Daily Archives: January 13, 2021

COVID-19

Mental health and the pandemic

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By: Grace Blumer-Lamotte

Image taken from: https://jphmpdirect.com/2020/06/15/mental-health-during-the-pandemic/

Mental health is classified as our emotional, physiological, and social well-being.

The first report of COVID-19 was in Wuhan, China, on December 31st, 2019. The first reported cases in the United States of America were sometime in January, 2020.

The pandemic has taken a toll on everyone’s mental health. Whether it was beneficial or harmful.

To some people, the pandemic was beneficial to their mental health. I asked 4 people between the age range of 14-46 years old: “How has the pandemic impacted your mental health for the better?”

The 14-year-old answered that the pandemic has been beneficial to their mental health by being away from school and “toxic friends.”

The 16-year-old answered that the pandemic has not been beneficial to their mental health.

The 43-year-old answered that the pandemic impacted their mental health by having “More face time/contact with my immediate family and my kids.”

3 words they used to describe it being beneficial is “less-busy, family-time, and remote-work.”

The 46-year-old also answered that the pandemic impacted their mental health as the “flu-rate has dropped.” 

To other people, the pandemic was harmful to their mental health. The same 4 people answered how the pandemic impacted their mental health for the worse.

The 14-year-old said, “It is difficult not having social interaction.”

The 16-year-old said, “My girlfriend broke up with me. I lost multiple friends. My mental health went downhill.”

The 43-year-old said that the negatives about the pandemic are “Stress and worry about the safety and well-being of my family. Dealing with the unknown is exhausting.”

3 words they used to describe their mental health during the pandemic is that they feel: “isolated, stressed, and unknown.”

According to ‘The Philadelphia Inquirer,’ their crisis line has spiked and hasn’t come down since the pandemic started.

Everyone around the world struggles with something in their life. Whether it’s a mental illness(es), family issues, or abuse of substances. But since the Coronavirus has started, Federal Surveys showed that 40% of Americans are struggling with a mental illness and/or drug-related problem, and 75% of young adults are struggling.

Editorials/Student Voice, Music/Concerts

Why K-Pop is good

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By: Kayla Madison

So, I’m not really sure how to explain why K-Pop is good. It just is.

So, I’ll just kinda explain why I like it, because I didn’t before this year, 2020.

Fortunately, I don’t like BTS. Their fans are literally crazy and they’ll like, eat me. I listen to NCT and all their subunits: Ateez, TXT, Got7, Monsta X, SuperM, Red Velvet, Twice and, Stray Kids.

Here’s what I’ll say, no matter what – there’s always someone hot in a K-Pop group. It’s unethical to stan for that reason, but it’s a reason nonetheless. I won’t lie. I can’t lie.

I may not know Korean, but I know whatever they’re singing or rapping about…is facts. It’s so catchy. All the songs I’ve listened to are so catchy. Doesn’t matter what I’m doing, it’s always in the back of my mind.

With stanning comes the secret shipping, making it known that you have a ship in a group of guys isn’t good for them, it hurts the group and it also hurts the company. If the company is SM, do everything in your power to hurt them, and not the group. SM sucks so much. Ask anyone into K-Pop. They’re terrible. So are the MAMA awards, but going into that would take me hours.

How I got into K-Pop is pretty simple actually. I’m not sure what I was watching, but “God’s Menu,” by Stray Kids, popped up and I was like “that’s funny.” I gave it a listen and my jaw dropped all the way into the asthenosphere. It was so good. The boys looked heavenly. The vocals *chefs kiss*, FELIX’S PART, holy who knew a voice could go so deep *tear starts rolling down*.

My bias for that group…yes, I have a bias for every group I’ve ever listened to, well it’s more than 1 haha. Lee Know, Seungmin, Han, Hyunjin…I’m naming everyone. Apparently I don’t have a bias; I love them all.

Anyways, ever since I’ve listened to “God’s Menu” I’ve sunk deeper into the fascinating world that is K-Pop. Don’t knock it before you try it. Give it a listen.

