Introduction to American Government and Politics

Hailee Bryan

Blog Post 3

American Government and Politics

4/12/22

The Effects of Solar Power Facilities Placed in Agricultural Areas in Walton County, Florida

Florida Power & Light has begun its development of several solar power generation facilities, two of them being in Walton County. The County’s Planning Director, Mac Carpenter, approved the development to be constructed on 762 acres southeast of Paxton. This particle facility will be known as The Pecan Tree Solar Energy Center and, in total, will cover 4,500-acres with an assemble of three more solar facilities.  The 74.5-megawatt facility will come online later this year and is said to be able to power 15,000 homes annually. The ultimate goal of this project by Florida Light & Power is to have 30 million solar panels installed across the state by 2030.

Walton County Commissioners initially rejected this project because of concerns of the facilities located in areas zoned for agriculture. In December of 2020, it passed with a 3-2 vote, but had a lot of opposition from locals and property owners. Before them initial meeting, this was considered a “major” development, but now it is considered a “minor” one. This makes it easier for the board to get approval and has less construction permits and other permissions that must be accounted for. This makes it easier for new facilities to be approved with less paperwork and less approval.

Crestview resident, Angel Minnis, led a peaceful protest with approximately 20 people gathered around Crestview City Hall on March 2, 2022. This protest was led because of high rates after Gulf Power merged with Florida Power & Light. Paxton local, David Herring has spoken out many times against the placement of such facilities. Herring lives in a rural area just outside of Paxton, FL, in northern Walton County. The new solar facility is actually right in his backyard! A recent post to a community blog has made local headlines where Herring shows a before and after view from his back porch featuring large amounts of metal, where there used to be crops. Although Herring himself is not a farmer, he states, “I just don’t see how this can be beneficial for the environment or our local farmers.” Many other locals are having the same thought as Herring wondering how this could benefit them. As mentioned before, this particular system of solar plants is expected to power 15,000 homes annually. There are currently 53,637 homes in Walton County. Here the question of whose homes gets powered by the solar plants comes into play.

This topic is a close concern for my family. The newest facility was built in my hometown of Paxton, FL, which is only 4 miles wide and a heavy area for agriculture. My grandfather owns a lot of agricultural land in Walton County, all used for agricultural purposes. As a member of north Walton County, it is very obvious that most of the county’s funding goes to the south end. You can see this in the public school, the farther south you get, the nicer the schools and the more advanced the technology. Paxton School the farthest north in the county is a K-12, with a little under 1000 students in total. I grew up having no personal technology supplied by the school except for the lab (mobile home) of 10-year-old Microsoft computers we used since I attended the school. It was not until one of my close friends moved to South Walton High School that I was informed of the gap in funding. Their computer labs were filled with Apple Computers, and a new brick wall had recently gone up around the school with state-of-the-art technology to keep intruders out. Paxton got a chain link fence and a buzzer system at the front door. It comes as no shock that northern county residents feel as though they will get the short end of the stick with this deal.

On the other hand, these new facilities will positively affect 15,000 homes in Walton County, therefore there are many positives to come from this. This class has taught me to look at both sides of every story. Here, I can see how this could be a good investment for Walton County and how it would greatly serve the community. I do think there are a lot of different ways to please each party involved in this issue. Florida Power & Light will want to continue with their building of solar facilities, and while it is too late for the ones that are already built, a compromise can be reached. I think Florida Power & Light can do a better job at discussing future plans with residents and communities that will be directly affected by these sites. A board meeting between leading officials and residents is an option, this way both sides can discuss their comments and concerns, as well as hearing each side viewpoints.

This topic is a close concern for my family. The newest facility was built in my hometown of Paxton, FL, which is only 4 miles wide and a heavy area for agriculture. My grandfather owns a lot of agricultural land in Walton County, all used for agricultural purposes.

https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/business/energy-resource/2022/04/08/walton-county-fpl-solar-power-project-gets-closer-approval/9482346002/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032113005819

https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/12131?utm_medium=explore&mprop=count&popt=HousingUnit&hl=en

King Henderson

Dr. Jenkins

PS 101

April 19, 2022

The Consumer Comes First

When going to a grocery store, you have an idea of what it is that you're: going to get, the quality of the goods that you're going to buy, and you may even have an idea of how much you're going to spend, as you make your way through the aisles. You start taking products off the shelf and you start placing them in your basket. Once you do that you make your way to the checkout counter, scan your goods, and start to watch as the price continues to increase. Slide in your debit or credit card to buy your groceries and walk out the door. I want you to imagine that same scenario, except this time, as you walk through the aisles of the store, you start to notice that there are no labels on any of the goods. At the same time, you begin to realize neither are there any price tags. But needing groceries anyway you begin to fill your basket you make your way to the counter. You begin to scan but again this time you realize that no price is showing up on the register. Perplexed, you ask somebody that works there, “what is this going to cost me” and even more perplexed when you hear their answer, which is a question, “what credit card do you plan to use?”. After you tell them, they say “well we're going to send the list of goods that you were buying to that credit card company, in one to three months you'll get a bill “. You bag your groceries scratching your head, you walk out the door. Now replace grocery store with electronic store or retail clothing store, it doesn't matter. We wouldn't imagine a scenario where we would actually run our credit card and have no idea what we are going to get billed for, one to three months later. But, if the words grocery store were replaced with the words healthcare system, now all of the sudden, the scenario doesn't seem all that uncommon. 

Healthcare has long been the subject of debate here in the United States. The United States is responsible for the vast majority of innovation when it comes to the advancement of healthcare throughout the world. But our problem is not innovation, we have a great healthcare system that is developing new products every day. Our problem plaguing the industry is likely the cost for most. In the 10 years leading up to the passage of the affordable care act, the cost of healthcare rose 130%; while inflation during that same time didn't even grow 30%. 

The cost has long been our problem when it comes to healthcare. But what can we do about that when we have differing opinions based on our political affiliation, where we live, our socioeconomic status, and even our gender? There's the problem, and so what are we going to do? We can unpackage that and realize that there are things that we can control and there are things that we cannot? If we want to do something about the cost of healthcare, we must first understand who the influencers of healthcare are. First, we have doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and medical manufacturing companies. This is the delivery system that satisfies the needs of the people. 

A deeper-rooted healthcare industry challenge that we have, is that healthcare here in the United States it's not run by medical professionals anymore. Since we start to think about the solution to healthcare being found in the delivery system itself, it's not likely that they're going to turn away from the massive profits. Now before we get all self-righteous let's recognize the power in that thought again. It is business that propels the healthcare system to innovate, to create, but nonetheless, it's a business. 

The second influencer is the insurance system, and this is the way that most Americans access the healthcare system. Companies in the US today, most of which are publicly traded. Their average stock price over the last decade has risen over 200%. By the way, their fiduciary responsibility includes people buying their policies but answering to their shareholders. So, it's not likely that they're going to wake up tomorrow and say, “you know what, let's go ahead and reduce our profit margins”. 

Then the third influencer, which we hear a lot of talk about these days, is the US government. Some arguments have been made about things like Medicare for all or advanced socialized medicine. Those arguments have merit because we can look at the rest of the world and see how healthcare is run in other countries; and say,” maybe there's something we can learn here”. What most politicians either know or come to know, is that while the government-run and controlled healthcare make for good politics: in the US free-market system, it doesn't always make for a good policy. The reason is that healthcare is sixth in the US economy and if we fundamentally ship that into a government-run system, we risk the possibility of economic collapse. What most people that dive into the information recognize is, that while socialized medicine works in many parts of the world, it does so because we don't have socialized medicine in the United States. Our system is the one that innovates in advance. Healthcare in the US is an entrepreneurial free-market system that promotes the three influencers mentioned. 

The fourth influencer is the one we can't control, you. In a free market system, you have the power to change it. Consumers in a free-market system control things like which TV shows get renewed, in which town sports teams reside, and which new flavors of Ben & Jerry's ice cream come out. We have the power, but all too often when it comes to healthcare, we are quick to yield that power.

Economic principle is the cost of what we spend is equal to the number of units we consume, multiplied by the price. Go back to the grocery store, the number of items we put in our cart multiplied by the price and what those goods cost, was what our total bill was. At the end of the day, Americans know the electric bill is too high, maybe we turn down the thermostat. The cable bill is too much, we turn off the sports package off. In times of increased fuel prices, the US consumer will do amazing things. we'll carpool, take public transportation, ride a bike, or take a walk. we don't have to do that. 

We must apply the economic principle in our approach to the healthcare system if we want to do anything to begin to curb the cost. Be proactive, don't wait until the heat of the moment to start to research healthcare, it’s too late. In the United States, an MRI cost as little as $500 whereas 30 feet away it could be as much as $3000 for the same MRI in the same hospital. We need to know which hospital should be our hospital, which doctor should be our doctor, and which drug is biosimilar or a generic alternative when we're being told that we need to take it. The information is out there, researching how we can change the way that we approach it; you can change the way that you approach it. 

Josh Childers

Dr. Clinton Jenkins

Intro to American Government

14 April 2022

Blog Post #3 – NIL in College Sports

            For years, one of the biggest debates in college sports was over whether or not the athletes should be paid. Some argued that receiving a free education and an experience that few others will ever have was sufficient in exchange for the athlete representing their school. Others argued that the athletes deserve to be paid because they create tons of revenue for their for their schools, media outlets, and sponsors. On July 1, 2021, the NCAA approved NIL rules that allow athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness. This means that athletes can develop their own merchandise, promote products and services, and be paid for event appearances. This was a complete game changer and has had a massive impact on what college sports look like.

            There are obviously many benefits to NIL. It has given athletes the ability to capitalize on the image that they have worked so hard to build up. These athletes create a ridiculous amount of money for everyone involved in college sports, so it is only fair that they receive some sort of compensation for themselves. Also, many of these athletes will not go on to play their sport professionally, so NIL gives them a way to take advantage of their image while it lasts. Being a college athlete takes up a very large amount of time which makes it nearly impossible for athletes to get part time jobs. These athletes still have to pay for basic necessities out of their pocket, so NIL makes it easier for them to afford the things they need. It’s clear that the NIL policy has many benefits for college athletes

The biggest argument against NIL is that it could compromise the quality of the NCAA’s product. Players will want to go to wherever they can make the most money, so teams that cannot offer as much money will be at a major disadvantage and bigger schools will reap the benefits. As a result, college sports will become less competitive, and the big schools will dominate even more. Nick Saban, the greatest college football coach of all-time, has been one of the more notable figures to voice their concerns about NIL:

The concept of name, image and likeness was for players to be able to use their name, image and likeness to create opportunities for themselves. That’s what it was. So last year on our team, our guys probably made as much or more than anybody in the country. But that creates a situation where you can basically buy players. You can do it in recruiting. I mean, if that’s what we want college football to be, I don’t know. And you can also get players to get in the transfer portal to see if they can get more someplace else than they can get at your place.

