Type Away Cait

Photo Credit: Erin Schaff/ The New York Times It's been just a little over six months since the storming of the U.S. Capitol and unsurprisingly, GOP officials have showed their opposition to critical race theory. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida  tweeted that critical race theory "teaches kids to hate our country and to hate each other."  The Florida State Board of Education unanimously passed an amendment banning the teaching of CRT. It took me a while to wrap my head around this because arguments like the ones DeSantis make are absolutely unreasonable and given without context. To ban CRT, appears to be an attempt to erase the history of our past and to deny systemic racism.  CRT is a lens to analyze how racism shaped our world. How is that such a bad thing? How much more narrow-minded can people be? One of my biggest concerns as a college student who is fascinated by this lens perspective are, how will these bans impact the next generation? Will children turn into narrow-...

Photo Credit: Stop AAPI Hate 2020 was the year that everyone wanted to forget. The world was welcomed with the COVID-19 pandemic, which was initially believed to have originated at Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China. “In fact, most of the earliest cases in December 2019 had no link to the market,” according to an NRR sum up of the World Health Organization’s investigative report into the origins of the outbreak. About 25 percent of the cases in December 2019 “visited one of 27 other markets in Wuhan besides Huanan, the investigation found. Two of 174 cases in December 2019 were healthcare workers.” However, the conditions of the market such as live animals, and narrow alleyways, made it a super-spreader location and at least 51 cases, most of whom were employees, were linked to the market. The pandemic was not the only problem the United States was facing. Racial tensions were especially high as protests across the country erupted after the shocking video of moments before George F...

Remember that old PBS show called “Reading Rainbow?” I never really appreciated this show nor, to be completely honest, reading for that matter. I mean, I liked books and all, but I never truly appreciated the binding of the pages, that fresh smell of a new book, the yellowing of the pages as it ages, and the power of literature as I do now as a college student who made the decision to dedicate their life to writing and reading. As an English and journalism major, I look forward to watching the news, not only to be up to date with current events, but to get a sneak peek at the guest speakers’ bookshelves. I know, I know. Call me weird. Call me nosy, but I’m not the only one who does it. Apparently, The New York Times does it too . Yes, celebrities are just like us. They eat. They sleep. They read. The New York Times spotted Thomas Hardy’s “Jude the Obscure” on Paul Rudd’s bookshelf. David Ben-Merre, an English professor at The State University of New York Buffalo State College, said ...

Photo Credit: NCAA / Facebook In response to discussions of elected state officials passing bills aimed at excluding transgender athletes from participating in sports, the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s (NCAA) Division III LGBTQ OneTeam Program released a letter on April 5 denouncing their actions. There are 93 anti-transgender bills introduced so far across the country in 2021, “the vast majority of which attempt to ban transgender women and girls’ participation in girls sports or ban transgender youth from accessing medically necessary, gender-affirming health care,” according to a Human Rights Campaign press release. Many LGBT+ advocates are pushing the NCAA to boycott and pull away from having championships in these states. Arkansas is just one of the many states that have passed these bills into law. “This law simply says that female athletes should not have to compete in a sport against a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women’s competition,...

Photo Credit: CDC / Facebook The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration officials recommended to pause the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine on Tuesday after six people developed a rare blood clot. “Right now I’d like to stress these events appear to be extremely rare, however, COVID-19 vaccine safety is a top priority for the federal government and we take all reports of adverse events following vaccination very seriously,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock. As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses were administered in the U.S., according to the joint CDC and FDA statement. The six patients who developed the blood clot, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), and thrombocytopenia, a low blood platelet count, were women ages 18-48. Heparin tends to be used to treat blood clots, but an alternative solution is necessary as it may be dangerous in this case. In an interview with TODAY , Dr. Anthony Fauci reassured audiences ...

Photo Credit: Goodreads / Facebook Do I have enough toilet paper? What are the symptoms? Will I still have a job? When will the pandemic be over? “I swear to you that to think too much is a disease, a real, actual disease,” Fyodor Dostoyesky once wrote . That’s exactly what everyone was doing at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. People lost their jobs and it was as if the whole world was on shutdown when there were orders to stay home locked indoors and to only go out for essential needs. Those who were not homebodies had to adapt to this new lifestyle and learn to take on new activities that didn’t require going out as often. Instead of just twiddling one’s thumbs and staring out the window, one’s computer screen, or television all day, it was the smart ones who used their time wisely and took on reading. There was a rise in print book sales in 2020, according to NPD Bookscan . There are many heroes to thank for their support during these hard times and they finally recei...

Photo Credit: Pontifex / Twitter Addressing matters on same-sex marriage, The Congregation For the Doctrine Of the Faith stated that it “can’t bless sin” in the church on March 15. The marriage sacrament in Catholicism has traditionally been between a man and a woman. Pope Francis I is seen by many to be progressive and is the first pope to support civil unions for gay couples. “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis said in the 2020 documentary “ Franceso, ” directed by Evgeny Affineevsky . “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.” Despite Francis’ history of support for the LGBT+ community, however, he approved the C.D.F.’s ruling . Francis said that it was “not intended to be a form of unjust discrimination, but rather a reminder of the truth of the liturgical rite,” BBC reports . Robert Roush, the executive director of GLYS Western New York, Inc: Growing LGBTQ+ Youth Support , an organization ...