There’s a whole list of things I want to accomplish or experience before I die. These include owning a bunny rabbit as a pet, dying my hair a crazy amount of colors (and taking care of it so it doesn’t far out), go backpacking and travel around Europe, attempt an overnight challenge at a supermarket or trampoline arena, have a sleepover with strangers, go on a weekend long vacation to Disney, possibly go skydiving and so on. There’s so many things I eventually want to do that I can’t even think of them. I doubt that I’ll be able to accomplish them all due to how much some of them would cost, or out fear with sky diving or getting caught trying to sleep overnight in a random Ikea, but I’m not giving up on these ideas just yet.

For my story assignment, I decided to write an opinion article on the news story ‘Federal Judge Blocks Alabama’s Abortion Ban’ in support of abortion being available to all women across the country regardless of what state they happen to reside in. History has proven that abortion will happen whether it’s legal or not- allowing abortion clinics to remain open and providing funding for them only making the process much easier and safe for women who would otherwise have to resort to very dangerous methods, or keep their child and risk injury during childbirth or have no way to support them. I believe many people who are anti-choice only care about the idealized version of a child, but once that baby is born wouldn’t do anything to help the mother financially. Adoption also isn’t the best option, because many children get stuck in foster homes that only care about their paycheck and not the well being of the child, which will lead to them having a poor quality of life. https://apnews.com/dae2aa0b0796432daa146bbc6128643b

In my own opinion, punishing your children through physical means such as slapping and spanking is way too normalized in our (and most) societies, and has the opposite effect than what is intended upon their development. An article entitled ‘The Case Against Spanking’ published by the American Psychology Association in April of 2018 insists that spanking can lead to “increased aggression, antisocial behavior and mental health issues” in children. More often than, repeated, harsh punishments become internalized and manifest through bullying others and being unable to form friendships, as they aren’t equipped with the proper tools to express their anger. This of course can lead to further problems if not addressed early in childhood, such as lower grades and disrespect to authority figures like teachers either due to simple anger or viewing all adults us untrustworthy.

In my personal experience, a lot of customers are rude to food service employees and view them as inferior due to their line of work and often their age, either because they’re a young kid or an adult who got stuck working in fast food. I’ve had customers yell at and report me for issues completely out of my control, throw drinks at me and even escalate things to a physical fight with a coworker before. Everyone who visits a restaurant or fast food establishment needs to keep in mind that the employees are humans and not robots without feelings, and that no amount of pay, but especially not minimum wage, is enough to compensate putting up with certain customers. But the customers who treat employees with kindness, joke around with them and even leave tips can make a bad shift a lot better.

HBO’s Euphoria follows a seventeen year old Rue as she readjusts to life and school after returning from rehab for her drug addiction. While Rue is the main protagonist and narrator, each episode focuses on a different character who Rue is friends with or otherwise associated with. The show tackles many issues such as drugs, mental health, catfishing, toxic relationships and so on that many teen dramas before it have explored- however, Euphoria seems to get its target audience in a way many others don’t. It never speaks down to the viewers or portrays the characters in a way that would be totally out of the realm of possibility for their ages. The situations are dramatized, but only for the purposes of entertainment. The connections the characters have with each other also feel realistic; while some shows might portray a hierarchy of students, the characters in Euphoria are all either friends or know one another and are kind to them, more similar to the actual experience of high school. I’m glad that the show has such a diverse cast as well, with a black female lead who is in an interracial relationship with another girl, and the reminder of the cast being of different ethnicities and sexualities. Though intense, the show is groundbreaking in that in subverts a lot of expectations.

Ginger is hip-hop collective Brockhampton’s fifth studio release, and peaked at number three on the Billboard charts on September seventh of this year. The group, who refer to themselves as America’s greatest boy band, is made up of six performers- Kevin Abstract, Dom Mclennon, Matt Champion, Meryln Wood, Joba and Bearface- and about a dozen other official members who work on beats, production, photography, merchandise and so on. Known for the dichotomy between their harsher lyrics and introspective, vulnerable side, Ginger differs from their past projects in that the majority of its tracks are much more mellow. It’s a nice reprieve from last years iridescence, which, while great, was their immediate reaction to a betrayal by former member Ameer Vann, and was definitely reflected in their lyrics. The members seem more collected on this album, and their sound has evolved and matured alongside them. Each song flows perfectly into the next track, and the production and vocals on each song (Dearly Departed and If You Pray Right, in particular) is insane. I’d recommend this album to anyone who’s a fan of rap or good music in general.

Ever since the release of HBO’s Euphoria, there’s been a wave of fans recreating makeup looks featured on the show. Instead of the simple eyeshadow and blush other artists typically apply on their actresses, Euphoria pushes the boundaries of what is considered socially acceptable. Many characters are seen in avant-garde, editorial looks that represent their personalities and the mood of a certain scene or episode. There’s gems lining eyebrows, multi-colored neon eyeshadow, white eyeliner applied around a character’s eye to mimic the appearance of clouds, glitter tears cascading down another characters cheeks and many more unique looks. I personally love that many people have hopped onto the trend, because it allows us to be more experimental and expressive with makeup and not feel restricted by certain rules. Makeup is an art form, and we should be have fun with it and not be concerned that it doesn’t constantly look perfect.

I was anticipating the release of this film since the first teaser trailer dropped. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first movie at its initial release, but eventually came to love the soundtrack and characters through their various short films. The trailer implied that the tone of the sequel would be much more serious than the original through its lack of any dialogue, and I was excited to see if it carried through to the actual film. My expectations were blown away- Frozen 2 managed to exceed the humor of its predecessor while incorporating darker elements and more intense action scenes that make you genuinely worried for the characters at times. The animation was gorgeous throughout and every musical number landed. My personal favourite part of the movie is Show Yourself, which is essentially Let it Go but ten thousand times better, as Elsa goes on a journey of self discovery and love. I’ve had it (and most of the soundtrack) on repeat since I saw the movie two weeks ago because it’s just that good. I won’t go in depth about the plot because revealing any of it feels like a spoiler, but it’s a great movie and I’d recommend it to anyone regardless of whether they liked the original.

Hyperlocal journalism tends to hone in on narrow topics and is conducted on an ” extremely small, local scale”, according to Tony Rogers of thoughtco.com. These areas are typically smaller towns or neighborhoods, and sometimes even one block in a subdivision. Many who participate are either citizen journalists with little prior experience or unpaid volunteers, so it’s safe to assume the majority are passionate about the field or want to spread awareness on the subjects they’re covering. It can be a great way to gain experience to boost your qualifications to score a paid position, and may prove to be relatively stress-free because volunteers tend to make their own schedules based upon their availability. Throughout the sites I browsed, the articles lacked a lot of interaction in the comment section, which is understandable as they cater to such a specific niche. However, I still think this form of journalism is beneficial, as it can inform people of events happening in their neighbourhood and teach them interesting facts they hadn’t known about others living beside them.

For my photojournalism assignment, I’m considering covering a story on the Twenty One Pilots concert I just attended last night. I took a lot of pictures before, during and after and putting them together to illustrate a story of my experience seems like a lot of fun. While this wouldn’t be particularly educational or informative, I think it’ll be interesting to share because it was such an incredible concert and I loved every second of it. Some of the photos I took were unfortunately blurry and out of focus, but the majority are better quality and can easily be used. I also recorded many of the songs and moments where Tyler was addressing the audience, so I could trim them into shorter segments and include them as well. I can also indicate which song was playing when each picture was taken in the caption, though it may be out of order from the setlist.