Picture from [National Geographic] (https://www.nationalgeographic/) of a starving polar bear.

What is something that you care about? Do you have any pets at home or care for any? Have you seen something that you felt was wrong and wanted to do something about it? Well, that is what this all is about. I wanted to bring attention to climate change and the effect it’s having on polar bears.

I saw this kind of influence on tv of polar bears starving and even in some cartoons. I didn’t pay it much mind. It was until I actually looked into the topic that I started to care about it. I am a person who loves animals and I care for a cat of my own. I hate seeing animals being mistreated and hate to see animals in poor conditions. Another reason why I care about this subject is that we can do something but a lot of people don’t care. The earth is getting warmer due to climate change and is affecting the animals in the arctic mainly polar bears.

Graph showing the 19 polar bear subpopulation from the [WWF] (https://arcticwwf.org/newsroom/stories/polar-bear-assessment-brings-good-and-troubling-news/) article. From the research I have done about polar bears there are 19 subpopulations of polar bears. About 2 of the 19 subpopulations have a stable population going for the past 8 years. For about 7 of the other subpopulations, we don’t know how they are being The decline in sea ice due to climate change has affected how polar bears reproduce and hunt. There is a time in the year where sea ice is supposed to freeze and make more, but in recent, this process has been shortened and less sea ice has been made due to climate change.

Graphs from the [Carbon Brief website] ( https://www.carbonbrief.org/polar-bears-and-climate-change-what-does-the-science-say) showing the trend of sea-ice from 18 of the 19 polar bear populations in the past 3 decades.

Since the ice caps are melting polar bears are having to move closer to land when their main food source seals are at sea. This causes polar bears to starve for days, have no stamina, and die from starvation. Polar bears also need a lot of food to survive so they wouldn’t even be fine if they found a new source of food on land. Polar bears have been seen to up to a total of 200 pounds of food in one sitting. I also found out from the national geographic study on polar bears that they use about 12,000 calories per day even though they mostly stay still. There was a study on a polar bear for 9 days. By the end of the journey, she had lost the cub she was traveling with and 22 pounds of her body weight.

Picture of polar bear cubs in their den while their mother hunts from [Carbon Brief] (.https://www.carbon brief.org/polar-bears-and-climate-change-what-does-the-science-say)

Greenhouse gases are a major threat to polar bears causing global warming and sea ice to melt. Even though there have been some measures to stop greenhouse gases it is not enough and they are still rising and won’t stop until 2040. But by the time 2040 does come the population of polar bears will be about 40% of what it is now.

There is still time to help. There are ways I can help and so can you. There are sites online where you can [donate] (https://polarbearsinternational.org/donate/us/) to save polar bears. Or even adopt one which I don’t recommend if you don’t have any animal experience or can deal with a 1-ton bear living with you. I have many ideas I can do to help this post. Let’s all work together to save polar bears and stop global warming, all we need to do is try.

Tik Tok is one of the biggest social media platforms at the moment. Users and content creators are attracted to the platform for its easy outlet of creativity allowing for people to express themselves in various ways. However, not all that glitter is gold when users begin to feel silenced or limited when speaking about important issues like police brutality and much more. Furthermore, when the algorithm and for you page begins to feel like yet another thing ostracizing Black people and their advocacy for different issues.
The Tik Tok algorithm is a significant factor in determining which videos get the most attention and likes. However, the algorithm has not been equitable and fair for all on the platform. Black creators have been very reliant on TikTok out of all social media platforms because news travels like wildfire and it would allow the Black Lives Matter movement to grow and gain publicity and support. Additionally, I learned that black creators had no one to blame but TikTok’s “Community Guidelines”. The Community Guidelines were very strict in the summer as everything with the Black Lives Matter movement was progressing more than ever. The Community Guidelines were so strict that they filtered through creators’ videos judging the nature of the video. Things like hateful ideology and behavior, slurs, weapons, drugs, dangers to children, frauds, and scams were all sifted through and analyzed through videos. While these things are very important to sift though they are not the center of discussion. It is frustrating to creators, specifically Black creators when their videos are taken down even though they are not violating guidelines. Many people made it a point to point out that there are major and visible inconsistencies in the Tik Tok algorithm. Being heavily user reliant doesn’t help even out the playing field of which videos ultimately make it to the for you page. Additionally, Black Lives Matter is a very social media-based campaign and movement so when you limit the potential of important videos about these topics on people’s pages you are also limiting the potential of how much attention these important topics get. After being called out, Tik Tok quickly issued an apology for making the Black community feel invalidated or silenced. They explained that it seems to be caused by a technical glitch in the software however, people were still not buying it because why we’re the only hashtags targeted about the Black Lives Matter movement?.

