Entry #1 — Music Education

Blog Entry -- Wilson Biggs

Music education.

I bet you hear about that a lot. Whether it’s that a school your child goes to is getting rid of it, or a news article about a school district that’s fighting to keep music education alive, the question always stays the same: will it survive this era of budget cuts and bankrupt school districts, or will it ultimately get cut and wither away?

My name is Wilson Biggs. I’m a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. The contents of this article are not guaranteed to be bias-free, as I am an aspiring electronic musician. However, take everything I say seriously: I have experience in music education and growing up making music.

I, for one, can tell you that music education should begin when you are in preschool. One study conducted in 1997 showed that preschoolers, when taught how to play “Ode to Joy” on the piano, improved their spatial-temporal reasoning skills, which is the ability to mentally manipulate 2- and 3-dimensional objects. In addition, Richard Gill, in a TEDxSydney talk, made points as to why children should learn about music in their younger years.

Music is important for the following reasons. It is abstract. It doesn’t mean anything outside itself. [...] Music does not describe. Music does not tell stories. Music evokes. Music suggests. Music implies and opens up the mind of a child in an extraordinary way.

        That’s not the only point he makes during his talk, however. He believes that in order to get into the real deep and creative part of music, children must create their own, not just reproduce others’. He states that “the power of creative thought is transfreerd from music to all other areas of learning is hugely potent. [...] Music is worth teaching because it empowers children spectacularly.” From my own experience, when children get the opportunity to make music, they get particularly excited about it. Not because it’s music, but because it’s creating.

When kids are enthusiastic about learning something, they tend to excel in it. And that’s why, in order to cut music costs and to boost how well students do in music classes, technology should be implemented in music programs. In 2005, the International Journal of Education and the Arts published a paper outlining why technology is important in music education. The paper describes the current state of formal music education as “elitist”, and proposes an informal music education centered around computers.

“[A] cross-disciplinary or multimedia approach to musical composition may well engage and motivate pupils more successfully, as well as facilitate the development of their broader creative skills. I have certainly found this to be the case in the three case studies[.]”

This isn’t the only paper that suggests that technology in music education is beneficial; another paper, written by Takako Mato, describes that “there was a significant increase of basic knowledge of  the note writing and reading skills necessary for composition in class A [with computers] over class B [without them].” It later describes the results of a test conducted by the Yamaha Corporation, which found that “Long and short term music achievement is significantly increased when compared to traditional approaches and methods.”

For new music programs, incorporating technology shouldn’t be a huge challenge, as either the teacher usually owns a computer or the school district provides computers to the school. A computer, a projector, a small keyboard, and some kind of MIDI sequencing software are all that are needed to implement technology into music programs. I intend to bring music education and technology to schools throughout the school district and possibly to surrounding districts.

Image-Line, the company that publishes FL Studio, might give discount prices for their software for schools that use PCs. All Macs come with the free software Garageband, which works well enough for schools.

To see my bibliography, click here. I hope you will support me as I fight to bring music education and technology to the school district.

Animal Vehicle Collisions

My name is Des O’Donovan and I am a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. For English class we had to do a you and the world project. For this project we had to pick an issue that we cared about. Then we had to create a blog post about the issue. Then we have to actually do something about the issue.

My issue is Animals getting hit my motor vehicles. I want to try to prevent animal getting hit by vehicles. Many animals are struck and injured or killed by cars in the United States. I want to try to make it safer for animals, and try to prevent animal vehicle collisions.

I am interested in this issue because I think that it is tragic that innocent animals are hit by cars. These are car accidents that happen all the time. I live in north west Mount Airy near the Wissahickon valley park. There are a lot of animals that live there, including an over population of white tailed deer. There are some busy roads near the park and animal vehicle collisions are common. Animals are struck by cars and often killed. Within less than half a mile of my house I have seen many animals that have been killed by cars. These animals include grey squirrels, toads, frogs, snakes, songbirds, birds of prey, small rodents, opossums, raccoons, and deer. Seeing this is what got me interested in this issue.

