In addition, a negative stigma was born out of homophobia and the national attention of this disease that seemed to impact mostly gay men. After decades of battling such stigmas and discrimination, much of the world has come to accept the LGBT community, and treatment for a previously untreatable disease is now available. Now, there can be an attitude of hope for those with HIV, an important factor in fighting any chronic disease.

Though it remains a global issue, this progress was due to the efforts and attention made to fight HIV and AIDS in men. The resulting problem, however, is that HIV does not exclusively affect men. As reported by the Telegraph, the dilemma now is that women have been largely left out of the treatment and awareness for this disease.

The article is based on a report by the Terrence Higgins Trust, a charity dedicated to eradicating HIV in the U.K. The charity helped with No Longer Invisible: Women and HIV, a project dedicated to “set out clear recommendations for policy and service development to ensure that greater focus is given to women affected by HIV.”

According to the charity’s research, “women make up one third of people living with HIV in the UK, yet are left out of research, decision-making and service design and delivery.” Other key findings of the report include the following:

• Slightly less than half (45%) of women living with HIV live below the poverty line.
• More than half of women living with HIV in the UK have experienced violence due to their HIV diagnosis.
• Almost one third (31%) of women have avoided or delayed going to healthcare because of fear of discrimination.
• Almost half of those surveyed (42%) said that barriers prevent them from testing for HIV.

In an effort to help improve this issue, No Longer Invisible: Women and HIV came out with five key tasks that sum up the changes needed to make a difference. These changes include achieving gender parity, ensuring that HIV research addresses gaps in education and awareness, striving to reduce the late diagnosis of HIV in women, improve data on HIV in women, and invest in HIV support services specific to women.

Fortunately, most of these solutions are typically a question of awareness and knowing when to get tested for STDs. According to Medical News Today, there have been positive patterns finding that consistent treatment for HIV helps to prevent transmission among men, as well as the development of more accurate and efficient HIV tests. Applying the same treatments and healing processes to women can help similarly lower the rates of transmission.

With the help of organizations such as the Terrence Higgins Trust, sexual health awareness and treatments for the disease can continue to grow. A couple decades ago, there seemed to be no hope for the treatment of HIV. Today, it can be treated with a once-a-week pill. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring a more permanent solution for everyone.

Photo Credit

Photo is from pexels

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

According to the administration, immigrants pose a threat to our well being. They claim immigrants will take American jobs, use our resources, and fill the U.S. with bad people. In fact, Trump has said that other countries are “not sending their best” and are “bringing their problems with them” to the U.S.

However, the opposite is true. Not only do immigrants have a positive influence on the American economy, but unnecessarily strict immigration laws can have negative results on health care. These affects reach potential citizens and current citizens.

Immigrants Are Not a Threat to Our Health

The first thing to know about immigrants in relation to health care is that they do not pose a threat to current citizens. In order to be approved to enter the country, immigrants must pass a strict vetting process.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires extensive medical exams that immigrants need to pass. This includes a three-step process:

• I-693 Medical Form Completion
• USCIS Civil Surgeon Appointment
• Immigration Physical Exam

In order to become citizens, immigrants must complete the forms and pass the strict medical exams. Any signs of serious illness result in a denial of entry to the U.S.

Of course, this is in addition to all the other steps of the vetting process, which goes much deeper than just health screening. Background checks, criminal history, family connections, and more all are part of a process that can take years and even decades of waiting to be approved — even for healthy, exemplary citizens.

So Who Is Really Suffering?

Thanks to these exams, any immigrants legally entering the country are not going to pose any risks to the health of current citizens. However, the situation gets more complicated when the government makes it increasingly impossible to even go through the process. They do so by limiting the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country in a year.

The Trump administration has been reducing the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country to historic lows. Reports by health experts indicate that such immigration laws are the true health risk — not immigrants themselves; in fact, the health of immigrants is the first to suffer, including that of young children:

A 1-year-old Syrian girl born without an eye and a seriously disfigured face was blocked, along with her family, from coming to the United States.The girl had undergone two complex operations in Spain. The family had planned to resettle in the United States, and had already undergone all required security checks and interviews. Now they will need to find another country to take them in.

Tough immigration laws and negative rhetoric on foreigners can cause such people to be perceived as a threat to the health care in America, when they are actually the ones suffering the consequences. Plus, the report also states that this mindset puts any U.S. citizens who may be perceived as an immigrant or refugee at risk of being perceived as a threat, putting their health at risk as well.