*Photo #1; This is a picture pulled from the Tik Tok website of the Community Guidelines and all of the categories that determine if a video is allowed to stay up or not.

*Photo #2; This is a picture pulled from the Tik Tok website displaying an apology issued by Tik Tok to the Black community.

Photo 3; This is a photo of a statement uploaded by Tik Tok to their account from CEO Kevin Mayer

Overall, although Tik Tok issued an apology and statement to the Black community people are asking Tik Tok to take steps and measures in ensuring an equal playing field for all videos on the For You Page.

My topic is about something I don’t think a lot of people really care about. At first, I didn’t really care either. Actually, I just didn’t know anything about snakes and what they went through. A couple of months ago I really wanted to own a snake. I was super close to getting one. My dad and mom didn’t think it was a good idea but I still wanted one. I did a little research and everything seemed fine. Snakes are very cheap too, so I thought it was perfect for me. Then my mom started sending me articles about the things snakes go through and why it wasn’t good to have them as pets. I chose not to get one because I didn’t want to deal with my parents, not because I had realized it wasn’t good to own snakes. When the Y&TW project was introduced, the first topic that I came up with was this one. Why people should stop getting pet snakes. I thought it was going to be the easiest since I already had a couple of sources, and it was something I thought not many people would pick. However, I wasn’t personally very passionate about it. After a while of doing research for this project, I actually started caring more and really understanding some of the horrible things that pet snakes go through that not a lot of people actually know about.

Snakes are captured from their natural habitat to be transported to different continents, this process is sometimes very cruel and they are treated with very little care. Many die in the transportation process. Once they are sold to people that most of the time don’t have all the information needed to be able to provide their pet snakes with all of their needs, they are put into their new environment that is nothing compared to the experience they have in the wild. Tanks can’t provide snakes the necessary space they need to stretch, hunt and roam freely.

Example of the small enclosures snakes are kept in.

A lot of snakes sometimes try to escape their habitat which can be bad for them and the environment in multiple ways. They can experience trauma due to failed escape attempts and they can get hurt trying to escape. If they do successfully escape, they can cause the killing of native wildlife.

Breeders selective breed snakes in order to make different scale patterns, skin colors, and fur. This has various negative effects on snake’s physical and mental health. People that want to get snakes most of the time want them because their appearance is interesting or they just look cool. They don’t really pay attention to their needs. They view them as a “new hobby” or a “new collection” but not as a wild animal that isn’t meant to be domesticated.

Picture from a pet store.

It’s so normalized to have snake pets. You can just walk into a pet store and there are snakes sold there as if they were hamsters or dogs. My dad used to have snakes when he was little, and I have a couple of friends who have had or still have snakes. I think if people were more informed about everything a snake can go through from the moment they’re captured to when they’re bought, not as many people would buy them. They’re not an easy pet to have. They have complicated needs that most people just can’t provide for. I want more people to know about this because it’s really sad to know that this snake industry is so common after knowing the things snake pets go through.

Annotated bibliography

What is Autism? How does it affect a person’s life? Well, let’s start with Autism and what it is. People are born with autism. You can’t get it from any immunization. In 2020, the CDC reported that approximately 1 in 54 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism. Most children are still being diagnosed after age 4, though autism can be reliably diagnosed as early as age 2.

The autism diagnosis rate increase from 2004 to 2020.

As more people are being diagnosed it gets harder for other people to get help so there are many places that you can go and get the help that you need. The first place is going to be a meta site, like Autism Navigator. Autism Navigator was founded by Nancy D. Rich Wiseman this is a source where they help you. The site can steer you toward resources for the future. If you have someone you love that has autism and show you what are going to be the challenges that you are going to face. This also gives guide books that give you books that are full of information.

