Winne, Mark. “The Bluff.” The Bluff: Channel 2 Goes into Georgia’s Biggest Heroin Market. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.
In this article the author, discusses how Atlanta neighborhoods by the name of English Avenue and Vine City also known as ‘The Bluffs’, have been left in the dark for decades. English Avenue and Vine City have been the biggest drug neighborhoods in Georgia for many years. Many residents living here have been begging for the city of Atlanta to help, but promises continue to be broken leading to very few improvements within the community. A famous resident to this neighborhood was Martin Luther King Jr. The author describes how even when MLK lived there the neighborhood was still run down and a haven for heroine. Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne walked around interviewing different residents and he talked to two men that said ‘The Bluffs’ was a neighborhood in which it is so easy to get caught up in the drug lifestyle and how that lifestyle more than likely always leads to death or prison time. Residents of this area this area are concerned that the city of Atlanta will continue to spend money on projects like the new Falcons stadium, but continue to forget about them. I chose this source because WSBTV is a credible source and it is right here in Atlanta where I am focusing my research on Atlanta Georgia. I enjoyed reading this article because it really shows how the city of Atlanta has indirectly contributed to the downfall of this neighborhood by simply not doing anything.
Mártir, Vanessa. “Gentrified Brooklyn Is Not My Brooklyn.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 May 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.
In this article the author talks about how the Brooklyn that she grew up in was different from the Brooklyn now due to a term called ‘gentrification’. She explains that when she was growing up Brooklyn was not the cleanest or safest place to live, but that it always felt like home because of the struggles that everyone in the neighborhood dealt with. She goes on to say that when white people started moving into the neighborhood the atmosphere of Brooklyn changed and many residents were upset because it felt like white people came in and dominated and tore down the culture that was originally there. The author gave this definition the word “Columbus’ing” as it appeared that the white people came in out of nowhere and civilized the minorities. I chose this article from the Huffington Post because although this article is talking about gentrification in New York, it also happens here in Atlanta where I am doing my research. I did think one flaw this article had was that it did not really talk about how residents living in Brooklyn benefited from white people moving into the neighborhood.
McMillan, Tracie. “Gap in Diet Quality Between Wealthiest and Poorest Americans Doubles, Study Finds.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 2 Sept. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.
The author of this article, Tracie, explains how there is a significant dietary difference between poor and healthy neighborhoods. She says that many residents living in poor neighborhoods are far more likely to be obese than a person living in a wealthy neighborhood. This is because in poor neighborhoods there tends to not be many grocery stores, but a lot of fast food restaurants around. The author explains that parents living in poor neighborhoods want their families to eat healthy, but when you are poor you have to eat the cheapest option and most of the times the cheapest option is the most unhealthiest one. Tracie McMillan goes on to say that in order to fix the obesity problem in poor neighborhoods more grocery stores and supermarkets have to open up in order to change the food environment. This problem is a nation-wide problem that also occurs here in Atlanta where I am doing my research. I believe this article is credible because for one National Geographic is a very credible source and I have driven in a bad neighborhood here in Atlanta where my aunt lives and there will literally be one grocery store within a 5 mile radius, but a fast food restaurant on every corner. I did not see any flaws within this article and I thought that it was very informative as to a normal person they won’t be able to see this problem, but once it’s brought to the spotlight everyone can finally see that it is an actual problem.
Volokh, Eugene. “When Does Your Religion Legally Excuse You from Doing Part of Your Job?” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
In this article that was published by The Washington Post, it talks about how there is a lack of accommodation in our country. For this particular article the author explains how there is a big accommodation problem in the work place due to religion. The big question that the author raises is should you be exempt from doing a certain task if it goes against your religion? Under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, it claims that employers are required to accommodate to employees that refuse to do something because of religious purposes. As simple as this may sound it is not very simple. Despite the law most employers do not accommodate for these types of people which gives the employers only a few different options which are go to court and face a lengthy trial, do the task that the employer asked, or refuse to do the task and get fired. The problem here is that all of those options could have been erased if people would just accommodate. This is a nation-wide issue and also happens in the city of Atlanta where I am doing my research. I chose this source because Washington Post is very credible and I enjoyed reading this article, but it made me raise the question of how far is too far for accommodating for religious purposes? Should a hardcore Christian refuse to hand out same sex marriage licenses just because it goes against the religion? Good article.