Schools like Alabama will be able to offer their players the opportunity to make more money because they are in the national spotlight. Sponsors will be willing to give their players more money because they are more recognizable. Saban points out that this will give bigger schools a major advantage in recruiting simply because they can give them more money. NIL has also led to a crazy increase in the number of players who have entered the transfer portal. Essentially what Saban is saying is that the rich get richer.

            The NIL policy is in its infancy, so it is not surprising that it has some problems, but what are the possible solutions? Obviously, the NCAA cannot go back and abandon the NIL policy. College athletes would revolt if they lost their income all of a sudden. They must find some way to regulate it. This could prove to be very difficult because different states have different laws regarding NIL for college athletes. As of right now, NIL has created a free-for-all that is in desperate need of regulation. In order to find the solution, the commissioners of each of the conferences in the NCAA must meet together and work to find a solution that allows athletes to take advantage of NIL, while still preserving that competition that makes college sports so great.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/alabama-coach-nick-saban-warns-nil-model-in-college-football-is-unsustainable-will-lead-to-buying-players/

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31675595/college-conference-commissioners-pushing-minimalist-plan-regulate-nil

https://www.si.com/college/2021/07/01/ncaa-nil-reaction-criticism-athlete-benefits

Katherine WIlliams

14 April 2022 

PS101

Blog Post 3

The United Nations estimates that every minute, an estimated 20 people are forcibly displaced due to conflict, persecution, or war. As of 2018, there were 68.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, of those, 25.4 million were refugees and asylees. In the years since that number has exceeded 80 million forcibly displaced, and that was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. One of the largest issues facing refugees and asylees in America and across the globe is the racism and xenophobia they face upon arrival. Systemic racism yes, but also street-level micro and macro aggressions from their neighbors. This is driven by public perception of refugees and asylees as a whole, and what kind of messages people receive and internalize about their new neighbors.

The public perception of refugees is too often wrapped up in political messaging around national security, and the fixation on the dangers of human trafficking, MS-13, and ISIS in certain segments of the local and national news media only makes things worse. Of course, all of those are real issues that need to be addressed, but they are also nearly a non-factor in this discussion when you actually consider the facts. According to the Cato Institute, from 2008 to 2015, the likelihood of any given American being killed in a terrorist attack on US soil was 1 in over 30.1 million. If you break it down, the likelihood of being killed by a domestic terrorist is 1 in 43.8 million, more than twice as deadly as an attack by foreign-born terrorists at 1 in 104.2 million. Compare that to the likelihood of dying in an animal attack (killed by a dog, bear, snake, yellowjacket, bee, etc.), which was 1 in 1.6 million, during that time. Just think about that for a moment. You are more than 65 times more likely to be killed by a bear while hiking or by your neighbor’s Doberman than by a foreign-born terrorist. Yet the use of sensationalist images and videos in the television news media and online, makes it look like there are a bunch of scary potential terrorists coming to America in droves. 

Public perception of Muslim refugees in particular is driven by the media. According to OurWorldinData.com, a terrorist attack receives 357% more coverage across all outlets if the perpetrator is Muslim. This vastly outpaces the other factors studied: whether or not the perpetrator(s) was arrested, if the target was law enforcement or the government, and the number of people that were killed. In comparison, a domestic terror attack committed by a non-Muslim against civilians receives 46% more coverage per person killed. It's a lot worse among just the major outlets studied (CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today), where attacks by Muslim perpetrators received 758% more coverage. This unbalanced coverage matters, increased coverage when a perpetrator is Muslim presents an inaccurate overview of US terrorism to the public. In the dataset that the study provided, Muslims perpetrated 12.5% of attacks in the US, yet received at least 50% of the coverage.

Unfortunately, the financial incentives in the news media industry mean that this trend will likely continue for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, there are other ways to combat this. The easiest is to simply encourage people to meet actual refugees and asylees living in their area. According to data from SINGA, a French NGO, as of 2013, only 12% of French citizens had regular interactions with a refugee in their-day to-day lives. In an effort to address this, they set up “business incubators” for migrants arriving in France. This allows highly skilled refugees to be introduced to local businesses as future collaborators rather than as charity cases. They also create other environments where locals and refugees can discuss issues other than migration and create what founder Alice Barbe calls “a common us”. This is how to change hearts and minds. Data from SINGA indicates that the work they are doing is improving the lives of native French people and refugees. The more French people a refugee knows, the easier it is for them to adjust quickly and they are happier overall, while the more refugees a French person knows in real life the less likely they are to hold racist views. And if a refugee becomes friends with 10 locals, they will be on a path to learning the local language, getting a job, and sometimes entering into a romantic relationship within 9 months of arrival. All of this is a stabilizing force in French society as it helps people to see each other as people rather than as potential threats or needing to be saved. This is something that could be easily replicated across the United States, especially in large cities where refugee populations tend to cluster. It doesn’t even need to be an activist group, simply taking a few friends to a refugee-owned restaurant in your area is a good place to start.

Sources:

https://www.cato.org/blog/more-americans-die-animal-attacks-terrorist-attacks

https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism#media-coverage-of-terrorism

John McCall

Dr. Jenkins

Intro to American Government and Politics

April 14, 2022

Blog Post Three

            The issue facing the Kurds focused on in this blog post is the dire situation they have been left in since 2019, when American President Trump suddenly ordered the withdraw of military forces from Syria. He justified the decision by declaring mission accomplished, the mission being to defeat ISIS forces in that region. That justification was questioned by many and even if total victory was achieved there were many arguing it would be better to remain there in order to build up the pieces and ensure stability before leaving. The particular region of Syria was the northern border it shares with Turkey. To the Kurdish people, this area, which is part of the unofficial “Kurdistan,” is called Rojava. But why are they there to begin with, why is Turkey interested in the region, and why is it filled with violence? Kurdistan is the region where the vast majority of the Kurdish people live. It is not a country of its own but rather a Kurdish territory that does not appear on maps; it is part of the nations Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. This issue focuses on the Turkish-Syrian border. In 2011 Syria erupted into violence, sparked by protests against the violent and authoritarian regime of their President since 2000, Bashar al-Assad. It became a civil war between basically pro and anti-Assad groups. As the civil war went on, and internationally it looked like Assad had his hands full, the terrorist group ISIS violently stormed into Syria, further complicating the violence and the civil war. One particular region of Syria that ISIS stormed was Rojava, the part filled with Kurds.

Many in Syria and abroad became impressed with how well the Syrian Kurds fought against ISIS. More than just holding their ground, the Kurds allied with non-Kurdish forces in the area and formed the Syrian Democratic Forces, also known as the SDF. The SDF pushed the ISIS invaders further and further southward from Rojava and hence began living in more Syrian territory than before. A large factor in the Kurdish victories over ISIS was that they were receiving arms and other assistance from the American military, also conducting warfare against ISIS in that region. By 2019 the region of Rojava was arguably the most secure place in Syria. We must now look to Turkey and what has been going on with their interest and worry over the Kurds in Rojava. Turkey’s leader President Erdogan, very much an authoritarian like Assad, has been accused of trying to ethnically cleanse Turkey of Kurds and has never shown them an act of goodwill. It is important to know however that Erdogan is on much better terms with the western nations than Assad is, and Turkey is uniquely considered both a European and Middle Eastern country. A member of NATO with a respected military, Turkey is not a country to be trifled with. Nonetheless, Erdogan’s hostile measures against the Kurds within Turkey has earned him criticism and condemnation abroad. But as for the Kurds in Rojava and along the Turkish-Syrian border, Erdogan’s views of them come largely from a Kurdish organization within Turkey. This organization is the Kurdistan Workers Party, also known as the PKK. Labeled a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, the PKK is a militant group of guerillas who have been fighting with Erdogan’s government for years for more Kurdish autonomy. That they are named the “Kurdistan” Workers Party and not the Kurdish Workers Party says something of their goals.

            Prior to 2019 Erdogan had talked quite a lot about his desire for Turkey and its military to go to their border with Syria, cross over a little bit, and establish a buffer zone that he repeatedly called a “safe zone.” Erdogan’s view is basically this, that the Kurds in Turkey are all affiliated with the PKK in some capacity and those in Rojava are terrorists. He has frequently used the word terrorist when referring to the Kurds, even though most view those in Rojava as simply decent people fighting ISIS and posing no legitimate threat to Turkey at all. But to Erdogan the Kurds there were a threat in need of removal. To him one could only relax after he could establish his “safe zone.” Another important thing to note is that Turkey is an ally of the United States and President Trump and President Erdogan purported to be friends. Prior to becoming President, Trump had done business in Turkey. And so, as the American backed SDF forces pushed ISIS further and further back from Rojava and a few other areas of Syria, by the time 2019 rolled around the President felt that their mission had been completed. He suddenly and shockingly ordered the withdrawal of American forces from Syria. Less than a week after the President’s announcement, Turkey launched an invasion of northern Syria and began attacking the Kurds there. The impact this had on those Kurds was in no way positive and in multiple ways negative. They felt betrayed, embittered, abandoned. They relied very much on the aid they received from the Americans and many American generals lauded the Kurds for the service they performed against ISIS, even expressing regret and disagreement at the Commander in Chief’s decision. I will not go into the details and debates on whether or not it was right to withdraw, but I will say that to all the Kurds and many within the United States, it was considered a very bad move and a stab in the back to a key ally. The Kurds were left on their own by an ally they depended on.

            Solutions I believe in would be for Turkey to withdraw its forces from Syria; they had no legitimate reason to invade in my view. I believe Erdogan repeatedly exaggerated his claim that Kurds were terrorists and all those in Turkey were with the PKK in order to justify his harsh actions and paint them as the bad guys. Kurds in Syria have since turned to its authoritarian leader, Bashar al-Assad for help out of desperation. It is interesting that Syria, Turkey, the Kurds, and the United States all view ISIS as an enemy, but the Kurds are viewed a little differently. I do not believe international bodies like the United Nations can do much on the matter. They did very little during the Syrian Civil War and Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria. The Kurds in Rojava, and all other parts of “Kurdistan,” simply need to be treated with respect by the governments of the four nations they live in, and I have find it strange how so many are opposed to granting them that respect.       