Why The Healthcare Industry Needs Immigrants

While the danger facing current and potential U.S. immigrants and refugees is real and extreme, some may choose to overlook it in favor of the people already living in the U.S. However, immigration laws restricting refugee access to the U.S. are doing more to damage the health of U.S. citizens than to protect it.

Taking the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), for example, highlights that overly strict immigration laws are based more on racism than on the health of our people. In a separate report by Healthline on the attempt to repeal DACA, they state that it would have “far-reaching effects” on U.S. public health.

For example, the simple act of removing the protection could harm the health care of the hundreds of thousands of children who were previously protected by DACA. While these children’s parents came to America as illegal immigrants, entering the country illegally is a dangerous journey that many take on as a last resort.

Additionally, Healthline reports that “the repeal will force the thousands of Dreamers who are healthcare professionals or medical students to leave the profession just as the nation is facing a serious physician shortage.” In turn, this would affect the whole face of healthcare that will impact all Americans.

Immigrants looking to enter the country are usually simply chasing the American Dream. They are either fleeing from violent or financially strenuous situations in their country. They come to the U.S. with the simple hope of making a living for themselves to provide for their families and being able to raise their children in a safe and nurturing environment.

It’s clear that while anti-immigrant politicians claim they have the interest of the American public at the core of their stance, the facts don’t align with the claim. It’s true that immigration processes are necessary, but they should have a humanitarian basis to stand on. Until then, the health of the American public and immigrants will continue to suffer.

Photo Credits

Photo courtesy of the author

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

I am a Mexican-American, and many days, the hyphen seems more significant than the words on either side of it. Overall, I feel privileged to be able to call myself both American and Mexican. However, it’s not all that simple.

Spanish, English, or Spanglish?

The biggest problem with belonging to multiple cultures is never feeling like you fully belong to either one of them. In elementary school, I never quite realized that I was in any way different from any of my classmates, much less did I think I was any less American; I stood up and recited every word of the Pledge of Allegiance, and I learned all the patriotic songs in music class.

At some point, however, I realized that I was in fact different. It wasn’t only the Mexican jokes, which were well-intended enough. Throughout the years, I just developed a self-awareness about differences between my Caucasian friends and their families, and me and mine.

Even speaking two languages came with its drawbacks. As I mentioned, my mom dedicated a lot of her time to making sure we learned Spanish and knew about our culture. The books she read us in Spanish taught us about our culture, she got us workbooks to practice writing in Spanish, and she would put on educational shows for kids, like Sesame Street, for us to watch in Spanish.

As I got older, when I spoke Spanish in the U.S., I felt like my accent was close to perfect. Speaking with my family in Mexico, however, proved different, and my family even told me that I have a gringo accent. Also, though I spoke and wrote really well in both English and Spanish, I used each language for different vocabularies. Spanish was more casual, since I spoke it with my parents at home, and English was more formal since I spoke it primarily at school.

In reading class in fifth grade, it was my turn to read and ask a vocabulary word that I didn’t know. I chose the word “gutter,” because I had never heard it before. Of course, a fifth grader should know what a gutter is, but I had always called it a “coladera,” in Spanish. The teacher looked at me incredulously, obviously questioning my intelligence, and I was embarrassed.

Looking back, I know that this teacher was culturally insensitive, and now I can reflect on the many benefits that come from being bilingual — even more so now that I can speak French as well. However, this thought did not cross my mind at such a young age.

Raising Your Kids in a Different Culture

Though there were many differences that I didn’t mind, like the homemade Mexican dishes my mom cooked for us, the ability to speak Spanish, the trips to Mexico, and more, there were other differences I didn’t like growing up. For example, my parents were much stricter than the parents of any white friend I had. Hanging out with my friends involved negotiating when I was lucky enough not to receive an upfront no. Looking back, I can see that my parents were just trying to protect me, but I sure didn’t see it that way when I was younger.

Of course, some differences are much more significant than that. There are some experiences my parents had that I will never have because we grew up in different countries. I never got to experience my family’s ranch the way my father did, spending summers with the extended family, riding horses day after day, living without electricity or hot water. Even smaller things, like going to the Mexican ice cream places my mom used to beg her parents to take her to, or eat the street food she used to eat.

