By Emily Chadwell
I’m not really sure why I am writing this.
You will never see it, but you did affect my day in a way that compels me to share.
When you slowed down your car, honked until I looked at you, and waved/winked/gesticulated towards me I did not feel special.
No longer was I a person on a run, no longer was I an athlete, no longer was I a human working on my mental/physical fitness.
I became a body.
I was legs.
I was breasts.
Whether or not it was your intention to turn me into these disconnected entities, you did.
Maybe you meant nothing by it; you liked my dog, or my shirt, or you just enjoy honking at people.
Photo Credit: Yann Cœuru/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
But, you took a woman who trusts her body, a woman who respects her body, and even loves it, and turned her into just a body.
I may be oversensitive or dramatic, but for the next 45 minutes my run was no longer about me; it was about how I looked.
Was my shirt too tight?
Were my pants too sexual?
Did my stomach jiggle when I ran?
Things I should never dwell on while working out.
I can’t blame you.
I can only blame the society that socialized you to honk, and me to smile back.
The society that taught you to feel like you had a right to comment on my external body and me to internalize being self conscious.
I don’t think my experiences are special, or deserving of extra attention.
I recognize that there are people who are victims of worse treatment every single day.
I only ask that people who don’t understand the way your actions impact the lives of others to try.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Jean-François Gornet/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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You Have To Check Out This Andy Warhol Inspired Cocktail
Andy Warhol is one of the most iconic artists in the history of the United States. So it only makes sense that someone would eventually try to honor him with a cocktail.
Daniel Najarro, the bar manager at Bagatelle Miami Beach came up with the concept for the drink for the upcoming Art Basel in Miami.
It is Ketel One Orange, fresh strawberry, ginger beer and lime all in an iconic Campbell’s coup can.
“Inspired by Andy Warhol, one of the most iconic leading figures in POP ART, this special cocktail salutes all of his memorable work throughout the years,” Carrie Hyman a spokesperson for the Bagetelle said in a release.
Do you think the drink measures up to the legacy of Warhol?RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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On The Whole, Americans Don’t Seem To Really Care About Homeless People
They sleep quietly, waiting in plain sight to be spotted or recognized.
Humans treated inhumanely out of ignorance, discomfort, or fear.
They see everything and yet everything overlooks them; they are the homeless of America.
In an article in The Atlantic, Stephen Lurie references a recent Gallup poll stating that, “just 2 percent of respondents said that the category of “Poverty/Hunger/Homelessness” constituted “the most important problem facing this country today.”
It is easy to say that homelessness is a sad and important issue in this country, but it is another thing to actually prioritize the lives of those in need.
We as a country do not take care of homeless people.
People are not interested in statistics regarding the homeless.
isidewith.com’s homepage for the most important topics of 2016 does not even include homelessness as a prioritized topic.
So does the country just simply not care about those in need, or is there a different problem in place?
Carey Fuller of the Huffington Post put it best stating that, “homelessness isn’t an invisible problem; it’s a highly ignored and marginalized problem which ends up making the problem worse for homeless people.”
We aren’t afraid to admit that there is a significant problem of homelessness in this country, but we are terrified to feel any form of personal responsibility for a homeless person.
Photo Credit: Karim Corban/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
A capitalist society often causes a perception that those in bad situations are responsible for their misfortunes.
The whole, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” ideal is one that many Americans believe in, even if they themselves never had to do so in order to find success.
The problem isn’t always the homeless individual; the problem is a government and a society that does not see that individual as an equal American.
The problem is a system that is put in place to make rich people richer and poor people poorer.
A very famous video of a 2011 study at Harvard explained that 90 percent of Americans believe that economic wealth should be more equally distributed than they perceive it to be now.
Another part of the video plays into this idea describing the “American Dream”, and that people need motivation to work hard in order to achieve success and “keep our country moving forward”.
