On my last post, I explained the problems with having snakes as pets. This is a topic that needs to be brought way more attention. Snakes are captured from their natural habitats and transported to different places, this process can cause them a lot of harm. Then, for the rest of their lives they are kept in tanks that don’t even have the space they need to stretch. Not only their physical body gets harmed but so does their mental state. They can feel a lot of stress and anxiety in captivity. Most snakes are very cheap, which gives more people a reason to want to buy them. When I was looking for organizations that are doing things to help stop this, I couldn’t really find a lot, but the one I found was World Animal Protection. They have made articles informing people why this is such an important issue. They also have a wildlife pledge that people can sign to share support and help stop this issue. They receive donations to stop all sorts of animal cruelty, including my topic. And they also have an instagram account to raise awareness to this type of stuff. I think these are very effective ways of helping snakes and other animals. However there’s way more that needs to be done because there’s still not a lot of people know about this.

*A screenshot of my gofundme link

For my Agent of Change part, I decided to set up a Gofundme link so I could raise money in order to donate to World Animal Protection. Since the least amount you can donate to World Animal Protections donation link is $30, I thought it was best to set up a gofundme for people who still wanted to donate, but couldn’t exactly contribute with that much. I reached out to the organization so I could inform them of my plan, but I got no response. My gofundme actually didn’t turn out to be very successful, since I only got very few donations. I will still be donating to World Animal Protection but with my own money, and the donation money I received. Even though I didn’t get as many donations as I hoped for, I got multiple people to sign the wildlife pledge.

Screenshot of one of my friends signing the wildlife pledge *

Overall, I really enjoyed working on this project. I really liked being able to work on something I actually care about and having to do something to help. I also thought it was cool how everyone had such interesting topics, and helped in many different ways. I thought everyone’s topic also let me know a little more about the person and about what type of topics they cared about. I think there’s a lot of things that could have gone better if I was to do this project while I was in the country. Since I wasn’t, I had to change some things so I could still try to help in a virtual way. If I could do things in person, I would’ve loved to do some type of fundraiser in person since a lot of people that wanted to donate couldn’t because they had no way to pay virtually. There’s not much left for me to do but I want to wait a little longer to see if I can raise a little more money so I can donate more to the organization.

Annotated Bibliography

In my previous post, I explained why obesity is an issue that more people should care about. It can have fatal effects on your health and it disproportionately affects POC, lower class people, and people with less education. After researching the ways that others are helping to fight against obesity, I noticed that there weren’t many people with social media accounts related to the issue. However, I’ve found that there are organizations such as https://www.obesity.org/ that are focused on obesity research. They accept donations, so I’ve included a link to their website in my linktree. This brings me to what I did to be an agent of change!

I created an Instagram account to help educate people about obesity, encourage people to drink water, make healthy meals and snacks, participate in healthy challenges, and learn ways to relax and de-stress. Some of my posts include reminders to drink water, so I researched the benefits of doing so in order to make sure I had my facts straight. Giving people a reason to do something is always better than just telling them to do it! I’ve been designing my posts using PicsArt, an artsy app. It’s very easy to navigate and there’s so much I can do with it! My goal is to have my posts look simple and professional while also being colorful and fun. As stated earlier, I also make a linktree with links to places to donate, a relaxing music playlist, and any information mentioned in my posts. Although I tried putting it in my bio, Instagram is currently not letting me edit my profile! This has happened before and it usually works after a day or so.

Making my profile picture in the PicsArt app!

Creating a custom color in the PicsArt app for the background of a post!

So far, my experience with the account has been positive. I sent an email to everyone in my stream to gain followers and my first post did well! I plan on starting a week-long challenge this coming Monday, but I’ll have more posts up before then! In addition, I’ve been keeping an eye out for healthy snacks to post about, especially snacks that are healthy alternatives to unhealthy foods. For example, I recently posted a recipe for frozen grapes with lime juice as a healthy alternative to sour patch candy!

My account’s profile before sending the stream email

My account’s profile after sending the stream email

Overall, I love how my project is turning out. I think the ideas are there, but I wish I’d started posting earlier. I learned that orange stream is really supportive of everyone’s ideas and projects! I think we all pushed each other to create great projects and everyone was ready and willing to help their classmates out. There is still more work to be done for my Instagram account to be successful and I think I can really make a change if I continue to post! Please check out my account @fight__against_obesity if you haven’t already!