The second source that is also going to help is going to be Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks was found by two people Bob Wright and Suzanne Wright and their jobs are to provide the families with insurance and much more. They have shown that they can because they have helped over 22.6 million families since 2005 and planing t keep helping every family that they can.

The third source Autism Society. Autism Society is a source that helps you understand what it is like to live with autism but this can your opinion on what you are there to see that are many other ways that you can see this is just showing you what it is to live with autism it does not give you the full experience that you need to see.

I want to change people’s opinion about autism; it’s not just saying “oh, he’s is diagnosed with this, so he can’t do it”. There have been many autistic people (or people with autism-dependent on your stance on person-first language) that the challenges of living with autism and have shown that they can be better a someone that is neurotypical. This has been proven to be true because I have family members with autism (or autistic family members). see is that they are not scared to show who they are really are they don’t care what other people think about them they want to show that they can show people that are neurotypical that not all neurotypical people are scared to show who they are they want to sho that they can.

or the people that are neurotypical, you don’t have to hide who you are some people hide who they are and if you think that you are the only one. There are many more than just you. You are not alone because I have family that is like this but there is a way to change this you should not hide from what your real colors are you should always show the true colors that you are it does not matter if you aren’t the same. Just remember that you are special then if people don’t agree with that explain to them why you are special from other people.

You Can’t Please Everyone.

Are you someone who lives on planet Earth? Do you breathe? Do you or anyone you know have asthma?Well,listen up because while we talk, my planet, our planet is making a huge change, and not for the good. The problem here is climate change, and the real main problem is us humans. Many glaciers are melting, the average temperature of the planet is rising every day. Scientists are discovering that in a short amount of time, our planet could go through a change; causing an increase in many diseases and deaths.

Krabi, Thailand

Temple in Japan

Our planet is important to me because I’d like to travel around the world some day. When these changes happen, the adventures I might want have, the places I want to explore and see with my own eyes could change before I’m even an adult with the means to experience them. To say the least, the end of the world has begun, in a slow but very real process. This isn’t to scare you.here’s still time to make a change, and prevent this from happening. “How can I help out?” I’m glad you asked, there is a lot of stuff you can do! But, before I show you how to make a change yourself, from the comfort of your house; I want to explain what causes these changes. One way that you might already know to protect the planet is recycling. This is a great way to protect our atmosphere. The plastic, and all the trash you throw out, is sent to junk yards, and then it sits in landfills or is burned. But, plastic is hard to get rid of, it takes years for it to decompose, and most of that plastic winds up in the ocean. This causes many more problems. Once it’s in the ocean, sea animals digest most of the trash without knowing what it is. This trash also kills coral reefs, these reefs produce half of the planet’s oxygen. So, the plastic bottle you toss in the trash kills ocean animals and it decreases our planet’s oxygen supply. You remember oxygen? It’s that gas we humans need in order to survive. Animals around our planet; like the wolverine in the Arctic, are trying to adjust to climate change. For many animals, their chances of survival are low. Their habitats are being erased; they are no longer not finding homes in which they can live safely.. For animals, it’s their habitat, for humans it’s our health, and depending on where you live, it can also have changes in your environment, and leaves a lot of people without homes. As the heat rises, wildfires start in many places, a very good example of this, is in places such as California. There have been wildfires, due to the heat, and the heat rises due to the toxic gasses produced by factories. The gasses break the ozone layer, which protects us from harmful radiation from the sun. Of course all of this might seem crazy and some people might not care. But, I do. Many beautiful natural treasures in this world are in danger. Maybe you don’t care because it might not impact your life directly, but many people have been impacted. . The effects of climate changes are reaching places that haven’t even been discovered yet.Sadly two things could happen to these places. One, they might be underwater in 10 or 5 years. Scientists had predicted that many changes were gonna happen in later upcoming years, but more recently, they found out that these changes are more closer than they had expected. Climate Change Is Accelerating, Bringing The World ‘Dangerously Close’ to Irreversible Change .Secondly, places such as a coral or a beautiful field full of flowers, could turn gray, due to the plants being dead after being in contact with a lot of toxic chemicals. So, if you’d like to explore the wonders of the world, make a change! You don’t have to do god/ goddess work. Just recycle, use your own personal bags at the store, try and save electricity, and water. Many of the power that goes to your house are from power plants that make toxic gasses or support an environmental organization so they can make big changes, with the help of you.

