As I begin to write this article, my arm is still sore from the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine I received only two days ago. The muscle soreness is an uncomfortable nuisance, yet it is a persistent reminder that I have finally faced my fear of being injected with a novel substance at the behest of societal and governmental pressure. I had delayed getting … Continue reading A Carefree Vaccine is a White Privilege
Before COVID-19, the end of summer would have signified packed back-to-school gatherings and campuses across the country bustling with their usual crowd. Now, students are tuned into their lectures behind their webcams, replacing classrooms and lecture halls with their own dorms and apartments. In exchange for face-to-face study groups, Hangout and Facetime have replaced visits to Starbucks and the library. With social distancing guidelines, the … Continue reading From Our Phones to the Polls: How TikTok is Cultivating a New Era of Political Engagement
Most candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, including President Joe Biden, supported the implementation of voluntary gun buyback programs. Gun buyback programs have been proposed or implemented in various cities and nations across the globe in an attempt to control firearms in circulation. These programs can be mandatory for citizens and implemented on the national scale, like Australia’s National Firearms Amnesty program, … Continue reading Do Voluntary Gun Buybacks Work… or Do They Miss the Target?
Currently, the United States is rampant with civil conflict, cultural warfare, and social resentment. From social justice protests within major cities across the U.S. to the temporary U.S. Capitol Building insurrection by supporters of the outgoing president, Americans are visibly dissatisfied with current social and political institutions. Strife over political and social issues dominate dinner tables and hinder the ability of many to explore multicultural … Continue reading Socialism: A Story of American Misunderstanding
In the leadup to the 2016 election, a now-familiar specter stalked the halls of establishmentarian media circles: what if a presumably losing candidate Trump doesn’t accept the results of the election? While it was hard to term this as unfounded hysteria, given that this possibility was expressly raised by Trump himself, several federal Republican office-holders nonetheless rose to the challenge, brushing off the explicit threat … Continue reading On Electoral Whataboutism and What it Means to Accept the Results of an Election
I’ve endured, I’ve endured. How long can one endure? -Ola Belle Reed Rolling blankets of green, lush, and wild for miles. Climbing up cliffs and new worlds open as ears gently pop with the high altitude. A drive through the heart of Appalachian country in the mountains of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia reveals rich wildlife, biodiversity, and culture. While many may equate Appalachia with … Continue reading Wild, Wonderful, and Vulnerable: How Climate Change is Ravaging Appalachia
In recent years, the right of transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their preferred sex has become more acknowledged than ever before. This controversy was brought along with the revision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include the Equality Act, which protects sexual orientation and gender identity. However, the addition of this protection to the Act failed to pass the House of Representatives. … Continue reading The Battleground in the Bathroom: the Controversy over Transgender Bathroom Rights
If you were asked to define your relationship with food, what would you say? What words come to mind, and does a relationship even exist? For younger people, food is most often viewed as a commodity. On college campuses, fast food chains dominate our dining halls, satisfying those cravings for pizza, hamburgers, and all the foods kids are told to avoid growing up. Many public … Continue reading Food Apartheid: How Hunger Became Political
Photo by Pepi Stojanovski As of 2019, more than 10.5% of Americans are at or below the poverty rate—that’s more than 32 million Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau statistics. However, this statistic does not tell the full story of poverty in America. Here is one that does: 40% of Americans cannot afford to pay an unforeseen expense of $400. The poverty rate ignores … Continue reading Consumerism—not Capitalism—is the culprit for American Poverty
Restaurants, movie theaters, hotels, sports stadiums, and more. All of these have two things in common: Americans frequently patron them for entertainment and food service, and they all rely on a low-skilled, low-paid workforce in order to remain profitable. And in turn, these businesses provide goods, services, and jobs to the population. Most of this workforce earns an amount either equal to or near the … Continue reading One Size Does Not Fit All: The $15 Minimum Wage
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