Pandemic for Humans, Freedom for Animals

by Kasidi Jordan

When Covid-19 struck the world, people were put into quarantine but many of the animals began to come out into the world again. Before we were put into quarantine many wild animals would stray away from people and stay out of sight, as people disappeared the animals began to reappear.

Covid-19 was actually beneficial to those animals that we humans typically harm. Many instances of cars striking opossums, hedgehogs, deer, and many other animals took a turn decreasing as the pandemic began. Also, the little insects that are always blasted by cars each day were able to pollinate larger amounts due to less traffic. The decline in cars wasn’t the only thing beneficial to wildlife, but also many factories didn’t work during this time. With a drop in the usage of two of the things that can cause the most pollution the air and atmosphere quality actually got better, not only is that good for the animals but also us.

Many wild animals could be seen in places that were taken by humans all over the world. In Chile, mountain lions were present in their capital city. There were coyotes howling throughout San Francisco again while there were lions relaxing on a golf course in South Africa.

Top 3 Trends of the Month

By Niobi Elliot

What’s New Doc?

With a lot of new things happening around the world and in our lives right now, it is

important to stop and look at some of the things that have recently started to appear in the news.

Here are the top three trending topics happening in the United States and around the world.

(Links to various news stories will be provided below each subject.)

#3 – New Supreme Court Justice

Given that it is Women’s History Month, what better way to start the article than talking

about the newly nominated lawyer that may be appointed to SCOTUS. Her name is Judge

Ketanji Brown Jackson, and if appointed she would take Justice Breyers’ seat on the bench. Her

story is so interesting, because if appointed, she would become the first African American female

to serve and she would also be the first public defender to be on the bench.

If you would like to read more into it, click on this link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-

room/statements-releases/2022/02/25/president-biden-nominates-judge-ketanji-brown-jackson-

to-serve-as-associate-justice-of-the-u-s-supreme-court/

#2- New Movies added on Disney+

This is an interesting topic to briefly talk about, because Disney+ has added a lot of new

movies , like “Turning Red”(which is a really great movie), and also bringing back a lot of older

things such as “Westside Story”. A new feature Disney+ has also added is a TV-MA feature, for

mature content that they have added. The link below will show some new shows and movies

Disney is putting out over the next couple of months.

Link: https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/new-on-disney-plus/

#1- Fights in Ukraine and Russia

There are a lot of things happening aboard, however the war between Ukraine and Russia

has been spreading like wildfire. From the research that was gathered, the story is Russia wants

to rekindle it’s relationships with the countries that formally made up the USSR; so it started

with Ukraine. There have been multiple reports of bombings and various takeovers. The UN

(United Nations) collectively plan to support Ukraine and all the people who live there by

sending troops, offering asylum in various countries, and so much more. For those who wish to

read more into the situation, multiple news links will be provided that cover this situation.

Links : https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-zelenskyy-business-migration-

05e541aa8b24bb8027cff68d303ac28d

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/19/russia-ukraine-war-news-putin-live-updates/

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-19-22/index.html

These are the trending topics for this month, and there were some that were missed,

please comment down below. Also check out some of our other articles that are featured on the

blog.

Disparities in Women's Sports

By Jennifer Chiu

Sports are some of the most watched events on television, with thousands of fans and viewers cheering for their favorite athletes or teams. However, disparities still exist between men and women in the sports opportunities that they receive, especially in the way that they are covered by sports media. For example, anger erupted on social media in 2016 over an article the Chicago Tribune published, titled “Wife of a Bears' lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics.” The athlete the article referred to was Corey Cogdell-Unrein—but her name was nowhere to be found in the title. Critics immediately took to Twitter and other social media to criticize the newspaper for its apparent sexism, with one commenter sarcastically replying, “Congrats to that Bears lineman who apparently deserves all the credit here,” Katie Rogers at the New York Times reports. Although the Chicago Tribune later edited the title to include Cogdell-Unrein’s name, it kept her moniker as a wife of a Bears’ lineman, focusing more on her gender rather than her athletic ability.

There have also been concerns about the amount of coverage given to women. Outside of large events like the Olympics, news media rarely covers female athletes, who only appear around 4-5% of the time otherwise. There is a clear imbalance between attention given to male athletes and female ones who are equally, or more, talented than their male counterparts. By refusing to cover women in sports, the media perpetuates the idea that women are less talented or less deserving in this field. To combat this, news and media sources must show as much attention and respect for women in sports as they do for men.

People have also raised many criticisms about the way that media portrays women, not just in the amount of coverage but the quality of coverage. A report published by researchers at Cambridge University discovered coverage of female athletes tended to revolve around their identities as women at significantly higher numbers compared to men. Not only were men mentioned three times as often as women, but more gendered terms were often used to refer to the women. The term “girl” was used 8% more often to describe women than “boy” to describe men, showing a trend towards infantilization of women. Additionally, the report mentions that “...common word associations or combinations for women, but not men, in sport include ‘aged’, ‘older’, ‘pregnant’ and ‘married’ or ‘unmarried,’ [but] for men in sport…adjectives like ‘fastest’, ‘strong’, ‘big’, ‘real’ and ‘great.’” The words associated with women relate to their gender roles, while those associated with men focus on their athletic performance. Many female athletes have also been sexualized, while those who don’t fit into the traditional notion of femininity are chastised as being too “masculine.” One example is when Venus and Serena Williams were called “brothers” that were “scary” to look at, devaluing their worth both as women and athletes by reducing them to their appearance.

These disparities mean that the sports industry has much to cover if it wants to ensure an equal playing ground for both women and men. First, the amount of coverage given to women must increase—in all events, not just big names like the Olympics. Then, coverage must be reformed to appreciate and applaud women for their achievements and efforts, not push sexist notions of traditional femininity. Rather than focusing on gender, sports media should focus on athleticism and ability. Huge strides have been made to close the gap between men and women in sports in the last century, and now it is the sports media’s job to continue that fight.