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Hers For the Taking: A Poem about Female Empowerment
A newborn baby smiles Gazing at her mother With playful eyes So innocent So young The world is hers for the taking A little girl laughs Alone in a silent playground Her eyes closed Pigtails whipping through the wind Without a care The world is hers for the taking A young lady cries Tiptoeing to the edge of the cliff She has a choice Irreversible But she won't because The world is hers for the taking A middle-aged woman reads To a classroom of eager faces Staring expectantly at her She prepares to share with Each and every one The ultimate power Knowledge The world is hers for the taking A...
COVID-19; A Threat to Our Future Generations?
If you are a high school student, you know that every and any information spreads like wildfire. From gossips to the expected grades, chances are that every student is aware of them. Then it was of no surprise that the rumors of school closing because of COVID-19 were also being talked about in every class. At first, the teachers would try to end the discussion itself by holding up their hands or rolling their eyes. However, when the coronavirus became a common theme of discussion, there was a hint of panic in everyone's voice. Almost every school in the nearby districts were closing, and I...
How to Become a Youth Activist: Q&A With Matthew Tikhonovsky
If you are like me, you want to get involved with activism and fight for causes you believe in. Like me, you might be passionate about a particular issue or movement, ranging from climate change to racial injustice, but you don’t know where to start or how to get involved. Luckily, I’m here to help. For the next month, I’ll be interviewing youth activists who have made a positive change in their communities and sharing their secrets and insights. For the first interview, I chatted with Matthew Tikhonovsky, an American youth activist who is passionate about refugee advocacy. He is the founder...
How Human Trafficking and Poor Mental Health Are Results of Poverty
Poverty is a global issue that has yet to be resolved, so how do we correct this problem? A part of fixing any issue is understanding the source of it. Poverty is defined in the dictionary as “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor” in other words, not able to live comfortably. It goes without saying that homelessness is a result of poverty. However, poverty causes many problems, such as human trafficking and poor mental health. According to the Polaris Project website, risk factors for human trafficking is 569 for runaway and...
Asian ≠ Coronavirus
"I don't want to sit next to him, he probably has the coronavirus"..."Bro did he just cough, corona time"... Before the outbreak in America, words like this causally spread in school, I mean, words kinda hurt... It's pathetic and embarrassing when coronavirus doesn't even discriminate but a human does. Not only in school - outside the school people also gave me "looks". I forgot to mention something, I'm from Wuhan, you already know that gave those racist a good chance to discriminate. Two weeks later the school called time out, they said we are out of the school for 3 days, but I already knew...
Our voice
Living in a world with the agony of not being proud of the current face of my country is like living in misery. Keeping my mouth shut during this time of pain is unbearable. I have lived with this big mouth for my entire life, but it never caused pain like now. Whenever I open my mouth I am told to close it. Words I could think of as a complement are suddenly used to stab me in the back, it's almost like self-inflicted pain. I feel diminished to be a woman, where being a woman can be used to insult me. I have shirts like Love is Love, Or Students Lives Matter but what is the point in wearing...
The Shades of the Black Lives Matter Movement
Protests. Rallies. Curfews. Never would I have imagined such a day in the United States. Never could I conceive the threat of tear gassing and rubber bullets, unmasked acquaintances and close contact with strangers rendered insignificant in the midst of a pandemic. Never could I imagine streets lined with thousands marching hand in hand as the disease spreads from man to man. The desire for justice has overcome fear of COVID-19, for while the virus can’t pick and choose who deserves to live or die, the racist few of an institution in this nation meant to “serve and protect” have that power...
The Importance Of Budgeting During College
College is an incredible experience — even if it does have a “double-edged sword” vibe. Learning something you’re passionate about, completing a degree, and beginning your career in the best position possible are all well worth a good old four-year collegiate effort. However, those aforementioned pros come with some cons as well. For instance, college is known for hefty workloads, late nights spent studying, and unstable finances. Between the overwhelming costs of tuition and the lack of sustainable income, college can be a financial nightmare. While it’s difficult to find a way to completely...
Problems with standardized testing
While taking the PSAT for the third year in a row, I began to think about "standardized testing" in a more in-depth way. In recent years, I have taken ISTEPs (my state's standardized testing), PSATs, an ACT, and an SAT. I have listened to countless universities say that they take a holistic approach to the college application reviewing process. I have studied for the many different standardized tests, but for what? What do standardized test scores represent? What is a number score worth in terms of academic success? I personally believe that there is an extreme need for a standard method for...
