everything uhmaizing.

writing, primarily.

[everythinguhmaizing]

The Harlem Knights is a FIRST Robotics Team that provides STEM education for minority students at Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem. ExplainerTV followed ...

[everythinguhmaizing]

TRANSFER is a film that explores the topic of human Vs artificial intelligence, hacking, and our interaction with technology. The film was created by student...

[everythinguhmaizing]

Climate change is scary. We can see its affects more and more each year, but still, there are so many people that ignore scientists and their research becaus...

[everythinguhmaizing]

The body uses carbohydrates from food that you eat to produce glucose. Glucose is a type of sugar that can be used immediately for energy or stored away to b...

[everythinguhmaizing]

Hibernation is a way many animals survive long winters without having to forage for food or migrate to a warmer place. Hibernation is very common in animals....

[everythinguhmaizing]

RSVP here: https://nysci.org/event/stem-career-expo-2019/ Join us for our fourth annual STEM Career Expo to learn about the wide range of careers in STEM. At...

[everythinguhmaizing]

ETV Associate Producer Seana uses lemon juice to create invisible ink. Learn about the science behind this cool experiment! ETV Crew: Camera - Alvaro, Ilias ...

[everythinguhmaizing]

Why Healthcare Needs Nurse Innovators like Dr. Rachel Walker

Healthcare is a part of everyone’s lives from the very moment that we are born. The goal of any healthcare system should be to deliver care…

[everythinguhmaizing]

The York College cafeteria is typically very lively and upbeat. During finals week there is a sudden change. The tables that were once full of students enjoying meals and socializing are now covered with notes and students hover over them, scanning every word.

York College Junior and accounting major Kemaya Kirlew says that she often struggles with eating while in school because of lack of time and sometimes lack of funds. During finals week, she hardly eats at all. She says studying and resting take up the majority of her time and she doesn’t feel like she has a moment to stop and eat.

Queens College junior and interdisciplinary studies major Manjot Kaur says, “A lot of the time I feel like nobody really has the time to eat especially when you have classes all day long. When you do find the time to eat a quick snack or a meal it can be really expensive. That adds up over the week, sometimes it’s just easier to go without.”

On campus food pantries are becoming increasingly common, however the utilisation of other supports that promote economic security are not very popular at all. There is even a food pantry on the third floor in the office for student a activities.

Specifically, the use of public benefits programs remains low among students in higher education, as many students miss out on the opportunity to receive aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program also called SNAP, or food stamps. Students are often unaware that they qualify for additional aid to help them with housing and nutritional needs. As a result, many simply go without instead of seeking out the resources available to them.

[everythinguhmaizing]

“Hyperlocal and Hyper-timely.” Daniel Phelps Unveils His Latest Creation

By Seana Kelly

     The Future American Retrospective or FARvr installation, has been unveiled at York College in the Fine Arts Gallery. The creator behind it is York’s very own Associate Professor Daniel Phelps from the Communications Technology department. With the support of the Queens Memory Project, Council Member Daniel Dromm, and the Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College, Phelps has combined Virtual Reality and Robotics to capture, showcase, and protect the voices, sounds, and sights of Americana and the LGBTQ+ community.

     In the front of the gallery, four 4K HD Samsung flat screen televisions are arranged in a circular formation with space in the center for about six or seven people. Each screen displays a different part of the story as captured on 360 degree video, some stills of archived images that were scanned, and some interviews. The ten minute video plays while sound emanates from one of the speakers to grab your attention to a specific screen. “It’s ten minutes long, its telling a story, and it’s meant to be experienced. Go inside!” Phelps urged students as they hesitantly browsed the gallery.

     The gallery is immersive and the walls are lined in rainbow which turns into red, white, and blue. In the center a VR headset hangs that can be held up to your face and allows you to observe various scenes captured in places such as a bridge in California and even atop some guns in a gunshop. The headset makes the scene feel so real because your eyes are literally viewing 360 degrees of footage as you would view real life.

     When you reach the rear of the gallery, there is a right side and a left side which are both playing two separate conversations recorded in 360 degrees and laid flat for viewing purposes. Phelps titled them “Unabridged” because they are both full conversations from every perspective without interruptions and relatively free of bias.