This year near in the park near my house an unidentified hiker was walking in the woods with their dog. The dog was not on a leash, which is against park regulations. Many hikers in the wissahickon do not obey leash laws. The leash laws are put in place so that dogs don’t destroy plants, erode trails, and harass hikers and wildlife. This dog got away from it’s owner and chased a full grown male white tailed deer across the busy road of Wissahikon avenue where the deer was hit by a car. It is unknown if this deer is still alive. Dog's harassing wildlife is one of the reasons that they run across roads and get hit by cars. http://www.fow.org/system/files/FOW-newsletter-Fall-2012.pdf click here to view article


In the united states many busy highways go right through areas of wilderness. animals that live in these areas need to cross these roads. but with so many cars going at speeds of 60 miles an hour or more it is very difficult for them to make it across without getting struck by a car. Most animals just get run over when they get hit and die. Others manage to make it off of the roads and then die from internal injuries. Some animals may go for days, weeks, or months of suffering from injuries before they finally die. Some people may ask who is to blame for all of this. Well it depends on a number things. Sometimes it’s because drivers are careless, and don’t pay attention when  they see an animal crossing sign. But most of the time it’s simply because there are too many busy roads going right through animal habitat, and the animals have no way of getting across without risking injury.

Some species that get hit by cars are endangered. In 1998 in the Florida Key Islands a recorded 134 endangered Florida key deer ( an endangered white tailed deer subspecies) were killed by cars. Also endangered Florida panthers ( a critically endangered Florida mountain lion subspecies) are often hit by cars on highways going through the everglades. These endangered cats are disappearing quickly, so the Florida department of transportation built passages under highways for animals to safely go under. Panthers, along with many other Florida species have been recorded using these passages. These passages are also being used in Arizona. Migratory animals such as pronghorn antelope are often hit by cars in Arizona. So the Arizona department of fish and game built these highway passags for animals. If more of these passages were built there would be less road accidents with animals.

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Endangered Florida panther using passage under highway in Florida http://www.dot.state.fl.us/research-center/Completed_Proj/Summary_EMO/FDOT_BC354_34_rpt.pdf

to learn more about animal crossing passages click here http://www.wildlifeandroads.org/


Animal vehicle collisions are dangerous for animals, but they are also dangerous to people. When larger animals are hit by cars they can cause serious damage to them. These accidents can injure and even kill people. There are an average of 1.5 million collisions with deer and elk in the u.S each year. One year in Arizona there were 10,00 injuries resulting in 150 deaths. White tailed deer are often hit in Pennsylvania. They are found all over the state and they can weigh three hundred pounds. In more northern areas collisions with moose are common. This often can result in serious injury or death of the driver. Moose, and elk have been known to actually charge at cars. moose can weigh 1,800 pounds and elk can weigh 1,100. Animal vehicle collisions are dangerous for both people and animals.


for information about deer collisions in PA http://www.monahanlawpractice.com/library/deer-season-in-pennsylvania-increases-risks-of-auto-accidents/

Pennsylvania is ranked third in the nation in collisions with deer. Due to the lack of natural predators, and ideal deer habitat the state has an over population of white tailed deer. And the population is growing. The collision risk rose 14.975 between 2002 and 2007. The risk of deer collisions is three times higher in fall because fall is deer hunting, and mating season. Deer are traveling more to escape hunters, and to breed. They are more focussed on breeding then safety, and are more likely to carelessly walk across roads. Most accidents happen in the evening because thats when deer are most active. Drivers should be especially careful when driving in areas where there are deer.

I want to find out what people in our state are doing to prevent this. I want to learn more about animal collisions in Philadelphia. I want to focus on deer because collisions with them seem to be a major problem. I want to find out what we can do to prevent these collisions.





Josh Berg Blog Post #1 Alienation of the Elderly

Hello, I am Josh. I am doing a project on alienation of the elderly, especially those who are in personal care facilities and nursing homes.
The reason why I view this as an important issue is because of the fact that it is often overlooked. We as a society have this unfair mentality that when people reach this state in their lives they are not worth paying attention to anymore. We view them as often having already lived their lives and greedy to want to live more to their fullest extent. Everyone should be entitled to living their life to the extent to the want to for however long they live.
People need to be able to look upon the elderly, and be somewhat sympathetic to the fact that they have experienced the majority of what they will experience. Studies show that in general, many elderly people are not 100% happy with the life that they have lived. It is hard to imagine that this is not one of the worst feelings. This can only be made worse by the alienation many elderly people suffer. Some people feel even worse when neglected by people they are close with, this is especially hard-hitting and is referred to as the caregiver trap 
The concept of alienation goes back a long time as it is an emotion all people feel at one time or another. Alienation was and is used as a tactic by higher-ups in the business world in places where labor laws are more lenient. People in alienated situations are less likely to rebel against the higher-ups oppressing them for the most greedy of reasons. Someone alone is weak, they say there is strength in numbers. Marx
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In general, there is not a substantial difference in male and female lack of satisfaction in the elderly, however researchers say that there was a slightly higher lack of satisfaction among the elderly female as opposed the elderly male. (About a 1-5% difference in most specific factors) Full Study
We are obligated to provide the best service possible, especially for people paying for it. This is but another reason why the elderly are entitled to the attention they need to be happy and live in a comfortable manner. Even those who are in other personal care facilities that they do not pay for are entitled to as many provisions and as much attention as they need.
It is just common sense and common decency to pay attention to those who are in need of attention, they may have started to feel out of touch with society as it is much different for the majority of their lives, or have fallen from grace and lost touch with their religion because they wonder how such things could happen to people they loved. It may seem that everyone goes through these emotions, alienation and loneliness, however we must be aware of how people are feeling and seek ways for them to recover.



