Month: November 2022

The things we consume affect our mindsets, feelings, and actions. An individual may be eating the same thing everyday and not know whether it makes them feel better or worse. 

According to statistics, 73% of people experience stress that impacts their mental health. However, a person’s favorite food might be the key to decrease stress levels. 

Some people hate dark chocolate, while other people love it. Little do they know, it’s healthy for the mind. Dark chocolate includes 70% cocoa beans, rich in fiber and antioxidants that reduce stress. Researchers state, “Eating dark chocolate can change your brainwave frequency, providing benefits in memory improvements and stress reduction.”   

Although pumpkin seeds can be eaten all-year around, they are most popular during autumn. Pumpkin seeds are actually very beneficial and do more than reduce stress. 

Since pumpkin seeds contain a large amount of magnesium, it reduces blood sugar and blood pressure. In addition, the zinc, copper, and iron that are in pumpkin seeds help reduce anxiety. 

A popular Korean side dish is found to lessen stress levels as well as maintain a healthy digestion. This dish is Kimchi, which is fermented vegetables. Kimchi includes beneficial bacteria known as probiotics which are high in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Researchers state, “710 young adults who often ate fermented foods experienced fewer symptoms of social anxiety.” 

While garlic is unpleasant to consume when raw, it provides some benefits. Garlic is rich in antioxidants and preserves high amounts of allicin. Allicin is an organosulfur compound that is known to reduce stress and boost your immune system. 

If an individual doesn’t like the idea of eating raw garlic, they could cook it. According to dietitian Laura Jeffers, “If you choose to cook it, don’t heat it above 140 degrees Fahrenheit.” If the temperature is too high, the allicin would be killed off and the garlic would lose its benefits. 

Food is an important part of life. It’s a necessity to live and these foods can help minimize a person’s stress level and maintain a healthy body. 

The importance of mental health is everything and different for everyone.  Mental health can be a touchy subject because people have many different views. Some don’t believe in it and would  advise people to suck it up and it’ll get better eventually while others encourage you to talk about it. 

Mental health is one of the most important things people deal with on a daily basis. The truth is it won’t get better unless one can do something to help themselves. Without stable mental health one cannot  reach their full potential. 

People  may lose all motivation for things they would usually love to do. 

Sometimes one doesn’t want to do simple things like get out of bed, take showers, eat, or go outside because it’s the little things that keep us sane. It may be difficult but once the task is done, it always feels better and there is only ourselves left to thank for it.  taking  it one day at a time, and trusting ourselves will help. No matter what, self care should be a priority . A pause would be nice, but it doesn’t always happen that way because life won’t stop for anyone. Don’tdwell on things that happen. There will always be bumps in the road, learn different ways to cope and keep going. 

Someone’s mental health not only affects them but  everyone around them.  It’s better to not suppress feelings because it leaves them there for another time when something will set them off and  come out all at once.   Good mental health is necessary to create relationships with others and be ready for what life throws at us. One must take care of themselves, because at the end of the day they are left with nobody else but themselves. 

Everyone goes through something at one point, or another. Sometimes it takes  losing oneself to find oneself.  Surrounding oneself with people who are going to make them feel better is key. Being in an environment that isn’t necessarily healthy may be another problem because it may feel inescapable which can be exhausting mentally and physically. . Exercising, coloring, going outside, hanging out with friends are great ways to help distract oneself from troubling times. ne may think its dumb and these things don’t work, but from experience I can say they do.  Walking outside can reduce your stress, improve sleep, increase your energy levels and many other benefits. It is important to figure out what works because we are all different, and all cope in different ways. 

Freshman year was the pinnacle of my fright. I only knew a couple people when I first came to McClatchy, neither of whom I had classes with. My best option was to stay quiet and speak when I was spoken to, the same way I experienced middle school as most of my conversation starters would be shot down. 

My only knowledge of high school was what I’d seen in movies and what my older sister had told me. As I walked into my first class, I relied on my height (I was five foot at the time) to hide me, which proved ineffective as I made my first friend. 

She was probably one of the nicest people I knew, and I would like to think we’re still friends, even though we have no classes together this year and rarely see each other in the hallways. She introduced me to my first friend group, granted it was a small one. There were four of us, all freshmen, who had a variety of personalities, that I honestly felt made our group unique. We had our inside jokes and played games with each other everyday. It felt like I had the  group of friends I was always missing and finally enjoyed myself. 

I grew to become more comfortable with the people  I knew, and began to make more friends in my classes. My freshman year is the one I probably made the most friends in. Many of the people I met when I was 14 are the people I know and hang out with now. I started to meet more people and, at one point, I knew everyone in my fourth period class. I started to talk to people more, hanging out with different people throughout the day, while still eating lunch with the friend group I had first made. 

While the homework load surprised me, seeing as how I had less homework than my teachers said I would, I still made an effort to get my homework done, probably to an unhealthy amount. As I grew, I started to realize I had to put myself first and focus on me and my mental health first, even at the stake of a grade. I began to make time for me and focus on the little things that made me happy. Obviously I didn’t realize this until later my Junior year, but it’s always good to share with others. 

Right around mid-to-late March is when Covid-19 hit. At first, many of us believed that we’d be out of school for a week at the most, maybe two. Then it started to last longer, going from a couple weeks to a couple months, leaving the next school year online. Not being able to see my friends severely damaged my mental health, and many others, along with it affecting my ability to learn, resulting in my grades getting worse. I only had one teacher who made an active effort to have class online. One teacher, who no longer works at McClatchy, gave up entirely and refused to post any assignments or talk to students, which was hard for a language class. Once the school year was officially over, many of us were confused on what would come next, hoping to be back in school the next year, which obviously didn’t happen. 

