refugees, through registering them, helping identify their individual situation and needs, so they can help them with what they need the most help with. I also learned how the rate of the refugees is at the moment. The number of refugees is still increasing, with no signs of slowing down, however less countries are willing to let Syrians into their borders, so there is an increased number of Syrian refugees displaced inside of Syria. This also helped reinforced what I already thought to be true: The public knows far to little on this issue. Few people truly know what is happening within the crisis, and many people don’t care, or fail to realize how big the crisis truly is. I believe for this issue to make the most substantial progress possible, more people need to be aware of it. This is an important issue that needs far more attention than it’s getting.

Christian McCormac
Ms. Giknis
Blog Post #2 (X Band)
11, May 2015

The topic I am writing about is airport security. I want to explain to people why I feel like airport security guards go too far to protect people. They have the job of keeping us safe but they go too far with the scanners and pat downs. I decided to get two views on this topic. I have already shown my view points in my first blog post. I have the second viewpoint from a interview I did with a airport security guard.

Below is the interview questions and answers:

Questions:

1. How long were you a airport security guard?

“I was a airport security guard for 6 years.”

2. Describe being a airport security guard in one word.

“Confusing.”

3. As a security guard what did you do?

“During my years with this occupation all that I really did was pat people down, and watch the scanner.”

4. Why did you stop being a security guard?

“I decided to go back to school to become a Respiratory Therapist.”

5. How did some people react to you searching them?

“There were times when people would verbally attack me for invading their privacy.”

6. What was the craziest reaction you had ever gotten?

“A lady had become very upset with me watching her on the monitor that shows the body scan. She then verbally attacked me and hit the security equipment with her purse.”

7. How did you feel about invading people's personal space?

“I felt confused. At training they made it sound like everything we did was for the safety of others but when you're in the field doing the actual work you feel like a creep.”

8. Have you ever been attacked verbally or physically while doing your job?

“I have been attacked both verbally and physically on multiple cases by people enraged with being searched.”

9. Did you feel like you were harassing people when you did your job?

“Yes, I felt like I was invading the personal space of others but it was my job so I had to do it.”

10. How did your fellow workers see the job?

“I remember my friend David Johnson quit because he didn't feel right doing the job.”

A airport security guard watching a scanner. Source

This interview proves my point. Even a former airport security guard admits that he felt uncomfortable doing the job. This is proved when he says ¨I felt like I was invading the personal space of others but it was my job so I had to do it.¨ This shows that even airport security guards did not love their job. They did it because they had to. Now I am thinking about spreading the word about airport security. I will make posters/flyers and pass them out to people. On these flyers I will explain why airport security guards have too much power and I will use the former airport security guard to back me up. I will pass out the flyers in public places such as school and maybe give them to random people I see.

I continued my research and found this article. This article shows how big the problem is. It also shows that there are other people fighting the problem besides me. I believe that if I pass out the flyers that I can make a show more people how big the problem is. I believe that if people can realize how big the problem is, then we can take the next step of making a change.

In my previous blog, I explained that I am here to raise awareness for ALL mental illnesses not just the common ones that everyone knows about. 1 in 5 Americans suffer from mental illnesses but not many people understand that said Americans suffer from a greater variety of mental illnesses. Not a lot of Americans understand that when it comes to Mental Illnesses there is more than just Depression and Bipolar disorder. But in this blog I will like to backtrack a little and focus on the fact that many Americans know little about Mental Illnesses period.

To get a sense of what 1 in 5 looks like, try this in class. Count off each person in class. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (repeat) Every time you get to five, that person has a mental illness. Add up the total amount of people who ‘have a mental illness.’ Next compare that to the amount of people that are in the class.

A survey given out by the American Psychiatric Association found that 44% of Americans know little to nothing about mental illnesses. 44%. That means only a little more than half of Americans know something about mental illnesses. On top of that, one- third of Americans mistakenly think that emotional weakness is a major cause of mental illnesses. With many Americans suffering from mental illnesses, the lack of knowledge is very dangerous. Sometimes they just know the wrong information. A popular myth of Mental Illness is that children do not experience mental health problems. Due to this believe less than 20% of the children that do have a mental illness get the treatment that is needed. Another popular myth is that people can control their symptoms will sheer willpower. You cannot tell a person who is depressed to cheer up and believe that if they try very hard, they will not be depressed anymore. It just does not work like that. Another popular myth is that medication is the only solution for mental illnesses. Medication is not the only solution. The more common and helpful solution is also therapy.

