The Minaret Published February 20, 2009
Last Friday, I had the opportunity, being a member of the Diversity Fellowship, to go Blake High School to talk to students in the AVID program about diversity.
AVID is a way to prepare high school students for college.
Typically these kids will be the first ones in their families to attend a college or university and this program is designed to teach students how to apply for financial aid and how to make a resume.
It’s the ultimate program to give kids the chance to make their dreams come true.
So going to Blake reminded me of what high school was like. Everyone had their comfort zones and who cared about diversity or even what it was.
In one class that is how one of the girls acted. She had the look on her face like none of it mattered and what was the point. All of us noticed but kept on going through our presentation.
Afterwards, we had forgotten about her, until about fifteen minutes later she came to talk to us on our break.
She came to apologize to us about her behavior.
It’s not that she didn’t think diversity was important; it’s that she didn’t really know what she identified with.
Her parents are divorced and her father has never been around.
She knows her mom is Puerto Rican. All of her friends are mostly African American.
This has led her to an unsettled identity and a life vastly different than her peers.
She continued to open up to us about how at sixteen she has already faced pressure to join a gang, to be a drug dealer, and to have had boys treat her like a piece of meat.
Also she takes care of her five younger brothers and sisters at night because her mom works the night shift. She cooks dinner, cleans, and puts them to bed so they don’t have bad dreams at night.
She asked us how to deal with people making judgments about her and if it would get better. She also said that we were the first people she’d ever really opened up too, including her mom.
And sitting there, I really took it all to heart.
I was able, along with my peers, to help this girl who was on the verge of tears to see how much she mattered.
I got to express to her that it’s okay to be confused and to not always be happy.
Most importantly, I got to encourage her to make a difference with other people through her story.
I sat there and almost cried along with her. Life up to this point has been hard but it has been nothing like what this girl has had to face.
Even through all the emotions, that experience made the trip to Blake High worth it. It made me feel like something good came out of that day.
It’s been the most rewarding conversation of my life and it put everything into perspective.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Popular Media Blinds Society To Other Shades Of Beauty
The Minaret Published February 11 2009
Ladies: Taye Diggs or Shemar Moore?
Gentlemen: Tyra Banks or Naomi Cambell?
All four of these celebrities are gorgeous’mdash;no doubt about it.
The women are two of the most legendary models in fashion history, and the men are actors that would make any woman swoon.
However, do you prefer one over the other?
Could it be because one has lighter skin than the other?
Or, perhaps, darker than the other?
It’s not something that’s easy to talk about considering the history of this country.
What has emerged from the legacy of racial discrimination is the culturally-grown ideal that lighter skin is better and more acceptable.
European features have been the ‘it’ features when discussing the perfect body type, which have been used for everything from selling beauty magazines to segregation.
Even with the abolishment of slavery and civil rights’ movements for all peoples (not that they are completely successful), there is still a constant pressure to be something other than what we were born as.
The images plastered all over the media give us a poor picture of what is attractive.
To businesses, beauty is a commodity, which is partially why they peddle one narrow image of beauty.
Their first job is to sell you ‘beauty’ and the harder it is to attain the more money they make.
It is our duty to end the circus that has become the skin discussion and to redefine what is beautiful.
Skin color is not only tied to race but has historically been tied to social class.
Have you ever heard of the paper bag test?
If I were darker than the color of the paper bag, I would be considered working class.
If I were lighter-skinned, then I would be upper class and able to work inside away from the sun.
The proliferation of skin color ideals are worsened by images of ‘beautiful’ men and women in the media.
Many popular African American, Latino and Asian stars are of mixed heritages.
Beyonce, Selma Hayek and Lucy Liu are all lighter-skinned than the average person of those races.
Yet, this is the image that is fed to society.
This exposure to what is popular and beautiful has forced people to change their appearance.
Some darker-skinned individuals have tried bleaching their skin to conform to what society has deemed worthy.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the infatuation people of European-descent have with being darker or tanned.
Both bleaching and tanning procedures are harmful to peoples’ bodies and to their ability to love who they are.
It’s ironic to think one side wants what the other has and vice versa.
If we, the younger generation, took control of the discussion of what is sociably acceptable, then maybe we could put an end to the body fascism against others and, ultimately, ourselves.
We nit-pick against one another because we aren’t happy with who we are.
I say end the social and cultural construct of color.
We have to discuss and be open to learn how someone else feels.
Who we are has nothing to do with whatever color skin we were born with.