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/14/770133487/kurds-align-with-syria-after-u-s-withdrawal

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49960973

https://origins.osu.edu/article/kurds-stateless-turkey-syria-iraq-iran?language_content_entity=en

West Neill

Professor Jenkins

PS 101

April 14, 2022

Baseball and Politics

              Throughout the history of baseball, the expression “Baseball and Politics” is talked about a lot. Since the beginning of baseball, the MLB has been known for overstepping its boundaries in the world of politics. By taking advantage of the immense revenue stream, they generate and threaten to relocate their facilities to other cities to push beneficial city ordinances or other actions. Usually, it is the MLB that is manipulating companies and sponsors, but in the 2021 season the roles get reversed and the MLB got a taste of their own medicine, leaving a bad look for the entire league.

             Every year the MLB host an All-Star game marking the midpoint point of the season usually in early July.  The All-Star game is usually the biggest game of the regular season. With the best players from each team playing against each other all in one place. The teams competing in this game are split between the two conferences in the MLB, the American and National League.  These teams are selected by various methods, the managers are selected from the teams that went to the World Series in the previous season.  The Starting players for each team are voted on by other players and fans, while the remaining players are selected by the manager of that team. Each team will have around twenty position players and twelve pitchers bringing the total roster to usually thirty-two total players.

             Early in 2021, the MLB decided that the All-Star game and MLB draft would be hosted at the Atlanta Braves stadium. This decision was made to honor the recent death of Hall-of-Fame Braves player Hank Aaron the passed away in January of 2021. The six months to plan for the big game was cut short on April 2nd the MLB released that they will be relocating the All-Star game to the Colorado Rockies stadium. The reasoning behind their decision was stated that the Election Integrity Act was signed on March,25 of 2021. This act was implemented to prevent voter fraud from mail-in ballots in Georgia. But it was immediately slammed by the media, relating this act to “Jim Crow” laws from the civil rights era. The media soon turned to the MLB and companies involved with the All-Star game being held in a few months. These big-name companies began to threaten the MLB and cut ties with them permanently if something was not done. So immediately the MLB decided to relocate the game and draft to keep their sponsorships and endorsements. Immediately the city of Atlanta was enraged by this, claiming the MLB had caused them over $100 million in losses from 41,000 stadium tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, and other traveling expenses. Atlanta filed many lawsuits against the MLB some amounting up to one billion dollars. However, all lawsuits were dropped eventually. Although the game was not going to be hosted in Atlanta the MLB agreed to still honor Hank Aaron's contribution to baseball in Colorado.

             From the MLB’s perspective, this was the correct business decision to make. Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested into the MLB every year from various companies. These companies pay insane amounts of money for advertisements during the All-Start game. This is because the All-Star game provides the best publicity, with viewers from all over the country and the world. When these companies began to receive pressure from the media, they instantly began withdrawing their investments.  This left the MLB had two choices, lose millions of dollars, keep the game in Atlanta and continue to receive hate from the media. Or relocate the game to a different facility and keep their sponsors and maintain their political views. When stated like that the second option seems like a win-win situation.

             But for the Braves and the city of Atlanta, this decision would cost them millions. Atlanta was completely neglected and abandoned in a situation they had no control over.  The Braves had to prepare many months ahead to completely renovate the stadium for the All-Star game. Replacing almost every brave sign with an All-Star sign as well as changing the advertisements throughout the stadium. Some other things they had to plan for are the increase of supplies, and merchandise specifically designed for the game. As well as losing the special memorial for the Iconic Hank Aaron.  Also affecting the city of Atlanta had many implications in place for the surplus of traffic coming to the city. All these lost investments were never compensated for by the MLB. This enraged the fanbase of not only Atlanta but the entire east coast fan-based that planned months to attend this game.

             When looking at both perspectives it is hard to find a consensus on this situation. The MLB could have potentially taken a non-recovering financial and political loss. As for the Atlanta and the Braves, became viewed as villains over the situation they could not control and took an enormous financial loss. And the fans that planned to attend the game in Atlanta

 I think the ultimate solution should have been the MLB relocating to another stadium on the East coast so the fans could somewhat still be satisfied with traveling convenience. The new facility should be encouraged to buy out the salvageable merchandise from the Braves reducing some of the losses. Since the Braves are correlated with the MLB, they should be compensated for 100% of the losses from the preparation of the All-Star game and receive a small percentage of the revenue generated from the All-Star game. Since The City of Atlanta wasn’t under any contract or agreement with the MLB, I think they should be compensated for 50% percent of proven All-Star related, all ready-made transactions made before the relocation.  But both sides understand finical decisions like this can happen because of politics. Situations like this have happened since the beginning of the MLB. It is just one of the negative trade-offs that come with baseball and politics.

Austin T. Johnson

Dr. Jenkins

Blog Post #3

April 12th, 2022

Keeping a Balanced and Consistent Diet as a Student-Athlete

Juggling both academics and sports throughout a student's college career is difficult. Adding onto this pressure of balance, it is essential to have a healthy diet in order to keep the body and brain fueled. A consistent and healthy diet is important for a student-athlete because nutrition is the body’s resource for fuel. Lack of nutritional education, lack of time to prepare healthy meals, and lack of resources (only access to the cafeteria on campus) are a result of this problem. This is troublesome for student-athletes because maintaining a healthy diet is critical for success on and off the field. 

I am mainly focusing on the Division III athletes' perspective of the issue, as I understand from a personal perspective that each student-athlete is faced with a challenging schedule. However, not all collegiate athletes are faced with these challenges to the same extent. Division I and II athletes, receive the assistance that Division III athletes don't. This creates many unhealthy habits that affect them in the short term and eventually in the long term. Division III athletes struggle to maintain the proper diet that high-level athletic performers need to have. Furthermore, the persistent degree of exhaustion endured by athletes causes difficulties in waking up to eat a nutritious meal before class or practice. The constricting schedules athletes must balance facilitates the proliferation of unhealthy choices like caffeine and nicotine addiction. The incessant need for decaffeination originates from a lack of sleep and energy, potentially due to malnutrition. This leads to athletes ingesting multiple energy drinks in a short time frame just to stay awake throughout the class, as well as make it through practice and film. Many also turn to nicotine to aid the stress that comes with balancing both school and sports. Furthermore, being a student-athlete is essentially a full-time job. Throughout the fall and spring semesters, athletes are tasked with the plight of busy practice schedules, on top of a plethora of schoolwork; therefore, it is nearly impossible to obtain an income through a part-time job. Due to a lack of financial resources, albeit parental support (which many do not receive), athletes are not able to purchase healthy, nutritious items. They either must buy cheap items that lack nutrients or resort to the school cafeteria, which typically has little variability or healthy options. 

Without proper dieting athletes will not be able to recover properly between workouts, nor will they perform their best during and after a competition. This unintentional malnutrition prevents proper recovery from events, vastly decreases energy levels, and greatly weakens the immune system. The cravings, mood swings, hormonal imbalances, stress, and fatigue, specifically for college athletes can make it difficult to stay consistent in a diet. This is a major hurdle that people face when being on a weight loss or fitness regime. Caloric nutrition is not the only thing impacted by this- hydration is another factor in the success of the athletes. Proper hydration is difficult to maintain, yet is incredibly important in the sustainability of your bodily performance. For most college athletes, it is recommended to intake approximately 80 oz of water per day. However, due to busy schedules consisting of class, practice, etc, it is easy to overlook proper hydration. In fact, it is often impossible to fulfill this goal due to classroom beverage policies. Nevertheless, hydration is crucial for the endurance, performance, and success of athletes. 

Division III athletes do not receive special treatment, specifically in regards to overall nutrition. For instance, you have an 8 am class then a 9:30 you have ten minutes to get to class and the night before you a two-hour film and then a two-hour practice you already didn't have the greatest dinner because of ending so late from the night before now you missed breakfast then you aren’t able to eat until 11:00 but the only options you have is whatever you can find in your kitchen which isn't anything because you don't have any money for food. Also, the school doesn't offer any healthy options to eat. A lot of schools have strict cafeteria times like our school’s cafeteria closes at 8:00 pm while our practices end at 8:00 on most days which gives us zero time for school food. 

In the end, I feel like being a student-athlete is either you can’t do it or you can.. I believe there is not one solution to this problem, however, I think there are ways you can try and better yourself. For instance, division three schools should start offering an athlete meal plan, so they can get food after late practice. Another idea is to offer student-athletes special selections for class so they can plan around practices and meals. Schools should offer nutritionists for athletes to ask about how to properly diet and easy options for them to eat.

Markie Nelson

4/10/2022

Professor Jenkins

American Government & Politics

Blog Post 3

            Again, the homeless community faces many troublesome experiences in their lives. In my opinion, this is the worst problem that impacts this community. Homeless people must scavenge and beg for food in order to survive, and since these people in this community do not make an income, they cannot provide for themselves or their families. Without food or water humans cannot survive, these are the absolute necessities for survival. These limitations are known as food and water insecurities. With food insecurities come problems outside of that, such as “agriculture requires large quantities of water for irrigation and of good quality for various production processes” (un.org). Written on un.org, “In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed the right of everyone to adequate food. However, access to adequate food in the rural areas of many developing countries depends heavily on access to natural resources, including water, that are necessary to produce food” (un.org). Organizations can put out as many rights or support as they want, but they are sometimes just words and false hope. One person cannot make that much change without the support of larger organizations, but not all promises can be fulfilled. Sadly, with issues like these, there will not be a fix overnight, and there is not an efficient and fluid way to ensure that all people in the world are provided the necessary resources to survive. So, that is how this problem is so detrimental to the homeless community. As defined by un.org, food security is “existing when all people at all times have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary needs for a productive and healthy life” (un.org). So, obviously, the homeless community does not meet this status of food security for themselves and their families.

            A major problem strung within food and resource limitations is water pollution. From oneattatime.org they wrote, “Over 700 million people live without access to clean drinking water. … Children are especially vulnerable, as their weakened immune systems cannot withstand intense dehydration from diarrheal diseases” (oneattatime.org). This problem is straightforward in its impacts on this community, and not everyone can understand the pain and suffering the homeless community must endure every day without food and water. Sadly, it will take a while to completely remove food and water limitations for everyone in the world.