I have visited Mexico many times. Most of my family lives in Arizona, on the border with Mexico, and every Christmas, we all meet up there. We always spend at least one day in Mexico, going shopping, to the movies, and to eat. I have even stayed with my family in Jalisco for weeks at a time. I treasure these visits as they let me experience a modern version of my parent’s childhood: I get small snippets and tiny bites here and there of what my life would have been like if my parents hadn’t decided to move.

Raising your family in a different culture also comes with risks. Discrimination, hate crimes, and other forms of racism are part of many immigrants daily lives. I was lucky enough never to have to face any intense form of this as I grew up, but my cousins in Arizona were not as lucky.

Fortunately, the world seems to be embracing diversity — despite political setbacks. As the world embraces globalization, coming from a different culture won’t feel so intensely foreign. Across college campuses, classes are filling with more and more international students every semester, there is more diverse representation in films, and projections show that the U.S. won’t even have a racial majority by 2045.

Ultimately, I am grateful to see the world through two perspectives that are equally my own. As I have grown older, I have realized that it’s a blessing to be able to be so widely part of both worlds. I am thankful to my parents for all and every opportunity I have because of them. I have grown to love the hyphen. I am a Mexican-American.

Photo Credits

Photo from pexels – creative commons

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

The damage caused by what has become a goliath of a problem is clear and unacceptable. In spite of this, companies continue to spew out plastic with no end in sight. Fortunately, many people around the world are taking plastic matters into their own hands to come up with different solutions to the problem.

Transforming Plastic

Such a looming problem needs to be tackled from different angles, and luckily, there are many solutions popping in a range of complexity. Perhaps one of the simplest, yet most powerful, ideas are Ecobricks. Ecobricks are essentially a plastic bottle packed up tightly with other loose plastics. The only tool you need to make an Ecobrick is a stick to pack the plastic up tightly in the bottle.

Once Ecobricks are made, they can be used to make furniture, structures, gardens, and more. Similarly, other companies have started using plastics to make buildings, such as houses. Some of these methods are more advanced, where the plastic is melted and molded into different shapes.

In fact, according to the Arch Daily, some plastic bricks have serious benefits: “when assembled under pressure, the bricks insulate heat and have additives that retard combustion. Additionally, they are thermoacoustic and earthquake-resistance is up to code for Colombia, taking into account the country’s high levels of seismic activity.”

This means buildings made from plastic can not only help in saving the planet, but they can also be safer and more practical in some ways than the materials that are currently being used. Other plastic transformations include turning plastic into usable oil.

Importing Plastic

For years, China was a leader in the recycling world for taking in waste imports. Essentially, they took in other countries’ plastic waste that could be recycled, but they stopped this year because too much non-recyclable waste was getting mixed up in the recycling. However, they intend to shift their focus to optimize their domestic recycling programs.

While China isn’t accepting other recycling, Sweden is. According to Business Insider Nordic, Sweden has the capacity to recycle more than what is produced in the country, and they make a profit out of doing so. By charging about $43 per ton of trash, they make about $100 million in revenue.

Currently, however, Germany is the world leader in recycling and has been found to recycle more than any other country. Following behind are Singapore and Wales, the latter of which is expected to outdo Germany in the recycling world in the next few years.

Replacing Plastic

There are many solutions both in the works and already in use to conquer plastic. However, another question altogether is that of stopping the creation of plastic products. In 2012, Hawaii was the first state in the U.S. to ban the use of plastic bags, and in 2016, France became the first country in the world to ban plastic plates and cups. But the production of plastic is still not manageable.

To combat the production of plastic products, alternatives to plastic disposable items have been created. Biodegradable and compostable plates, silverware, and dog waste bags are all examples. In fact, recently, EnviGreen created plastic bags that are not only biodegradable, but they can dissolve in water which is then safe to drink.

Over the past several hundred years, we have overstepped our limits with Mother Nature. Now it’s time to take responsibility for our actions and clean up the disastrous mess we have caused. There are plenty of solutions out there, we just need to find the drive to save the planet.

Photo Credits

Photo from pexels – creative commons

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

Refugees are knocking on our door, but under the Trump administration, America has shut that door most of the way. According to the International Rescue Committee, the U.S. has welcomed an average of 95,000 refugees per year since 1980. They also report that the Trump administration has put a 45,000 person cap on refugees, exclaiming: “no U.S. president, not even in the wake of 9/11, has so turned their back on refugees.”