The change we need, starts with you!

My Annotated Bibliography

Did you know that there is a huge issue going on, around in the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community? Did you know that there are people who are getting verbally and physically assaulted, even murdered, just because of the way they look? Did you know that some of these AAPI hate crimes are not being documented/filed as a hate crime? Did you? Well if you didn’t, you can now. In this post I’m going to go more into depth about (what I believe) hate crimes that are targeted towards the AAPI community. This is a major topic that is, thankfully, being more publicized and talked about, but (in my opinion) aren’t being dealt with properly and aren’t given immediate consequence, to the people who are assaulting/murdering the AAPI community. As a person of the AAPI community, I would like to show my knowledge of what I learned from my research about this sensitive yet really engaging topic. I hope this can help/add to your knowledge about this topic and soon will, hopefully, make a change in our society to make these Anti-Asian hate crimes stop.

This chart shows the increase of Anti-Asian hate crimes in 2019 to 2020.

Now, in my opinion this topic just hurts and disgusts me by how many AAPI are getting assaulted, cause as an Asian-American living in the U.S. I am constantly scared by what if I’m the next person that’s going to get assaulted, or even murdered, just by how I look. Or even worse, if one of my family members gets assaulted. I just can’t get that through my mind and how much it hurts me to see my community hurting like this. When I read or watch articles/videos about the AAPI community getting assaulted, or murdered, just really infuriates me how society treats us AAPI.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO MAY BE SENSITIVE TO SOME VIEWERS!

I am really passionate about this topic because I learned that some of these horrific assaults/murders happening to the AAPI community, aren’t even being documented/filed as hate crimes.

I watched this podcast by The May Lee Show, talking about why some of the AAPI’s assault cases are not being documented as hate crimes. When I watched this podcast, I respect on why some opinions that were being made, like why the prosecutors aren’t digging enough to find the answer that the defendant wants, but I just don’t agree with those opinions. To paint a better picture of what I’m trying to say is by looking at the recent case of murders, by a man named, Robert Aaron Long, who killed a total of 8 people in Atlantic spas. When I first saw this news, my reaction was like, “are people getting this bored in the Pandemic that they’re starting to kill people ‘for fun’?” But soon to later find out that despicable man, killed 6 women of Asian descent out of those 8 victims because of his “sex addiction”. Then to hear that these spas shootings probably wasn’t towards a particular race. Yet this white man goes on a mass killing spree into spas, that are predominantly Asian spas, and decide to kill 6 Asian women, was because of his “sex addiction”, isn’t called a hate crime (case still under investigation)?! Another key thing I realized was that the officer, who was the spokesman on this case, said that the attacker was just having “a really bad day.” So you’re saying a white man killing 8 people, with those victims, 6 of them are from Asian descent, to come to a hypothesis, that the attacker was just having “a really bad day.” That is the dumbest, stupidest, inconclusive, white supremacist answer I ever heard. Plus, the white spokesman who said that Robert was just having “a really bad day”, promoted a sale on anti-Asian t-shirts, on Facebook. That said “ ‘imported virus from Chy-na.’ ” So, this sounds like that white spokesman was first, racist and second, biased. Side Note: It seems like the Police Department hasn’t said anything about how long Robert will serve in jail, but if it’s only, like 4 years…why, all of those victims because of his idiotic actions.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO MAY BE SENSITIVE TO SOME VIEWERS!

This issue is a very significant topic to learn about, especially during these times where the hate crimes towards AAPI are significantly unfolding faster and getting worse till this day. Learning about this topic can tell you that America isn’t just about the “American dream”, but can reveal about the actual history behind America, that was always covered up.