This problem affects this community in numerous ways, and sadly children and unhealthy individuals get hit the most. Homeless children already must go through everyday struggling not living in a home, but not having the proper resources necessary for survival are detrimental to them. As stated in the ncbi.nlm.nih.gov article, “Stereotypes about the homeless often mask the degree to which they differ from one another in income, shelter usage, social networks, and health status, all factors might affect their ability to achieve food security” (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Homeless families struggle a lot because there are more people to provide for than just a single person. There are many solutions that anyone around the world can do, and it will take one step at a time, but everyone’s small help towards this problem could one day maybe diminish this poverty issue.

A solution to the water pollution crisis is, “No more digging wells if there is a water source, no constructing sand filters, and no more purification chemicals” (oneattatime.org). Another solution to these food and water limitations is an increase in shelters for the homeless. Shelters provide a place for people to stay and mainly get necessities, such as meals, water, clothing, toiletries, etc. This is really the only chance these people get to some help in their lives. Food banks are another opportunity for homeless people to get food. Along with these shelters and food drives, donations are another key factor in helping because these organizations could not function as well, or at all, without donations and volunteers.

Sources:

https://oneattatime.org/why-water/?gclid=CjwKCAjw6dmSBhBkEiwA_W-EoM6oLVmufMye5ddbVPXLrghCp41Vc-_GquxcbgbFziKvqIhxXvlz9RoCZNQQAvD_BwE

https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/food_security.shtml

https://www.rmhumanservices.org/single-post/hunger-homelessness-7-ways-you-can-help

Expansion of the College Football Playoffs

              A very controversial topic in college football today is whether the college football playoffs should be expanded.  The first college football playoff games were played in 2014.  Before 2014 there were many bowl games played, but never a tournament style playoff to determine who the nation’s best football team was for that year.  The nation’s best football team is given a trophy that stands 26.5 inches tall and weighs thirty-five pounds.  The college football playoffs consist of four teams, and the games are played from late December through early January.  One main reason for the expansion would be to give more teams the opportunity to play for the national championship.  Overall, there has been 28 bids given out to the college football playoffs.  Of the twenty-eight bids, twenty of them have been held by Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Oklahoma.  Not to mention, there have only been 11 different teams competing in the playoffs since its inception in 2014. There are many different viewpoints that need to be considered when discussing the expansion of the football playoffs including the college football playoff committee, the schools, the coaches, and the players.

              The college football playoff committee (CFPC) would love to expand the playoffs to 12 or even 16 teams.  Their primary reason behind this opinion is due to the financial benefits that it would bring to the CFPC.  For example, ESPN signed a twelve-year, seven point three-million-dollar contract to cover the playoff games.  Currently there are three games being played.  If the tournament was expanded, then ESPN would have to pay even more money to the CFPC to cover the extra games.  The CFPC would also benefit by collecting more money for tickets and concessions.  The CFPC requires that the games are held at a neutral field to keep one team from having the home field advantage over the other.  So, adding more games would just mean more money for the CFPC.

              Next, you must look at the schools’ points of view. The schools themselves would like for the college football playoff committee to expand the college football playoffs, so that they will have a better opportunity to make it into the playoffs and potentially compete for a national championship. If you expand the playoffs, then there will be more conferences represented in the games.  The individual schools will also benefit financially if the playoffs are expanded.  Since the CFPC requires a neutral playing field, they pay each conference $2.63 million dollars to cover the costs of traveling and food.  Each conference also gets paid an extra 6 million dollars for each team that is selected into the playoffs.  The conferences then pass this money on to the schools actually participating in the playoffs.  Therefore, the schools would benefit from the prestige and financial gains of making the playoffs. 

              Thirdly, you must look at the coach’s perspective.  There are mixed feelings from the coaches about their viewpoints on expansion.  Some coaches love the idea of expanding the playoffs because their teams would have a better chance of making the playoffs.  Also, when their teams make it to the playoffs the coaches are given bonuses.  For example, Nick Saban’s maximum bonus is around 700,000 dollars.  This is roughly 10% of his 7-million-dollar contract.  Each year that Coach Saban makes it to the college football playoffs his max bonus is met for that year.  So the coaches stand to gain financially as well as the CFPC and the schools.  However, some coaches are against the expansion of the college football playoffs.  The main reason for this opinion is concerning the length of the season.  If they expand the playoffs, then the football season would be expanded as well.  Extending the season would delay the coaches starting recruitment for the next year.  This will give an advantage to the teams that do not make the playoffs, because they could get a head start on recruiting while the other schools are still finishing the season.  Lastly, coaches are worried that it would decrease the importance of the regular season, making mediocracy acceptable. Two things will come from this expansion:  1) it makes big games during the season less meaningful, and 2) two, three and four loss teams will be accepted into the playoffs.  Games such as the SEC championship, Alabama versus Miami, and Georgia versus Clemson would not be worth playing during the regular season. These games are played to increase a school’s strength of schedule and give them a better opportunity to make the 4 team roster for the playoffs.  The coaches remain divided on the expansion of the playoff system.

              Finally, you must take the player’s perspective into account.  The players are against the expansion of the playoffs simply because of what extending the season would entail.  Football players report in the summer for weight training and running and then start training camps in early August.  When the championship game is held in the beginning of January, these players have been playing football for roughly 7 months.  The wear and tear that football takes on your body is damaging to the athletes.  No college player should be asked to put their body through even more distress by extending the season.  Lastly, these athletes are also students.  They have responsibilities to their schoolwork as well as to their sport.  The expansion of the playoffs would mean more time taken away from their studies.

              I believe that the college football playoff committee should only expand the playoffs to six teams if they are determined to expand it.  This would increase the financial gains of the committee, the schools, and the coaches.  With this expansion, I would give the first and second place teams a bye for the first round as a reward for their accomplishments throughout the season.  This expansion would allow schools that are worthy of being in the playoffs but made a minor mistake during the season to have a chance at the National Championship.  This would also bring more money to the conferences, and ultimately give publicity to the schools that deserve it.  A bye week for the first and second place teams would keep the importance of regular season games high, if not raise it. Lastly, it would not push the season back drastically, only by a couple of weeks. This solution would take into consideration the desires of many who want to expand the playoffs while still protecting the players.

Cam McNearney

Dr. Jenkins

PS 101

April 14, 2022

Blog Post 3

The city of Kennesaw has always been known for its American history, historic downtown, and its safe and family friendly area. Kennesaw is a suburb that is in the neighboring county of Fulton County that many families move to for its safety and school districts. Fulton County is where the city of Atlanta is located, and it reaches many surrounding areas of Atlanta. The city of Atlanta is known for its high amount of crime. On the crime index, it is located at a “5” the crime index is on a scale from 1-100. With 100 being the safest, this means that Atlanta is only safer than 5% of the cities in the United States. It is well known that Atlanta is not the saftest city to be in, with this of a crime rate, residents are beginning to panic. Using the math provided by the crime index, that puts the rate of crime per 1,000 residents at 44.83. The police presence is in the inner city of Atlanta to try and hit it where it is occurring the most often, but this does not always prove effective. There are documented incidents in Atlanta where a group of criminals can break into more than 10 cars in one minute. This makes it almost impossible for police to stop. The Mayor of Atlanta is proposing $70 million dollar effort to try and reduce the crime rate and hire up to 300 more police officers.

            Just outside of the city, Kennesaw has always been a safer city to live in and very family friendly. With it being in the neighboring county of Atlanta, people love to reside there, being close to the city but also having a nice place to raise a family. Lately, the city of Kennesaw has been falling victim of Atlanta’s crime bleeding over. Kennesaw is currently put at 37 on the United States Crime Index. Even though 37 isn’t a bad number to be at on the scale, it is higher than has been in the past. The crime rate per 1,000 residents has now climbed to 16.20. Many families and students have found this change very unsettling because it has previously been known as a family friendly suburb. People from Kennesaw are speaking out against the rising crime rates and asking for legislation to be brought forth by their representatives. Recently a Kennesaw neighborhood computer store called “Computers R US” was robbed by a masked man who smashed his way into the store with a crowbar and stole thousands of dollars’ worth of computers and cell phones. Many locals have gone to the police in worry about more occurrences like this in the future. This makes Local residents scared for their own life and those of their children. Even though the crime rate is not extraordinarily high, its quick spike has put many members of the town on alert.

            Although the city of Atlanta has a crime rate that seems to extremely outweigh the crime rate in Kennesaw, there is still a correlation between the two. Atlanta’s crime rate has slowly increased over the past few years and so has Kennesaw’s. With Kennesaw only being in the neighboring county of Atlanta with cheaper living costs, People are expanding outside of the downtown area and making its way to the suburbs. As that seems great for the area to have an influx of residents, this has seemed to cause a negative effect on crime in Kennesaw. The crime has expanded its way out of just the inner city and has made its way to sub cities and we can see this occurring firsthand. There are multiple reasons why this might be occurring, but many residents believe it is due to the fact that many counties focus their police presence on the inner city of Atlanta, leaving surrounding suburbs vulnerable to crime.  While it is important to address the high crime rates in the city, city officials cannot allow it to continue to affect surrounding areas the way that it has been in the last few years. People have gotten tired of being pushed aside due to Atlanta’s large population.

Gentry Scott

Professor Jenkins

PS 101

April 14, 2022

Medical Marijuana

Many states have passed laws legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. Alabama has also passed a law, but it is unlikely that medical cannabis will legally be available in the state before 2023. Though the law has passed, steps must now be taken to accept and review applications for growing and distributing marijuana as well as finalizing guidelines. Once medical marijuana is available, it will be legal to treat medical conditions such as cancer, chronic pain, and PTSD among others. The traditional methods of consuming marijuana by smoking or baking it into food are prohibited by the law. Patients will be able to legally consume marijuana as gummies, patches, or tablets among other forms.  In addition to the rules outlined in the law, a patient would also have to be approved, registered, and pay an annual registration fee.   

This law also applies to minors under the age of 19 as long as they have a designated caregiver who is authorized to buy and administer the drug. This portion of the law draws both support and opposition.  There is also disapproval of the law because recreational use in the state is already an issue and a threat to public safety. To counter these concerns, legislators have included substantial consequences as part of the law. There is also concern that those who have been approved for medical marijuana use will resell the cannabis. Though, this could happen much like marijuana is distributed today, it is considered a felony and punishable by jail time. It is hopeful this would be a deterrent to such acts. Additionally, even though there are max daily dosages allowed by the law, it is a concern that those with chronic pain may take more than the allotted dosage.