     “I think it’s really really cool the way he displayed the content across so many screens and it really makes you feel connected to the conversation, like you’re watching it in real-time.” said York student Mike Bell, 19.

     Since the conversations take place in Queens, NY and are specifically about current topics within the LGBTQ+ community, Phelps describes the installation as “Hyperlocal and hyper-timely.”

[everythinguhmaizing]

Appetite for Success: Student Hunger On and Off Campus

By Seana Kelly

     Everyone has heard a joke or two about the awful eating habits that many college students have. Unfortunately, the issue is becoming more and more real and it is no laughing matter. The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice describes the #RealCollege survey as the nation’s largest annual assessment of basic needs security among college students. The survey, specifically evaluates access to affordable food and housing. This report describes the results of the #RealCollege survey administered in the fall of 2018 at all of the undergraduate campuses in the City University of New York system.

The Problem

     According to the March 2019 CUNY #RealCollege Survey report released by the Hope Center at Temple University in Philadelphia, roughly forty-eight percent (nearly one in two) of the twenty two thousand CUNY students who responded to a 2018 survey said they were food insecure in the thirty days prior to responding. Additionally, fifty-five percent of CUNY respondents were housing insecure in the previous year and fourteen percent of respondents were homeless in the previous year. These figures are alarming because they indicate that college students within the CUNY system are often homeless and have difficulties finding food.

     Studies show that food and housing insecurity can undermine a student’s academic success. Research suggests that housing insecurity and homelessness have a notably strong, and negative correlation with college completion rates, persistence, and credit attainment. Researchers also draw association of basic needs insecurity with self-reports of poor physical health, symptoms of depression, and higher perceived stress. Queens College third-year student and interdisciplinary studies major Manjot Kaur says, “A lot of the time I feel like nobody really has the time to eat especially when you have classes all day long. When you do find the time to eat a quick snack or a meal it can be really expensive. That adds up over the week, sometimes it’s just easier to go without.” This mindset is extremely common amongst students, they would rather save what little money they have than eat properly. Though it isn’t ideal, many students feel that they have no other option.

Efforts to Help

     On campus food pantries are becoming increasingly common, however the utilisation of other supports that promote economic security are not very popular at all. Specifically, the use of public benefits programs remains low among students in higher education, as many students miss out on the opportunity to receive aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program also called SNAP, or food stamps. The Government Accountability Office estimates that fifty-seven percent of students at risk of food insecurity that were also eligible for SNAP did not collect those benefits.

     Students are often unaware that they qualify for additional aid to help them with housing and nutritional needs. As a result, many simply go without instead of seeking out the resources available to them. Charlene Knox, a cafeteria aid at York College says, “Many times I see students come in to buy some food and they leave out with just a banana or just some chips and juice. I see this issues first hand, right in front of my eyes I see this issue. It makes me sad to see students who have so little money to buy food, they need help.” Ms. Knox is not the only one who feels this way, over the last decade, a survey group called Healthy CUNY has been working across CUNY campuses to address these concerns and support students by implementing several efforts.

     CUNY says that they have conducted many surveys and published reports in order to document the extent of the basic needs crisis at CUNY and they have worked with service providers to improve access to benefits and support on CUNY campuses. CUNY also offers the Single Stop program and emergency aid on campus, along with an array of other programs meant to help keep students in homes and put food on their tables. When asked if she was aware of the existence of these programs, Sumeet Sandhu, a twenty-two year old Psychology major at Queens college said, “I only wish I had known of these assistance programs. I’m nearly finished with my degree program and I can’t even begin to explain how much these programs would have helped me throughout this journey.”

The Future

     The #RealCollege survey is simply a confirmation of what has been an issue to CUNY administrators, faculty, staff, and students for several years. Professor Sharada Devi, an instructor at York colleges says, “Basic needs insecurity is an obstacle for students who are pursuing higher education. This is an issue that I can only hope to see resolved after my retirement.” The scope of the problem described here is much broader and more critical than what has been documented in prior reports, and should be cause for a systemic response.

     For decades, food security was overlooked as a college completion issue. The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice says “We are glad that research is playing a role in uncovering challenges and illuminating solutions. Healthy CUNY and the Hope Center will continue to work together to inform discussions about supporting CUNY students with the best available data and analyses.” The emphasis placed on the severity of this issue and the urgency assigned to finding a solution makes the future seem like a brighter place for higher education students.

