The Paw Print

A news publication created by Baruch's College Now high school journalism class

Archives for August 2019

New York taking steps to penalize cashless businesses

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Cashless

With credit and debit cards on the rise, the use of cash is rapidly dwindling. However, several states, including New York, want to reverse this trend. 

In a matter of days, the New York City Council will vote on a bill that will eliminate discrimination towards low-income individuals who don’t have bank accounts by punishing businesses and stores that don’t accept cash. Introduced by District 15 Council Member Richie Torres, this bill would make shops and businesses think twice about refusing to accept cash.

If the bill is approved, New York will join several other states and cities who prohibit businesses from not accepting cash. According to Karma Allen of ABC News, both Massachusetts and New Jersey passed bills earlier this year to eliminate “cash-free practices.” 

While there is no civil penalty yet, Raymond Rodriguez, Deputy Chief of Staff for Ritchie Torres, says there will be a $1,000 fine for businesses after their first violation. Rodriguez talked about how a big portion of the city’s population don’t have bank accounts and are not able to pay electronically. 

“The rise of cashless businesses in these areas limit minorities and even senior citizens from purchasing goods and products from stores that don’t accept cash,” said Rodriguez.  

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), approximately 6.5% of U.S. households didn’t have a bank account in 2017, many of whom were African-Americans and Hispanics.

However, this proposed bill has received some criticism from various store owners and small businesses. Places that allow credit and debit cards enable faster and easier transactions and conversely, accepting cash will make these stores vulnerable to robberies and thefts. 

Dig Inn, one of the many food shops that don’t accept cash, says on its website “8% or less of transactions were cash.” It also states that cash management takes up a sizable amount of the day, lessening time dedicated to needed food production and preparation to serve their customers. 

The same can be said with the popular food chain Dos Toros. According to Henry Grabar of the Slate, co-founder Leo Kremer said the number of customers paying in cash fell to 15% before this year and managing cash was eating up valuable time toward serving their customers. 

At Hudson Eats, a high-grade food court found at Brookfield Place, all of their shops are cashless because it is located in a rich neighborhood and surrounded by large business sectors. The store managers at Northern Tiger, Dos Toros, and Num Pang say that they don’t accept cash because they have to accommodate to their customers, who have higher incomes, credit cards, and bank accounts. 

And finally, Rolln, a sushi restaurant located at 38 E 23rd Street, also goes cashless and kiosks that allow customers to pay with a credit card or paying apps. One of the employees, William, says that they accept cash only on special occasions. 

“[Going cashless] makes it easier and convenient for us and is a simple, streamlined process,” William said. “We have not had enough cash transactions to justify to accept cash but we also want to give our customers some options.”

Whatever the case may be, Torres hopes that once the bill is passed, it will make other states aware of this issue and prevent businesses from not serving low income households and those who do not possess a bank account. 

Torres said, “The cashless business model is what we call an ‘exclusionary model.’ Once the bill is passed through legislation, hopefully it advances the movement to prohibit it [cashless businesses] across the country.” 

Equal pay for women’s soccer teams

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“We believe that fighting for gender equality in sports is a part of that responsibility. As players, we deserved to be paid equally for our work, regardless of our gender,” female soccer player Alex Morgan said to The Associated Press.

In today’s society, we have the constant problem of unfair pay for women’s soccer teams. The women’s and men’s USA national soccer teams have the same amount of training and play the same number of games. It is expected that if two people do the same work, they will get paid the same amount of money, but this is not the case for the women’s soccer team. The wage gap between men and women is tremendous and not much is being done to get this fixed.

Soccer teams, or any sports team should be paid by how good their stats and wins are compared to other teams. Unfortunately for the women’s national USA team, because of the gender and according to The Frederick News Post they rarely get paid 20% of the salary that the US national men’s soccer team receives. Why should their gender continue to determine how much their wage is when it is clear that they are far better than the USA national men’s soccer team?