Another concern is how the use of medical marijuana affects employee and employer rights. An employer does not have to allow the use of medical marijuana and can refuse to hire someone or even terminate someone using the drug. Employers can also implement drug testing policies against medical marijuana. On the flip side, employees may choose not to notify their employer if they begin using marijuana legally. An employer may not find out about marijuana use unless they implement a policy that requires the employee to disclose the information if a random drug test reveals the drug. In the workplace, the employer is better protected from recourse than the employee.

Those who support medical marijuana site benefits such as stimulating appetite for patients with eating disorders or conditions like HIV or cancer. It is also effective in relieving nausea as created by chemotherapy.  Cannabis can also relieve pain and muscle tightness. There are also arguments marijuana is less addictive than prescription pain killers.  Marijuana is also a natural medicinal plant.

Some of the arguments by those who oppose the legalization and use of marijuana include the potential for abuse and addiction. Marijuana also impairs driving skills and potentially increases the risk of wrecks. It is also reported that marijuana impairs short term memory and thinking. Also, though medical marijuana may assist with the treatment of some diseases, it may also introduce additional medical problems such as lung damage if smoked. However, this concern is not a concern covered by the law as smoking marijuana is not an approved method for medical marijuana. A portion of the population has difficulty in transitioning the use of marijuana from recreational use to being a prescribed drug. There are also recovering addicts who cannot risk the use of any recreational drug – even if for medical purposes.

Legalized marijuana use is still relatively new so there is limited data on the effectiveness of its use. Studies should be ongoing so that laws governing legal marijuana use can be updated and enhanced as research is conducted. Research is also needed to determine if there are other conditions that can be effectively treated by marijuana use. Those who are approved for medical marijuana should be diligent in using the cannabis as intended without abuse, carelessness, or redistribution. Users should be mindful of not driving while they are impaired.  Like any medical treatment, the patient must be comfortable with the treatment plan and be involved in determining if medical marijuana use is the correct treatment for themselves. Regardless of the guidelines defined in the law, there is no fail proof way to make sure each person uses medical marijuana responsibly, however, the law is a good faith effort to provide an alternate form of treatment for patients who what to partake in medical marijuana will balancing the concerns of citizens who do not support the treatment method.

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2021/10/15/medical-marijuana-unlikely-available-alabama-before-2023/8458708002/ 

https://wbhm.org/2021/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-alabamas-new-medical-marijuana-law/

Lucy Thompson

PS101 – Dr. Jenkins

4/14/22

Blog Post 3

            One of the most controversial and political topics that surround women is the reproductive right to abortion. I will not disclose my personal opinion on whether I think women should have abortions. Roe v. Wade was a groundbreaking supreme court case that ruled in 1973 that abortion was legal. During the 1960s women were standing up for their reproductive rights and 11 states had allowed women to access abortions (Planned Parenthood). Even before abortion was legalized by states and the supreme court women were still having them by means of performing one themselves, illegally having one by a medical professional, or traveling out of the country to have one. This is to say that just because it became legal does not mean abortions were not being performed. However, there are people that are strongly against abortion and strongly in support of abortion. Even though abortion is legal, there are attempts by individual states to have restrictions placed on abortion. This can be anything from a time restriction on when the fetus must be terminated, the medical procedure itself, or the waiting time a patient is required to have to make sure they are comfortable in their decision, etc.

            Abortion heavily affects the female community in several different ways. Most obviously, women are the group physically affected because biologically they are the ones that carry the fetus. Women are the ones affected when states put restrictions on abortions. For example, “In 2021, Texas, Idaho, Oklahoma, and South Carolina passed bills prohibiting abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected. Each of these bills declare that the health care professional that performs an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, except in cases when the mother’s life or health is endangered or in cases of rape or incest, must face a fine and/or jail time” (USA Facts). If a woman in these states wanted an abortion she could be denied because there was a heartbeat detected. This is explicitly denying women of their reproductive rights. Women are also affected by public slander if they are found to have had or are about to have an abortion. This past month a Texas woman was arrested for murder because she self-induced an abortion (WBRZ News). While the charges have since been dropped, this Texas woman has faced extreme slander and her name is forever tarnished. Women not only are directly affected by abortion rights biologically, but they are subject to state regulations and slander.

            Abortion has several different perspectives surrounding it. Politically the stereotype is that liberals are in favor of it and conservators are against it. But that is obviously not completely true. There are those that believe women should have reproductive rights including the right to have an abortion. There are those that think abortions are moral until the fetus has physically developed a certain amount (it has a heartbeat, eyes, ears, hands, feet). There are some that think abortion is immoral no matter what the circumstances are, and the woman should carry the child full-term. There are also those that think abortion is not necessary because adoption is an option. Some, if not most, people are unsure of what they think. They are in the “grey” and cannot make abortion a black and white topic. There are arguments that abortion is moral if the woman was a victim of rape or incest. There are also arguments that every fetus should have a chance to live no matter how they were conceived. There are lawmakers that want to increase state regulations to make access to abortions harder, there are those that also want to make access easier. Overall, there are so many different perspectives on abortion to me it is just one of those topics that everyone must decide for themselves what they believe. But one thing is still true: women are heavily impacted.

            If I were to offer up an evidence-based solution for abortion, I would have several proposals. I will start off by saying that I believe there is no one solution that will make everyone content, so I will offer several. In favor of abortion: I would propose that abortion be a nationwide regulated practice and not leave it up to the states. It would be legal, and women could have easy access. In opposition to abortion: I would say that the Supreme Court can overturn Roe v. Wade and then abortions, at least legal ones, would not be permitted. For an approach that is neither for nor against abortion: I would say to allow it to be legal and allow states to regulate it and not be allowed to ban it. I think the best solutions are ones that have legal power behind them as in changing or enforcing federal and state laws. My evidence for these is that what laws states and the nation pass must be followed. I think that laws are the most powerful tool to be used regarding abortion. I think because abortion is such a controversial topic, we must leave it up to the government.

Sources:

https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/abortion-central-history-reproductive-health-care-america#:~:text=The%201960s%20gave%20rise%20to,Wade%20case.

https://usafacts.org/articles/states-passed-a-record-number-of-restrictive-abortion-laws-in-2021/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ND-Healthcare&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjN-SBhCkARIsACsrBz5P4WtAZEpbqE4zTiWwaRVnFVE9yGWDxlkvT1unwu8LC--4o5cvxE0aAng3EALw_wcB

https://www.wbrz.com/news/woman-faces-texas-murder-charge-after-self-induced-abortion/

Alex Sprague 

Dr. Jenkins

PS 101

14 April 2022

Blog Post 3 

An issue that affects the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community is hearing loss. It may seem obvious, but losing one’s ability to hear or being born deaf can lead to several problems. In a study conducted by Jamie Enoch, a survey was conducted, and participants ranked hearing as the second most important sense, inferior to sight (1). “Hearing is essential for maintaining relationships and connections with friends and family, fully participating in team and community activities, and experiencing life events” (Wallace 2). As mentioned by Dr. Wallace, hearing connects people. It allows someone to truly experience essential moments in one’s life, such as the laugh of their significant other, the heartbeat of their unborn child, or the melody of their favorite song. These moments may seem insignificant to most, but once someone is placed where they cannot experience them, they would do anything to hear that moment. 

Hearing loss is associated with effects on the mental health of individuals. Especially with people born Deaf have struggled more with mental health disorders than those who are hearing. An article titled “Deaf People Have More Mental Health Problems, Less Access to Care” states: “Deaf people are about twice as likely to have mental health problems as people in the general population” (Preidt 3). Not having the ability to hear increases the odds of having mental health issues because people cannot effectively communicate with others which can lead to frustration and isolation. This can lead to individuals not building meaningful relationships with people because they find it too difficult. Isolating oneself can potentially lead to a higher risk of depression or anxiety. An article written by Tulane University’s school of medicine states: “Socially isolated people may lack friends or close coworkers, and they often feel lonely or depressed. They can suffer from low self-esteem or anxiety” (5). The pandemic has led to more people socially isolating themselves, including the Deaf community, which could have been why the percentage of mental health issues among those with hearing loss has been higher. 

The multiple perspectives that will be discussed involve people who lost their hearing at different stages of their life and how their mental health was affected by it. Starting with hearing loss in children, including individuals born Deaf, an article titled “The Psychology of Hearing Loss” discusses how hearing loss affects both children and adults. The author states: “Behavioral problems are often cited in the literature on children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing… such as hyperactivity or aggression can be the outward expression of internal difficulties—such as depression, anxiety, and learning disorders” (Kaland 7). Not being able to communicate at a young age efficiently is shown to lead to behavioral problems which develop because children are encountering issues with their mental health and are unable to express their feelings. For adults it can be a very similar reaction, Kaland states: “Late-deafened adults often report that their hearing loss robs them of an understanding of their identity and often initiates an identity crisis. They may manifest a “reactive” depression and/or anxiety in response to a typically external situation” (7). When someone is growing up they try to plan their whole life out, but many individuals do not know who they are until late adulthood. This is why individuals who lose hearing later on in life have an identity crisis because people learn a lot from listening to others. People take the ability to hear for granted until it is taken away from them. Lastly, in the elderly population there was a study conducted to measure their mental health after losing their hearing at an older age. This study stated: “People with hearing loss are less satisfied with their “life as a whole” than people without hearing loss” (Ciorba 6). Even individuals who have been able to hear their whole life still struggle with depression and as mentioned not as satisfied with life. It is a very sad reality, but hearing loss can cause serious issues at any age.

A possible solution would be to encourage individuals to take American Sign Language as a foreign language in school so if later down the road they lose their hearing or encounter a Deaf individual they know how to communicate. The communication barriers between the hearing community and the Deaf and hard of hearing community has led to many to isolate themselves, which as mentioned above leads to an increase in mental health issues. Introducing ASL into school can benefit many hearing individuals such as, “ASL leads to higher reading levels in kids, Native ASL signers have incredible spatial reasoning, and ASL brings long-term cognitive benefits” (GoReact 8). There are many more positives when it comes to learning ASL as a hearing individual and it also will help break down communication barriers with the Deaf community so they do not feel as isolated. Another possible solution is to encourage people with hearing loss to invest in cochlear implants. This solution can be costly since they can range between $30,000 to $50,000 (CareCredit 9). However, this is a great investment for children who suffer from severe hearing loss of deafness because “a cochlear implant bypasses damaged portions of the ear to deliver sound signals to the hearing (auditory) nerve” (Mayo Clinic Staff 10). For individuals that choose not to learn ASL and want to be able to communicate normally through speech and listening then a cochlear implant is the route to go. It can be very beneficial because it allows the Deaf individual and their family to not have to make as many accommodations and they will be able to go to mainstream school without the need for an interpreter. 