[everythinguhmaizing]

Is Technology the New Gateway Drug?: Vaping and How It Has Become Popular Amongst Youth

By Seana Kelly

Photo by Seana Kelly

The Breakdown

     Today’s youth has grown up with advanced technology at their fingertips for the majority of their lives. Nearly everything has become automated, from paying bills to driving cars—and even, smoking. It is not uncommon to observe students, ranging in grade from intermediate school to high school, using various vaporiser devices; especially the JUUL. In just two years, the device had accrued more than half of the e-cigarette market share. Its rapid popularity has alarmed parents, educators, and schools across the country and made news headlines several times, usually as a result of reports of widespread use on school property. Many are calling it an epidemic.

The Process

     JUUL is widely available in convenience stores and gas stations as a smoking alternative for adult cigarette smokers. According to a survey conducted by Truth Initiative, nearly one in five intermediate and high school students have seen the popular new e-cigarette JUUL used in their school. JUUL most closely resembles a USB flash drive, and is available in a variety of “delicious” flavors. Each JUUL cartridge contains a strong dose of nicotine, roughly equal to the amount in an entire pack of cigarettes.This availability has made it extremely easy for minors to get their hands on the product as well. The survey conducted by Truth Initiative found that nearly three-quarters of youth who purchased JUUL said they got the device at a physical retail location, and an alarming 89 percent of youth who attempted to purchase the product online were successful. Once they have access to the device it can be used over and over, each cartridge contains about 200 pulls and the device itself is rechargeable.

     They use it both inside and outside of schools. Inside the classrooms, students wait eagerly for a teacher to turn their back and that’s their cue to reach quietly for the small, discreet device that is easily concealed in the palm of their hand. They take a pull from the device as they would a cigarette and then, “they blow the vapor either into their book bag or sometimes their sweater while the teacher isn’t looking,” said Ellianna Jacobs, 15, a freshman at Cardozo high school in Queens.

     The cloud of vapor that the JUUL produces is so small and dissipates nearly instantaneously and teachers are usually not aware that anything had gone on while they weren’t watching. “I truly believe that this is going to be the most major health concern of the decade for the youth,” said Yvette Brown-Jean, a guidance counselor at Martin Van Buren High School in Queens. In nearly 20 years working with young teens, she said that she’s never seen a tobacco product become so popular in such a short period of time. “At least three to four students are caught vaping on campus each week, usually using a JUUL, and some are suspended,” she said.

The Solution?

     The Food and Drug Administration recently issued warning letters to retailers such as gas stations, convenience stores and vape shops, for selling JUUL products to minors, and even prompted online retailers like Craigslist and  eBay to remove product listings. The FDA also requested that the manufacturer, JUUL Labs, turn over documents related to marketing, health effects and use among youth. The moves follow a letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb from five public health and medical groups calling on the agency to to action.

     Schools have been partnering with law enforcement to prevent students from bringing their devices into schools. Just last month Forest Hills High School was invaded by NYPD school safety officers who took action and began to confiscate students’ vape devices and even prevented them from cutting class to get their fix outside of the building. This came after three days of reports from The New York Post about the school’s rampant drug culture. Students also had to pass through metal detectors and allow officers to X-ray their bags on their way in to class.

     “There is scanning maybe two or three times during the school year but this time was different, I have never seen so much stuff taken away during scanning,” said senior Isaiah Deleon. The students were extremely surprised and some could even been seen turning back around and leaving the school when they got word of what awaited inside. School safety agent Robinson said “there were about eight vehicles patrolling the perimeter of the school, I have never seen that many at a time but I am glad that people are finally taking this issue seriously.” Though there are no lawful penalties, under a DOE rule, officers can now issue warnings to students rather than summonses.

Both school officials and law enforcement seem to be working together to get the epidemic under control.

[everythinguhmaizing]

This is How an Informative Article Should Be

By Seana Kelly

After a long day at work or school, I often scour the internet in search of the latest news. The news that interests me the most is news that has to do with music and the artists that create it.

There are very few sites that I use for this purpose because I don’t like ones that are biased. I also don’t prefer to read from sites that don’t publish factual information.