The current administration paints refugees as a threat. They threaten our safety, our economic security, our jobs, our families. Research by the Migration Policy Institute has found that in 14 years, 784,000 refugees were settled in the U.S. and exactly three of them were arrested for planning terrorist activities, stating “it is worth noting two were not planning an attack in the United States and the plans of the third were barely credible.”

Despite this, despite the fact that the U.S. is a melting pot of cultures, and despite the fact that there will be no racial majority in about 30 years, the rhetoric against refugees persists. The Trump administration has turned its back on refugees stating that there isn’t a place for them in the United States, but data suggests otherwise.

Cities in Need of Workers

American cities are crowded enough, employment is low enough, and there is no room to let in so many new people… or so it might seem. Though many major cities in the United States are indeed crowded and struggling to keep up with growth, there are other cities struggling to get enough people.

MSN recently reported that some cities are so low on people, they are paying incoming residents thousands of dollars to move there. Hamilton, Ohio is offering $5,000 towards student loans, Grant County, Indiana is offering $5,000 towards a home payment. MSN goes on to report that the current phase of the economy is lacking workers rather than jobs, creating a possible solution for two serious problems.

Though there are many variables, both for cities taking in refugees and refugees moving to certain cities, this possible solution exemplifies that immigrants, including refugees, could be an asset to the American economy.

Choosing the Hardest Path

Survival. That is the bottom line for many people under refugee status. Many of them had prosperous, happy lives — before war, genocide, government corruption, and more. Though it’s easy to think that refugees, or immigrants in general, are coming to the U.S. in search of easy lives, that is far from what they find when they get here.

Arriving to a new country as a refugee means having to start your life over, regardless of how old or successful or put-together you were in your home country. Often, people arriving in another country have to learn a new language. University degrees from other countries often don’t transfer, so a surgeon might have to work as a laborer in their new country.

Even when you start getting the hang of things, there is the racism. There can be death threats, slurs, and discrimination. There is even abundant racism in the U.S. criminal justice system. America can provide safety from many types of suffering, but it is not the easiest path, and is chosen out of necessity, not volition.

Though the United States has been at war with many countries for many years in the past few decades, Americans have been lucky enough to avoid the destruction of war on our land for a long time. Perhaps that luck has blinded us to the help that refugees need, but it is time to stop the hate rhetoric. There is room in the U.S., we just need to open our doors back up.

Photo Credits

Photo by Ilias Bartolini on flickr – some rights reserved

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

To run this business, entrepreneurs need to know the basics, including accounting, marketing, product development, and branding. The vision required to start a company starts with a mission statement, goals to reach it, and strategies to accomplish the goals. The mathematical and technical facets of business management are important, but ethics also make up a critical part.

The decisions businesses make impact real people in real ways, so companies need to look at these effects alongside the data and foresight they have in mind.

Business Interests

Most startup companies take out loans for their initial funding and have to turn their deficit into a profit in the first few years or else they’ll fail. Once the goal turns from trying to stay afloat to maintaining a steady profit, it then goes to trying to increase success.

Though homegrown businesses might at times reach a point where the founder is happy with the growth and doesn’t feel the need to grow more, it’s typically the case that businesses are always reaching for the next level of growth. This means that once a business is stable, it will try to beat out the competition and become the best company available

For businesses to reach this international success, they need to figure out how to acquire brand loyalty. To do this, businesses need to build and practice elements of having a positive reputation with the public, including:

• Being available to the public
• Practicing empathy and emotion
• Projecting a consistent image
• Committing deeply to positive actions

Ethics in Business?

It would seem that businesses have acquired their own code of ethics to reach this kind of success. Though small business owners are more likely to have personal relationships with their employees and be more inclined to help them, as businesses grow, the distance between employers and employees does, too. This makes it easier for companies to overlook their employee’s needs in order to maintain the needs of the company.

“Business isn’t personal,” is a common saying, but it’s not so simple. Though many think that businesses have their own code of ethics to follow, this is not true, according to Forbes. As stated by the business magazine, business ethics are no different than regular ethics, and companies should keep the following principles in mind:

1. Do no harm
2. Make things better
3. Respect others
4. Be fair
5. Care

How Businesses Violate the Principles of Ethics

Of course, it is true that some companies always bear in mind the interest of their employees, no matter how large they become. As a pattern, however, it is more common for corporations to violate the codes of ethics by not caring for and even mistreating its employees, not keeping environmental interests in mind, and disregarding negative effects of their product or service.