Sources

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6777262/

2. https://hearing.health.mil/Prevention/Importance-of-Hearing

3. https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=156065

4. https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2004/09000/Moderate_Effects_of_Hearing_Loss_on_Mental_Health.24.aspx

5. https://publichealth.tulane.edu/blog/effects-of-social-isolation-on-mental-health/

6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3393360/

7. https://leader.pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/leader.FTR1.07052002.4

8. https://get.goreact.com/resources/scientific-reasons-why-everyone-should-learn-asl/

9. https://www.carecredit.com/well-u/health-wellness/cochlear-implant-cost-and-cochlear-implant-financing/

10. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cochlear-implants/about/pac-20385021

Thomas Caleb Pruett

4/14/2022

PS. 101 Prof. Jenkins

Blog Post #3

Flaws in the Rules of Soccer

There are many problems facing the world soccer community as a whole that are seemingly inevitable. Other issues that the sport faces are unavoidable because they are just the inherited nature of such a competitive game. It is human nature to be competitive and win at any cost necessary. Just like any other sport, game, or even government, some rules and laws must be followed to make the sport work smoothly and fairly, well at least that is the goal. Soccer is no different than any other sport in the sense that there are rules to play, some stricter and more enforced than others. The first known origins of soccer are present as early as the 2nd and 3rd centuries found in a Chinese military manual, but since then the sport has evolved tremendously. The beginning of modern soccer as we know it is credited to have begun in England around 1863. The English were the first to have written a formal rule book that consists of detailed rules to how the game is to be played and officiated. At its base, soccer is a simple sport consisting of a large field with a goal at each end. Each team has 11 players whose job is to not only manipulate the ball into the goal of the opposition but also to keep the ball out of their own goal. The basic rules within the game were somewhat vague but as time has gone on have adapted to be far more intricate and detailed. As mentioned earlier, the goal of implementing these rules is to make the game fair and smooth, however, because of how widespread and old the sport is the rules have become heavily debated. Causing issues worldwide concerning rules like, simulation (flopping), handball fouls, and most recently the addition of VAR (Video Assistant Referee).

           Flopping, or as listed in the rule book, simulation, is when a player over exaggerates contact from a defender to draw a penalty from the referee. "Simulation" was never a problem in the sport up until its emergence in the early 2000s. Since then, "simulation" has become more prevalent in all levels of the sport from youth soccer to professional. Granted this is a smart tactical way to gain an advantage over the opponent but does not take away from the fact that "simulation" is a form of cheating. Players and teams across the globe have realized this tactic and, in some cases, encourage it by teaching players how to “draw a foul”. Referee organizations have caught on to this as well and implemented what is known as the “simulation rule”. This rule states that “attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled” will be sanctioned as unsporting behavior which is misconduct punishable by a yellow card. Here is where the real controversy arises. Often referees do not use this rule and let the offense slide by so to speak, despite the recent efforts to mitigate the issue at large. As a result of this, big games in major leagues and national tournaments have come down to instances of simulation on which the game outcome depended on. For example, in a world cup match between Mexico and Netherlands, a Netherlands player later admitted to flopping to win a penalty which resulted in the Netherlands winning and eliminating Mexico from the world cup.

           The handball rule should be simple, if the ball comes in contact with a player's hand, then the opposing team is awarded a foul. However, this is not the case and much like other rules the handball rule has evolved and sparked much controversy in the soccer community. The rule itself is quite confusing and hard to understand for most players: “if a player deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball; touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger”. The big point of debate is what is meant by “when it has made their body their body unnaturally bigger”. Because of this vague description which is largely left up to the interpretation of the referee, many faulty calls have been made at all levels of competitive soccer. People around the world are calling for a re-write of the rule into something more straightforward and understandable.

           Finally, is the addition of VAR to professional leagues and international competitions. VAR stands for Video Assistant Referee, and it does exactly what it sounds like. VAR is used as a tool for referees when a decision is not clear in real-time the referee will review it on a small screen kept on standby and decide that way. Although this may seem like a great addition to the sport, soccer fans around the world claim that the addition of VAR slows down the game for the refs to make decisions and that some incidents are too subjective. However, the addition of VAR was ultimately inevitable based on how much technology is growing in the sports world and will only continue to evolve and better itself. As you can see, there are many topics of debate and flaws within the soccer rule system like simulation, handball, and VAR. At the end of the day, the controversy surrounding rules is unavoidable but is minimizable and should be looked at in more detail by individuals in the power of rulemaking and soccer organizations around the world.

Maddi Stewart

PS 101

Blog Post #3

14 April 2022

Blog Post #3

            There have been many controversies pertaining to certain athletes during the history of sports, however, transgenders (male-to-female) integrating into women’s sports happens to be one of the most recent controversies. There are many different opinions when it comes to this issue. Questions such as “Is it fair to biological females to allow a transgender female to compete in women’s sports when it is proven that biological males have a more physical advantage?” or “Do we risk not being inclusive of transgender females if we prevent them from competing in women’s sports?” are raised when discussing this topic. Currently, one of the most well-known transgender female athletes is Lia Thomas. Lia Thomas began attending the University of Pennsylvania in 2017 as well as swimming on their men’s team. A couple years later in 2019, Thomas began using hormone replacement therapy and eventually came out, publicly, as a transgender female. She remained swimming on the men’s team while she underwent the medical change, but then in the 2021-2022 season, she was able to compete on the women’s team. Just recently in March, Lia Thomas became a Division I national champion and “the first known transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship in any sport.” (Barnes, 2022).

            For the transgender community, this inclusiveness is a huge step in the right direction, however, for the athlete’s community, especially female athletes, this could cause a major setback. It has been proven, scientifically, that biological males are at a greater physical advantage than biological females. They are usually taller, have more muscle mass, more bone mass, and have longer limbs. When a biological man transforms into a woman, those physical characteristics don’t necessarily just go away. Therefore, by allowing transgender females to compete in women’s sports puts biological females at a disadvantage because they are having to compete against biological males who have that physical advantage. I am sure it can be extremely frustrating for these biological female athletes who have worked so hard to compete only to lose to someone who was once a biological male. What could end up happening to women’s sports is that they could go away for good. Allowing transgender male-to-female athletes compete in women’s sports could end up pushing out the best biological female athletes; this could potentially turn other female athletes away from ever competing which is why women’s sports could go away.

            When it comes to perspectives on this issue, the opinions are varied. A New York Times article states that one group wants inclusion, while another group wants fairness and safety (Brassil and Longman, 2020). Transgender athletes want the ability to compete in their respective sport, such as Lia Thomas wanting to compete on the women’s swim team because she now identifies as a female. Yet, biological women want to be able to compete in their sport and have a fair competition because they have trained hard to get where they are. People that are fighting against transgender females from entering women’s sports are trying to keep an even playing field. In the past, it has been difficult trying to get women’s sports on the same playing field as men’s sports, but now that we have, those people are trying to prevent a transgender, who was once a biological man, from changing the way women’s sports have become. Going back to the example of Lia Thomas, some of her teammates have no issue with her transformation outside of the swim team, in fact, many support her, however, some of them don’t believe it is fair to let her compete. 

            Unfortunately, there has not been any resolution that has been found and this issue is still ongoing. If the majority of people want this issue to change, they are going to have to make their voices heard and fight for that change. However, that still does not help the inclusivity of the transgender athletes. The solution for this issue needs to create fairness for all athletes, whether you are a biological female, biological male, or a transgender. I believe one potential solution that creates fairness for every athlete would be to create other areas of competition. For instance, biological men and women can still compete in their respective categories, but there can be another category of competition where anyone else can compete in. This would help prevent transgender male-to-females from putting the other biological women at disadvantage if they were to compete in their category. Having another category also allows for others to be included in sports without having to make a choice between the men and women categories. 

Works Cited

Barnes, K., 2022. Thomas first transgender athlete to win D-I title. [online] ESPN.com. Available at: https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/33529775/amid-protests-pennsylvania-swimmer-lia-thomas-becomes-first-known-transgender-athlete-win-division-national-championship [Accessed 14 April 2022].

Brassil, G. and Longman, J., 2020. Who Should Compete in Women’s Sports? There Are ‘Two Almost Irreconcilable Positions’ (Published 2020). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/sports/transgender-athletes-womens-sports-idaho.html [Accessed 14 April 2022].

Ending the use of Native American Mascots

  Throughout history, Native Americans have been portrayed in a derogatory manner on television, in books, and using their image as mascots. Native American mascots appeared in the 1960s and have continued ever since. In recent years, there has been public controversy on the topics in the United States and Canada. Indigenous civil rights movements have sparked Native Americans and their supporters to stand up to fight this harmful stereotype. In history, European Americans have adopted the practice of “playing Indian”. This stereotype dates back to the nineteenth century. Organizations such as the Improved Order of Red Man and Boy Scouts of America are founded by non-Native individuals. People use traditional views of Indigenous people for fun and games but are completely ignoring the conquest of the Native people. 

Since the colonization of North America, the native people have suffered from misconceptions and caricatures. In American sports, the NFL adopted Washington’s football team as the ‘Redskins’ and the Kansas City Chiefs. These two are just a few of the many Native American mascots that exist in the United States. The media has portrayed the people as “savages”. The mascots are portrayed with red skin tones and the persona of a brave warrior. The other side of the argument feels that the teams and schools with Native mascots are honoring the people. They assume that there is no negative stereotyping due to the fighting spirit and bravery shown in the mascot. Many feel that this still portrays a savage representation of only seeing the Native people in a violent light. Even if the portrayals are meant with respect, this creates a one-dimensional view of a whole race and culture of people. The other side sees this issue as not important enough for global attention and nothing more than a problem for ‘sensitive-minded people’. The only people who have a say in this matter are the Native Americans. Many do not see the deeper effects than a costume. It spreads miseducation, harmful stereotypes, and prejudice that all contribute to other problems faced by the Native people.