Love of Books: Why Do So Many Kids Lose Their Passion for Reading?
When I was in kindergarten, I was the kid who spent every second of my free time voluntarily reorganizing my teacher’s collection of books (Yeah, I know. I’m a nerd. Now stop judging and keep reading. Thank you very much). I would sort them differently every day, whether it was alphabetical, color-coded, or whatever random system I came up with on that specific day. I didn’t particularly like sorting things; I just wanted to be near the books, with all of their colorful cartoons and stories that made my imagination erupt in a million swirls of creativity and excitement. When I was in second...
A long history of suppressing Asian American voices
Disenfranchisement, By The Slice: The Untold Truth of Voter Suppression Amongst Minorities
I find it ironic that the first election I was eligible to vote in, was also one of the most cut-throat. I voted in Georgia, a state where attempts to disenfranchise people of color continues to plague the system. These attempts are often masked either as rightful decisions based upon the conduct of the disenfranchised or beyond the control of those in power. Yet, if one digs deeper, this disenfranchisement is a historical and long-standing issue that illustrates how racism operates in America. Merriam Webster dictionary defines “Disenfranchisement” as something done “ to deprive of a...
A Prosperous World
I imagine a world where all children are happy. Everyone is special in their own ways and these differences should be celebrated! Everyone should be loved and included, no matter their identity! Our differences make us who we are as individuals!
Car Keys
What do you use your car keys for - opening your car, locking your car, holding your house keys with them? They’re actually also used as a self-defense mechanism by women all over the world. Holding the keys in between their fingers with a tight grip makes women feel secure that, in case they are attacked, there is a tool they can use to protect themselves. The safety concern of women has always been present, yet the situation isn’t improving. We shouldn’t need to clench the keys between our knuckles, carry pepper spray in our purses, or check underneath our car before getting in. This has...
What We Learn From Atlanta
I used to view tragedy like an electric shock– sudden, sharp, and excruciating in the moment– but a pain that dulls with time. A shock becomes a sting, and a sting becomes the whisper of a sensation that exists only in memory. If only it were so simple. At 5 p.m. on March 16th, Aaron Robert Long entered Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, Atlanta, armed with a 9 mm gun. He left four bodies in his wake as he made his way to Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa, where he killed another four. Six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent. Since March 16th, the news has acted as a revolving...
Women in Society
Everyone knows that all over the world, women are still not treated as equals. My drawing shows girls being controlled by toxic masculinity, misogyny, and gender stereotypes in modern society. It also shows some things most, if not all girls were told at a young age that actually promotes misogyny and sexism. You can find that misogyny is rooted in almost everything, from casual sayings to human safety. For example, dummies that are used for crash tests in cars are built like men, which increases the risk of women getting more hurt than men in car accidents. Right now, the world is built for a...
Only Humans
only humans can take their home and destroy its health instead they put above their own efficiency and wealth they take what was given to them filled with beauty and destroy it without a grain of integrity now they pay for as it dies so will they no place to call home, nowhere to stay their one chance taken and gone only they are selfish enough to drag others along only humans can define one by their birth traits their gender or race shall now set their life in place their genes given at birth represent their rights for not being a man makes life an endless fight and don’t forget the unequal...
Why should youth be allowed to influence our government?
Nowadays, it’s hard for youth to even be taken seriously in a conversation with someone older than them due to their age. However, us youths haven’t let this stop us as many are starting nonprofits, blogs, sending letters to their local, state, and federal governments on unjust laws, holding protests, and speaking up about equality. It didn’t take long before many states started including youth councils, but still, youths don’t have much representation in their government. This may be due to the fact that we haven’t fully matured yet so people may not trust our decisions and believe they are...
The normality of mental health in graduate school
Graduate School should be hard, but not impossible. Graduate school should help you develop professionally, without losing your personal life. Graduate school should challenge you without taking a toll on your mental health. Graduate school should encourage you to be creative, not force you to prove that you are worthy of being there. Because you know what? You are more than worthy. You should embrace who you are and where you come from. Coming from the small island of Puerto Rico, an island which sometimes you cannot even find on a map, I often feel lost in this big escape of being in...