Author: a.mendieta

In my article i would like to explain why parents should limit/monitor their children’s time on social media. I think that since the rising popularity of social media, there is even more pressure to look and present yourself a certain way. It’s upsetting to see that some people perceive your value to be the number of followers you have on Instagram or Snapchat.

While I believe that social media platforms such as facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have the potential to be beneficial. I believe that they pose a risk to our self-value and the way the youth views themselves.

 

Comradery, Brotherhood, Unison, all part of U.S. military ethos. The military can be compared to the time-old analogy of the giant clock with all the smaller cogs needing to work in unison so the giant-clock can work efficiently. But what happens when all the little cogs that make up this giant military clock don’t always agree on everything?-

In the election of 2016, the major contenders for the U.S. presidency are Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee and Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee. Both with very different agendas for the military
The U.S. military has approximately 660 bases around the world and 1,042,000 deployable soldiers. All who believe it is important to elect a commander in chief that is efficient and who they believe genuinely cares about them. They may not, however, all agree on who, they think genuinely recognizes the sacrifices these enlisted men and women have made and the sacrifices they may have to yet make.

“You have to pay attention to the politics, you have to vote for the right person. You can’t just vote for anyone,” says 24-year-old Specialist SPC. Kevin Guevara, a first generation Salvadorian-American, is enlisted in the Army Reserves.
Although at first glance, the last thing that comes to mind when you see him is: Soldier, he carries himself with dignity and walks erect, past a group of children in the middle of a soccer match in a basketball court. As I sit on the bench, he sits on top of the bench and I am forced to look up at him.

SPC. Guevara is now in the process of getting his degree in nursing at Saint Joseph’s College but remembers being unsure with how he was going to raise money for his college expenses and as a result he decided to enlist in the Army Reserves in August 2012. “Their help is alright. That’s why I did Reserves. I told myself ‘You know what? I’m going to train for whatever amount of time and then come back to finish school.’”

Upon enlisting he was given the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a test given to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the recruit in order to help determine what jobs he/she will be proficient at. Based on his score, he landed the job of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Specialist.

CBRN specialists are responsible for defending the country against chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare. His training consisted of 10 weeks of basic training and 11 weeks of advanced training in which he had to wear a protective suit six hours daily. “It’s tough, man. That suit is heavy, it just gets hot. A lot of people pass out from dehydration. They tell you if you pass out might not pass the course they keep count of how many times you pass out.”

SPC Guevara isn’t a stranger to hard work though. At the early age of 8 he started working in the restaurant that is below his apartment in Brooklyn peeling potatoes and onions and occasionally mopping the basement floors. He still works there now. To him that restaurant is his second home and the workers his extended family.

He learned to like the military lifestyle. “It was tough but once you get used to waking up early and working out and stuff like that, you learn to like it. I actually miss it. Now that I’m here, I feel like I don’t do enough.”
Donald Trump’s nomination for the presidency of the U.S. came as a surprise to SPC Guevara. Although he recognizes that some of Trumps policies could be beneficial to the U.S., mainly policies regarding the national debt he says ultimately it was Trump’s blunt demeanor and remarks that repelled him.

“It’s the way he put himself out to be. He has no filter in his mouth. Him talking about religion, Muslims, and Hispanics, and especially war heroes, it makes him sound like a fool,” he says referring to the Muslim soldier that died in battle whose parents came forward after Trump said the U.S. should ban Muslim immigration, ”He just makes fun of the people that actually care about this country. People that are fighting for their life and risk for this country. I’m bothered by it.”

Originally a Bernie Sanders supporter because of his ideas on helping college students with their debt. He believes that the next president should help recruits more with school stating that unless he is deployed, less than half of his tuition is covered.

For him the only option right now is Hillary Clinton. “They both have their flaws. It’s just which one isn’t that much of mistake.” He laughs and says that if given the chance he would vote for Barack Obama again. ”I think right now, at this point, they would vote for him and leave those two clowns aside.”

Data from the U.S. Census and Department of Defense compiled by the NPR, shows that 66 percent of all military personnel including active duty, reserves, National Guard and Air National Guard are white and according to a poll conducted from August 29 to September 9 by NBC and SurveyMonkey, Trump led Clinton by 19 points among voters who are currently enlisted or had previously served in the U.S. military.