 Many secondary schools have removed the Native American mascot. More changes took place in 2020 due to people opening their eyes to institutionalized racism. As mentioned NFL teams such as the Washington Commanders were once named the Washington Redskins. Teams like this one and the Cleveland Guardians (formally the Cleveland Indians) were changed in 2020 and 2021. The NCAI and over one thousand five hundred national Native organizations have called for the end of Native imagery and other appropriations to be banned in sports. The letter included the disapproval from one hundred led Native organizations, tribal leaders and members from over one hundred and fifty federally recognized tribes. Schools across North America have changed their mascots especially since seeing professional teams replace theirs, but this does not mean every school will change. The National Congress of American Indians says 1,900 schools in 1,025 school districts still have caricature tribal mascots. 

The Native people face serious repercussions from the inaccurate representations. Social science research has shown that stereotypes in mascots and media are symbols that have deeper psychological and social effects in society. The American Psychological Association issued a resolution “Recommending the Immediate Retirement of American Indian Mascots, Symbols, Images, and Personalities by Schools, Colleges, Universities, Athletic Teams, and Organizations” due to the negative environment and the effects on the self-esteem of Native children and discrimination issues. Social science has also taught the public that stereotyping can also affect academic performance, suicide unemployment, and poverty. The issue at hand is more than a costume, it directly affects the livelihoods of the people who it is supposed to ‘honor’.

There is an easy fix to the issue of inaccurate Native American representation in the media. All sports teams, schools, etc. that have a Native mascot need to have it changed immediately. It is 2022, racial injustice does not need to be swept under the rug any longer. The removal of a few stereotyped mascots is not enough. From local schools to national sports teams, every single one needs to be changed. A mascot should not be a race, culture, religion, etc. No one should feel that their heritage is for purely entertainment purposes. Native American voices have been silenced for so long that many do not even consider their opinions on issues. Society needs to honor the original founders of our country and raise and uplift their voices without disrespecting their culture.

Sources

Ending the Era of Harmful “Indian” Mascots | NCAIhttps://www.ncai.org › proudtobe

Native American mascots, names, chants: More offensive than ...https://news.umich.edu › native-american-mascots-nam…

American Indian Mascots - American Psychological Associationhttps://www.apa.org › oema › resources › indian-mascots

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_mascot_controversy

Brandon McNeal

Professor Jenkins

Intro to Government and Politics

4/13/22

Blog Post 3

As you would recall, in the first blog post I talked the overall problem of money being a major problem in division III nationwide. There are only a few division III colleges in the United States that have comfortable funds. In the second blog post, I talked about how the scenery and the college experience of a small school division III student can be the same or even better than a large, well-known, state school student’s experience. With that said, since money is not that common in division III schools, in order to accomplish that goal, the school must be creative. Which leads to problem #3: there is not enough money, time, or effort that is put into the commitment of making Division III sports the best experience possible in the top-level of each college. Like I said before, money is hard to come by in division III, and it is rare for a Division-III school to have plenty of money. The D-III colleges that have plenty of money are established universities that thrive in if not all their sports, most of them. There are even less colleges that distribute much money to their own sport programs, because they deem it as not essential and look passed it.

They really should care about care about sports much more, because sports, especially the more popular ones, (Football, Basketball, Baseball, Track, and Soccer), will drive in a lot more money. They would rather put their money towards academics, theater, or something everyone on campus can enjoy. I think this is a huge misconception not only in division-III sports but every college in America that is known for having highly respected academics. According GMTM, “Game time”, says that most division III colleges are private liberal arts institutions, or they at least offer programs with an emphasis on arts and sciences. Why is this important? This is important, because this means that not only is specific arts and sciences emphasized, but academics is why students attend those schools.

When attending a prestigious institution like Birmingham-Southern College, it is understood that they are well-known for their Liberal arts education. A school like BSC also allows and offers massive opportunities later in life after graduation. Birmingham Southern is so highly respected in the workplace, because it is a liberal arts college. With that, liberal arts schools are so highly respected, because employers understand what it takes to not only earn a diploma at one of those prestigious colleges but to also thrive there. They understand that most students at these colleges usually play a sport, there are massive workloads, and the classes are simply overall more difficult than a state school, such as Alabama, Ole Miss, or even Auburn. These colleges aren’t as highly respected as Ivy league schools, but they are certainly close. They are much more respected than the state schools, even some would say liberal arts colleges are more respected by employers than the Vanderbilts and the Dukes of the world.

With all that being said, that is great. It is great for a school to be respected in their academics and that it later opens jobs post-graduation. Although, back to the problem, there is no funding given to the sports. Part of the problem is the budget can be strict due to not having as much money as the University of Alabama or Auburn University. Therefore, knowing that the budget will not be as free flowing as the state schools are, there should be boundaries. I am not saying that all the money should not be given to the sports programs, because like I said before the academics plays a gigantic role at every school. At the same time, there should be a balance between the two. I feel that all of the sports don’t give the love they deserve at a smaller college, because it’s almost like the institution spends all the money on what they feel is necessary, then they use all the “leftover” money. I felt is was especially bad during the pandemic. The funds were down at it showed and the amount of gear we were able to receive that year. Then, when a team wins, or the college has extra money for whatever reason, they’ll get one big treat, such as some sort of renovation. Following the treat, its back to the usual ways of the sad truth of a constricting budget at the Division-III level.

With the main complaint of poor budgeting for sports at the D-III level established, what are some ways we could fix this? Well, in my eyes the best ways to fix this would be generate more money somehow. This goes back to blog post 1, we could lower tuition and go that route, or keep everything the way it is and generate money through donations and or fundraisers. We do fundraisers on the football team, and the one we did this year was a huge success. Odds are the school isn’t going to change how they runs things. Therefore, the best way would through the old-fashion way of donations and fundraisers. There are plenty of wealthy, prideful, Birmingham-Southern alumni that I have seen and talked to. I feel like if we would push for a better effort in each sport or as a whole college, we could get some legit funds through donations and fundraisers.

The use of fake news in the Ukraine War has been rampant since the beginning of the conflict and has provided some interesting insight into the future role the internet and more importantly social media will play in future conflicts. Sun Tzu is quoted as saying “warfare is the art of deception”, and it is this aspect of warfare the Russians have mastered with their massive “troll farms” on social media whose sole purpose is to complicate issues by spewing mass amounts of inflammatory misinformation to spread discourse and arguments amongst people, wasting time that they could spend formulating a response to whatever is happening. This method of Russian fake news has seen prevalent use long before the Ukrainian War with speculation and ongoing investigation into coordinated Russian efforts to spread false information as part of a larger alleged attempt to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. These bot farms or web brigades are state-sponsored teams of people who are given specific instructions on what pro-Russian narrative to spin. In the past, these Web Brigades primarily waited on message boards and other discussion cites and would wait for something negative to be said about a Russian leader or criticize an action undertaken by the Russian Federation, but the war in Ukraine has seen the focus of these trolls in demonizing the Ukrainian people, falsifying Russian casualty numbers and “debunking” Ukrainian military successes. At the start of the war, the Russians were claiming many false things about Ukraine to justify their “incursion” into the country. The largest of these claims was that the military operation in Ukraine was to “de-nazify” the country and that Ukraine was not properly liberated during World War two and that they must liberate the people of Ukraine from the Nazis. This more recently has taken a far darker turn with this false claim of widespread fascism in Ukraine is now being used to justify the war crimes it’s committed against civilians and more worrying still are multiple reports made by these bots that are suggesting that it might be necessary for ethnic cleansing to occur to properly guarantee total de-Nazification. This is especially worrying since they made these statements weeks before the missile attacks targeting a train station and a children’s hospital which could show that they are acting on these claims they put out about every Ukrainian being “tainted by fascism” and needing to be destroyed because of it. They also in turn immediately call fake news the second these events are reported they are decried as being fake news in a gross display of hypocrisy.

The second topic that these bot farms like to argue is against any proof that the Ukrainian military is successfully inflicting losses on Russian troops. Early on this began by denying the reported casualty figures being inflicted on the Russian forces by saying they were just NATO lies and maintaining that casualties were In the low hundreds at best, when in fact by the second week of fighting liberal estimates for the Russian army were upwards to 10,000 as of now estimates places this number more closely to 15,000. It was important to the Russian disinformation program that the casualty reports low to confuse and demoralize the Ukrainian defenders by sowing distrust with any provided number and demoralizing them by making it seem like the war is going worse than it is. This fake news is also important to feed to the Russian people, so they don’t become war-weary too quickly which would be exasperated reports of lots of Russian soldiers dying in an already unpopular war. This has proven challenging to do however because the internet has been filled with images of burned-out tanks and dead Russian soldiers, but this hasn’t stopped the troll farms from instantly “debunking” them by claiming it's photoshopped or a video clip pulled from a video game. This was most famously seen with the treatment of the Ghost of Kyiv, who is a Ukrainian fighter piolet who has become famous internationally for shooting down many Russian jets within a short period of the war. The Russians soon became nervous about the moral impact his story was having on both sides and began looking for any way to discredit his story. This was attempted by claiming all footage of the Ghost came from a video game and then claiming that he had been shot down and killed but all were soon disproven. However, this leads to the Ukrainian role in spreading fake news, with speculation as to whether the Ghost of Kyiv is an invention by the Ukrainian armed forces or not. Creating a false hero to rally behind is not an unheard-of thing in war and can give the people of a warring nation the rallying cry needed to continue a desperate defense, which very well might be the case with the Ghost of Kyiv. This continues using Tik Tok by the Ukrainian armed forces, which have recently utilized the popular media platform to bring awareness to their struggle and hopefully keep national attention on the conflict which could mean the world is different when it comes to foreign aid which has proven vital to the defense of the nation.

In closing the prevalence of fake news being produced surrounding the Ukrainian war has created a sort of conundrum, despite living in the age of information it is almost impossible to access anything without vigorous scrutiny first. The Russian government has long been mastering this form of information suppression by permeating the spaces with fake news believable enough to cause doubt or disbelief in other sources.  

Cade Robinson

PS101

Dr. Jenkins

April 14,2022

Student Athletes Mental Health

According to the American College of Sports Medicine 30% of female student athletes and 25% of male student athletes have anxiety. For most student athletes this anxiety stems from all the pressure and things going on in their lives. They can be anxious for a big game coming up, or a big test. This stems from the fact that they have a lot going on. They have class, homework, studying, games, practice, film, and workouts to focus on which can take time away from one another. This can lead to student athletes feeling unprepared for their upcoming events leading to anxiety. Some other mental health problems student athletes face are becoming burnt out, depression, and substance abuse disorders. Becoming burnt out happens to most students and athletes towards the end of the semester/ season, but is exponentially worse for student athletes in season. A lot of times they become burnt out earlier and become more burnt out. This can lead to grades dropping and their on field play not being as good. Depression also can affect student athletes a lot, they can become depressed from potentially failing a class, getting injured, losing a game, or under performing. Most student athletes will face depression during their career. Substance abuse is also bad among student athletes. They can abuse things as simple as caffeine, Advil, painkillers, or majuana. A lot of student athletes rely way too heavily on substances that can be unhealthy. These are just some of the mental disorders student athletes face, and there's just too many reasons/things to be able to focus on in one essay, so these are some of the ones I will be talking about.