In the 2018 Men’s World Cup hosted by Russia, the USA men’s soccer team did not even qualify to enter. Yet the men’s pay continues to be higher than the women. On the other hand, the women’s national USA team who have been champions 3 times before, highly qualified for the World Cup that was hosted this year in France. Not only did the women’s team make it into the World Cup, but they won every single game they played in this tournament until they became the World Champions. Despite this tremendous victory for the women, their salaries are going to stay the same. After so much work and so many victories the women only won a title and trophy. 

The gender discrimination continues to grow. There was a $34 million difference between women’s and men’s World Championship prize. The men’s National French soccer team, received $38 million to divide amongst each other for winning the 2018 World Cup hosted in Russia. The men also take a minimum $8 million per team for only participating in the World Cup, with no games or goals scored. Meanwhile the US Women’s National soccer team who won, only received $4 million as the total prize to divide amongst themselves as well as $3,000 minimum per team for participating in the tournament according to Fox Business. NBC’s reporter Claire Atkinson states, “The match drew 22 percent more viewers than the men’s World Cup final played between France and Croatia last year.”

As it is constantly proven, there needs to be something done for the women’s soccer team wage. It is not right that some women’s teams such as the USA, are far better than most men’s teams, and yet get paid less than the worst qualified men teams that were in the Men’s 2018 World Cup. We need to put a stop to gender discrimination and fight for equal rights, which is what we all deserve. 

There are some changes being made but we should try and do more. The time has come to genuinely reward the women soccer players for all their hard work.

Will the Earth survive?

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The children are our future—and so is climate change. Scientists conclude that by 2030, the Earth will reach a point of no return. By that year, Earth’s environment will be permanently destroyed and will only continue to collapse until reaching its inevitable end. 

That’s why organizations like Our Climate aim to educate and empower the world’s youth to take action on the global warming crisis. Over the course of four days in late July, Our Climate’s Youth Climate Camp met in locations throughout New York City, such as Governors Island, Williamsburg and midtown Manhattan, to discuss climate change. 

According to the organization’s website, “Our Climate mobilizes and empowers young people to educate the public and elected officials about science-based, equitable climate policy solutions that build a livable world.”

The camp is “helping me develop the skills that are needed to get the attention of politicians who think that climate change is not a pressing issue,” says Kayla Kadlubowski, 16, who attended the camp.

About 20 teenagers came together to learn about the history, politics, art and writing surrounding climate change. They discussed the seriousness of the issue and acknowledged that many people do not believe that climate change is real.

“Climate change has been discredited in our society today, seen as a fake phenomenon that has ‘no scientific evidence’ to be backed up on. As an adolescent, it is very important to me that people start to realize how pressing and real [it is],” Olivia Daoud, a participant in the program, says.

Eloise Dreesen, a 16-year-old living in Greenwich Village, described her experience in the program. She explained that the group learned how to take action and change policies in hopes of creating a safe environment for future generations. They met with Sunrise, an organization the New York Times has called a “political power player,” that provides jobs for young people to spread awareness about, and protest against, climate change.  

The attentive and driven teenagers practiced writing letters to government officials, and even learned how to use bird dogging as an effective tool for seeking answers from politicians. The technique involves asking specific, well-planned and unavoidable questions, usually during live interviews, in hopes of getting honest remarks from significant figures.

Kadlubowski describes how she “realized how pressing this issue is” when a speaker explained that carbon taxing and cap-and-trade can effectively lower the amount of emissions produced in the U.S. “To me, it was such a logical way to incentivize green energy use, but it was only a part of the plan. There’s hope for the planet, but it’s mind-boggling that these big fossil fuel companies are so blinded by greed. They are willing to do anything to keep their customers, even if it means killing their planet,” she says.

The camp educated the participants on the importance of being an active supporter rather than a passive one, meaning that in order to create real change, the population must make phone calls to Congress and take other actions to combat climate change.

“After attending a youth climate camp and learning more about how serious of an issue climate change really is, I try and encourage all of my friends and family members to live [cleaner] lives…by purchasing a reusable bag for groceries, trading in a plastic straw for a metal one, and investing in sustainably made clothing, coffee and solar energy,” Daoud says. 