The latest story that has captured my attention are the stories developing about ‘Empire’ star, Jussie Smollett’s alleged attack. The one that Complex.com posted is one that I find to be both thorough and concise. I don’t prefer a long winded read that takes too much time to skim through. I prefer articles that shave down the information but don’t lose the facts of the story.

Another thing that I like is the use of embedded posts from social media sites like Instagram.com. This article uses one post from Instagram to help strengthen their story but because it is embedded, the reader doesn’t have to go searching for it, its right there for them.

This article is extremely brief and is essentially just a summary of facts obtained by the Chicago Police Department. The way the writer presents the article makes all the difference to me. He made sure to draw the reader in by emphasizing how this case is changing as each day goes by. The writer isn’t being insensitive to Jussie (because he may still be telling the truth) but he is being objective and not letting the reader forget that it is possible that Jussie’s attackers have still not been found for certain.

Overall, this article retains all the information that needs to get to the reader while also making it an interesting read. I aspire to write articles with the same qualities.

[everythinguhmaizing]

13th, a Documentary Directed by Ava DuVernay Literally Puts Everything into Perspective!

First of all, if you have not yet watched 13th (available on Netflix) you absolutely need to go and do so immediately! It’s not at all an exaggeration to state that this documentary is like all the others that we’ve seen, but better. It even has clips of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump making it all the more relevant. This documentary addresses most if not all of the issues that Black people, as well as other people of color, face every day. It focuses not only on the topics of the transition from slavery to segregation to the crack cocaine “epidemic” to mass incarceration and police brutality. DuVernay addresses the issues that have plagued the Black and inner city communities for decades.

There is no better place to start when discussing the issue of the massive systemic oppression of people of color in America than slavery. Slavery set the stage for everything that we see in our country today. The film focuses briefly on the issue because I’m sure that by now, most people think they know the ins and outs of slavery. It shifts to the period of time directly following the “abolition” of slavery and notes the fact that the thirteenth amendment left a major loophole which has been used by the government in conjunction with big business corporations to keep blacks incarcerated and use them for cheap labor. But we’ll address that later.

Next came the segregation of “colored” people, and whites. This, the Jim Crow era was what made it perfectly legal to separate people based on solely the color of their skin. It made it legal to discriminate against people and deny them jobs, deny them proper education, deny them the ability to succeed and deny them basic human rights. Civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur and many others are all featured in the film as revolutionaries who fought for change in America. Though in their time they were not treated as such, the documentary makes it very clear that their only wish was to ensure that black people could enjoy the same liberties as everyone else in the U.S. The documentary shows the many protests and the struggles between the black public and police. It shows how peaceful demonstrations quickly turned into brutal assaults on the protestors when police showed up and SWAT teams showed up, spraying people with fire hoses and ordering K-9 units to attack them. It creates a parallel of the issues that are faced today with the increased media focus on police brutality across the country. This brings the problem so much closer to home and allows the viewers to take note of how little things have truly changed decades later.

The documentary leaps forward a few years to address the current status of blacks in America and why things have been so troubled for so long. It focuses briefly on the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. It shifts blame for the “war on drugs” on the Reagan administration for treating the drug abuse in America as a crime issue rather than a health issue. Also described is Nancy Reagan’s role in perpetuating the prevalence of drugs with her “Just Say No” campaign. It highlights that this was continued during the Bush administration and the pressure on presidential candidates to be “tough” on crime, which helped Bush win the election against his adversary, Michael Dukakis. The Bush campaign used the fear of the public to sway the voters to vote for someone who they thought would protect them. Watch this 1988 advertisement that literally uses the story of a black man, Willie Horton, and Dukakis’ position on “weekend passes” for inmates as a reason why Bush should be elected. link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io9KMSSEZ0Y If you watch this advertisement, it is obvious that the strategy of the Bush campaign was to play upon the fear of Americans and paint blacks as criminals who could only be stopped by a president who is “tough” on crime. 