Annotated Bibliography

being ruined, but we can stop this. Their sea ice is being melted and less sea ice is forming each year in a steady incline. I go over the species of polar bears and how they are being affected in an earlier post You can check out my resources for my research in my [annotated bibliography.] (https://docs.google.com/document/d/13QkjYnWT__Qj6WRhkwGklubJLEqWO2cYQ9EWsRBVaUk/edit?usp=sharing ) In the end, they need help and we can give it. This is why I decided to write about polar bears because we should help them since we are hurting them.

Many things have been done to help polar bears and many people have been helping to do so. One of the ways I see people trying to help polar bears is volunteer work for organizations that help polar bears. Another way I see help for polar bears is that organizations and people are trying to stop gas cars since they cause the sea ice to melt, people are also trying to produce less smoke by walking and using a bike instead of a car. I also see people doing fundraisers and donations to help polar bears. These are just some of the many things people are doing to help this endangered species and if you want to know more about any of this you can go to [N.F.W.] ( https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Polar-Bear )or the [American Museum Of National History] (https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/earth/ask-a-scientist-about-our-environment/how-can-we-save-polar-bears-from-extiction ), which talks about some of the ways we can save polar bears.

I decided that just writing about them was not good enough, I decided I needed to do more. I wanted to do something that was possible for as a single person could do and that was able to spread the word. So I decided to do a fundraiser and the way I would raise money would be by selling shirts. The shirts I made said “ save the polar bears” in the front with a picture of a polar bear. On the back, it said “donate to Polar Bears International”, which was the organization where I was going to donate the money to help polar bears. My first plan was to sell shirts in person in a busy area on a good day, but after thinking about it I thought that Covid-19 would have gotten in the way. I say this because if I were to sell them in person I could have gotten the Coronavirus or people might not want to buy the shirts because of the same reason of getting the virus. So I decided to sell the shirts online and have them shipped to the house of the buyer after they purchase them.

Picture of my fundraiser on Custom Ink

At last, I decided to sell the shirts through a site called Custom Ink, and it lets make it so once the fundraiser was over I was able to donate straight to the organization of my choice. I let the fundraiser go on for two weeks and I tried advertising on everything I could and try to as many friends and family as possible to buy a shirt. I even have my fundraiser mentioned in the school news. In the end, I was only able to sell 1 shirt out of the 50 I wanted to sell. I guess people didn’t have the time or money to buy a shirt, and that okay because I understand why they didn’t buy any.

Picture of my post to the school newsletter

Picture of my advertisement on Twitter

In the end, I did the best I could to help polar bears and save them and their sea ice. I feel like this project was a good thing to do and shows me that I can do more to help the things I believe in. Something that I learned about myself is that I should put my heart into the thing I want to achieve and that I can’t always do things on my own and it is okay to ask others for help. Something I feel like I could have done better on was my action, I feel like I could have also advertised my fundraiser in person to others too. Even though I failed at raising money I can still try to not use a car all the time and volunteer to help save polar bears, and you can do this too all you need to do is try.

In my last slate post, I had discussed the topic of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the homeless population of the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has shed new light on the struggles of homeless individuals. When many Americans were told to “Stay Home and Stay Safe” many of our fellow citizens were unable to stay home or safe. Social distancing and self-care was not an option for the United States homeless population. Whether through economic hardship, drug abuse, mental health, or other factors, many Americans met the unfortunate fate of homelessness.

In my research I have found that many people have been donating to many organizations, drives, and services dedicated to helping the homeless. I interviewed my neighbor, Ms. Melanie Dupree, who attends Tindley Temple united Methodist church organized a feeding program for the homeless. Tindley Temple has had a soup ministry since the early 1930s. Tindley served meals three to four times a week, however, as a result of the pandemic they had to shut down. My neighbor would walk by the homeless in the city, and she felt compelled to help out. This led her to start her ministry which is called CornerStone Feeding Ministry. She packs 50 lunches and distributes them near the Reading Terminal. She also distributes them at twelve and locust underground tent city. Meal distribution is done once a month. She obtains the help of the elderly shut ins at the Church to help prepare and pack the bags. These elderly individuals would have been isolated at home due to the pandemic, however her ministry provides them with a safe space to socialize. She distributes her meals with the help of her grandkids as well.

As my agent of change I created an Instagram page that is still up today meant to spread awareness about the struggle and conditions many homeless individuals face during the COVID-19 pandemic. This account has had a lot of traffic coming in, mostly composed of my fellow peers from SLA.

Separate from my agent of change project, as a result of living in the city I encounter many homeless individuals. I feel compelled to help them in any way, usually in the form of buying them masks and water due to the current weather.