To continue with that, let’s talk about a word you probably heard many times before, stereotype. Yes, that famous, loathsome word, that impacted so many AAPI’s during their childhood and till today, still. First, I would like to talk about a term that falls under with the word “stereotype”, The Model Minority Myth. That word just means that, “a persistent stereotype that paints Asian Americans as inherently successful and problem-free, particularly in contrast to other minority groups, had helped keep the story ‘from being a big deal before this’.” said by NBCNews. Second, I really disagree with that myth, using this information about how the Model Minority Myth impacted the AAPI community, many times in their life is a good way of knowing how America decides to treat us AAPI community, by making up a whole Myth just to make the rest of the world think that we’re smart, well-off, or that we’re always going to be successful in life. But no, that is completely false. AAPI are not born smart, they are trained just like every other kid in school to get good grades and soon to be successful in life. But I guess America thought that they needed to degrade another race, to make the AAPI seem to “know more” than the other students. Like have they never heard of studying, the people in America didn’t have to make a whole racist myth because AAPI are “good” at studying. LIKE WHAT?! I just think that was the most idiotic conclusion America came to.

Next, I am going to talk about my research/some stories I found about, what’s happening to the AAPI community, and how they’re being impacted by the Pandemic. First, let’s talk about this source, where they talk about how “Hate-fueled attacks on Asian Americans spiked across major U.S. cities last year — in some cases by triple-digit percentages — …” I think that is disgustingly high by how many hate-fueled attacks (hate crimes) there are towards the AAPI community. Like are you serious, the triple-digits?! They just had to go that far. Second, there is a source that talks about how brands are responding towards AAPI hate. Here is a quote that I took from the article that I really love, “ ‘No one is paying attention. No big news outlets. No brands. No influencers. No hashtags,’ he wrote.” “ ‘Silence…The model minority myth placed on Asian Americans through a systemic, racist system has made us raceless. That dynamic has resulting in silencing us even in the greatest moments of appropriation and violence…Don’t let us die in silence.’ ” I just love that quote. I loved how that person brung up how the government excludes us, AAPI, completely as a race. It’s disappointing that AAPI doesn’t even count as a race, to some people. Third, there is a news source that talks about how hundreds of people are escorting elderly AAPI and roaming around Chinatown, to keep the APPI community safe. I love that idea because the ones that are most vulnerable, in these times, are our AAPI elders.

Fourth, there is another news source that talks about how “Additionally, according to the study, between February and May 2020, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) received reports of 389 coronavirus-related hate incidents. Of those, 145 involved anti-Asian sentiments, representing 37 percent of all complaints.” That just upsets me, that the NYCCHR had so many reports on coronavirus related hate crimes, that the NYPD (in the video above this quote, in the source) had to make a “Asian Hate Crime” task force just to stop this nonsense. Fifth, this source talks about how an elderly Asian woman was waiting in front of a bakery in Chinatown. Until, an attacker decided that it was okay to start calling racial slurs at her, then push her harshly on the concrete ground until she fell unconscious. And later had to get 5-10 stitches because of that hate crime. I was just at awe when I read this article. I was just dismayed, how that man had the guts to do that, to an AAPI lady, who wasn’t even provoking him in any way. Finally, the final source I found, talks about people’s experiences and how they’re trying to cope with the hate crimes towards the AAPI community. And one quote that really resonated with me is, “Unfortunately, Asians are often targeted for violent attacks because Asians are stereotyped as weak and non-confrontational, …” That quote was just so immaculate and accurate because I do believe that is true. It seems people like to stereotype AAPI, as the type of race that are weak, or won’t tell the attacks to authorities cause we’re shy (stereotype). But no, of course we will tell some type of authority, we’re human too. You attacked us, that hit us to the point where we had enough of this AAPI hate.

To wrap all of this educational information, some of you may not be part of the AAPI community but you can still help. These hate crimes are still happening, the AAPI community will stay here as long as the AAPI history lives on, in America’s exposing reality. What I am wondering for my readers is, if there was a protest near you, will you protest with the AAPI community? To let people hear that the AAPI community will not stay silent no more, to the point where we can prove that we are happy for who we are. Are you going to give support and respect to the AAPI community? Are you going to be there, like when we were there for you? Are you? I really hope you do and use this revealing/exposing information about America’s real history towards the AAPI community. Help spread the word to stop AAPI hate. If you would like to help the AAPI community please donate to this gofundme, if you witness a hate crime toward an AAPI, report it to https://stopaapihate.org/, and if you would like to know more information about what’s going on in the AAPI community, go to https://nextshark.com/news/.