On Sunday, July 28, Our Climate’s youth climate camp met on Governors Island. Located just off the southern tip of Manhattan in New York Harbor, the island is extremely eco-friendly and home to the world’s first climate museum. 

According to the website, the Climate Museum on the island welcomes individuals “from all walks of life” to learn about climate change, reflect on what has been lost, and unite to actively engage in solutions to major problems. 

Our Climate’s camp toured the museum and met with resident artists who fight climate change through art. 

The program taught participants that everyone must take action to confront what may be the most dire challenge the world has ever faced.

When the camp ended, Dreesen asked herself, “Can I have kids?” She fears raising a child in a world that may witness so much more damage.

“You need to dedicate your time to this. That’s how bad it is,” she says. She acknowledges that many organizations, politicians and individuals have the answers and resources to attempt to minimize environmental destruction. “We know exactly what we have to do,” Dreesen says. 

The question is whether we, as a planet, will stop using fossil fuels, minimize carbon production, use renewable energy sources, and make personal sacrifices in time to save the planet.

“More people, no matter the age, need to be aware of what is happening to our planet and how everyone can adjust their lives to help heal our planet and elongate the lifespan of life on Earth,” Kadlubowski says. 

How J.Cole and Dreamville did the collaboration album right

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Collaboration albums have been  a reoccuring theme in recent times especially among rappers and rappers alike ,Without warning- Offset, 21 Savage and Metro Boomin, and rappers and producers ,Drip Harder- Lil Baby and Gunna. But what makes one collab album superior to another?

Revenge of Dreamville 3 is the third collective album of Dreamville Records, owned by critically acclaimed rapper J.Cole. From the initial sending of the “Golden Ticket”, a formal invitation to the two week long recording session in North Carolina, this album has had long anticipation

While some fans may be disappointed  by the quantity of Cole’s appearances throughout this record, being on fewer than half the songs, his quality goes unmatched. From his solo track Middle Child, with a beat and message he described as “urgent’ to rap radar at the TIDAL x Dreamville Fest, was an instant J.Cole classic. Along with the album opener Under the Sun where he has the entering verse to the entire record. The delivery of this hearty verse is classic Cole filled with double entendres. The nonchalant yet demanding J. Cole is present. Cole is back on his wave after the almost satirical KOD of 2017. 

Following  industry legends such as J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar who has a three line chorus on the opener is tremendously intimidating and difficult ,but Lute, a fellow Dreamville artist, enters perfectly.  He starts by matching the energy of Cole and following the same beat progression of Cole. Followed by Charlotte breakout star Da Baby who changed up the progression slightly and even ended his final three lines acapella calling out his famous ad-lib “baby”. 

On an album with upwards of 10 individual artists, standing out is hard, especially when you’re not a highly anticipated star like Cole.  2018 breakout stars JID and Buddy pull their weight and then some, being on more than five of the final tracks when there were 106 recorded and only 18 released. 

With bars like “Board of Education vs. Brown// I was bored of education, left the town// f*** a resume and f*** a cap and gown” from JID, along with the comical verse breaks from Buddy lines like “Hey bro bro bro , less rapping more passing, like this is, bro” or when he ends 1993 with “Watson [producer]  stop// cause this man J.Cole , he done grew some dreads// he think he smoke now// pass the blunt man stop rappin’// that’s the end of the session// we goin’ home, I just called my Lyft” added a sense of fun to the primarily serious Dreamville crew. Showing the talent of Cole’s prodiges with their versatility as artists which was everything Cole was trying to display with this album.

Poking fun at J.Cole and adding youthful energy was a goal of Cole’s stated to complex back in 2018 that he’s tired of people thinking he’s solely serious and doesn’t mess with anyone in the industry (hence the viral internet meme about him going platinum with no features).

Even though Revenge was a rap album, the featured R&B singers such as Ari Lennox were given their time to shine. Lennox, who is known as the “First Lady of Dreamville” on Got Me with Ty Dolla$ and Dreezy and her angelic voice blends beautifully with every artist and every verse she’s given.

