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World We Imagine - Part 3

The Social Media Hotline Almost 20% of American adults experience mental illness.  Where over half of these adults receive no treatment. The most common of these disorders are anxiety and depression related. Now mental health stems from a variety of causes, but the one I want to bring your attention to today is the use of social media.  Us humans are social creatures. We thrive on companionship, strong connections and it is proven that being socially connected with others eases anxiety, depression, stress, boosts self-worth, provides comfort and joy and prevents loneliness. Lacking strong social connections, of course, poses a risk to your mental and emotional health. Social media was launched as a way to deeper these social connections- that way we are connected even when we aren't together. Now with actions like Instagram stories and platforms like BeReal, you are aware of what others are doing almost all the time. This is good. Now we can be more connected than ever. But th...
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A World We Dare to Imagine

This is not so much a world problem (rather a problem I see in myself that others may relate to) but I dare to imagine a world where stop comparing ourselves to others. Comparison is the thief of joy, and I truly believe so. Because we live in a world where you are compared to others in most aspects of life all the time, it is hard not to do so yourself. And so it is easy to forget that we are very different from each other, and that comparing yourself to someone else will get you nowhere.   We will always be our harshest critic, and we will always have the nagging voice in our head saying 'but compared to me they're better'. It is important to understand for your own sanity that we are unique individuals, that there are parts of people we don't know and parts that people don't know about you. Any comparison is unfair. And yes I understand that comparison is an integral part of our society. In a way that it determines where you get into school, what job you get, and...
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Random Post 2

My second random post is going to be about a book I am reading called My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. It's a great book btw. It's depressing, but incredibly funny and while there doesn't seem to be a clear climax or plot line, the story makes me appreciate the little things in life just a little more. I think Ottessa Moshfegh is just a great writer. I've read books that were about much more interesting stories but didn't entertain me as much as this book has.  I think right now I could use an entire year of rest and relaxation, and that's why I love the book so much. I can relate to the protagonist on some level. But in a lot of ways I really don't like her. She's selfish, hypocritical, straight up mean, and despite her parents being pretty unloving she was given all the privileges of life from birth. Yet, she is so unhappy she goes into a year of hibernation. Literal hibernation. She attempts, with the help of multiple drugs, to slee...
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Wayfinders Post 2

Wayfinders was definitely a book I don't normally read. I've parts of books like Guns, Germs, and Steel and The History of Almost Everything that remind me of this one. Slightly academic, but written in way thats almost narrative (if that's the right word). I enjoyed it, especially since this genre is something I am not inclined to.  The part of the book that stuck out to me the most was the one talking about cultural destruction. Specifically, cultural destruction that occurred in the 20th century - the Tibetan Buddhists, the Rendille of the Sahara and Inuits and Northern Canada. Because of colonization, wars, slavery, these nations were forced to change their traditional way of life. Their culture completely altered, their people displaced, their traditions lost. It stuck out to me because I see this in the Philippines.  Growing up I would ask my family why parts of our country simply didn't work. Everything from extreme poverty, to corrupt government officials, to hi...
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Wayfinders Post 1

I wanted to read Wayfinders because I don't normally read books that are, for lack of a better word, serious. I've read A history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson, which talks about the same themes discussed in Wayfinders. I think it is crucial for us to be exposed to world history, not just history about the US. In Bill Bryson's book, he really touches on the development of different cultures, trade, the movement of resources - it just expands your worldview, makes you a more openminded person and I would also argue it helps with problem solving skills (at least for me it does as weird as that sounds). While I've only begun reading Wayfinders, I like how it emphasizes indigenous cultures as something we can learn from. From what I've read so far, he touches on the communities in the Polynesian Islands and their methods of navigation. Not only is it interesting to read about - both his accounts of their navigations techniques and his accounts of meeting the Poly...
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AMDP Draft

  Your AMDP Drafts are due Tuesday,  February 28.  Please post to your blogs. If you have time to do a complete draft, by all means, go for it. If you're pressed for time, post a minimum of:  Header ,  Summary  paragraph with road map, the four definitions (with source of definition in parentheses after each one), and subheads for  Background ,  Analysis , and  Recommendation . These capitalized, bolded terms come from Slide 5 of the Memo slideshow in WOTJ. Turning Trash into Treasure Misfits Market - Grocery store that sells the 'waste' produced by other larger grocers Misfits Market is an American e-commerce company that offers customers discounted produce boxes containing "ugly" or "imperfect" fruits and vegetables. The company's mission is to reduce food waste by rescuing produce that would otherwise be discarded due to cosmetic imperfections, overstock, or surplus. By selling these items at a lower price point than traditional grocery s...
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RANDOM Post 1

The last few weeks I have focused a lot on recruiting for a job this summer, so I guess I'll use these three paragraphs to to reflect on what I would tell younger me before going through this process.  1. Applying is not enough. This is probably the most important thing to know. Connections, and creating a network is honestly as important as Marshall students make it seem (yes, I am not a Marshall student, and yes I have made fun of Marshall students for only talking about their network). But the opportunities that actually follow through are ones where you have not only applied to the job but ones where you connected with employees on LinkedIn asking for a coffee chat leading up to some sort of internal referral. When it comes to making connections, its also okay to be that annoying kid who wont stop emailing (I would say that triple emailing is definitely more than enough though.)  2. No time is better than now. I spent a lot of time not applying because I wanted to perfect ...
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