Outsourcing

In business, outsourcing tasks to outside companies is standard for services that the company can’t produce. However, with an increase of globalization, many companies have started to send departments overseas to lower labor costs. This often entails laying off employees in the original country and underpaying new employees in the other one.

In the city of Boise, ID, the company Micron did just that. On the same day the company announced it was making a 91 percent increase in sales — a record $5.1 billion — they informed a few hundred employees that their jobs would be terminated and essentially transferred to Taiwan. Some employees were offered several months of work, while others were told not to come in on Monday.

Taking Care of its Employees

Across the world, employees struggle to make a living wage despite working for multi-billion dollar corporations. In order to keep profits high and costs low, it seems that too few companies are willing to offer their workers decent benefits.

However, as reported by the Huffington Post, the companies that pay their employees the least are by no means struggling start-ups: Walmart, Yum! Brands Inc. (including Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut), and McDonalds — three of the wealthiest companies in the United States and they are well known for paying low wages.

Public Health

Though we live in one of the safest and healthiest times in the history of humanity, there are many health concerns around that make it seem like the opposite is true. Most of our food is pre-filled with sugar, sodium, and artificial ingredients. Microplastics are flooding our drinking water supplies. Even the medicine we take can do more harm than good because it benefits pharmaceutical companies.

How to Find a Solution

Pulling on each end of the spectrum are the needs of the company and the needs of the people. Which is more important? It is certainly clear which is more prominent in daily action. Huge corporations virtually always take money over anything else that might matter.

Finding a solution starts with awareness and education of each individual problem. Though it shouldn’t be the job of the public to reign in the harm of corporations, those corporations couldn’t exist without consumers. Voicing educated opinions and supporting well-rounded companies rather than thoughtless chains could make a difference.

The next step is founding companies based on ethical foundations. The more awareness that is spread, the more likely we are to have forward thinking entrepreneurs whose bottom line isn’t money, but the well-being of the planet and its inhabitants. New entrepreneurs can make a change by implementing better processes. This can be done by identifying and avoiding the current mistakes that companies make.

Lastly, when desperate measures need to be taken, boycotting harmful companies is oftentimes effective. Recently, in the light of gun reform, consumers have put pressure on companies associated with the NRA to cut their ties. It has resulted in companies disassociating with the NRA as well as gun sellers changing the way they sell guns to help implement safety.

Although business decisions can be hard to make, and sometimes difficult choices need to be made, all businesses should be held accountable for their actions. The world we live in and the people we love who are affected by these actions are too important to let it slide. There is no such thing as business ethics. Ethics are non-negotiable, and no company, no matter the size, is exempt.

Photo Credits

Photos are from pxhere Creative Commons

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

Juggling this responsibility when the responsibility of managing the weight of citizenship in our own countries is difficult to upkeep can feel overwhelming, but small steps can lead you in the right direction. When it comes to global citizenship, what matters most is your mindset and being aware of others.

Awareness is Everything

Social media allows us to access millions of stories, but humans aren’t meant to handle such large communities. It can be a struggle knowing that there are so many people out there facing struggles that are unimaginable to you. As you read or watch videos of these stories, you know there is very little you can do to help any of these causes, much less all of them. However, while you might not have the means to help financially and you can’t volunteer 24/7 on three different continents, there are other ways for you to make a positive difference.

The most important thing you can do is be aware: Aware of struggles of people around the globe, aware of your prejudices and biases, and aware that you may not know best.

You May Not Know Best

Citizens in developed countries tend to think that others need saving, and that they know what’s best. This results in a phenomenon called voluntourism, which involves people going on vacation to another country and participating in volunteer work. On the surface, this might seem like a great idea, but voluntourism can often do more harm than good. This happens when volunteers don’t take note of the true needs of the people they are helping, when they are not qualified and do poor work, and when they are there for pictures more than volunteering.

Even when volunteers go abroad with good intentions, they can take away jobs of local people who could use the money. This applies to voluntourism in impoverished countries as well as countries in recovery of a natural disaster. Of course, this does not mean that helping internationally is a bad idea, it just means that taking inventory of what will actually help others is necessary. Usually, the less glamorous tasks are what people need most; after a natural disaster, everyone wants to donate buildings that will have their names on them while nobody wants to clean up the tons of rubble on the street.