Down Bad is an electric soon to be hit. You can tell that Pluss and Juru, the producers and mixer respectively, have extensive knowledge of sound and the boards creating a unique and harmoniously mixed beat with numerous layers that leave you with something new to listen to each and every time.

You can tell that every producer was bringing their all and really exerting all resources on the boards to create a specific sound. These beats don’t sound like they were just thrown together for the sake of making a song, but curated carefully with a sound in mind to make a project and not just to make money.

Even with the producers and artists using several different rooms to make this 18 track project, the artists did a phenomenal job at creating catchy radio like beats for the group of proclaimed “popular rap anti heroes”.

For a collective album with over 20 people on production, composition, and lyrics, this is one of the most sonically cohesive hip-hop albums to be released in years, sure to be on the list of hip hop fanatics classics and favorites for years to come.

The Marvel cinematic universe is the most cohesive and effective universe of any genre

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(Spoiler Warning)

This July, Marvel fans crowded dozens of movie theaters, eagerly awaiting the first instillation of the franchise after “Iron Man” Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame. The movie was received well in the box office, earning a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and grossing $580 million in the first two weeks. The actor who plays Spider Man, Tom Holland, has only been in the Universe for 5 movies (out of 23), yet he’s made an emotional connection with viewers and become an immediate fan favorite. This is a high contrast with Sony’s Spiderman, whose last movie earned a 63% on rotten tomatoes and is generally known for being a boring and cliche franchise. 

This disparity of praise between Marvel and Sony’s Spiderman and difference in reception has nothing to do with the character, or even the production company- the secret lies within Marvel’s complex and brilliant cinematic universe.   

Compared to every other superhero or science fiction franchise, Marvel takes every installment, even seemingly benign “filler” movies, and connects them in a way that serves the overarching plot. With other franchises based around one character, such as the original Spiderman and the infamous Hunger Games, each new movie seems to have unnecessary conflict and comes off as choppy. We never see any character development or growth between movies. With every film, the stakes are raised so quickly and randomly that the characters are rarely given time to reflect on their experiences and emotions. With Marvel’s movie structure, we are given time to see the effects of character’s actions on others lives and how their personalities change as a result of this. We see these effects when you least expect them- in movies not centered around a “serious” threat, a.k.a “filler movies”. 

 Filler movies’ goal is to focus on character development  and to take a break from the seriousness of the main plot that strings each movie together. In Marvel’s case, this is Thanos: a supervillain set on destroying half the universe to stop overpopulation. A filler movie done right will not distract the viewer from the overarching plot- but provide a B-Plot, with characters that were previously ignored, which gives viewers time to digest the ramifications of the last movie, while enjoying some more lighthearted Marvel content.

A great example of this is in the characters “Hulk” and “Thor” in a recent Marvel filler movie, Thor Ragnarok. Although clearly a Thor movie, whose actions are canonical (actually occuring in the series)  and would influence the events in later movies, (i.e Thor’s home planet being completely destroyed and its people marooned on a spaceship- setting up their encounter with Thanos later),  Ragnorok focuses more on the relationships Thor and Hulk have and how their motivations and powers have changed. With Thor, you get even more insight on his child-like, blase behavior, and how he uses it as a way to escape the literal “god-like” responsibilities he has. He would rather fight weak enemies and half heartedly work on his own than lead his people or fight alongside the Avengers. The movie forces Thor out of his comfort zone, destroying the last physical crutch he had- his hammer. This allows him to unlock special powers within himself, and preps him for EndGame by making him less self-motivated. With Hulk, in previous movies, you can see his emotional torment with him not being able to balance the two sides of himself, Hulk and Bruce Banner. This cumulates into him being unable to control himself and fighting Iron Man in Avengers: Age of Ultron– which ultimately gets him sent away and lost in space. Although Marvel could’ve devoted another movie to him, Thor Ragnorok was supposed to focus on Thor’s turmoil, yet  they reintroduced an uncontrollable Hulk- leaving Thor (who he wasn’t even too close with at the time) to remind him that he’s not just Bruce Banner or Hulk- he’s uniquely both, and doesn’t have to suppress one or the other. This also primes Hulk for Endgame- temporarily ending his internal conflict and preparing him for his one-on-one fight with Thanos. Throughout the movie, we’re given comedic breaks as well, reminding us that it’s not another “fate of the world” scenario, it’s a silly movie to explain Hulk and Thor’s characters, and why they were absent in previous movies. Every action still matters and affects the plot, but is not as heavy or dramatic- which is a relief.