#AAPI #AAPILivesMatter #StopAAPIHate #StopAsianHate #RacismIsAVirus

My sources: Annotated bibliography

Could you imagine your existence only being relevant for the identity theft of your creativity? The Black/African American culture is appropriated everyday, by not just white people, but also non-black minorities. Appropriating culture is the social equivalent of plagiarism, and adapting to an element, or elements of one another’s culture or identity. It’s not a problem to borrow from our culture, but you also have to know appreciating and appropriating, have two completely different meanings. White people will take our hairstyles, fashion, vernacular, and skin tone, without permission or give the credit, and will rock it like they started a phenomenal trend, but will degrade the true meaning of the culture’s components. Unfortunately, when the black community showcases black culture, we are less valued for rocking our culture, that white people and non-black minorities stole. If white people and non-black minorities are the problem, then they have to be our solution, and I want to help show them what they are doing wrong.

I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of the saying “Do it for the culture”, but never understood the significance of the quote. The term was created by the famous rap group migos, which is the only style of music that hasn’t been predominantly stolen from whites. No wonder it’s still labeled as the “ghetto factor” of music, because it hasn’t been normalized by white people yet. The appropriation of black culture is very significant because there are numerous ways you can harm a black person when doing so. We’ve been denied education, work, health care, shelter, and more, all because of our cultural components that whites are applauded for, when we are discriminated against. Yes I am an African American, but also light skinned, which basically fits the “beauty standard”. Women with lighter skin will always be the “beauty standard” according to society today, since it is the closest to white skin. Not to mention the discrimination against women with darker skin. But what people fail to realize is having lighter skin doesn’t make you any less black than a person with darker skin. I’m not under 120 pounds, I have round hips with curvy thighs, thick beach wave hair that is taken care of by protective hairstyles, full heart sized lips, and so much more that white people and non-black minorities feel the need to steal. I’m not saying that these features can’t be appreciated, but the trauma that the black community has been through just by walking out of the house with our music playing , or wearing our fashion, is just not ok.

The double standard of baby hairs, with black and white women.

When you have huge celebrities appropriating black culture like it’s nothing, of course it’ll be justified and defended. People have always provided others who have a platform with excuses for their unacceptable behavior, as if they’re superior to someone who works at Mcdonalds. Social media will accept a white girl with cornrows over a black girl with the same exact cornrows, because they favor black culture, but not black people. It is extremely important for people to know about this because the favoritism towards white people and non-black minorities against black culture can be extremely dangerous to the black community, because the racism that is dealt with is ignored.

Amandla Sternberg comments on Kylie’s Jenner’s post, because of her picture with cornrows.

Obviously feeling mocked, othered, and judged aren’t as serious as being in danger, but if you don’t see that as an issue, then you are the problem and don’t consider black people human. It’s just human decency and black people deserve to be treated with it too. The public will post “Black Lives Matter” or whatever trending incident that happened with a white cop, and black male, but will still appropriate black culture, and not realize that it is a part of systemic oppression.

Believe me I know what you’re thinking, “how has she not mentioned the usage of the N word by non-blacks yet?”. Well to answer your question, I’ve specifically avoided that topic, just because it’s a critical conversation for me, and my attitude towards it isn’t the most appropriate for a school project. I get very angry and argumentative when it comes to the usage of the N word by non-blacks. To make a change, I definitely want to create and plan a mini course, educating SLA students, non-blacks specifically, about the dangers of appropriating black culture, and how it is a system of oppression. As a black person, being born in black culture myself, my research has definitely impacted my understanding of acknowledging that non-black minorities aren’t fully innocent at all in this situation. I just hope people now know that wearing cornrows isn’t “just a hairstyle”.

Amandala Sternberg explains the meaning of a lot of famous components from black culture.

So my question to you is, do you love black people, or do you love black culture?