Listen to Others

In this world that allows us to broadcast our voices across the globe in a matter of seconds, everyone is crying for their voices to be heard. Listening can then fall short because there are so many voices out there that it can feel like you are listening to a drone of bees, noise blended together and impossible to listen to an individual. However, taking the time to listen to others is an easy way to learn about a perspective different than your own.

You can do this by learning to interact with people who you normally wouldn’t, which means you will need to take account of your biases. While prejudice is an aspect of close-minded people, bias is a natural phenomenon shaped by what we are exposed to in our daily routines. The best way to combat biases we have is to listen to others and strive for empathy when we do.

Talking to people with different backgrounds is the best way to do this, but reading is a perfect addition to this. Great resources for gaining other perspectives include indulging in books written by international authors, listening to foreign news sources, and watching foreign films. You can also integrate this into your social media by following sources who post diverse perspectives, such as Humans of New York and National Geographic.

Welcome Change

Though it is easy to get used to the way things are, it is important to be conscious of the fact that nothing stays the same forever, and for good reason. Society especially is ever-changing. These changes are generally for the better, but they depend on what mindsets we practice. Practicing tolerance, acceptance, empathy, and awareness can help guide those differences in a positive direction.

Get Involved

Though you might feel helpless in the midst of global issues, you can find small ways to help. You can’t fix everything, but you can make a positive influence in your community to start. Finding a cause you are passionate about helping and either volunteering, donating, or even dedicating your career to it can have an impact bigger than you can imagine.

Support Education

If there exists one solution to global issues, it’s education. Not only can education help level out global income inequality, but it can also lead to better attitudes about physical differences such as race. Bradley University reports that racial discrimination plays a role in those discriminated against participating in bad habits, like smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, and that racism can lead to race-based trauma and PTSD.

Education can help open the minds of close-minded people and put a stop to this kind of intolerance. Furthermore, it can help the citizens of developing nations raise the standards of living and reduce global inequality. Of course, each culture has their own defined standards for living, but in the world we live in today, listening and taking some kind of action to help others are the basic obligations of global citizenship.

Photo Credit

Photo is from pxhere Creative Commons

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

What I grew up learning to be healthy as a child, I now know not to be. In elementary school, we studied the food pyramid extensively, and it is now disregarded as a standard for healthy eating. I grew up thinking that I should drink milk to be healthy, as it is a source of calcium. Now I know that milk doesn’t have that much calcium, and doesn’t have many nutritional benefits. I know that eating spinach is a much better and healthier option for getting calcium.

There is currently much debate about whether adult humans should even drink milk at all. Many argue that milk provides us with essential nutrients, and others argue that human bodies were not made to digest milk. I have read reputable sources claim that both sides are true, and I am left unsure whether I should or shouldn’t drink milk.

My mother says I should. When I was growing up, she watched the commercials that said drinking three glasses of milk every day was healthy. Olympians on those “Got Milk” commercials say I should, and even seem to attribute their strength to drinking milk. My friends and coworkers say I shouldn’t drink milk, and I read articles online that take their side.

I never liked milk that much to begin with, so for me this is not a big deal. I get plenty of calcium, and though I don’t drink more than a few cups of milk per week, I am fine with drinking milk when I have cereal or hot chocolate.

More concerning to me is the aspect of sugar. As I mentioned before, I never paid much attention to how much sugar I consumed. I didn’t think it was a big deal. As an adult, however, I am working on maintaining a healthy body. While I refuse to go on any type of eccentric diet, I am now more aware of what makes up a healthy, daily diet. I know that people are supposed to eat, on average, 26 grams of sugar or less.

When I found this out, I was shocked. The label of the yogurt I was eating contained 10 grams of sugar, almost half of my daily intake in just one part of my breakfast food. I then checked the Vitamin Water I was drinking to find out that it contained 28 grams of sugar. I had been drinking it to be healthy, but one little bottle contained more sugar than I should consume in an entire day.