This strategy Marvel uses works great in referencing older movies and moving the plot forward in an elegant way, but also makes sure that the relationships between each character are defined. Each super hero intertwines with one another- they come together when it makes sense and fight when their feelings are hurt. The biggest problem with other cinematic universes such as DC is that their content is extremely formulaic and disjointed. At the end of each movie, the characters learn nothing about themselves, show little reflection, and the threat is always specific to the character. When crossover movies like Justice League are created in these universes, the characters cannot grow together. The movie ultimately fails because it seems like just a bunch of individual superheroes forced to fight crime together one time, and never have it mentioned again- similar to a group project you don’t want to do. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the movie feels like humans with emotions who also happen to have superpowers- evolving together and learning how to use each other’s strengths and work with different situations. 

New themes get tested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe never seen before in superhero movies. They explore themes like government interference in superhero business when too many civilians get hurt in the crossfire. They also create laws concerning when you can use powers and when you can’t, ads and merchandise made for superheroes, their civilians over glorifying them, and recently in Spiderman: Far From Home, what happens when people look to superheroes more than traditional law enforcement. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is able to kill one of its most loved and longest standing characters (Tony Stark) because it makes sense to the story and the threat that’s been building up, Tony Stark has been given time to develop so his choice to sacrifice himself makes sense, and most importantly, the grief the world and his fellow superheroes feel is palpable in the latest movie. It drives the plot, gives a sense of permanence and doesn’t seem like a cheap way to shock the audience.

Spiderman: Far from home did not disappoint, showing how deeply Peter Parker feels for Tony, and how his death affected him and the world. It sets the tone for a slew of new movies to come such as Dr.Strange 2 and a new Black Widow movie. If it’s anything like the Marvel I know, be sure to bring some tissues, and count down the days until the next installment comes.

The aggressive criticism of offensive humor and why it will never change comedy

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Performing in the visiting show ‘Set List’ at Chicagos Lincoln Lodge, as part of the 2012 Just For Laughs Festival.

The pressure to be politically correct is overwhelming and ineffective, especially in comedy. 

Everyone can criticize what they think of as poor comedy. However, the way people express their opinions is creating toxic outcry on social media targeting comedians with an edgy style, and resulting in no change. 

When I think about the jokes my friends and I have made, a lot of them have the potential to start an uproar on Twitter. Yet, that would have little to no impact on what we find funny. Shaming people into censoring their jokes does not work because what is deemed problematic humor is subjective. 

As much as people enjoy feeling victorious after going to social media to write a long paragraph with buzzwords depicting a comedian as evil incarnate, it has very little impact on fans. Although being forceful and claiming a comedian does not deserve a career because of their jokes is not illegal, it is counterproductive. It provokes anger in their fans causing them to be hostile and refusing to recognize why certain jokes may be offensive. 

Before a very public breakup with Ariana Grande, comedian Pete Davidson joked about a touchy subject for the popstar. According to CNN, People reported that during a stand-up performance Davidson said, “Britney Spears didn’t have a terrorist attack at her concert.” This is in reference to a bombing at one of Ariana Grande’s concerts in 2017. Many people took offense to this and rightfully so. However, across social media people encouraged everyone to boycott the comedian and used other examples of his dark humor in hopes of convincing the public that he is a terrible comedian. 

Pete Davidson did not joke about the bombing again, most likely recognizing that it was crossing a line. Yet, people still went on social media in hopes of ending his career. After Grande and he broke up, many joked about his career being dead and him finally getting what he deserves. The reality is he still has a job on SNL, he is consistently selling out stand-up shows and once The Angry Birds Movie 2 (a children’s film) is released, he will have been featured in two movies in 2019. 