CLICK ME FOR A BIBLIOGRAPHY









A local home

Immigration Reform

All freshmen students in Ms. Dunn’s English class have a new engaging and fascinating project called “You and the World”. For my “You and the World” topic, I chose immigration laws and reform. Why, you ask? I have been interested in immigration for a very long time. Firstly, my whole entire family immigrated to the United States from Russia before I was born. Including all of my siblings and cousins. That had me curious about the process of moving to a new country.

I went to a Jewish middle and elementary school. At school we learned a lot about the Holocaust and that sparked questions about where Jews and other groups of people went when they were persecuted in their hometowns. Surely they would not stay, but they also could not legally immigrate to most surrounding countries because Hitler had such a powerful influence. I started wondering about immigration and restrictions for those two reasons. Now onto to modern day USA immigration laws! Hoorah!

For several years now, the United States has had many disagreeing opinions about immigrants coming into the States; mostly feuds about Mexican immigrants crossing over the borders and living here illegally. There seem to be three major sides to the arguments about immigrants.

            The first being typically one of more conservative working-class citizens. These people believe that we need to act harshly and immediately take action towards removing illegal immigrants that are here already as well as enforcing very strict border protection. These people are mostly worried that there will not be enough job opportunities because these immigrants are taking all of the jobs.

            The next opinion is one of the most liberal kinds of people. They believe that it is cruel and inhumane to deport people from a country. This include not letting people in or out as well. They support the arguments that people have certain rights that they are always entitled to and to kick one out of a country would violate those intrinsic rights.

            Finally, there is a medium opinion. This side of the argument actually has Obama on their side as well! These people think we ought to apply the existing laws to all of the illegal immigrants that are here today, yet secure our borders as well. They want to keep the 12 million Mexican immigrants here, but not let any more in illegally. 

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This image shows a sign that is by the Mexican/North American border. It is really unpleasant and cold. Though I am not particularly fond of it, I think it is quite necessary. 

In his first term president Barack Obama did not make many changes towards immigration reform. Yet this was not completely his fault. President Obama had tried to pass new laws yet congress would not pass them. However, this term President Obama really tried his best to appeal to Mexican and Hispanic voters. We still do not know whether he will stay true to his word, yet we all hope he will.

            In the past, Mexico and North America did not have such a great relationship. They could not communicate well and there were many disputes and they sparked much unpleasant publicity. However, the new president in Mexico is willing to take a different approach to compromising and the future seems bright.

            In my blogs to come, I will inform all of you about how immigrants will be affected and have been affected by immigration reform. I also hope to educate you about ways you can make a change. We will go through this process together, and I hope you enjoy learning about this crucial topic with me. 


Bibliography!


WHAT THE FRACK?!

Hello, my name is Michaela. I am in 9th grade, and for my English class I'm doing a project to improve our world. Everyone in my class is doing this, and we are each just trying to do some good through writing a blog, and going out to do something we think will help our topic. I have chosen the topic of fracking.