When asked if he believed that race had anything to do with the support Trump was receiving from the military, SPC Guevara acknowledged that there is a racial divide as well as racism within the military. “The majority the people are white. I’m not saying all white people are all going for Trump but a lot of them follow him and defend him on everything. There is a lot of racism in the military.”

However, his superiors encouraged them to stay away from politics in an attempt to prevent future disputes. “In our unit they told to us to stay away from politics especially with everything that was going with the elections. This just started recently.”

He recalls one rare occasion where they openly discussed politics. “We did speak about it once and at least more than 50 percent of my platoon were definitely voting for Trump” “I’m not surprised, I’m not surprised. You see the racism. Even now it just feels weird it being a few Spanish people and the rest are all white. They usually hangout with themselves and talk to themselves and they leave us to the side, the Hispanics, the African-Americans.”

Still, he believes that rooming with his platoon, who at the beginning of their training were strangers with different points of views and different walks of life, became really close. “We were like brothers. We would talk about everything. We had no cellphones, no contact to the outside, all we had was ourselves.”

Today, SPC. Guevara finds himself just being Kevin Guevara, an aspiring nurse who, along with me, accidentally have been spectating a children’s soccer game. In those children he might recognize himself and his platoon; celebrating when winning and shouting words of encouragement when losing. Whatever result the election of 2016 has in store for him and his platoon, they’ll go together, even when divided. He affirms “I know what I signed up for. Everyone that signed up to be in the military knows that one day you could get called up.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-press-buries-hillary-clintons-sins-1476401308

I really like this article because it highlights how the media is failing at being neutral. I like the NY Times and I agree with most of what they publish but lately I get the feeling they are not always neutral. Which is disappointing because as journalists, it js they’re duty to be strictly neutral. To report about everything not just what is going to boost their sales.

 

 

 

“We will build a great wall along the southern border…On day one, we will begin working on intangible, physical, tall, power, beautiful southern border wall…We will use the best technology, including above and below ground sensors that’s the tunnels. Remember that, above and below.” Donald J. Trump, the republican nominee for the presidency of the United States, said at speech he gave in August in Phoenix, Arizona, where he laid out his immigration plan for the U.S. emphasizing every adjective that describes his prized wall, as if fortifying it with his own breath. Trump supporters attending the speech, fill the auditorium with their chant, “BUILD THAT WALL! BUILD THAT WALL!” while excitedly waving their “Make America Great Again” posters in celebration.

Miles away, in New York, there is a young girl, Yesenia Barrios, 20, a Journalism student at Baruch College. Barrios walks with her head high and higher hopes. She walks into school with a different mindset than Trump presented himself in his speech in Arizona. She doesn’t dream of removing 11.2 million people from the U.S.

According to the PEW Research center,  in 2012, there were 950,000 undocumented youth, people brought to the U.S. between the ages of 15-30. Barrios is represented in that statistic.

Barrios recalls her story rather vividly. So vividly, one can almost experience her memory by the way she sighs and the way the eyes well up with tears to the brink of running down her cheek.

Her father had gotten a head start and arrived to the U.S two years before the rest of the Barrios family. In 2004, Barrios, her two sisters, and her mother followed. Her family split up in different way to gain access to the U.S. Her youngest sister, Ximena, who was a 2 year-old at the time, was boarded onto a plane, assuming the identity of a 2 year-old American citizen. Barrios’ mother as well as her sister crossed through the desert. She was passed off as Maria, her Mexican-American counterpart, who shared similar physical traits and age, enough to fool anyone who looked at her passport.

To be considered for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) one must have entered the country before June 2012 and must have been between the ages of 15 and 30. If the individual can meet the DACA’s requirements, as stated by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)  they are granted deferred action for two years, which means that they are granted the ability to remain in the country without the fear of being deported. In some states such as New York if a DACA recipient, or as they are more commonly known as, DREAMer, can prove financial need, the DREAMer is also granted a temporary working permit valid for two years. However, the program does not provide the recipient with any lawful status or guarantee of citizenship.

Still, Barrios like many other DREAMers, is grateful to be in the U.S, despite the anti-immigration sentiment that has only been fueled by Trump’s negative remarks not only towards undocumented Mexican immigrants but towards undocumented immigrants from all over the world.