Davidson is doing more than fine careerwise. The idea that his taste for dark humor could end his career completely ignores all of his fans with the same taste. SNL surely does not care and neither do other sources of entertainment. 

In comedian Anthony Jeselnik’s 2015 Netflix special Thoughts and Prayers, he discusses his tendency to joke about tragedies right after they occur. “The day of the Aurora Colorado Batman movie theatre shooting…I went on twitter and I tweeted, ‘other than that how was the movie.’” This year, he had another Netflix special. 

Often people say something along the lines of, if you have to make offensive jokes then you are probably not a good comedian. Comedian Hannah Gadsby shared a similar sentiment with The Washington Post, “if political correctness can kill comedy, comedy needs to harden the hell up.” The idea that PC culture can kill comedy is just a trivial as the idea that art is dying.

However, comedy owes us nothing. 

 

How social media isn’t social.

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“Wait, so how do you think you did on that math test? I thought it was kinda easy. I’m sure I did ok, and you?” I asked. Absolute silence…. crickets chirping.  I asked again, “How do you think you did?” After a long silence, my friend replied without looking up, “What? . . . Oh, um that was easy. I think I did fine. Sorry I wasn’t listening.”  

I sighed and turned on my own phone. It’s better to stare at a screen for the next 58 minutes than talk to a tech addict. This is but one example of the daily “interactions” I have with friends. 

Over the past year, I’ve noticed people prefer phones to friends. I see them everywhere with their eyes glued to their screens and headphones dangling around their necks. Heads down and rapid-fire typing, they send text messages and Snaps while scrolling through Instagram feeds.  

 Lately, parents and researchers noticed an alarming trend. Daily phone usage was rapidly increasing among Americans, especially teenagers. The most common use for cell-phones among teenagers is social media and the average teenager checks their phones 150 times a day, according to KPCB Internet Trends Report.

Lately, teens have become more aware of their increased cell-phone usage. They even began to admit that they are addicted to their smartphones and prefer the online world to the real world.

 According to a Pew research study, 52% of teenagers attempted have cut back on their phone usage and 57% have tried to cut back on social media usage. Unfortunately, for these teenagers, turning off their phones for an hour doesn’t lead to feeling relaxed and happy. Teens who turn off their cellphones report feeling anxious, lonely or upset when separated from their device. 

For any teenagers, including me, not being able to check social media for an hour sounds horrifying. I get bored easily and I’m afraid that I’ll miss a new and hilarious Snapchat story, since those are only visible for 24 hours and can be deleted as quickly as they are posted. 

Fortunately, there are ways you can begin decreasing your screen-time. One easy way to cut down is by leaving your phone in another room before you go to bed. The blue light from your screen won’t convince your brain it’s daytime when it is in another room 

A method I used to cut down my screen-time is turning off all notifications on my phone. When you’re not bombarded with flashing alerts telling you to reply to this email or to that Snapchat, then you will feel less pressured to check your phone every few seconds. When notifications are off, you will be forced to dedicate all of your attention to your work or current task. You won’t fall down a rabbit-hole of distractions. When you’re done, it’s perfectly ok to resume scrolling. 

Decreasing my screen-time is not easy for me. I have tried turning off notifications, but found that it makes me more eager to check my phone, since I could be missing something important and not even know it. I also still charge my phone next to my bed at night, which leads me to losing sleep from staring at my screen. 

My best trick for decreasing screen-time is to turn off my cellualar data when I am not home. If I use too much data when I am out, then I will run out of data, leaving me with no way to check the internet for two weeks until it is turned on. I’m forced to pick my head up and interact with the people I am with. I also do not want to overuse my data because I might not have any for emergencies. 

To step away from unsocial media, try turning off cellular data. It won’t be easy, but eventually you’ll see that face-to-face friends are incredibly rare and valuable, and a lot more exciting than a cold, flat screen. Real people are more fun than pixels.

 

Who is to blame for the Mets’ disappointing 2019 season?