WATCH: Wealth Inequality In America
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So maybe that’s it? Maybe it is easy to disregard the homeless because they are not perceived as helpful members of society?
Photo Credit: Victoria Johnson/ Flick (CC 2.0)
Well then let’s look at the numbers for this idea: Green Doors explained that the homeless visit emergency rooms more frequently and stay in hospitals for a longer period of time.
Here is what their study showed: “Each visit [for the homeless] costs $3,700; that’s $18,500 spent per year for the average person and $44,400 spent per year for the highest users of emergency departments.”
Moyers & Company published an article that found it costs $21,000 more to “ignore the homeless than it does to give them homes”.
These numbers come from the cost of medical attention, incarceration, shelters, etc.
So clearly this idea that leaving these people homeless is a cheaper option that actually fixing the problem is widely inaccurate.
The proven truth, is that helping the homeless find a permanent home is much more successful than ignoring them.
An NPR article declared that Utah reduced their chronic homeless population by 91 percent after instating their Housing First initiative.
The Utah solution focuses on putting people in stable housing situations first before dealing with other service needs. And people put into these homes are expected to pay monthly rent for them. But the mix of refocusing priorities and demanding accountability seems to have worked.
Granted, Utah is much smaller than states with a greater homeless population, but their work still proves that solving this problem can be done, and it can benefit everyone.
Personally dealing with the homeless on a day-to-day basis should not resemble an obstacle course of averting eye contact and speeding up ones pace when walking by someone; but it does, and it always will.
The only way to deal with the homeless and represent “American ideals” is to make poverty a prioritized topic, and create national conversation that works towards helping these individuals in a permanent and meaningful way.
If an individual can succeed of the help from family inheritance and support, homeless can and should be allowed to succeed with the help of the country’s support.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Moise Nicu/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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So What Is A Sapiosexual Exactly?
By Sonam Ahluwalia
Sapiosexual.
It’s a word that’s in vogue right now.
From Tumblr pages to Tinder profiles, lots of people are claiming to be members of this shadow group.
Urban Dictionary (a fairly reputable source in these matters) defines a sapiosexual as “one who finds intelligence the most sexually attractive feature”.
Riiight….
So sapiosexuality is a term that has been coined in order to describe a group of people who value intelligence over other sexual features such as face structure, body build, performance, aura, and many other components involved in sexual attraction.
People love to identify with something on social media, so this new term adds to the vocabulary list available when describing yourself to others.
“You read so good. Have my babies.” Photo Credit: Marketa/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
However, this term has also sparked controversy.
Some folks don’t believe that you can actually be a sapiosexual and that calling yourself one is merely pretentious and offensive because people are categorized according to their intelligence.
This counter argument goes: how can something so demeaning be considered an acceptable option as a preference in matters of sexual attraction?
Plus, can you be with someone only because they are smart?
Don’t ask many college freshmen that question.
But we can take a different route when looking at this newly fashioned term.
The definition from Urban Dictionary refers to a sapiosexual as someone who values intelligence as the “most sexually attractive feature”.
This does not mean that it is the only aspect we look at somebody.
For many people intelligence is certainly important in a relationship. and having a sexual stimulation from intellect is not a stand alone sexual orientation for them but rather an element of deeper feelings.
“She never remembers to wear shoes but she has a really good handle on thermal dynamics. xo.” Photo Credit: Ulisse Albiati/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Sapiosexuality can vary among people because intelligence varies, and so does the expectations of the level of intelligence one has for their partner.
For example, a lawyer may consider him or herself a sapiosexual for readers while a car mechanic sees him or herself a sapiosexual for people that know a lot about cars.
The incredible variation of what one finds as intelligence stems from the commonalities people have when looking for a partner.
If two people both love to identify plants while hiking, then they value that type of knowledge.
The vast diversity in intellectual interests actually works with the ambiguous definition of sapiosexuality.
Thus, you can be a sapiosexual.
But most of us are already.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Pedro Ribeiro Simões/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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