MY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Usually, when I start brainstorming for projects, the first thought that comes to my mind is, “how can I make this about my life, specifically?” That really wasn’t the case with this project. I’m not addicted to drugs, I don’t struggle with alcoholism, but I was surrounded by these types of addictions in my family and in my city, I believe I’m quite familiar with the issue.

Home to opioid users in Philadelphia

I believe that educating more people about it will create a safer environment for people who genuinely need help, and it will also better us as a society, moving forward into the future. But first things first, communication and comprehension are key when it comes to understanding something you’ve never been through personally. Don’t enter your opinions anywhere they’re not needed.

The first thing that comes to mind when discussing this topic is the harmful assumptions our society has created involving drug addicts. The main assumption about drug addicts made by people who are totally uneducated on the topic—they have no self control or willpower. This is so far from the truth. Addiction is a relapsing disease, it’s literally a mental illness. People in society tend to respect people with mental illnesses more than people who suffer with addiction specifically. It’s literally the same thing.

Anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge will know it’s not as easy as simply choosing not to take a drug anymore. The brain has something called the “reward circuit”, which is commonly discussed while exploring the topic of addiction because it interferes with the way someone lives, making them believe they are incapable of living without this drug or substance.

Visual representation and deeper explanation of “Reward Circuit”

To dig a bit deeper, I researched about the way addiction affects an individual’s personal life, their relationships with their family, friends, and/or job. Becoming addicted to a drug or substance affects the people around you, which is why many addicts don’t have many people there to support them, making it harder to confront their addiction. There’s only so much people can do for family or friends that struggle with addiction, and they get tired of it, causing them to give up on a person entirely. From someone who has family members with a past of addiction—no one wants to see or be around someone who is clearly not sober.

Addiction is directly related to things like crime, family problems, abuse, mental health issues, and financial struggles. When someone is intoxicated/on some type of drug, they’re more likely to commit some type of abuse, which relates to family/friends/partners, of course because they’ll be the ones dealing with it. Family and financial problems caused by addiction are sorta tied together, so they affect each other. Overspending on drugs/alcohol creates financial problems, which eventually leads to family problems.

Alcohol’s relationship to violent crimes

Addiction is linked to so many things that we’re blind to. It affects everything, every aspect of your life, sometimes without you noticing. I’ve already learned so much about addiction just with the little research I’ve done so far. I used to be quite ignorant to the issue, but this project has opened my eyes wider than I expected.

Annotated Bibliography

We are equal. We are all human. We all live on earth. These things should be obvious right? Then why are there many acts of inequality around the world? One specific act of inequality is the hate towards the LGBTQ community. As I am a part of the community it is frustrating being bullied and watching others get hurt for being who they are even if we are all equal. My goal here is to not only educate you but to give you reasons and examples on how you can help the inequality in the LGBTQ community. Did you know that 71% of lgbt youth experience discrimination just for the way they are? 58% of transgender and nonbinary you are discouraged for using bathrooms that arent right for them and people don’t really care about it. [That is not equality.] (https://www.google.com/search?q=meaning+of+equality&rlz=1CAIXET_enUS946&oq=meaning+of+equality&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l9.3061j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

Summary: After the law passing there are little to no changes in the discrimination towards the lgbtq+ community. There have been subtle changes that are good but have not impacted for the better. For example, some young lgbtq+ are in fear of experiencing discrimination in school or just in general. As of 2016 1 in 4 LGBT people are experiencing discrimination. Even though progress has been made, 27% of trans men and women are being fired because of their sexual orientation. 25% of LGBT people in general face discrimination because of their sexual orientation as well. The part that doesn’t get fired still gets affected by unseen harm. If there are get together s the men would only invite the men so no gay men could go causing them to feel left out or discriminated against.

Equality, something people all over the world have been fighting for, but have yet to experience. But in a more specific aspect, LGBTQ+ equality. In not just America, but everywhere including places such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, there is inequality much worse than it seems. People even try to escape the violence that is in their homeland just to be able to be free, to be accepted, to be equal. This has been going on for years along with other acts of inequality and people trying to escape for a better life, but for some reason, it hasn’t been brought to anyone’s attention- no it’s not that it hasn’t been brought to anyone’s attention, its that no one has cared enough to make it a mainstream issue until now (since there are more people from the lgbtq+ community).