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New York Mets Manager Mickey Callaway (left) and General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen (right)
New York Mets Manager Mickey Callaway (left) and General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen (right)

 

This article was written shortly after the All-Star Break in mid-July. Please note that this article was written at that time and the Mets have been playing much better baseball and are currently in playoff contention. 

“Come get us.”

New York Mets General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen issued this rather bold statement in mid-January, calling out to the team’s National League East division rivals that the Mets were ready to contend and bring a championship to Queens for the first time since 1986.  

And now, in July, with the trade deadline approaching, the Mets have gone in the opposite direction, holding the second-worst record in the National League. The bullpen has imploded with a league-leading 21 blown saves, according to ESPN; manager Mickey Callaway has made several costly game decisions, and players haven’t been performing as well as they should be (with the exception of Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and Jacob deGrom).  Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the New York Mets. 

“They came and got us” Brodie Van Wagenen told the media before their first game back from the All-Star Break. 

As a Mets fan, it’s been extremely painful and unbearable to watch. During their last playoff appearance in 2015, the Mets made a magical run where Daniel Murphy carried the Mets to the World Series (unfortunately losing to the Kansas City Royals 4-1 in a best-of-seven series). The 2015 baseball season will be something I will never forget and it was definitely a great time to be a Mets fan. Ever since then, the Mets have gone back to their losing ways, finishing below. 500 for the last two seasons. With the Mets living under the Yankees’ shadow for decades, the Mets have always been the underdogs and never lived up to the standards of a big-market team. 

With all this being said, who should Mets fans blame for their struggles?

Front Office

For years, the Mets have been seen as the inferior team in New York, partly because the front office has always been cheap and hesitant to sign superstar players. Instead, the Mets settle on mediocre players who play subpar baseball and when the Mets do spend, players either suffer injuries that last many months (or even seasons) or never perform at the same level they once did (a case of bad luck). 

Jeb Lund of The Rolling Stone ranked the Wilpons 14th in his “15 Worst Owners in Sports” article, mentioning how the Wilpons would “repeatedly structured deferred payments into player contracts and handed over the funds to fraudster and family friend Bernie Madoff to invest.” Ever since the Madoff scandal, the Mets have had financial troubles, resulting in having one of the lowest payrolls in MLB. 

Mets fans have been more than unhappy with the Wilpons, who have repeatedly ignored their fanbase and deceive the media by forcing their own employees to take the bullet for them. This has been the case this year with the Wilpons shifting the blame away from themselves and toward Brodie Van Wagenen and in some cases, Mickey Callaway. 

In my opinion, the Mets should have never hired Brodie as their general manager. Before, he had been an agent representing numerous players, negotiating deals with teams and making sure his clients were getting paid. It was clear that his inexperience at a team management role would be detrimental to the team. For someone to say that his squad was capable of winning a championship just months after getting the job is very puzzling. 

Brodie’s first move as general manager was the trade for All-Stars closer Edwin Diaz and second baseman Robinson Cano. However, the price was very high as the Mets gave away two of their brightest prospects for Diaz, who had led the league in saves last year with 57, and Cano, an old player who had a huge contract and was coming back from a 90-game suspension. 

And now, all the moves Brodie has made in the offseason has blown up in his face. Whether it’s free agent signings gone wrong or bad trades, the implosion of this team lies in Brodie’s hands, but the Wilpons share some of the blame as well.

Mickey Callaway

With the Mets eight games below .500, it’s hard to understand why Mickey still has a job. His management of the bullpen has been dreadful and for a former pitching coach, that’s pretty ironic. 

 

What can’t be forgotten is the whole confrontation between Callaway and pitcher Jason Vargas and a team reporter that sparked headlines across sports. In the incident, the team reporter questioned Mickey for not putting Edwin Diaz into the game which cost the Mets another game. After the interview  a shouting match erupted and Vargas threatened to beat up the reporter. Both Vargas and Callaway were fined by the team but after all this, it’s clear that Callaway can’t handle the team or the media and it’s safe to say that he has done much worse than his predecessor Terry Collins. 