These mental disorders affect the student athlete community in a major way. It affects their school performance, athletic performance, health, and even their future. These mental disorders can lead to under performance in the classroom, and not going to class. When burned out or depressed you may choose to skip class, or not do work because you don’t feel like doing it. Anxiety can make you do worse on tests due to you being so worried that you second guess your answers, and substance abuse can lead to lack of focus in the classroom. Athletically these mental health issues can also affect you, they can make you underperform at practice and games. Anxiety can make you hit a slump which negatively affects your play. Becoming burnt out can lead to you not paying attention at practice, and not practicing hard which can negatively affect your performance. Substance abuse can cause many different problems when playing, and can be very dangerous. Health wise many of the mental problems faced can negatively affect you. One big one is substance abuse. Caffeine addictions are unhealthy and can cause many future problems, along with painkillers. Your future can be greatly affected by these mental problems. You can develop unhealthy addictions that can lead to diseases and potentially premature death. Becoming depressed or burnt out could cause you to drop out of college, quit your sport, or even in extreme cases suiside. These could all negatively affect your future life, or end your life earlier than what it was supposed to. 

These mental issues student athletes face can affect everyone around them. Depression and becoming burnt out can affect their coach. A lot of coaches see their athletes like their kids or family, so watching their athletes become depressed can be very concerning for coaches and can negatively affect a coach too. Coaches tend to feed off of their teams energy, so if their whole team is down the coach might become down too. If depression becomes bad enough that kids start quitting their sports, it could also end up getting the coach fired or making the coach question if he is coaching right. This could lead to the coach becoming depressed. Teachers are also negatively affected by the student athletes dealing with mental health issues due to the fact most of the time student athletes neglect the student part of their role when facing these issues. Most affected by student athletes' mental problems are their friends. When going through something like depression it may cause you to become a worse friend, or not around at all. Their friends can get lashed out on for no reason if it has been a rough day for the student athlete. Substance abuse issues can also cause their friends to start worrying about the student athlete they are friends with, which may take away from something else going on in their friends life. Their friends may start trying to help the student athlete, which they may not like which could cause fights and arguments. This could potentially lead to loss of friends. These mental disorders affect almost everyone involved in a student athlete's life. 

There is no true way to stop student athletes from developing mental disorders, but there are ways to help. Mental health days might help give student athletes some time to decompress, or get extra work done so they are less anxious. A way to maybe help athletes not become burnt out is to have a day off once a week, or to have a fun practice every once and a while. To help with depression you could let athletes know some of the programs and things that most colleges have to help work through it. Substance abuse can be watched over and talked about by trainers. Trainers could explain how taking 10 Ibuprofen a day every day can be very bad for you, or how drinking energy drinks/preworkout every day can negatively affect your body. Most of these mental illnesses that student athletes face can be challenging due to the fact part of it is the student athlete being able to step up and ask for help, or recognising they have a problem. Most colleges have counselors and different eminitys for people to use to help their mental health, but they are not widely known so people don’t use them. Overall the best way to help student athletes face mental disorders is to educate them.

Sources

News, Chicom. “American College of Sports Medicine Issues Statement on Mental Health Challenges for Athletes #Auspol #Chinesenews.” Chinese News Feed Aggregator, 28 Aug. 2021, https://chicomnews.org/2021/08/28/american-college-of-sports-medicine-issues-statement-on-mental-health-challenges-for-athletes-auspol-chinesenews/. 

Garrett Thrash

4/12/2022

PS 101

Dr. Jenkins

Blog Post #3

            In the small town I grew up in, the population barely topped one thousand people. In a town like that one would think that growth would be at the forefront of everyone’s mind to make the community better for everyone; however, not everyone looks forward to the economic and social growth of the town. The members of the community who have a derogatory feeling towards growth of the town were exposed during a town council meeting a few weeks ago, but this time they had much more support behind them. The town council brought forth the preposition of rezoning a complex owned by one of its citizens, Mr. Chad Williamson,  from agricultural to a commercial lot to build a 200-unit apartment complex known as the R3 development plan. The name of the complex proves slightly problematic once members of the community were informed of its meaning and the controversy it would cause. The zoning of a commercial lot as an “R3” lot deems that he future plans for the lot must include “multi-family” housing. This would lead over 440 people introduced to the city, but the key controversial subject in the ordeal was the type of people multi-family housing bring into a community. Traditionally, these apartments are known for housing poor, uneducated, low-income families due to the cheap rent created by housing multiple families and allowing them to share a unit.

            Believe it or not, the largest outcry of disproval stemmed from the teachers at the local school system. They were adamantly expressing their beliefs that this zoning would bring in lower-income families, which would be detrimental to the towns’ welfare as well as their own. As one would expect, this created an outrage on social media platforms since teachers were blatantly stating their negative, classist opinions on low-income homes; however, they might have had a point. Although it may be immoral and unethical to shut down a project to reject a certain part of the population from moving into town, the teachers were voicing this opinion to save their jobs and already detrimentally low salary. Teachers in our area already struggle with low-test scores due to low funding, which would receive even more cuts if the state testing scores dropped below certain levels. Once the test scores dropped and funding was cut, most of the teachers would receive a pink slip, which is the state or counties way of “nicely” asking the teacher to find another job because they are fired from their current one. On the other hand, many of the families that make up the area are termed low-income, blue-collar households as many populations of rural schools in Alabama are. These families were upset that their children’s teachers were speaking negatively about people only slightly more impoverished than them. Another problem some of the residents had with the apartment complex is that this kind of zoning can easily be zoned as a “group home” which the area has plenty of already.

            The outcry against the rezoning and building of the apartment complex had surpassed the realm of social media like Facebook and was put on flyers and posters on the side of the road and inside restaurants. The public’s opinion of the project began swaying in favor of the dismissal of the rezoning contract despite the economic growth through taxes the influx of citizens would generate for the community. Although many of the citizens are classified as low-income households, the information and statistics presented at the consecutive town hall meetings by the teachers of the area opened the citizens’ eyes to the damage prevented of the school system by rejecting the proposal by Mr. Williamson after he acquired the lot. Just last week to the relief of the area’s educators, the town council voted to reject the rezoning and building of the R3 apartment complex. To respond to the task of promoting growth within the town without putting the local educators’ job at risk, the town council could promote commercial zoning for other attractions that would generate an influx of citizens as well as revenue for the entirety of the town. For example, in the lot proposed as the R3 zoning Mr. Williamson could create a proposal for the building of adequately middle-class town homes instead of the apartment complex. The creation of social attractions, such as theme parks, restaurants, or even museums celebrating the historical landmarks left by the trail of tears and the civil war.

References

https://southerntorch.com/community/rezoning-denied-for-rainsville-development/

http://rainsvillealabama.com/city-ordinances/

https://whnt.com/R3zoning-Rainsville-Developement

Damian Nytko

American Politics

Professor Jenkins

April 11, 2022

Rising Prices in the Sports Community

As America’s love for sports continues to grow, the prices to go to sports events continue to rise. The cost for live sporting events is becoming an achievable goal for members of the middle class in America, in all sports but more specifically professional football games. The cost of everything has risen in recent years, from the cost of tickets, to concessions, to even parking for the event. The cost affiliated with live sports is inflating fast, and average Americans miss being able to afford it.

  The average cost of tickets for a regular season NFL game in 2021 is $465. This price has a drastic increase compared to the average cost of $190. This price increase is assumed to be related to the rapidly growing salaries of the players and staff members. As athletes in the NFL get better, and more well known, they are able to ask to be offered for money, making their salaries range from $2 million to $45 million per season. These high salaries, along with the organization trying to make its money they lost during the 2020 COVID-19 season require the NFL to raise their prices in an attempt to make it back. 

With the lost season due to the COVID-19 pandemic the NFL could not make the money they usually receive from ticket sales, concessions, merch sales at the event, and other sources of revenue that come from live sports. Although this money was lost, the athletes still played, and there were still paychecks to write. Players salaries are high, requiring a lot of forced revenue to be made, to make up for those contracted numbers. Similar to regular season games, the costs of Super Bowl tickets have skyrocketed. These tickets were already high, due to it being the biggest game of the year, and one that even people who are not usually interested in sports often tune in to find out the results, or even just watch the commercials. The cost of tickets to the 2021 Super Bowl ranged from $4,200 to almost $100,000. These ticket costs are significantly higher than the 2019 ticket costs, ranging from $3,000 to $24,000. 

In 2019 the ticket costs were already something a lot of people had to save money and plan for, but with the inflated costs that were present in 2021, going to an NFL game is not an achievable goal for a lot of Americans, especially those in the middle and low class. If these inflated prices do not begin to drop back down, NFL games can expect to only be gone to by members of the higher classes, those who can afford to drop hundreds or thousands of dollars on a sporting event. Many middle and lower class citizens will continue to watch the games on television and have to forego their hope of seeing their favorite team play in person. 

The NFL could begin to lower these prices and make them more achievable by finding their money lost by Covid in other sources of revenue. The organization could begin charging more for advertisements, whether the advertisements that are posted around the field, or those that are played during commercial breaks during  the broadcast version of the game. The NFL could also introduce salary caps to the athletes, preventing better known and more valuable players to request such high amounts of money. This could save the NFL possibly millions of dollars, although it could possibly make some of the athletes mad, it would benefit the fans. The NFL could also work to make its stadiums more energy efficient. The stadiums are full of thousands of lights, with all the glowing signs, the lights to see, heating lamps, and more. The costs of the energy needed to power a stadium are exorbitant, and could be reduced if the proper steps are taken, and the energy is replaced by a cheaper, more sustainable source of power. 

As these prices rise, and Americans lose their interest in live sports, the NFL needs to take steps to make a change. If the cost of tickets does not come back down to a reasonable price, one that is achievable by the average American, the interest in live professional sports will be lost completely by those. With the current prices, only those with above average incomes, such as NFL players from other teams and celebrities, are able to afford them. If the NFL wants to keep the working class side of America interested, steps need to be taken.