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{Fracking site from a birds-eye view
         To see the colection I got this from go here}

First of all fracking is just a nickname, the real name is Hydraulic Fracturing, but that is a mouthful, so people have shortened it down. Fracking is a very important subject, that affects many peoples lives and health, for those of you who are not familiar with it, let me introduce the two of you. Fracking is the process of drilling into the ground to extract natural gas. Natural gas is grate! Why? well because it is cheaper, and comes from U.S. so we don't have to rely on other countries for our gas. Sowhat's the problem? fracking is good, not bad... silly Michaela. NOT TRUE. I haven't even gotten started yet.
Fracking is not our friend because the the only way to extract the natural gas is to send lots of stuff down there to get it. What sort of stuff? Terrible stuff. 600 different chemicals to be exact, one of which is known to cause cancer, but we don’t now most of them because the Gorge Bush let the companies bypass the clean water act, and they don’t have t tell us what they are pumping into the ground. And not only are these toxic chemicals being put into the ground, but 40,000 gallons worth of chemicals are being put into the ground. After the chemicals are forced into the ground, they supposedly don’t do anything to affect peoples tap water, but yet it lights on fire.
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{These are pictures I took, from videos of people lighting thee tap water}

Now these chemicals don’t go down by themselves, they have sand and 1-8 million gallons of water accompany them so that the well can be properly fracked. All these materials don’t just appear at the fracking wells, they are transported by trucks or tanks. It takes 400 tanks to transport all of the materials to the fracking sites. So that is 600 chemicals, 1-8 million gallons of water, and 400 tanks, for each time a well is racked, and each well can be freaked 18 times. Not to mention the tons of wells all over the U.S.

I think I have made it obvious that Fracking is an enemy to the environment, but let me tell you how fracking is affecting people. All the chemicals from fracking get into peoples water wells, and is unhealthy to drink. Some people have even been told that they can’t use their water for anything at all because of how dangerous it is.Even worse than this is that the companies won't acknowledge any of this as a cause of fracking. They say that it is just natural methane wells that are leaking, even though people have had no problem with their water before. And people are having lots of health problems from drinking the water, thinking it is perfectly healthy, and breathing the toxic gas that is given off by fracking.
So that is fracking. I don’t really know what else to tell you. to give you some hope if all this brings you down, there are people protesting fracking, organisations doing what they can to spread awareness, and politicians doing the best to ban it. And then there is you and me. I have already stated that I am going to do what I can, not just for a grade, but for the environment, the health of those living in areas of fracking, and future generations to come.

To see my annotated bibliography click here
To see some pros and cons, and take a poll of what you think, you can go here

Media Manipulation: A Growing Threat to National Safety

My name is Mitchell, and I am here to introduce my "You in the World" project. The “You in the World” project is an effort to gain an interest in a world issue, and educate others about said issue. While research is an important part of the project, the main goal is to educate others about your issue, in order to make a change for the better. You will attempt to broadcast your research and ideas to a wider audience than just the classroom.

The media is thought of as a way of getting news, current events, and facts to everyone, so that everyone can know what is going on in the world. Now, however, media is being used as a tool. No longer is the news essential fact. We have come to a time when the news is used to control people into supporting political views, or persuade them into buying unnecessary goods.

Almost all of our major news sources fall under one of six companies: The Wall Street Journal and all of the Fox news channels fall under Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. ABC is owned by Disney. All CBS groups fall under the CBS corporation. NBC, all of its subdivisions, and the Weather Channel are all under NBC Universal. Even Time Inc, the publisher of Time magazine and several other magazines, such as People, is owned by Time Warner.

These corporations own publishers, newspapers, news channels, entertainment channels, and even news websites. Now, you may be thinking: What could be so bad about this. Why should we care about who owns these stations? It doesn’t affect what gets to us, does it? The problem is, it does. We live in a world of what Ryan Holiday, head of marketing for American Apparel, calls “media manipulation” a skill in which he is a master. Media manipulation is a way for companies and government agencies to exaggerate stories and make things better or worse than they really are.


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Veracode Infographic "The Story That Destroyed a 168 Year Old Newspaper"


Think about the applications of this so called “media manipulation”. The government can use it to spread support for candidates, or to spread negative propaganda about their opponents. Companies can use it to spread advertisement for a product, so that it is almost constantly on peoples minds. Media manipulation can be spread like wildfire because of the synergy between the corrupt news agencies and the internet blogosphere. Ryan states that “Today, with our blog and web driven media cycle, nothing can escape exaggeration, distortion, fabrication and simplification.” If you want uncontrolled information, you have to look on the internet. However, once you get there, you are met with a constantly growing group of blogs. With all of this open content, you are liable to come across false information. There is no practical way to fact check these blogs.
With these controlled sources of information, and these untrustworthy sources of information, you really have no way to escape the propaganda. If you do just a little bit of research, you could see that, for instance, according to The American Dream website: “Our politicians know exactly what they are doing and they have a plan for getting getting US debt under control.” whereas the truth is that “When Ronald Reagan took office, the U.S. national debt was less than one trillion dollars. Today, the U.S. national debt is over fifteen trillion dollars.” We need to find a way to stop being fooled by such outrageous media inaccuracy.
Annotated Bibliography Here