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With all this being said, the Mets still have a promising team. They have a great young core with Alonso, McNeil, Conforto, Rosario, and Nimmo and don’t forget the 1-2 punch of the 2018 Cy Young Award Winner Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. While this team is currently in shambles, rebuilding is not necessary. Instead, Brodie needs to be aggressive and smart in the offseason along with finding a new manager.

What are the benefits of studying computer science?

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Today’s world is full of technology with it people have been able to create simple but useful things things, well known as apps or others such as video games. Most of them helps us in our life or is used for other purposes. These creations have changed our lives, as an example, there is more connection with others, we also have been able to learn in multiple ways but also have given us reasons to interact with people who we never thought we could interact. But where does it start and who created  them ? but more importantly, can I create one?

 

Today, everyone can create an app or video game with the help of the technology, but only a few can really understand it and find the advantages of it. Most, if not all of this knowledge is acquired in classes and experience. To start, you may need to understand several things in programming or coding. In Computer Science, a course offered by high schools and colleges allowing  you to understand basic skills in gaming and coding. This could lead you to better careers, including Software Developer, Network Engineer IT, Systems Developer, and Information Technology Specialist.

 

All these careers pay from $24 to $41 per hour or an annual rate from 55k to 116k. But “all this depends on the amount of work and the quality of it(the program, app or video game)” said Mr. Fabian, a high school professor at Unity Center for Urban Technologies. Another thing to keep in mind is that you need to learn multiple computer languages which can be complicated.

 

Additionally, the creator of these programs, needs to be careful with all their steps, because a single mistake may result in a huge error causing errors in the programs, apps or video games, similar like loops which may crash any device or even cause the program to never start or function properly.

 

“I once made I mistake in a project and it caused me to lose a good percentage of my grade but after a while this becomes easy” Koko Kabash said a student of Mr. Fabian.

 

As others may not like this class they may not understand the privileges and opportunities that may open for anybody inside this modern society which modernizes everyday.

How deaf people have no direct access to the services hearing people have

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 Imagine living in a world where nobody knows your language and you must use American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter to help communicate with others. In America, deaf people have no direct access to many different things that hearing people do. 

Most deaf people are visual, which is why many deaf people use an American Sign language to communicate. However many hearing people don’t know American Sign Language and often expect them to communicate as quickly as a hearing person. When that assumption is proven to be wrong they would judge deaf people as unintelligent and incapable to do things correctly.  This is why many deaf people have a hard time finding jobs. Fortunately the American with Disabilities Act law which was passed in 1990 helped create easier communication between deaf and hearing individuals by giving deaf people more rights. The employers can no longer discriminate against those who are deaf because deaf people can sue them using ADA law.

Another obstacle that deaf people faced due to lack of communication is when they go to the movie theater and not all movies have closed captions. It is very difficult for deaf people to lipread what the actors or actresses in the movies are saying with the frequent cutaways scenes voice-over, beards, mustaches, fast speakers, cigarette smoking. Some movie theaters would provide a close-caption glasses, however these aren’t great because sometimes the captions are not correct and the glasses are a bit uncomfortable. The best things that the movie theaters could do is provide open captions so that deaf and hearing can both enjoy and understand the movie at the same time.

One of the most common things that deaf people like me have experienced is social isolation. According to Soukup from VeryWell Health, “I knew that most people were not malicious and that communication barriers exist only because of limited exposure to deaf people and a lack of understanding.” Society’s lack of understanding of the deaf community and lack of fluency in ASL to communicate with deaf people makes it challenging for deaf to have social life with hearing people. Social isolation happens to me all the time in my high school. All my hearing classmates didn’t know how to talk to me and were afraid to come up to me. In order for me to make friends with them, I must go up to them and prove that I can talk. I wish that hearing people shouldn’t discriminate against deaf people. Society should have free classes that teach about deaf culture and ASL to hearing people. Those free classes could be taken in schools, colleges, events, and study places. It would be a great way for hearing people to learn about and able to communicate with deaf and prevent social isolation.

The lack of communication between deaf and hearing people, brings many obstacles for the deaf such as being unable to find jobs, not understanding the movies, and facing social isolation. Communication is the key to bring them both together.