We have the power to make everyone feel comfortable in their own skin.
From the darkest black to the lightest white and all the browns and tans in between, we have to change the perception of what’s beautiful.
So let’s talk about it. Let’s transform beauty.
Over-Caffeinated College Students Survive Work And School Buzz To Buzz
The Minaret Published January 20, 2009
Walk past Einstein’s or Jazzman’s and the distinct aroma of coffee wafts to your nose. Whether black or loaded, coffee and other caffeinated products have become a necessity for students in college.
Our campus is no different, helping to support the findings of a recent poll claiming
For those of us who let the alarm go off three or four times before sliding out of bed in the morning know how our bodies ache for an eight-hour slumber.
Without a cup of tea or coffee there would be no hope for the rest of the day.
Caffeine has become a staple in many of our diets because of the stimulating affects it has on our nervous systems.
Coffee, tea, energy drinks, sodas, chocolate and caffeine pills serve to boost our energy throughout the day.
Students develop a caffeine dependency on the belief that it will give energy boosts without requiring a lifestyle change.
In fact, it’s easy to see why many students have a hard time not taking a cup of coffee to class just to stay awake, even when the affect is temporary and more caffeine will have to be taken in a few hours.
College students’ cravings for caffeine are encouraged by its availability. Every dining area serves caffeinated drinks and there are vending machines in most classrooms and dorm buildings.
There are also close to 30 locations where students can satisfy a caffeine fix within walking distance of campus.
Starbucks and other coffee houses are open late to accommodate study habits. Walgreens and other stores sell liters of soda at cheap prices. The availability of caffeine makes it hard to turn away from.
At one point and time throughout every student’s college’ career they use caffeine to get through all-nighters and exams.
In this way, I’m not sure if caffeine use on our campus has anything to do with
Caffeine and college seem to be synonymous wherever you go. Students depend on chocolate for comfort, coffee and tea to wake up in the morning, energy drinks and soda for quick doses of sugar to make it through multiple classes, work, papers and exams in one day.
Without it, what would happen to us? Even more students would sleep in class (minus the ones that already do) and the rest would be a grumpy mess.
Two-hour classes would become unbearable and exams would be impossible.
Caffeine has turned out to be the savior for attention spans and finding the edge when maximum production is necessary. All of us have turned to it for guidance and wisdom before our brains malfunction.
Caffeine has become an integral part of our lives, telling us our bodies aren’t as young as they used to be and sadly, getting up for cartoons is no longer possible.
Caffeine, then, is the only way to cope.
Reading Books Remains A Novel Idea Among College Students
The Minaret Published January 27 2009
‘It takes too long!’
‘I read slower!’
‘I don’t understand what I’m reading!’
‘This doesn’t have anything to do with my life!’
The idea of reading a book or a newspaper has become almost unthinkable to many young Americans. ‘
Increased media consumption from computers, movies, video games and other gizmos has made the prospect of reading a novel unappealing, even a waste of time.
‘
And most of those excuses come after only from reading the first page.’
When a professor assigns a 300-page text, many students grumble about having to read all those pages, which is followed by mentioning of ‘Spark Notes’ after class.
The student-reader mentality is negative from the beginning.’
It may be from being forced to read for a class or from never being open to the prospect of enjoying words on a page.
It’s not a big screen with actors and intense drama or a music track with a high-octane beat.
It’s exploring characters and plot with every turn of the page.’
It’s reading in your head quietly.
This quiet may be in fact why reading unnerves some students to the point where they depend on audio books to get them through classes.’
Audio book popularity has taken off because they’re easy to get a hold of and even easier to play on an iPod or on a computer.’
Even more appealing is the ability to do many other things while listening to a book.’ It’s like baby sitting sleeping kids: no work.’
The problem with audio book multi-tasking is how more attention is being paid to other activities than the book being read aloud.’
For an audio book to be of good use, students should be actively reading along in the text to retain key information.
Different media outlets have led our generation and younger ones to depend upon the ‘WOW’ tactics that are produced causing novels to be classified as boring and old.’
To most students, reading is dreaded instead of appreciated.’
This has led to the creation of an entirely unimaginative group of individuals that will someday rule the country and the world.
Is imagination important?
Most certainly.’ On the scale of one to ten, it’s an eleven.’
Where is imagination acquired? Novels.
Novels that can take us into different worlds and out of comfort zones, to the past and to the future.’
Reading is one of the most important skills necessary for any job or any daily activity.’
The more one reads the faster you’ll be able to read and the easier it become to discover meaning in the text.