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blog post #1

I think that music is an important thing and should be appreciated by all but sadly is not. I can do literally nothing to change that, people have different tastes and move along on different paths. I like to think that I will make music in the future, however all of my failed attempts linger in my head and almost prevent me from progressing because I never think what I have is good. I am constantly belittled by friends who can see with a fresh slate and just do whatever they want to do. I would like to help kids out with music at my old school where there is a very strong after school program.


I walk through Rittenhouse square quite often and have met some pretty interesting people that deserve some recognition. Not to be pessimistic but there is really nothing I can do to enact the individual success or happiness of each of these people. If I were trying to make money playing music, I would not rely on the assistance of a high school student for my revenue.


The main focus of my idea was to help homeless people make some money. I will expand on that before getting into my current idea; I see homeless musicians much better than myself on the street all the time and most people don’t even turn to look. I know some good samaritans would stop and donate a dollar or so, but most people walk blindly by. I think that some of these musicians deserve better. I researched the laws and regulations on what I could do in a public space and many of them are restricting to my plan which was to busk with the musicians in a more organized way. After toying with this idea I found two main flaws: The first being, I could insult some performers by offering my “help” when they believe that it is not needed, secondly I could get in trouble for creating a commotion or the like.


I think that I will do more behind the scenes work such as raising awareness in the form of videos that I will find/compile and using the after school club with the little kids, because maybe they will be able to offer more to society when they are my age are older. I will be teaching the kids about music and it’s affect and hopefully get a few of them excited to help these musicians on the streets.


here is my bibliography: https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1PG3YRX7pf-LDZ2HLbvLdg7pQuYr5SO13nnaA2amtkVg/edit
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/cover-story/Meet-Phillys-Street-Musicians.html


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Every Animals Deserves a Home

I am a girl named Ava from Science Leadership Academy, working on a project for English class called “You and the World.” I’m here to prove that just because I’m a kid, that doesn’t stop me from trying to make a change on the planet we live in. Children can make a difference in this world or ours, and I plan to do that through this service project.


The definition of “world” is The earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features. Animals are part of this world, fitting into the category “natural features” and yet some shelters are not exactly fair when it comes to a subject that happens to everyone eventually. The sad part is, some animal’s fate comes too soon. Animals are euthanized every single day as a result of overpopulation or careless mistakes.


Can you possibly believe that 56% of all dogs accepted into shelters are killed? It was estimated that approximately 3.7 million animals in total are euthanized every year. Look at it this way: There are roughly 315,000,000 people in the United States alone. If 56% of humans were euthanized every year, we would be killing 16,800,000 people. That’s a lot of people with individual lives and personalities and experiences. Dogs are alike in that way. Each dog has a special life worth saving. Each dog has a personality that you can come to love. Each dog has a different experience in their life that shapes who they are as an animal.



I’m not trying to convince you that dogs and humans are identical. I’m trying to convince you that dogs are animals, just like humans, and there are too many similarities to be euthanizing them at alarming rates. The following is a photo of the conditions at a shelter with a high kill-rate.

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This is a photo of a high kill-rate shelter. The conditions are cramped, and there are many animals in one place. It's not very sanitary, either. Credit goes to the website for this photograph. Click here for the website.

Many animals in shelters are fortunate enough to be adopted into a loving home and receive affection and care. Unfortunately, accidents happen. Pets are lost, and families become devastated. There was a reported story that a man needed to leave home for business and asked his friend to watch his litter of puppies for him. To his surprise, when he came back, the friend had accidentally let the puppies escape and they had been brought to their local shelter. They called the shelter many times without getting an appropriate response. The puppies were euthanized, and the shelter’s spokesperson gave misleading information to the press regaurding the situation. The owner was so devastated that he was admitted to the hospital for symptoms of a heart attack.



Events that are easily preventable should be avoided, because the lives of so many innocent animals are lost every year. It’s up to the people at this point. Should we be helping? Of course! Animals need help from humans. After all, using the words of the ASPCA, “We are their voice.” Only humans can speak for the animals that deserve homes and shelter non-permanently until they are able to find an adoring and devoted family that the animals deserve. The PSPCA helps with animals from Pennsylvania.