I myself wanted to test what exactly do people know about mental illnesses, so I designed a survey to test just that. My results are as followed. The very first question I asked was “What is Mental Illness?” The answers were very unique but a specific answer stood out to me. The second was “When somebody is getting crazy.” This result stood out to me because this is exactly what I have personally heard people say when talking about mental illness. Crazy. That is why 31% of adults say that even if they had a mental illness they would not seek treatment. Simply because they fear what others would think of them.  My survey also tested about their knowledge of specific mental illnesses. Namely, Lycanthropy, Aboulomania and ,a familiar one, Alexithymia. 80% of my survey takers correctly answered what was Lycanthropy and Alexithymia. 60% correctly answered what was Aboulomania. Yet when I went back to ask them feedback on the quiz, the majority of them claimed they had either guesses or used context clues. Only one knew the correct answers simply because of the fact that they knew someone with those mental illnesses.

When asked “What is Mental Illness” these were the responses I received.

My final two questions, were on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being very severe “How severe is Mental Illness?” 50% said 5, 40% said 4 and the remaining 10% said 3. The other question asked on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being very important, “How important is awareness of Mental Illnesses?” 90% said 5, 10% said 4. I am glad to see that many of my survey takers understand the importance of mental illness awareness. Now I wonder if any of them will help me do anything to raise that awareness. On May 16, 2015, I am planning on doing the 5K run/walk for Mental Illness. This walk is sponsored by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and is done to raise money and awareness for Mental Illness. I am wondering how many people would be willing to join me on this event. Registration is free but if you have any more questions, you can consult the NAMI walk page and the walk page.

Le Bibliography

Christian McCormac

Ms. Giknis

Blog Post #1 (X Band)

24, April 2015

Airport Security

Planes are a form of transportation that is very popular. This has led to security having to be enforced on planes in order to keep the passengers safe. But, sometimes safety goes too far. Sometimes those that are supposed to protect you are the ones that make you feel unsafe. The topic that I am talking about is Airport Security. Since Airports are a very big and populated space it is only right for their to be security. But security is too much at times. There should be less security for the main fact that it is a invasion of privacy. No person has the right to pat you down and scan your body. The whole point in wearing clothes to provide privacy, so therefore by patting someone down they no longer have any sense of privacy and it is as if they are not wearing clothes. Then you have body scanners. These scanners can make it seem as though the person being scanned is naked. Therefore the person being scanned has absolutely no sense of privacy anymore. The guard that you have never met before has seen you naked.

A airport security guard.

There are better methods that are more efficient. For example metal detectors. They can be used to detect any form of metal. Since metal is a thing that is found in most weapons it will be a very smart move to install extremely strong metal detectors. Now for the dangerous objects that are made out of materials such as plastic you can use dogs. You see since dogs are able to detect drugs then with the proper training they should be able to detect any dangerous chemical found in dangerous objects. A dog simply sniffing a person is much less invading then scanners that allow you to see people like they are naked. A dog simply sniffing a person is much more comfortable than a person thoroughly patting down another person. By patting someone down your are invading their privacy and feeling them. By a dog simply smelling someone they don’t even have to make physical contact with them. The dogs just have to be close enough that they can smell the dangerous chemicals. Another method is having a machine that only detects dangerous threats. This machine will scan the person but instead of giving the viewer a naked view of the person they will simply only see the dangerous chemicals. This method shows no invasion of privacy whatsoever and keeps all people at the airport safe.

People getting patted down.
The reason why I feel so strongly about this topic is that it has happened to me before. I have gone through a body scanner that made me feel shameful afterwards because the guards had then seen what my clothes hided. This experience has made me very passionate about airports being able to keep passengers safe without having to technically harass them. Therefore I want to educate the public on the belief that we should not be forced to go through harassing security measurements.

Black Lives Matter is an American Movement that feeds on people consisting of the Trayvon Martin, Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes. There are many reasons why this organization was made. There are 2.8 million innocent blacks who are in prison today, This in itself is a crime. Black women are being assaulted. Did you know that there are 500,000 blacks in the states who are illegal immigrants? I bet you didn’t know that. These are things that we need to prevent for our society. I am interested in this project because it targets kids my age in today's society and educates them about crimes committed against minorities. Black Lives Matter also encourages us to come up with solutions to make a change and ensure that this violence doesn’t continue."