It builds vocabulary and improves grammar skills.’ Do yourself a favor and take a chance.’
Find a book you are interested in.’
Pick a day when you have nothing to do and read for fun.’
It doesn’t have to be all day, try an hour at first and you might be surprised at how enjoyable reading becomes.’
Soon the pages will be turning and you’ll learn more at the end of it than you would from a video game or from Spark Notes.’
I’m sure of it.
‘It takes too long!’
‘I read slower!’
‘I don’t understand what I’m reading!’
‘This doesn’t have anything to do with my life!’
The idea of reading a book or a newspaper has become almost unthinkable to many young Americans. ‘
Increased media consumption from computers, movies, video games and other gizmos has made the prospect of reading a novel unappealing, even a waste of time.
‘
And most of those excuses come after only from reading the first page.’
When a professor assigns a 300-page text, many students grumble about having to read all those pages, which is followed by mentioning of ‘Spark Notes’ after class.
The student-reader mentality is negative from the beginning.’
It may be from being forced to read for a class or from never being open to the prospect of enjoying words on a page.
It’s not a big screen with actors and intense drama or a music track with a high-octane beat.
It’s exploring characters and plot with every turn of the page.’
It’s reading in your head quietly.
This quiet may be in fact why reading unnerves some students to the point where they depend on audio books to get them through classes.’
Audio book popularity has taken off because they’re easy to get a hold of and even easier to play on an iPod or on a computer.’
Even more appealing is the ability to do many other things while listening to a book.’ It’s like baby sitting sleeping kids: no work.’
The problem with audio book multi-tasking is how more attention is being paid to other activities than the book being read aloud.’
For an audio book to be of good use, students should be actively reading along in the text to retain key information.
Different media outlets have led our generation and younger ones to depend upon the ‘WOW’ tactics that are produced causing novels to be classified as boring and old.’
To most students, reading is dreaded instead of appreciated.’
This has led to the creation of an entirely unimaginative group of individuals that will someday rule the country and the world.
Is imagination important?
Most certainly.’ On the scale of one to ten, it’s an eleven.’
Where is imagination acquired? Novels.
Novels that can take us into different worlds and out of comfort zones, to the past and to the future.’
Reading is one of the most important skills necessary for any job or any daily activity.’
The more one reads the faster you’ll be able to read and the easier it become to discover meaning in the text.
It builds vocabulary and improves grammar skills.’ Do yourself a favor and take a chance.’
Find a book you are interested in.’
Pick a day when you have nothing to do and read for fun.’
It doesn’t have to be all day, try an hour at first and you might be surprised at how enjoyable reading becomes.’
Soon the pages will be turning and you’ll learn more at the end of it than you would from a video game or from Spark Notes.’
I’m sure of it.
Stem-Cell Research Support
Grandfather’s Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Prompts Stem Cell Research Support
The Minaret Published October 12, 2008
Everything’s gone.
You can quickly have everything and just as quickly lose your memory. I know first-hand what it is like to feel you’re losing it all. My grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at 77 in 2003.
When he was first diagnosed, it didn’t register with me what was going to happen to him. I thought Alzheimer’s was like the flu: that it would go away. I quickly learned, however, that the disease wasn’t going anywhere but the grandfather I knew was.
Five years after his diagnosis, the disease, sometimes described as “creeping brain degeneration,” has taken its toll on my grandfather and my family.
At first, he could still remember day-to-day and minute-to-minute conversations. Then he couldn’t remember that he had asked how I was doing five times in a three-minute span.
Now, he is in a nursing home because my family can’t take care of him properly.
He has become a child again. When he speaks, it’s broken up and tangled. He calls me a boy because that’s all he can get out. He has no idea where he is or what’s happening to him. He has become aggressive at times and utterly helpless at others.
He’s constantly medicated with Alzheimer’s drugs that do nothing to prevent the disease from eating his memory. He knows who my mother is but he can’t remember that she is his daughter.
It’s one of the worst feelings in the world to watch someone that you love unconditionally be reduced to a medicated vegetable.
My first hand experience with this disease has made me a supporter of stem-cell research. What my family and many other families have had to go through is horrible, and I can’t grasp why people oppose research so much.
I understand religious and pro-life arguments but what I can’t agree with are those who oppose it without knowing what it is. Or even those who oppose it and what if, down the road, they too are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and they have to go through everything first hand that I and many others have witnessed.
I feel the opposition is in some ways selfish to their own causes.
