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Topic
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Asian-American Mental Health
A few weeks back, I was watching It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, a Korean drama that dealt with a number of mental health issues such as Antisocial Personality and Dissociative Identity Disorders. All was good until I stumbled upon the comment section, which housed a rather insensitive conversation around mental illness. I wasn’t surprised though, being an Asian myself, and that’s when I realized just how normalized the stigma around mental health is even in Asian American communities. For many years, Asian Americans from a wide range of cultures have been considered the “model minority”. This...
Traveling During a Pandemic
Throughout the covid-19 pandemic which has now hit its year and 11 day mark from being declared a global pandemic, a message of, "stay home save lives," has flooded the media and has been a common directive of many leaders when hoping to curb the growth of the pandemic. However, holidays like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas and the breaks from work and school that come with them, have led to a widespread desire to travel. Many go about traveling with precaution and safety; wearing a mask, taking a viral test before traveling and after, etc. But sometimes this doesn't always create an...
Development of A.I. should slow down
The Times magazine for the week of November 22 included a section called "Best Inventions of 2021." As I read through it, I saw numerous inventions related to STEM. For example, there was a car that teaches kids how to code and a building kit for kids to build a robot hand and learn about hydraulics. These inventions really hype me up. However, there was this specific invention that really bothered me a lot: A Compassionate Companion. This story was about Robin the robot, who spent time with an 8-year-old pneumonia patient who refused to eat. As it played with the kid for several hours, it...
Education system failing
I believe our education system is failing. These days, it appears that it isn't much about learning. It seems to be all about tests, grades, and your school's average grade or percentage. I believe many students aren't really gaining any knowledge at all. Grades are determining how smart we are or what schools we qualify to enter. Grades shouldn't determine this at all. Everybody is smart in their own way. Some teachers only care about themselves, their reputations and how they look to their school. Also, some teachers move on from lesson to lesson without taking the time to pause and see if...
Why We Write
28 pages, size 10 font, single spaced. 28 pages of research, of reflection, of picking myself apart and poring over every painstaking detail of academics and extracurriculars that have defined my past 12 years, and the ambitions, goals, and dreams that will indefinitely define my future. As if I have a clue what the future holds. I’ve done a lot of writing in the past year. Between grinding through scores of supplements to send off to universities, I tackled the stream of compositions and analyses and essays that typically accompany a student throughout their senior year of highschool. I...
School is biased
I remember in Elementary school, we wrote an essay about whether or not school is important. Of course like every other student I decided to say yes, but now at this age I have come to a better understanding of how I feel about the prompt. Honestly from the way I see it, I'm biased about the whole thing.
An Ally’s Guide to Coming Out- Happy International Coming Out Day!
International Coming Out Day is on Monday, October 11th, meaning You're going to, if you haven't already, be faced with at least one person coming out to you. And when faced with someone putting so much trust in you, it's crucial that you react in an appropriate way, one that makes them feel safe, well-received, and loved. when someone comes out to you, they are revealing a huge part of their identity to you; through this, you can understand so much more about the person and grow closer to them. However, coming out will only be beneficial for both parties if you, the receiver of new...
Speak a little louder
What does it mean to be a girl? Growing up, I never thought about what it meant to be girl. Was I naive to believe that it didn’t matter, ignorant to think that as my world expanded beyond my own community it would never stand in my way? No–– I may not have always been sure of myself, but I was sure of the fact that I had as much as a right to do whatever the guy to my left was doing. If that meant I had to speak a little louder, work a little harder, and try a little more, then so be it. Nearly eighteen years later, I now know what the world wants me to believe being a girl means–– that I am...
Child rights
I can't begin to imagine what it must be like for children forced into labor and what they have to go through. Child labor is such a hard and dangerous lifestyle that no child should have to experience. I can't imagine being out on the streets selling merchandise instead of being in school learning. Many of these kids don't have any other choice. They have to be out on the streets so they can take care of their families and provide for themselves. This must be very hard for them because I don't think any child would want to waste their childhood cleaning cars, shoes, windows or doing almost...