It is important for Americans to be able to rely and trust authority figures, such as police officers, EMTs, Firefighters, etc. Police brutality is both tragic and real. Take Trayvon Martin and Eric Gardner for example. Both men ended up dead because of then injustice brought upon them by the police"

I’m wondering how to prevent domestic violence, to say No more to being assaulted. It’s time that we take a stand and make an improvement. To mine and possibly others, it’s Cruel and it’s Racist. I’m willing to create a survey about our segregation. would be better.

Philly School Funding

For my topic, I will be researching and hopefully positively contributing to Philadelphia school funding.  I am interested in this because I personally go to a public school in Philadelphia, who is struggling due to the lack of funding in our schools.  Currently, according to an article on the Education Week website, the school districts deficit is about 216 million dollars.  The school district plans on raising the cities sales tax to cover only half of that.

The states previous governor, Thomas Corbett, caused many problems for schools by giving tax breaks to large companies instead of money towards schools.  Our new governor.  Our current governor, Tom Wolf has been more compliant in supporting the school system, but the damage has been, and our schools are facing a crisis.  Here is a look at where the money in Philadelphia schools is being spent.

Almost no money is being spent on important extra utilities such as safety, food services, and transportation.   And, even with 45% of the money going towards instruction, there were still many lay-offs, especially for teachers with positions considered more minor or less necessary.

I am wondering the main ways I can help school funding, because although the problem is a lack of money, my donations would not go very far.  I will talk to teachers and students who have experience with this issue to say how they contribute.  I will do my best to spread awareness of the topic, however I think most people around me are aware of the problem because it affects them as well.  I don’t feel informed enough to design my own plan on how to fund the school system, because I am not sure of a fair way of raising the kind of money needed.      

Philadelplhians have a very bad view of public schools.  A survey showed that only 18% of people have a positive view of the schools, while most others see it as “poor”.  However, studies have shown that over 85% of teachers are competent in their teaching, meaning the problem lies elswhere.  America puts more money into their school systems than many other countries whose students excell beyond ours.  Therefore, the problem does not reside entirely within the school, but rather the personal lives of the people.  Unfortunately, I cannot change everyones lives, and make them richer.  So, I will use an interview as a way to come up with ideas of how to

benefit schools.

I wonder if any students in past years have chosen the same topic I am doing.  If I find out about someone who did, I wonder what I should ask them so they could help me with my project.  As the project goes on, I hope I thoroughly learn all the information I will need for this project about my topic, because it is useful and very relevant information.

Bibliography

Blog Post #1:

My topic is going to be Depression and Anxiety (for any age group). I am interested in this topic because I myself was recently diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and it’s fascinating because this is something that can developed over time or maybe after a certain event. Also how there is so many in’s and out’s to it, and how it can be different for everybody. Depression is basically chemical imbalance in the brain, that causes a lot of mental and physical symptoms that can affect you and your loved ones.

This issue is significant because Depression and Anxiety is one of the main causes of disability, and even death. It is extremely important to be aware about it because you never know when or if you would run into this kind of situation in desperate need of help. Depression and Anxiety is basically an imbalance in your brain. Everyone every now and then gets a little blue sometimes, however if you are waking up in tears almost every morning, feel like you are dragging your feet 24-7.

At this point I’m wondering how educated people are these days about this subject, I also question what I haven’t learned yet about Depression and Anxiety. I’m hoping that I can find great ways to explain this kind of subject because it can be extremely difficult sometimes explaining to others what seems confusing sometimes yourself.

http://40.media.tumblr.com/37bd4927b718e09d0dde7f00beb70f80/tumblr_namloc4Cp51swxxogo1_500.jpg

I was devastated when I realized that I would likely be disregarding of America’ s failing mental health system if it were not for my own nonverbal, autistic, younger brother. I find it terrifying to think that I would just be another kid who paid this issue no mind, if I did not have this personal connection. It disappoints me even more that there are many people who simply do not care about this problem, or even refer to this as a significant issue.  Despite the occasional spark a deadly school shooting ignites in the discussion of mental illnesses, this topic is usually ignored and the invisible cult of depressed, autistic, bipolar,  children remain hidden at the back of classrooms, where they become shadows of a system that fails to provide the resources essential to their growth.  They are then forced to thrive in a competitive world, where people with differences are usually ostracized and shunned without a chance. In my project, I plan to connect the defective mental health care system to the general ignorance shared by the public about how these issues affect the mentally-challenged.