Halloween has been around for around 2,000 years. As you can imagine, the holiday has changed quite a bit since its early pagan beginnings. It originates in Europe as a festival called Samhain which celebrates the end of a harvest. Historians can track the tradition of wearing a costume on Halloween to 1585 in Scotland, which has since been sustained with activities like trick-or-treating and costume stores. Usually, these costumes depicted spirits and creatures from Celtic folklore. Now the usual costumes you’ll see are vampires, witches, ghosts, etc.

Unfortunately, there have been times when it was not uncommon to see costumes depicting racial and religious stereotypes.

One of the most common of these costumes is the Native American. There are many reasons why it is not ok to dress up as a Native. The history of murder and takeover of the Native Americans and their land for example, When the British came to America the Natives were not treated nicely, unlike what A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving might suggest. They were massacred and stripped of their land, and the ones that lived were put on reservations where they had to give up their spirituality and native languages. Children were placed in schools where they were forced to learn English and learn the Christian way, and many of them died from illness. So for non-Native Americans to be dressing up as their chiefs and dawning symbols that they don’t know the meaning of, you can imagine how upsetting it is.

Another example is blackface. Blackface was a practice in the early 20th century with “minstrel shows” where white men and women would rub burnt cork on their face in order to turn it black, they would then put on rugged clothes in order to make fun of African Americans. These shows depicted black Americans as being illiterate and stupid. Considering the history of blackface and the treatment of black Americans in general, these costumes are unacceptable.

Then there are non-racial costumes that are still incredibly insensitive yet very common. The homeless person, or “hobo”. People will make themselves look dirty and disheveled, as well as covering their faces in soot and carrying a bindle. To mock someone for being in a position that they never asked for is always horrible, especially when there are an estimated 116,600 people, just in California, being affected by the homelessness crisis. Many of these people lost their jobs or had jobs that didn’t pay the bills. Some suffer from mental illness or addiction and had no one to help them. A lot of teenagers are kicked out of their homes for being part of the LGBTQ+ community or for not holding the same religious standing as their families. There are hundreds of reasons why someone might be without a home, and to mock them and think of them as a disease is inhumane.

These are only a few examples of insensitive costumes that have been worn by Americans, there are so many more. America has a history of not recognizing other cultures and lifestyles as valid, and this only proves that. It seems to have gotten better these last few years but there are still things that as a society we can do better. And recognizing other cultures as something to respect and not mock is a good starting point.

This topic has been debated for a while, one side claiming it is inhumane, another saying it’s necessary, and a third saying it depends on the crime and the circumstances. 

Some pros of the death penalty is that It gives many families closure that the person who committed these crimes won’t have a chance to get out of prison. The idea of “an eye for an eye” applies here too. It gives the family an idea of some sort of retribution for their lost loved one or who ever was affected by this person. 

This also prevents some people from commiting more crime, as seen by amnesty international where the rate of death sentences has gone down. With this as a possible punishment, instead of just a few years in jail/prison or possibility of parole, it may allow people to rethink their actions. It also helps prevent overcrowding in the system, leaving more room for more inmates instead of giving them a chance to get out of holding due to overcrowding, resulting in, usually, more crime being committed. 

By continuing the death penalty, it keeps the general public safer than it would be if any of these people escaped or would spend the rest of their lives in jail. The danger of someone with tendencies to commit again being released is too great and should be taken into account no matter what. 

In the case of Albert Flick, he was deemed too old to kill again after being jailed for assaulting two women in 2010 and previously being jailed for killing his wife in 1979. Once released in 2014, he allegedly followed 48 year old Kimberly Dobbie around town, later killing her in 2018 in front of her sons, who were both 11 at the time. If Flick had been kept in jail, or even had the death penalty placed on him, Kimberly would probably still be alive today. 

A con is that it’s irreversible. If a mistake was made, and this person was later found to be innocent, you could never get them back. On top of that, it can be seen as cruel and unusual punishment. There are fewer rich people on death row because they could afford a good lawyer to help them get out of it, while others are stuck with public defendants who aren’t quite sure how to defend their client. 

Also, a country that respects life should not be taking it away. Many police chiefs, when asked, said that the best way to deter crime is curbing drugs and longer sentencing, and they say the death penalty does little to nothing to deter violent crimes. 

The cost to prosecute the death penalty is much higher than other cases. Most of the time, people just don’t care and work outside of the morality and basic safety of society, continuing to risk the lives of others. The current justice system isn’t fair  because there are wrongful convictions and legal disadvantages when it comes down to convictions, leaving those without money having to fend for themselves. 

The death penalty should be abolished. There should be special holding facilities for people who commit violent crimes and the conditions of each person’s holding time should be determined by the crime. The idea of “an eye for an eye” would leave the whole world blind. 

Everyone should be given the same or similar rights to a lawyer, but depending on the offense, there should be a limit or a certain amount of fairness when it comes to defendants. 

The chance of a break out is very slim, a 3% chance to escape, and most of the time, these occur in minimum security prisons, meaning that the chance of someone breaking out of a maximum security prison even slimmer, giving more security to the idea they won’t have a chance to escape.

There are reasons for both sides of the penalty, seeing how this is widely discussed topic. You have to look at both sides of the story to decide.