If I had to reflect on my agent of change it would be very frustrating, confusing, and emotional. Overall, I am unsatisfied with my agent of change project I’ve done. Although I did spread awareness about the struggles many homeless people have faced during the pandemic, I did not do anything to help the homeless. After completing my project I felt as if I could do better if I had more resources as well as a greater time between deadlines. Hopefully my Instagram account could have spread enough awareness for someone to make a real change.

Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11CwTEXEKnChcW2FiM5xoa_Q1UCkBNoJR2YTW0fnXN-4/edit?usp=sharing

Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/shenk_miles/

Slate post 1: https://scienceleadership.org/blog/the_devastating_effect_covid-19_has_on_the_united_states_homeless_population_and_what_we_can_do_to_help

In my previous post, I discussed how Tik Tok is one of the biggest social media platforms at the moment. Users and content creators are attracted to the platform for its easy outlet of creativity allowing for people to express themselves in various ways. However, not all that glitter is gold when users begin to feel silenced or limited when speaking about important issues like police brutality and much more. Furthermore, when the algorithm and for your page begins to feel like yet another thing ostracizing Black people and their advocacy for different issues.
After conducting research and looking deeper into the issue. I wanted to find a way to make my agent change something that reaches a larger audience so I thought that the best way for that to happen would be through a social media style ad campaign. So, on April 29, 2021, I launched black creators on tiktok an Instagram page targeted to share Black voices, stories, have deeper conversations and shed light on small black creators on Tik Tok. I was so excited to launch this page so I immediately got to work on the design and followed a weekly schedule. For the design of the website, I wanted something simple but aesthetically pleasing so I chose a periwinkle and white theme. This ended up turning out to be really great and I created all of my own original posts on Canva. For my posting schedule, I chose to post on Tuesday and Thursday because then I could upload the post during English class. So, I decided to get creative with the posting schedule making Tuesdays “Tune in Tuesdays” and Thursdays “Threaded Thursdays” where I would post my threads. “Tune in Tuesdays” would revolve around conversation and people sharing things they have learned from the week. My goal for the page was to make a positive change whether that be on a small or large scale to the Black creator’s experience on Tik Tok. I wanted to share my research with others and realized having this page was the best way. For me, this project was different because rather than just talking about these issues we were given the opportunity to take action to change them. I learned a lot about myself through this project like the fact that I really enjoy designing things and working on things over a long period of time rather than rushing something in a tight time frame. I am hoping to continue this project on my own time outside of class because I envision it going so far so I really want to continue my work with it. Although, I haven’t received the publicity that I wanted when I started this project I will keep working to get it to the platform it needs to be at. However, if I could pull one thing I wish I would’ve done it would have been following through with the choice to advertise the page on the advisory memo because I know many people have social media so maybe that would have helped with the issue of growing the platform.

annotated bibliography

This image displays the first post on @black_creatorsontiktok which is just a welcome message

This image displays the first Tune in Tuesday post on @black_creatorsontiktok which is about sharing something you learned

This image displays the page as a whole and how it looks.

Men’s mental health is an often undervalued topic when it comes to mental health. Millions of men suffer and die from mental illness each year. 78% of all suicide deaths are from men. 49% of men feel more depressed than they admit to people in their life. Many men often feel as though they are burdened to not talk about their feelings and hold them inside. That’s part of the reason why often when you see a man cry you ask him “why are you crying”. It’s because you’re not used to seeing a man cry. One of the things that causes a lot of mental illness for men specifically is the fact that they feel that they can’t talk to others about it. They have to hide it and not show their true emotion because society will portray it as “non-masculine”. Men’s suicide rates are 3.6% times higher than women and it’s because women have an easier time talking about their feelings than men. Society has so many standards and expectations for men to live up to. Men feel as though they can’t talk to anyone about their feelings so it becomes very hard for them to share sensitive stuff and get help. In my opinion, some steps that could be taken towards solving this issue are talking to men more about the issue and offering helpful issues for them to use. Talking to them is a big one, show I guy you know that you can talk to him and that you care about his mental health because it will mean a lot to them. Because guys don’t get lots of compliments or when someone notices something about them in general so it means a lot. Another idea could be improving one’s physical health, improving sleep and eating habits. Breaking out of bad habits can bring on depression-like smoking or drinking. Go out and talk to friends so you can be more social. Personally I feel like this is a very important issue that is not talked about enough because it’s literally killing men and the numbers and statistics are crazy. I chose to write about this topic because a few months ago I had my own personal dealings with mental health issues and wouldn’t want any other men to go through that. It’s very hard and it feels very lonely like you have no one to talk to about it because you feel like you can’t trust anyone. I feel like I wasn’t very effective in making a change in someone else but In myself alone yes because I was able to overcome my depression and sadness. How I feel about this project is neutral. Because on the one hand it’s cool to kinda pursue a topic that means something to you and learn more about it. In addition to that it’s also cool to see what my fellow classmates are working on and what topics/passions they’re interested in. Something I could have done better was doing my interviews and managing my time better when it came to doing the interview. I had intended to interview guys and ask them questions about mental health research and analyze the data. For me I think something that is still left is to maybe interview more guys. Something I am interested in seeing in one of my other classmates is Kyla and Tybria are making a mini course. I think it will be interesting to see how they pursue that and what kind of mark/legacy it will leave for them and the SLA community.