The major argument with research is over embryonic stem cells. These cells are four to five day old embryos that are donated or scientifically made specifically for the purpose of study. They can be cloned so scientists can make multiple studies of a certain type of stem cell.
Opposing views believe the creation of an embryo automatically makes it is a life and its destruction is killing a life.
Also, when scientists clone embryonic stem cell lines for studies, controversy sprouts from the possibility of devaluing human life with reproductive cloning.
As a supporter of the research, I believe it is necessary to view embryos for scientific purposes only. They are in no way used to create life but are cloned and tested to find possible cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer. These tests could result in saving many lives.
These problems however are making it harder. Lack of funding and support is holding stem cell research, in its scientific infancy, back from major breakthroughs. It is imperative to this kind of research to help cure and possibly prevent anyone from having to go through what many families have to with Alzheimer’s.
I have to sit here and know there is nothing I can do to save my grandfather from forgetting who I am. But there are thousands of scientists working on stem cell research, which can make a difference and can potentially save millions of lives, if only we all supported the cause.
Every time I visit my grandfather in a nursing home, leaving is the hardest part.
He still remembers me. He says he loves me and holds me tight in his embrace. Leaving means I can’t look back and leaving means the possibility of a next time where my grandfather won’t remember I’m his granddaughter.
My grandfather has lost everything of who he was. He can’t be cured.
But stem cell research can be the cure to our parents’ generation and our generation from having to lose what means the most. And that’s everything.
Why Haiti?
Why Haiti? Ask yourself this question. Ponder it.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with one of the highest population densities in the world and a land area about the size of the state of Maryland. The literacy rate among adults is around 50% and life expectancy is around 55 years.
70% of Haitian people live in poverty with an annual income of less than $400 USD per year.
Re-read that statistic. Let it sink in.
I've made over $400 for one paycheck. I can't even begin to imagine that much in a year. An entire year struggling to have food, water, and a proper shelter. Then add a family.
These are worse than dire conditions.
So after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti and over 30 after shakes continuing to measure a 5.0 magnitude, why has Haiti finally caught the attention of the world? With widespread destruction and loss of life, why has it taken a natural disaster to receive aid in the form of money, food, water, clothing, medicinal supplies as well as aid workers and doctors?
Why?
My next question I've heard from friends and Facebook posts: "Is God punishing Haiti? Is God punishing us with poverty, hurricanes and now earthquakes? Why, God, why?"
Honestly, God has nothing to do with it.
This is simply a horrific natural occurrence.
Haiti's geographic lie is unlucky enough to be along a fault line and the earth's tectonic plates are constantly moving. Is it a cruel irony? Yes, it is.
But in no way can a God be put into this equation. Not that I'm defending God. I simply believe mother nature is not under a God's power. A God does not control human actions or human independence.
Haiti has used its natural resources for food and firewood. Mountains have been stripped bare without replanting forests. Houses have been built without sturdy foundations or proper preparations for natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes (full knowing their geographical lie along fault lines and in the middle of the Atlantic's hurricane ally). Many people are unable to provide for themselves, let alone their families.
Not that any of these are to be blamed on the majority of Haitian people. Leadership has led the country to destructive ends. It will take more than just the country and its people to come out of poverty and now out of devastation.
Haiti is the black hole of the West much like most of Africa is in the East. It's forgotten and left to fend for itself when that is impossible without aid from the world.
I would like to believe after this catastrophe the world will take more notice of the needs of Haiti. I would hope they will stick around to rebuild the cities and towns, homes and lives, of all the people as well as help to find a way for Haiti to have jobs and income going to its people.
I hope but I don't believe any of that will happen. Countries jump to give aid and leave when things look better but aren't entirely fixed.
Countries give aid until their people complain about giving too much. (HEY PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES I'M TALKING TO YOU: "Obama's giving $100 million to Haiti.Where was that f'n money when we were in a f'n recession!?Why the hell r we helping Haiti when we have freezing starving people n our own country?Where was Haiti when we had Hurricane Katrina & 9/11?!F the USA and F Obama-Were not babysitters and we need to worry about our own.I am ...praying for Haiti & their families,but we need 2 get our shit together 1st.")
I guess my point is this: even our own starving, poverty-stricken people in the U.S. live better than those in Haiti and they need help now more than ever.
Other countries are selfish. People are selfish. You're going to whine and complain about a country sending aid when "we need it more" and you're going to complain the second we need aid and no one helps.