It’s been months since I made that discovery, and I still struggle every day to keep my sugar intake at a healthy level; it feels like I’m choosing my meals from a candy store. Of course, this is not just a matter about me wanting to be healthy, it’s a matter of there not being healthy food available to me. Though I cook my own food a lot of the time, as a working adult I don’t always have time to cook my own meals. Too often, this leaves me to opt for a less healthy option than I would prefer.

I have talked to my friends about this. Some who have studied nutrition at college, some who are dedicated to maintaining their health by eating right and working out. None of them have a good solution to this problem other than making your own food and trying to limit dessert.

It’s appalling to me that being healthy is more than just a question of wanting to be healthy and making an effort to be. The major issue here is the food available at grocery stores and restaurants have too much sugar, salt, cholesterol and are not proportionally sized.

I have found that I am not the only one who struggles with this. In addition to the people in my life who seem to be just as perplexed as I am, there is a problem within and beyond my country. Bradley University reports that there is a nationwide epidemic of obesity in America, with a rate of over 30 percent.

In addition to that, the health effects extend beyond physical consequences. Studies show that consuming an excess of sugar also has detrimental impacts on your mental health. The studies have found that too much sugar in your diet can lead to depression, which can negatively impact all areas of your life.

Of course, the problems with an unhealthy diet extend far beyond sugar and dairy. How we eat is a big part of how we take care of ourselves. It’s hard to do that when the options available to us are largely unhealthy and can lead to so many health consequences. I will keep doing my part to research and implement my findings in my lifestyle. I’ll read nutrition labels, cook for myself, and make well-informed decisions about what I eat.

Photo Credit

Photo is from pxhere Creative Commons

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

This often requires families to leave not only their cities, but their entire countries altogether. The difficulty of leaving their lives behind is compounded when the inhabitants of their new countries are not welcoming, and even hateful to the asylum seekers. Worldwide, refugees are wrongly demonized as criminals and terrorists. The United States is no exception, regardless of the fact that a refugee has never committed an act of terrorism in the U.S..

Pew Research Center reports that there will be no racial majority in the United States by 2055, rendering all forms of racial prejudice — in addition to being useless, unproductive, and morally wrong — completely moot.

Becoming a Refugee

Since the presidential election of 2016, movements — such as populism and nationalism — that oppose immigration have been growing stronger, according to Rutgers University. Opponents to refugees are quick to express the desire for refugees to move back to their home countries and even participate in discriminatory actions against immigrant families.

Of course, many asylum seekers would love to move back home, but they don’t have anywhere safe to go back to. Furthermore, refugees don’t usually get to choose the country they move to. The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants outlines the extensive process, which starts with refugees fleeing their country and seeking legal refugee status.

They can wait for months in refugee camps while paperwork is completed, and there is no guarantee for acceptance. The process can be even more heartbreaking if they have left any family behind who are still in danger. Sometimes, some family members leave before others. Other times, some family members are unable to move to a safer country at all.

The Resettlement Process

Contrary to common assumptions, only 1 percent of refugees move to a third country for resettlement, and that only happens if there are no other options. The priority is to resettle refugees in another city in their home country or in the country of asylum. If it is decided that the best country for them is the U.S., they are interviewed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and complete paperwork.

Those approved are assigned to an American refugee assistance agency to finish the process. Before they can make their way to the U.S., refugees must undergo an assurance process, medical clearance, security clearance, and cultural orientation. Many don’t understand the emotional turmoil and anxiety refugees go through; in addition to their homes becoming uninhabitable, detention centers for migrants often offer poor conditions.

The requisites are high to be approved into the U.S., and denial to a program can jeopardize their entire family. Once they arrive in their new country, they participate in a resettlement program that helps them get started during the first few years of living in their new country. The first steps to prepare refugees for resettlement, according to the Committee, are applying for Social Security numbers, registering in school, additional medical screenings, and English language training.

Contributing Members of the Community

The end goal of the resettlement process is to help refugees become successful, self-sufficient members of their new communities. While programs help refugees with cash assistance, living arrangements, and other basic needs during their first months in the U.S., refugees are expected to be employed within six months of their arrival.

Eventually, refugees will apply for permanent residency and then U.S. citizenship. Successful immigrants will be able to adapt to their new cultures and become contributing U.S. citizens. Prominent examples of former refugees include Madeleine Albright, Freddie Mercury, and Gloria Estefan. The 2017 electoral winners also included Wilmot Collins, who was recently elected as mayor of Helena, Montana and Kathy Tran, elected into the Virginia House of Delegates — both of whom came to the U.S. as refugees.