This is NCT 127 (my fav right now); Yuta, Jaehyun, Taeil, Johnny, Doyoung, Haechan, Taeyong, Mark and, Jungwoo ~picture from their official Instagram~
Science/Nature

Lack of diversity in psychology 

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By: Joxery Mezen Camacho

Image taken from: ttps://online.csp.edu/blog/psychology/basic-psychology-disciplines/

Do you ever wonder how the mind works and why humans do things that they do? Well, that’s what psychology is for.

According to the American Psychological Association, psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Thousands of studies have been done over the years in order to learn more about the human mind, but to what extent are all of these studies able to be considered worldwide? 

According to ‘The Conversation’, many of the studies, data, and knowledge, that we know of human psychology is focused on college members, those of the middle class, those who live near universities, and citizens of affluent, developed and democratic nations who are highly educated. Many scholars now use the acronym WEIRD in order to more easily describe the focuses; it stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. 

It was discovered that there are rare influential psychological publications that emphasize race, and when race is discussed, it is often written, and just about exclusively edited by, white scholars. 

Steven O. Roberts, an assistant professor of psychology a the School of Humanities and Sciences decided to do an experiment that would look at the race of academic journal editors, which get to manage the journal’s editorial board, recruit other scholars to look over submissions, and oversee the publication of the academic journals. 

There were 60 editors-in-chief who Roberts, and his research team (Carmelle Bareket-Shavit, Forrest A. Dollins, Peter D. Goldie and Elizabeth Mortenson), looked at in between the years 1974 and 2018. Of those 60, 83% of the editors-in-chief were white, 5% were people of color, and 12% were unidentifiable for one reason or another. 

These results show a lack of diversity in the field of psychology. In both the researchers and those being studied. This makes it seem as though the data brought from psychological studies aren’t as worldwide as many people think. 

However, racism is indeed a worldwide problem. Steven O. Roberts says, “Psychologists are supposed to know about racial bias and how to prevent it from stratifying the world, but if we, the so-called experts, have a problem, then society really has a problem.” 

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Editorials/Student Voice, Sports

How the sports world reacted to the capitol protests

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By: Caden Ligman

Image taken from: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/01/06/death-capitol-riots-washington-dc-congress-ele ctoral-college-vpx.cnn

With Congress in session to count the electoral votes that would confirm Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, hundreds of Pro-Trump organizers stormed the capital building in Washington DC. Protesters broke through barriers and were soon marching around the offices of our elected officials. Something so disrespectful and violent has not happened at the Capital since the British stormed the capital in 1814.

Many people blame President Donald Trump for inciting these protesters after making baseless claims about voter fraud. This isn’t the beginning however, of Trump’s “conspiracy” theories about the presidential election. Months before the election took place last November, Trump repeatedly preached to his supporters that the only way he could lose the presidential race was if it was rigged.

The NBA recently has been seen as a very left-wing organization, with many of its members speaking out against our President, and many of his policies and actions. This time was no different. While this historic event was playing out, current and former NBA players spoke in interviews and took to Twitter to address the subject.

One of the sport’s biggest stars, Stephen Curry, responded to one of Trump’s tweets saying, “​There is literally a tweet for everything. Cat got your tongue today huh?” referring to Trump’s inaction to stop his supporters from storming the capital.

Similarly, former NBA star Dwane Wade tweeted out, “Black people get pulled over and don’t make it out alive. We can’t sleep in our own beds without being killed. We can’t jog without being killed. We can’t walk down the street with our hoodies up without being killed but they can do this???”

Coaches of NBA teams also spoke out in recent interviews. Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers said this, in an interview Wednesday night, “I will say it, because I don’t think a lot of people want to. Can you imagine today, if those were all black people storming the Capitol, and what would have happened? That, to me, is a picture that’s worth a thousand words for all of us to see.”

Seeing this historic event play out has opened many people’s eyes to the reality of what it is like to live in America today. What is happening at the capital not only exposes the discrimination of black people in America but also exposed the true values of our president and what his real motives are. No one knows how all of this will play out, but in the words of 76ers coach Doc Rivers, “Democracy will prevail, it always does.”