In my latest slate post I talked about the threats that come from homework and how to manage it, but most recently I’ve been trying to start up study groups to help manage people’s stress. These study groups will be in groups of seven students that are already familiar with each other so they are not afraid to ask for help which has been a problem in the past. So this will help encourage students to ask for assistance as this is one good way to eliminate stress. It will also help with time management which is also another tool to fight stress, especially if it’s long term. As you will need to meet once, maybe even two times a week for an hour to study for a test or help one of your peers with their homework. I chose to do my You & The World Project on the stress of homework because it’s something I have experienced in the past, as of many others as well. It’s also a really untalked about subject it’s often overshadowed by many other serious problems. Probably because most don’t know the dangers of it, as I myself didn’t know what it could do until I did research on it. It can cause various mental health problems like, anxiety, and depppresion. It’s one of the silent killers, so I brought more attention to it and came up with a way to combat it, the study group. Which has seemed to work so far for me, as I have studied with my friends to help test it, and was proven successful. I will likely pitch my idea to the princable, hoping to form this club. I will be have using a google slide show to help sponsor idea. I feel like this project has a lot of value that just hasn’t been uncovered yet, as it can benefit many people, not just myself and the students. But the teachers and the families of stressed young ones, as it can bring down many people. I wish for this to be in person as it would be much easier to orchestrate, as of right now I’m online and it is hard to start a club that it primarily done face to face. I hope this club will last once I have graduated from high school so it can help future students, benefiting all and I hope this will inspire other students to bring awareness to this subject and hopefully it can get talked about at other schools as well as community centers. This will be one way to help defeat not just anxiety but stress as a whole.

In my previous post I wrote about some of the research I did about my topic which is homeless addicts. I found out that many people have stereotypes about homelessness. One of the most common stereotypes about homelessness is addiction. Most people assume that they choose to live on the streets, which for some could be true but 90% of that is false. Furthermore, I mentioned in my previous post about young people that become homeless addicts. It is discouraging but in reality, many older homeless addicts advise them to have a great life and not become homeless nor an addict. Additionally, in my previous post, I mentioned a woman who spoke about her past and current adversities. Now, she offers advice to young people to have a different life than her. My goal with this project was to help homeless addicts because it’s so sad seeing them struggle. I shared a picture of a group of teenagers that gave out pizza to homeless addicts. This act of kindness reminded me of a similar action I experienced before. I researched possible ways that the community and I could help with this issue.

This is the picture that I showed from my previous post and they inspired to do the act that I chose to do for this project.

There are many different types of organizations within our community. Since we are looking at two separate issues, homelessness and addiction, which are two individual problems, I needed to search for an organization that deals with both. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any; however, I found one organization that helps people with addiction which offers counseling and resources to support them. Many organizations or rehabilitation centers are not known. Even if these facilities aren’t the right resource for every case, there are tons of rehab centers that can be chosen from.

This is the picture of the place I went to donate supplies. (Not my photo)

On another side, I researched organizations that serve homeless people. One of the most known organizations is Project homes Project homes accept donations like clothes, food, and even money. They help give back to the community in so many ways, and for this project, I decided that the best way I could help is to collect supplies from some of my friends to donate. Even though it was not a drastic change, it is significant enough to start by donating the supplies I collected to Project homes. I enjoyed my experience of giving back and helping someone in need. The only thing that wasn’t a success was getting many people to help me collect supplies. Something I learned was that not everything seems like what it is and to never judge how someone looks or their stability. In general, this could be about me or anyone else, but to never judge someone’s situation, If you don’t know what they’re going through.