The term “refugee” is nothing but a temporary status. It describes an unfortunate situation which no one wants to find themselves in. Fully understanding the process is the first step to helping refugees feel welcome and establish lives that allow for them to contribute to the U.S.

Photo Credit

Photo is from pxhere Creative Commons

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros 

Taking a deeper look into where people find value requires an investigation of societies. People are deeply influenced, and even manipulated, by the culture they are exposed to in regards to their preferences. This is especially important as our values impact our actions and help us decide what is acceptable in society and what is not.

If we don’t stop to think about where our outlooks on life stem from, we can miss the chance to form our own opinions about what we want to see from the world.

Societal Value vs. Individual Value

The Mona Lisa is one of the of the best examples of societal value. People around the globe recognize this portrait as Da Vinci’s most famous painting. Millions of visitors flock to its residence in the Louvre Museum in Paris to get a chance to speculate about the half-smiling, half-frowning woman and comment on the artist’s brilliance.

Featured in art history books and classrooms, many consider the Mona Lisa as Da Vinci’s best masterpiece. However, the Mona Lisa didn’t receive such recognition until the early 20th century after it was stolen from the Louvre. It was the excitement and attention from the scandalous event that originally got people around the world talking about this painting, elevating its societal value. Now, however, not everyone is familiar with the story, and many completely attribute the fame of the Mona Lisa to its artistic value and develop an individual value for the painting.

Before the Mona Lisa was stolen, it had very little significant estimation from the public — only as much value as lesser-known paintings of Da Vinci, such as the Madonna Litta, have now. Surely, if a sensational event around the Madonna Litta were to occur, it would draw attention to it, and the painting’s societal value would explode.

Similarly, many trends shoot their way through societies. Oftentimes, individuals don’t notice the depth of the impact society has on its tastes and preferences. Your favorite song, for example, can stem back to the question of nature versus nurture. Still, there is much knowledge to gain from inspecting value without branching into philosophy.

Generational Differences

Another way to dissect value is by taking a look at different generations. Currently, millennials have proven to have much different tastes than their predecessors. Financial experts see a rising trend of people in their twenties and thirties renting their homes, rather than buying houses like their parents did. Likewise, millennials place a higher value on travelling and making memories over buying consumer products.

These generational discrepancies are likely due to an economic burden, as millennials face an abundance of student loans and stifled wages. Not only are millennials affected by what they can buy, but their family values are vastly different. Many young people are getting married and having children later in life or choosing to opt out completely.

While the differences may not be black and white and depend on individual factors, the generational differences between previous generations and developing ones are astounding. While not all millennial trends may be the smartest moves, the fact that they are reshaping their futures in unprecedented ways shows that they have the courage to think for themselves and live life the way they want to.

Value of Technology

The difference in the generational perception of value is heightened with technology.

Though recent generations have grown up with an ever-increasing amount of technology, older generations like baby boomers have struggled with the transition from pen and paper to screen and keyboard. Now, however, virtually everyone is connected to smart technology — especially smartphones.

A few major companies fight to become the leading supplier of handheld devices. People are willing to pay anywhere from hundreds to over a thousand dollars for the best smartphone, highly valuing the device as a multi-functional tool for daily use, and some even develop anxiety issues if they are away from their phone. For years, Apple produced the coveted phone of choice, but after the release of the iPhone X, even loyal iPhone holders started turning to Samsung and Google for other choices.

This is an example of companies trying to maintain the highest value with their customers, showing off different features and services. Oftentimes, the most valued product in society is not the most functional, but based mostly on the value of the brand. When it comes to approaching any decision in life — big or small — determining value in this way is not a constructive approach.

Taking an in-depth and introspective look at value can result in personal growth. Recognizing that the way we think can be manipulated, or at the very least influenced by society can prompt us to reevaluate the way we think and identify what we truly value.

Photo Credits
Mona Lisa – Max Pixel Creative Commons
Generations – Max Pixel Creative Commons
Technology – Pixabay Creative Commons

Guest Author Bio
Geo Sique

Geo Sique is a writer from Boise, ID with a bachelor’s’ degrees in Communication and French and a background in journalism. When she’s not travelling outside Idaho, she loves rock climbing, hot springs, camping, and exploring the world around her.

Website: Georgette Siqueiros