Keeping up with Kenny

At first, school being out seemed like a dream. Everyone was excited that we would have a break from school and could finally relax. But as remote learning starting on Monday, everything felt different. Everyone was quarantined and couldn’t leave there house. So it wasn’t this perfect vacation away from school that everyone wanted. In addition, so many people started missing their friends and social life. The same people that wanted school canceled, are now the same people begging for school to pick up again. I agree, I miss seeing all my friends, teachers and having social interactions with the rest of my peers. Being quarantined isn’t the best, I haven’t been able to leave my house in so long and I miss being able to hang out with people and have fun. We all say we don’t have enough “free time” but now that we have it, we have too much and everything is boring. Video games are boring, scrolling through social media and Tik Tok is getting boring now too. In fact, Ive resorted to c...

One example that I see of racial and income inequality is through the coronavirus outbreak. I see and hear many people in our community complaining about how bad and horrible it is to be staying at home. On social media I see celebrities posting about how much quarantine and staying home “sucks”. But, at the very least, we have the option to quarantine and stay home. Millions of Americans across the country are homeless, living in apartments and townhouses, or even in prisons where they don't have the option to self quarantine. People with lower incomes can potentially not afford a house to quarantine in and therefore is at a greater risk. In addition, not only do people of lower income have a greater risk of catching the virus, but they're at a lower risk of being treated. Due to the income inequality many people with low incomes can’t afford healthcare to help them if they catch this virus. Yet again, the people who live in lower income communities are getting the short end ...

Ever since quarantine has started, our use of technology has skyrocketed. To start, let's look at school. With remote learning, all students and teachers are required to stare at a screen for almost 6 hours every day. Through canvas assignments, essays, projects and zoom, our entire learning curriculum has been transformed to be completely virtual. One thing is that I bought an apple pencil and a macbook during quarantine to make all this remote learning easier. These are items that I would have never thought I would need, but as more and more things relied on technology during these hard times, getting more technology made everything easier and more convenient. During quarantine, technology has not only taken over our education system but it became our main source of entertainment. Because we can't leave our houses, we are stuck inside and as a teen, some of the only things to keep me occupied for such an extended amount of time include; watching a movie on netflix, playing v...

My question was “why is there such a strong negative stigma regarding the LGBT+ community?” And the main reason I chose my topic was because one of my best friends is part of the LGBT community and I can see the struggles that he faces. The summary of my Junior theme is simply explaining the thought process behind why people are so homophobic. The main findings showed that the stigma can be attributed to peoples religious beliefs, a lack of education towards LGBT topics or are in denial of their own sexual identity.  One of the most surprising things I found is that it is illegal in 7 states to talk about the LGBT community or those topics in schools. This upset me very much, because although a lot of progress has been made, it shows that clearly there still is a lot more that needs to be changed. My views did not change after research. I came in thinking that there was no excuse for homophobia, and I left even more upset realizing how much homophobia still exists. I strongly be...

After reading Between the World and Me , it is clear that one of the most important concepts stressed by Coates is his version of the American Dream that he calls “the Dream”. Throughout American History, there has always been the idea that if someone came to America, they would achieve the “American Dream” . Due to the freedom, opportunity, and equality that is promised, it becomes embedded in the minds of people from other countries, that they could achieve wealth and success. Coates creates his own version of the “American Dream” and decided to call in the Dream; and his version is very different. Throughout the book, Coates stresses that the United States wasn’t founded on opportunity, equality and freedom, but built on the idea of discrimination and injustice towards the African American community.  Coates’ contrast between the American Dream and the Dream is expressed through the idea that it is extremely accessible for whites to get, but difficult for ...

Picture two different scenarios. Imagine you’re invited to a party and you don't know everyone. You walk down the stairs and instantly feel like you’re standing there feeling like a cow with two heads because it seems like no one is even noticing you. After a while, no one seems to notice you to the point where you want to leave. That doesn’t sound too fun, right? Well, here is the next one: you walk down the stairs to the same party, but this time you’re instantly greeted, people actually notice you and you have the night of your life. Now, which situation sounds better? The second. The difference is the way you were approached. In the first scenario, you didn’t feel welcome, where in the second, when in the second, you were approached and the night was instantly better. I will get back to this idea in a second.  Homecoming for my school was this weekend, and in all honesty it was over hyped. A lot of it is due to people wanting to get funny video to put on our stories at the a...