“When I entered High school, that’s when I understood that this whole undocumented thing was going to be hard…Being undocumented is hard here. It’s going to be more challenging for us to get an education here. But that kind of pushes you to do better… I’m lucky to be here. In this country, I’ve learned that I have to be very grateful for everything that I have, to this country. DACA is a great opportunity!”

Our current political climate has brought forth some interesting characters, among them Trump who promises to expedite the deportation 11.2 million undocumented immigrants and promises he will double down, triple down on border security.

In his speech in Arizona, Trump stated that he and his administration “will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties in which he defied federal law and the Constitution to give amnesty to approximately five million illegal immigrants, five million.” DACA being one of those “illegal” executive amnesties. This has students like Yesenia and her friend, Jazmin Gil, 21, a student at Lehman College, feeling frustrated because the idea of someone like Trump as president could mean that they could lose the only concrete hope that has allowed them to stay in the country they have known as their home for the majority of their life.

Gil and Barrios, however, are not in fear as one would think. Instead they are filled with anger. Surprisingly, not towards Trump himself but towards his many supporters that praise his stricter immigration policies and his say-like-it-is attitude. “He’s targeting everyone. I feel like people should have stood up to him and not let it continue, but people kept voting for him and now he’s up there right now. I’m not mad at him. I am just mad at the American people.” says Gil.

Many undocumented students such as Gil, arrived to the U.S. at such an early age that their first meaningful memory took place within the U.S., for others, such as Barrios, who left Mexico with her mother and two sisters when she was 11 years of age, her native country has become such a distant memory that she can no longer picture herself going back. This is her home now.

Their biggest concern, is not Trump’s threats of deporting all undocumented immigrants without exceptions, but the uncertainty that will come if Trump is elected. Also stating in his Arizona speech that he would deport approximately 2 million illegal immigrants with a criminal record as well as saying that he would propose a reform that “involves new screening tests for all applicants that include, and this is so important, especially if you get the right people. And we will get the right people. An ideological certification to make sure that those we are admitting to our country share our values and love our people.” Questions have arised like, what kind of crimes have these 2 million criminals committed?It could be as simple as jaywalking. Another question is how would Trump decide what exactly constitutes American values and what exactly is love for America?

“I have a scholarship. I don’t know what’s going to happen after the elections if he gets elected. I didn’t think [Trump] wasn’t going to get this far, so who knows how much further he’s going to go. This is it…the American people might choose him. We might get sent back to Mexico.” Barrios said. A more wary Gil said, “Just in general, I mean, any president that might come into [office], even Hillary, she can take it away, you know? Any new person that’s up there can take away DACA.”

Gil, who was here since was two years old, encourages her piers to vote against Trump. A “privilege” she says she doesn’t have and people take for granted. Which is true. According to The PEW Research Center stated that out of the 25.1 million registered Hispanic voter, 18.3 million did not vote. “I feel really frustrated that we can’t vote at all…and those people that can vote don’t vote. You can vote! Your voice is being heard, why don’t you do it? We can’t do anything, we just sit and watch…I wish I could vote, it would be amazing but I can’t” She said with a hit of defeat in her voice.

Gil and Barrios, encourage their fellow DREAMers to be proud of who they are and their heritage and not to “let people like Trump, [biased] people get you down! There is always another way, there’s always an option. You just have to keep going…You can and you will, I mean, we’re in the U.S.!”

Many undocumented immigrants like the Barrios family, left their country together and divided at the same time, knew of the potential dangers that awaited all of them: kidnappings, rape, robbery, and even death and, still, they risked everything to be reunited once again, within the confines of the Land of the Free, The Land of Opportunity, where they would be safe, where if there is a will, there is a way, where hard work is the key to success, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, a country that promised them a better future, maybe not easier, but in their eyes better, for sure.

 

 

There are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US and Donald Trump promises if he is elected President of the United States of America he will “make America Great again!” One way he plans on accomplishing this is by deporting the majority back of the 11 million undocumented immigrants to their respective countries. Not to anyone’s surprise, many people agree with Mr. Trump.
On your way to school tomorrow take some time take and look around you. Whether you are taking the MTA, driving, riding your bike, or walking, surely one of the people your eyes happen to land on is an undocumented immigrant. When you arrive to school, take a look around and I guarantee you the same thing will happen.

My goal is to interview undocumented students studying and DREAMERS at Baruch and undocumented workers in NYC and share their opinionsregarding Donald Trump’s policies on immigration.