Advocating for Your Healthcare Rights as an LGBTQ+ Youth
Advocating for yourself in a medical situation can be nerve-wracking. For young patients in the LGBTQ+ community, the situation can be even more difficult due to the decades of discriminatory practices that have unfortunately plagued the field. LGBTQ+ youth face many barriers to healthcare access, barriers that require advocacy to overcome. Too often, that burden falls on the shoulders of LGBTQ+ youth themselves as they struggle to navigate a healthcare system with a history of discrimination and ignorance of problems faced by a significant portion of the population. If you find yourself in...
Education = Prosperity
Our education is very important. Education I feel is more than just sitting in a classroom listening to teachers go on and on about nonsense. Or just sitting down reading books. Education is when we pass down the knowledge we learned from generation to generation. Our education is life itself, because as we continue to grow we're also learning too. Education shapes our society. The people with great education our bound to be very successful. Education is basically a stepping stone for generations to come. A person with little to no education may struggle dealing with the world. Our education...
Corruption is a super power?
What is corruption? Is it mass destruction of monumental instruction? Maybe it’s the path our fore fathers paved for us so we could be resurrected. Resurrection lies in the hands in which we have elected. Election, a funny word it may seem. Who is actually in control, is it you or me? We the people they say. We have the power they say. Your destiny is yours they say. Yet we live in a world where every man lives for themselves. Our life span is determined by the choices we left on the shelves. Depression, recessions, and yet still no acceptance. This is our generation. They act like they hate...
We need climate action NOW!
Straight A's don't matter
Straight A’s don’t matter. Plain and simple. In the schematic system of school, a grading based system is better and much easier for the school itself--heck, all you have to do is put points into the grade book and the teacher’s job is done. It’s easy for them to put in grades--it’s only a letter after all. And for students, it shouldn’t mean anything more than just a letter, it won’t affect your life that much, in the grand scheme of things. We tend to pressure our students to get straight A’s, emphasizing that these grades engender success. According to Adam Grant in his New York Times’...
Run for it!
Most people view being a student athlete as a full-time job. But it’s not, it’s worse. Being a student athlete is like having two full-time jobs and two part-time jobs. There is way more behind being a student athlete than just having an extracurricular activity after school. Being a student athlete teaches you determination and responsibility something that most classrooms can’t teach you. I believe that student athletes have more pressure on them than ordinary students. They have to balance their school work and the commitment that they put in the sport. I know all of this from personal...
Glorious mess
If I could take happiness and tell her to stop trying to bombard me when I don’t want her company, I would I know we’ve all had a day or two when you just want complete silence When you don’t want comfort or words of encouragement We’ve all had those days where you know what’s wrong, but you’re not sure what’s wrong So you try to play it off until you realize that you need a moment alone A good cry is all it takes to help clear your thoughts and relax your mind There are just some feelings that can’t be helped with words Only you know the problem and only you can be the solution Soon it will...
A proud black woman
I am a proud black woman Every inch, color, curve of my body is something I learned to accept Something I once questioned while looking at myself in the mirror I am a proud black woman Even though I get paid less than my white cousin And my choice in clothing is frowned upon I am a proud black woman Even though my "missing dad" is seen more as a statistic than a cry for help I am required to push through because of the color of my skin Or else I'm seen as weak I am a proud black woman Throughout the braided hair The urban dance The "cool" swag You see they want to be us until they have to be...
How does violence affect us ?
Hello, my name is Asia. A small girl in a big world. I live in little Haiti where I witness all the crime that goes on. Living here, it’s scary not being able to walk down the street without seeing some sort of violence. It’s March and during this time the violence increases. From the wild young adults at beach parties, to the shootings in clubs, and fights that go on in the streets. That’s all I’ve been seeing. I wish that one day this will all change. Imagine living in a world with no violence. Yeah I know, seems peaceful right? If only, this thought in my head wasn’t an imagination I’d be...
The Complexities of Discussing Adolescent Mental Health on Social Media During the Pandemic
Note from the editor: this blogs includes references to sensitive topics that some people might find upsetting, like eating disorders. While the blog touches on key points that can help raise awareness and break the stigma about mental health, some elements may remind you of difficult times you may have experienced in the past. In the past decade, the issue of mental health has moved from a medical discussion reserved for clinical settings, to a more widely discussed societal issue, opening doors to de-stigmatization, increased visibility, and new prevention and treatment options. Mental...