It's a double-edged sword of hypocrisy and it's lonely out on the top. You give and you receive. You're selfish and no one cares and no one responds when you need it the most.
If anything, this is a God's message to the rest of the world. It's about relationships, not about institutions or independence. It's about caring and respecting and coming to aid when aid is needed. It's about doing what's right for humanity, not about sitting back and taking everything for yourself.
Haiti may be poor but they are a proud people. They've asked for help because they sincerely need it. They will live on without or without help because that's how it has always been. They have more respect for one another than probably I have for my neighbor. They work together and give together. They live, love and die together.
Haitians are one and that's more than I can say for any other country.
They deserve our help and we should all be selfless enough to give it.
Ten dollars is a million to them.
Ten dollars is an opportunity to rebuild and to live.
Help. Give. Share. Love.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with one of the highest population densities in the world and a land area about the size of the state of Maryland. The literacy rate among adults is around 50% and life expectancy is around 55 years.
70% of Haitian people live in poverty with an annual income of less than $400 USD per year.
Re-read that statistic. Let it sink in.
I've made over $400 for one paycheck. I can't even begin to imagine that much in a year. An entire year struggling to have food, water, and a proper shelter. Then add a family.
These are worse than dire conditions.
So after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti and over 30 after shakes continuing to measure a 5.0 magnitude, why has Haiti finally caught the attention of the world? With widespread destruction and loss of life, why has it taken a natural disaster to receive aid in the form of money, food, water, clothing, medicinal supplies as well as aid workers and doctors?
Why?
My next question I've heard from friends and Facebook posts: "Is God punishing Haiti? Is God punishing us with poverty, hurricanes and now earthquakes? Why, God, why?"
Honestly, God has nothing to do with it.
This is simply a horrific natural occurrence.
Haiti's geographic lie is unlucky enough to be along a fault line and the earth's tectonic plates are constantly moving. Is it a cruel irony? Yes, it is.
But in no way can a God be put into this equation. Not that I'm defending God. I simply believe mother nature is not under a God's power. A God does not control human actions or human independence.
Haiti has used its natural resources for food and firewood. Mountains have been stripped bare without replanting forests. Houses have been built without sturdy foundations or proper preparations for natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes (full knowing their geographical lie along fault lines and in the middle of the Atlantic's hurricane ally). Many people are unable to provide for themselves, let alone their families.
Not that any of these are to be blamed on the majority of Haitian people. Leadership has led the country to destructive ends. It will take more than just the country and its people to come out of poverty and now out of devastation.
Haiti is the black hole of the West much like most of Africa is in the East. It's forgotten and left to fend for itself when that is impossible without aid from the world.
I would like to believe after this catastrophe the world will take more notice of the needs of Haiti. I would hope they will stick around to rebuild the cities and towns, homes and lives, of all the people as well as help to find a way for Haiti to have jobs and income going to its people.
I hope but I don't believe any of that will happen. Countries jump to give aid and leave when things look better but aren't entirely fixed.
Countries give aid until their people complain about giving too much. (HEY PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES I'M TALKING TO YOU: "Obama's giving $100 million to Haiti.Where was that f'n money when we were in a f'n recession!?Why the hell r we helping Haiti when we have freezing starving people n our own country?Where was Haiti when we had Hurricane Katrina & 9/11?!F the USA and F Obama-Were not babysitters and we need to worry about our own.I am ...praying for Haiti & their families,but we need 2 get our shit together 1st.")
I guess my point is this: even our own starving, poverty-stricken people in the U.S. live better than those in Haiti and they need help now more than ever.
Other countries are selfish. People are selfish. You're going to whine and complain about a country sending aid when "we need it more" and you're going to complain the second we need aid and no one helps.
It's a double-edged sword of hypocrisy and it's lonely out on the top. You give and you receive. You're selfish and no one cares and no one responds when you need it the most.
If anything, this is a God's message to the rest of the world. It's about relationships, not about institutions or independence. It's about caring and respecting and coming to aid when aid is needed. It's about doing what's right for humanity, not about sitting back and taking everything for yourself.
Haiti may be poor but they are a proud people. They've asked for help because they sincerely need it. They will live on without or without help because that's how it has always been. They have more respect for one another than probably I have for my neighbor. They work together and give together. They live, love and die together.
Haitians are one and that's more than I can say for any other country.
They deserve our help and we should all be selfless enough to give it.
Ten dollars is a million to them.
Ten dollars is an opportunity to rebuild and to live.
Help. Give. Share. Love.
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