These are the supplies I collected from friends and family, including: hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, breakfast bars, and water bottles.

Looking back on my project, something I could’ve done better is spreading the word more on collecting supplies and reaching a larger audience. Moving forward, we need to remember to come up with different ways to help and to not lose momentum because a lot of people help and don’t continue helping.

In my first You & The World blog post, I discussed the mental part of addiction, how it affects your brain, and what specifically in your brain causes you to fall into addiction. I also covered how addiction affects your whole life; relationships, friendships, and career. The last thing I addressed about addiction was how it directly relates to crime and the way addiction ruins your will to be a good citizen. You can find the link here if you missed it.

As I continued researching about the issue, I started digging deeper to understand the ways America is fighting addiction, and I formed my own opinions on each tactic.

The first source I came across was “10 Ways to Combat America’s Drug Abuse Problem”. In this source, the author focuses on ways to support recovering addicts, and also ways that America could prevent deaths at the hands of addiction. They start by listing ways to reduce addiction deaths by doing things such as: providing easier access to Naloxone (a nasal spray that blocks deadly respiratory suppression caused by many drugs) and identifying who is making these deadly drugs easy to access. The author then lists ways to prevent addiction in general: spreading awareness and education to people around the country. Some of the last tactics the author suggests consist of making access to rehab easier and bettering medical treatment for addiction. The author concludes with a reminder to keep hope and understand that recovery isn’t easy, but it’s possible.

I believe that this first article’s advice for combating addiction is incredibly helpful and very informative. I think addressing it in a way that would prevent addiction as well as supporting people who are already struggling with it is smart.

The second source I read is titled “Ways to Increase Awareness About Addiction and Rehab”. This article discusses ways to personally raise awareness about addiction on your own. It starts with suggesting education upon yourself and others. It also talks about getting involved with the community and helping spread the message. Following legislation surrounding addiction is suggested as well, and the article emphasizes that every voice counts when it comes to addiction and the government. The article concludes by explaining that sharing your story with addiction is incredibly helpful to yourself and others.

I think this article is also very useful when educating yourself on how to spread awareness about addiction. It mainly focuses on the idea that every person and every voice matters, which I totally agree with.

What I did for my agent of change was donating to an organization that directly helps people recovering from addiction. I gathered a good amount of necessities (suggested from the organization for donating), and I dropped it off. I chose to do this because I figured it was the most I could do that would actually mean something. I didn’t want to donate money because I wanted to ensure that the things I donated would be actually directly helping people and it would be more personal. The experience was pretty easy, but it was really fun and it felt like I was making some sort of change or difference, even if it was small.

I felt pretty good about doing this project. I think I chose a good topic and I believe that I did the most I could with the time given to fight the issue of addiction. I learned a lot about the way that addiction affects the brain and I definitely understand addiction on a deeper level than I previously did. I could’ve spread a little more awareness on social media, like maybe if I created an instagram page dedicated to spreading awareness about addiction. I can still do that though. I hope in the future I can collaborate with more people, like collecting donations from my friends and then donating to the organization, but I didn’t think of that very early, so I thought I wouldn’t have enough time/I wouldn’t have enough donations or any at all. I’m still very proud of myself and my project but there’s always room for improvement in the future.

Link to Annotated Bibliography

I decided to make a commentary on sexism because I watch commentaries daily. I find the idea of someone giving facts and opinions on a certain topic, then making it into a video is educational just as much as it is entertaining.

I chose the topic of sexism because up until almost three years ago, I wasn’t the most educated on it. Almost three years ago I was 12 and didn’t know about sexism. I knew the word, but after watching sitcoms that poked fun at the matter, I saw the topic as just another thing people were sensitive about. With this commentary, I wish to educate children to know that sexism isn’t a joke. I wish to teach children that were my age, not to see it the way I did when I was uneducated and ignorant.

Though this commentary isn’t only for kids. I think anyone and everyone could listen to it because it doesn’t hurt to be informed.

One thing I learned from the research was how people CAN see this as a joke. “Thomas Ford and Mark Ferguson once pointed out “Sexist and other discriminatory disparaging humor takes a code for granted: its funniness relies on people recognizing the stereotypes that are the basis for the joke. It asks us to not take discriminatory stereotyping seriously. That’s not going to take the sting out of it.” and I couldn’t agree more.” This was said in my commentary. If this interests you, you should watch the entire thing for more information.

(P.S My computer is acting weird so in order to listen to it you need to click on the paper, download it, then you can listen and you don’t need me to give access)