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Below are animals at a shelter that are waiting to be taken home by a person like you. Credit goes to the website for this photograph. Click here for the website.

There are three types of shelters for animals: Municipal animal control agencies, which are run by more local sources. Private non-profit, which have a board of directors and do not keep any of the profit. Private non-profit agencies, which have a permit from the government to supply animal control services. Through the help and association from these three types, animals can at least get a temporary home to shield them from the cold and provide them with food and water.

You can easily be involved. Adopt an animal at your local shelter today.



For a copy of my bibliography, please click here.











You and the World- Teen athletes and Eating Disorders.

My name is Naomi Fecher-Davis, I am a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. This year in English class we have all chosen topics we think are important issues in the world we would like to be agents of change for. The topic I choose is Teen Athlete Health. Mostly to do with the body image problems that come along with it and how the ideal body image for athletes usually isn’t what you get. This is a problem in both male and female athletes but it is 10x more  likely in females.

(A picture in an article about the weight loss this athlete has to make to be able to compete in a wrestling match.)
It has to do with the pressure of being judged. In many sports where girls are judged it is always a pressure many have to deal with to look like the ideal person for that sport. But the truth is that everyone can’t be the ideal person. It doesn’t then make you less of a good athlete or anything it just means you don’t have the picturesque body type. The normal athlete is meant to eat 2,000 to 5,000 calories a day.

Even people who are world class athletes are worried about body image and it isn’t just how people are going to look at them. If you go to the Olympic website, you will see that Olympic athletes have gone through the same thing. But how you look at your self, but how you think it affects your performance. I’m not saying that it isn’t peer pressure or judge pressure because it definitely is aswell but it you are happy in your own body there isn’t much anyone else can say because you will be able to brush it off.

(This picture was featured in an article about teens with eating disorders.)

There are obviously positive effects from being an athlete, for example it leads to better coordination in the body. As shown in the Health Guidance website. There is also always the effect of the pressure of being picturesque that turns some to eating disorders. It is common it society for both female and male athletes to have eating disorders, but is more likely for women to have them oppose to men. It isn’t that sports lead to eating disorders but the ideas behind sports/athletes go along the same lines as people with eating disorders. For example, excessive exercise, focus on body shape and size, and diet restrictions.

In many cases the trainer should be the one to help with the positive body image re-enforcement, but that isn’t always to say they are. It shouldn’t be the trainer, who is always supposed to be on your side to put you down. I understand there are some body restrictions for certain sports and those should be met,but they should never get in the way of your health. That is not saying that if someone is obese they shouldn’t became more healthy, but if it is someone who has a heavier body type their coaches/trainers should not be the ones giving them a hard time about it.  

As I go on with this project I wish to learn more about what drives people to do this, what are the reasons they do it, and what they wish to accomplish. I think as an athlete myself this is a problem we should try and direct but not the way that it has already been done, by the famous person who had an eating disorder went to some million dollar rehabilitation center and has got back on the right track. No I think we should address it from a peer standpoint. I have seen trainers/coaches tell their athletes that they should loose weight I have seen the affect and I think it needs to change.

( This picture is the front cover of a movie that has to do with people with eating disorders.)

To see my annotated bibliography, please click here.

Homelessness and Poverty in Philadelphia

Hello, my name is Aaron. I am a student at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. In English class, we have a project called “You and the World”. For the project, we have to choose an issue that matters to us. Then, we have to blog about it and do something active for our issue. The issue I chose for this project is poverty and homelessness in Philadelphia.
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People waiting to be fed at a shelter in Philadelphia.

I chose this topic because in recent years I had observed poverty around where I lived going up and the homeless population rising. Turns out, I was not just seeing things. Poverty and homelessness in Philadelphia are on the rise and have been since around 2009 or 2010. How about some statistics? When taking the twenty-five biggest cities in the U.S and averaging out their incomes, Philadelphia has the second lowest income. ⅓ of the children and ¼ of the entire population in Philadelphia live below the poverty line. The poverty line means that a family of four has an income of $22,050 or less. To see more statistics click here. This poverty is very centralized in certain areas of Philadelphia. This makes the situation even worse because it means that people who do not live in those areas or people who do not ever travel through there may not even know there is such a big poverty problem in Philadelphia.


To look at my bibliography
click here.