Though the science department in America follows the equality of LGBTQ+, the people who work in the fields do not follow the same laws. There is discrimination within the walls that need to be dealt with. There are more reports of harassment of LGBTQ+ in facilities than other counterparts. It was found that LGBTQ+ workers who work in the STEM field have worse experiences in the workplace than LGBTQ+ who don’t work in STEM systems. In surveys, interviews, and other data collected show that anti- LGBTQ+ biases were being practiced in most STEM workplaces meaning that that wouldn’t change just like that, they are used to this. Like something they know they should do.

link to my bibliography

The anxiety of not completing an assignment that you have been stuck on for the past hour can be overwhelming, right? What if I told you millions of people feel the same way you do and there can be consequences of it, I’m not talking grade wise, I’m talking mentally. Homework as we have experienced causes a great amount of stress which can lead you to a poor mental state, sleep deprivation, and many more bad things. Which can be prevented by decreasing the amount of homework significantly and/or being taught how to combat such stress. [A couple of such ways is by managing time, controlling emotions, and monitoring your motivation.] (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1054844.pdf)

[Controlling Emotion] (https://www.rewireme.com/brain-insight/how-to-control-your-emotions/)

[Time Management] (https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/7-essential-time-management-strategies/)

[Motivation] (https://ucsccaps.wordpress.com/2019/05/03/staying-motivated/)

A school can start to teach these things so life can be easier for the students, but not just for them though but their family and their teachers too. A study made in 2017 about [the effects of homework on middle class families] (https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&=&context=cup_commons_grad_edd&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Furl%253Fq%253Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcommons.csp.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%25253D1069%252526context%25253Dcup_commons_grad_edd%2526sa%253DD%2526source%253Deditors%2526ust%253D1616434140114000%2526usg%253DAOvVaw0FRSYatcLU9NO7fYRvpdUB#search=%22https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcommons.csp.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1069%26context%3Dcup_commons_grad_edd%22) shows that homework is the leading cause of stress in the household because it’s hard to have a “healthy balance of homework and family life”. This stress and less family time can lead to troubles in a family, and might even lead to divorce if it is disruptive enough.

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA), suggests there to be ten minutes of homework per grade level which is seemed to not be followed, [some kindergarteners are getting up to] (https://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-more-homework-means-more-stress-031114) 25 minutes of homework per day when they even aren’t supposed to get homework at all according to the National Education Association (NEA), and some second and third graders are even getting 28-29 minutes of homework per day taken in a survey in rhode island. It just doesn’t affect younger grades [but college students as] (https://mellowed.com/homework-stress/) well.

[Chart] (https://mellowed.com/homework-stress/)

The stress can be overwhelming sometimes but the United States is not the only country with a homework problem, Italy, UK, France, and many more suffer the consequences. A survey taken in the UK, in March of 2020 shows that 66% of students in the age range of 8-17 said that “they felt most stressed about homework and/or exams” compared to everything else. Which is pretty alarming considering that this was a survey with almost 2,000 kids, and 66% of 2,000 is 1,320. Just imagine how many people are struggling with it as well on a global level.

Now you might be wondering how can we stop this monstrosity of stress, well looking at countries like [Finland, Japan, and South Korea] (https://www.geekycamel.com/countries-give-less-homework-theyre-successful/#:~:text=Finland,they%20are%20seven%20years%20old.) which are countries that give very little homework per week, ranging from 2.9 hours to 3.9. They mostly rely on trust in the teachers and students, more testing, and new ways to learn that is more beneficial for the students later in life. And it seems to have paid off, Finland, South Korea, and Japan seem to be at the [top in the world for Math and Science at the age of 15.] (https://www.bbc.com/news/education-37716005) So why don’t we start making the change to no homework? Well, that’s the next step, students should start to spread awareness and make petitions to the school board calling for change.

[Bibliography] (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JCUpxbJm75pB3KNpx6rgm3gX1t_oSuAePhx-5FVyNws/edit#)