This picture metaphorically illustrates the dangers the breaches in the mental health care system cause in reference to the Connecticut shooting.

The numbers are sickening. 40,000 people die a year by means of suicide. Only 30% of depressed teenagers are being treated for depression. These statistics make me wonder: Why is there not a lot of emphasis being put on mental illnesses? Why do politicians seldom talk about underfunded special education programs at school? Why does death resuscitate the usually ephemeral debate? I believe that if the public was educated about the cracks in the mental health system,and the deadly consequences they engender, more citizens would care enough to drive an imperative discussion that can lead to awareness concerning ways to make people with mental illnesses feel welcome in the society they live in.

This picture represents a campaign to stop teen suicides.

For years, I have watched my parents struggle to provide my brother with the best opportunities, mainly because few exist  without a hefty price tag. Moreover, many of the programs that are supposed to aid his development are uncoordinated to the extent when calling the state of unorganized, and sometimes ineffective services,  offered to the mentally-challenged,  a “ system”, can be questioned. Families in desperate need of assistance are usually forced to navigate a circuitous route, involving professionals who know little about their child’ s history, and experimenting with countless prescriptions, praying that one bottle of pills makes a difference in their children’ s lives along the way. These families, like my own, live in the constant fear of being unable to provide their loved ones with the necessities they need in order to stay healthy and content mainly because the current makeshift system is not secure enough to support their needs.

Through research, I found that there are only 7, 500 psychiatrists, while 20,000 are actually needed. 5 million American children suffer from mental illnesses, however, reimbursement for mental health services, from public and privates insurers, often falls short of providing the most salient services. These issues are seldom spoken about in society and in the media unless a mentally ill person goes on a murder spree. Even then, the excitement is short-lived.

 This graph shoes how mental illnesses affects American students.

My project will bring awareness to the gaps in our mental health care system. I plan to do so by showcasing how little the public knows about the issues that negatively affect the mentally-ill through a survey and field observation at a treatment center , and correlating my findings to the broken system. Stay tuned!

Bibliography

My topic is on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; most commonly known as OCD. This is a brain and behavioral disorder that causes anxiety, obsessions and compulsions. My project will be in video form, involving a thorough OCD explanation, statements from people suffering from OCD, and tips that have helped others. As child I had mild OCD relating to my body and even actions. I would have to touch something an even amount of times on both sides in the exact same way. If I mess up, I would have to finish the first set and make a completely new one to accommodate my mistake.

OCD based repetitive checklist. Example of ODC situation

There are many stories that are similar to my own. ADAA provides a similar story, from an anonymous person “The stress of moving away from home made my OCD explode. My parents and I wondered why I couldn’t adjust to college. Like a member of an audience, I watched my hall mates experience the normal worries of college: homesickness, classes, and the quality of dining hall food. I assumed the nervous feeling would eventually subside, but I was wrong. Even when the initial stress of college wore off, my anxiety remained.” This person struggled with their OCD. College drove them to stressful situations.Their OCD left a big impact on their life, along with many others.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder art

Another example from the ADAA is this person who had a college problem as well.“Episodic OCD burdened me for over a decade, from my college years until 2006. Self-punishment made matters worse, as it does for everyone. I compulsively checked the coffee maker to see if it was off, and over checked my written work.“ College is putting a really big strain on this person. It was so hard he became a slave to his OCD. He started checking things in his daily life over and over again, routinely too. These habits disrupt people's lives and create a barrier against the rest of the world.

OCD isn't always a seriously dangerous experience. For some people the thing that sets them off could be considered normal to others.  “Diance doesn’t know why she felt so anxious. But she knows what she saw when the feeling overwhelmed her: a nearby woman wearing a v-neck sweater.” Some peoples OCD is different from most. Like this person, she simply didn't like they way something looked. A piece of clothing bothered her. Even though it may seem ridiculous, its very real and frustrating. She has to live with it for the rest of her life. Things may seem weird to her, but she feels like it needs to be fixed. Thats just how some cases of OCD are.

OCD example of order (Alphabetically)

The three examples used showed that OCD can have an effect on peoples lives; even in small ways. This Disorder makes people who they are, and I want to help people find a way to help themselves without suppressing it with medication. I am curious to find out how OCD can differ from person to person. I want to learn how OCD is developed. I Also plan on finding the statistics of OCD. How many people are diagnosed, what ages, and where.