The kind of sentiment created in the United States was one that portrayed men of color as vicious criminals who must be locked away to protect the safety of the communities across the nation. This sentiment lead to the increase of privatized prisons and thus the increase of incarceration, which by this point in time had become a fully operational business that was booming. Laws were manipulated, much through the utilization of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) which is an organization that allows big corporations and legislators from every state to meet and discuss as well as vote on what kind of laws should be implemented in states. One major issue with that is that no one can seem to find an answer for the question, what business do large corporations have in lawmaking? None. They should not even be remotely involved in the process however through ALEC, businesses are able to write up and distribute laws that would aid them in an effort to increase revenue. These laws include things such as the infamous “Stand Your Ground” law which enabled George Zimmerman, the killer of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, to walk free. To put it in perspective, a large corporation that benefits greatly from gun sales would have a representative attend and ALEC meeting to suggest legislation that would allow for more people to want and own guns, i.e Stand Your Ground. The other corporations and legislators vote on these new laws and if they are approved by the majority they will be pushed in congress for passage into law. It only becomes an issue when the newly introduced law creates issues in it’s practice. This happened following the death of Trayvon Martin and his killer, Zimmerman’s, acquittal. Over time many corporations have withdrawn from ALEC because it has become so widely publicized and they don’t want to be scrutinized for their involvement. Despite withdrawing from the council, many of them still fund it which leads many to wonder how they could possibly have cut all ties. It is evident that money hungry corporations and elitist legislators are working together to achieve similar goals: to seem like the “good” guys, and to stay at the top while keeping everyone else at the bottom.

One final thing I’d like to mention from the documentary is that the thirteenth amendment left a major loophole which has been used by the government in conjunction with big business corporations to keep blacks incarcerated and use them for cheap labor. It is stated directly:

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. This literally means that anyone who is imprisoned is basically a slave to the debt of the government. That’s not what we’ve been told to believe our whole lives though, is it? Pretty much everyone has been under the impression that good ole Abraham Lincoln took away slavery and freed all the poor blacks. Little did you know that he just changed the way in which we are allowed to be enslaved. Over time we have seen that not only are more black people incarcerated but they are also killed at alarming rates. This is nothing new at all, the fact that we are able to document these incidents and show them to the entire world in an instant is the new revelation. This is something that society must continue to use as a strategy to combat these injustices. We must stay informed, be aware, stick together, document everything and above all, keep creating dialogue. Keep talking about this until you turn blue in the face, something has got to give eventually and with persistence, anything is possible.

That’s just my piece on the subject however once again, if you have not yet watched 13th (available on Netflix) make sure that you take the time to watch it, it’s definitely worth your time!

[everythinguhmaizing]

Social Media Cleanse!

I've found that too much of my time is devoted to social media. Additionally, it tends to cause me a lot more stress than I need in my life. Though it's a good way to stay in contact with people, the fact that there are sooo many different people showcasing the highlights of their lives makes it hard at times to stay grounded and be appreciative of what I have going on. You should never be paying so much attention to what goes on in other people's lives that you lose focus of your own. That's what social media users fall victim to on a daily basis. I feel irritable, stressed and overall exhausted after a few scrolls through the ignorance of my timelines. I want to be able to open myself up to giving more of myself to the people around me in my immediate life. I want to find new interests, pick up a new book, write a story or some poems. Anything that can take my head out of the imaginary world that is social media.

Follow me on my social media cleanse! I'm ridding my life of all stress and unwanted issues by going on a two week cleanse from Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. At the end of the two weeks, I'll be posting my daily progress (that I will be keeping track of in a notebook) on my blog 

everythinguhmaizing.tumblr.com

and I encourage anyone who feels like social media takes up too much of their time (and happiness) to join me! I will be deleting the apps from my phone so I'm not tempted to click them. At the end of the cleanse I'll also do another update on how things have changed since the beginning and if the changes were positive or negative.

Bye for now! 🤗

[everythinguhmaizing]

Starting Again

When I started this blog my intention was to put my thoughts and ideas out into the world but somewhere along the way, I lost my voice. Not literally. But seriously, at some point I completely lost the confidence I’d had when I created it. Now here I am, at the end of 2016 and I just NEED to write. I need to let my feelings out and I need to spread knowledge again. I’ve being doing so on Facebook and I feel like venting to my “friends” doesn’t do much for me. I need a bigger audience, I need more people to be able to understand where I’m coming from and over all, I just need a voice.

[everythinguhmaizing]

Positivity Lesson

If you're able to take time out of your day to be unnecessarily negative and try to bring someone else down based on their appearance, sexuality, sexual orientation, race, etc. YOU have a problem. Learn self love and let those positive vibrations radiate from within you.