Grasgreen, Allie. “Students with Disabilities Frustrated with Ignorance and Lack of Services.” Students with Disabilities Frustrated with Ignorance and Lack of Services. 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
In this article by Grasgreen, she talks about how for many students with disabilities, transitioning from high school to college is a rough experience. According to her article, roughly two-thirds of college students with disabilities do not get the necessary accommodations that they need. This could be because some professors are not trained to deal with disabilities or the college does not know about the disability. Grasgreen says that many times students with disabilities have to go out of there way to get the necessary help and even then sometimes it is not enough. Grasgreen suggests that colleges begin to accommodate for students with disabilities by having an active disability office, disability training, and having all of the necessary tools in the classroom that every student needs for success. Like an article I recently read called “Making Bathrooms More ‘Accommodating’” to people with disabilities it feels like they are the only ones doing the accommodating and that us not fair. Although this issue is happening around the country, the author mentions that this is especially a big problem in small community colleges. There are many small community colleges in the Atlanta area where I am conducting my research and I believe that we are in a point in society where everyone deserves an equal opportunity and that includes people with disabilities.
Goldman, David. “For Stressed College Students, a Doggone Good Way to Relax.” USATODAY.COM. 13 May 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.
In an article that I recently read called “Recognizing College Landscapes as Learning Spaces“, it talked about how in order for a student to relieve stress they needed to surround themselves with nature. Well, in this article by Goldman, he claims that having therapy dogs on campus is a big time stress reliever for college students. Research has shown that human to pet interaction is much more effective for relieving stress than human to human interaction because of the amount of endorphins that are released when a human sees a pet. Goldman goes on to say that Kathleen Adamle, a nursing professor from Kent State hopes to continue to bring her “Dogs on Campus” program to many different universities in hopes of providing a mental break for stressed students. This article took place at Emory University’s law school where a lot of the law students felt overwhelmed with finals coming up. The author tells a story about how an Emory law student that never really showed signs of happiness came into a professor’s office and saw a dog and it immediately brought a smile to her face. The reason I chose this USA Today article is because for a lot of schools such as Georgia State, there is not a lot of nature on the campus, so I wanted to explore the alternatives to being able to relieve stress.
Geary, Lori. “MARTA Pushing for Largest Expansion in History.” WSBTV. 20 July 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
In this article that was published by WSBTV, it talks about how badly MARTA wants to make the biggest expansion in history. In order to make this happen it would cost $8 billion dollars. Although this expansion would cost tax payers a lot of money, MARTA chairman Robbie Ashe sees this as an opportunity to promote economic growth and to help fill jobs. This new expansion would extend rail lines to parts of North Dekalb, Alpharetta, and parts of South Dekalb. MARTA rider Belinda Morrow explains how she is sick of having to sit in traffic for long periods of time to get to work. She tells Lori Geary that she would much rather be sitting on MARTA reading a newspaper while on the way to MARTA. Although there are many people pushing to get this expansion completed, there are also many people that do not want to get this expansion completed. As apart of my research over the built environment I have uncovered that one of the major reasons that many people living in Georgia do not want MARTA to expand is because an expansion would provide easy access to the suburbs. Many wealthy people do not want this because it enables minorities and poor people to have a better opportunity to take suburban jobs and move into the area. Although this is a big issue among taxpayers, MARTA hopes to have the sales tax issue on the ballot in 2016. This could be a big success for the city of Atlanta as the city has been known to have poor transportation for such a big city.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “A green view through a classroom window can improve students’ performance.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 January 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160122170932.htm>.
In this article that was published by ScienceDaily, the author talks about how having a green view through a classroom window will improve a students academic success. William Sullivan and Dongying Li conducted a research experiment and found that having a green view from the classroom window will relieve stress as well as increase the capacity to pay attention by 13 percent. In the research experiment which involved 94 students, some students were told to take a test in a classroom without a window, a classroom with a window showing a green view, and a classroom with a window showing another building. The results were that the classroom with a green view did far better than the other two options. Both Li and Sullivan claim that the reasoning behind this discovery is the “Attention Restoration Theory”. The theory says that when the brain is fatigued it likes to pull its attention towards effortless things like nature or living things to get a break. This is why having a green view from outside the classroom window is good because it forces a students brain to get an occasional break from stress. Li and Sullivan hope that their findings can influence schools all across the world to begin to implement changes in the way the classroom is built. This article went hand in hand with another article that we read as a class talking about how college students perform better on college campuses that have lots of greenery and nature. I believe that college campuses in downtown Atlanta should take notes from this article because unfortunately there is not a ton of green space available. If these campuses implemented more green space than it could improve a students performance which is the ultimate goal.
Steinmetz, Katy. “The Gender-Neutral Bathroom Revolution Is Growing.” Time. 11 Jan. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
In this article that was published by Time, the author states that gender-neutral bathrooms are starting to become a big trend across the United States. San Francisco supervisor David Campos, announced a bill that plans to turn many single gender bathrooms into gender-neutral bathrooms. San Francisco would be apart of a few other cities that have implemented this bill. Campos argues that many people are impacted negatively by gender specific bathrooms. Some of the examples he gives are; a mother trying to accompany her son into the bathroom, but not knowing which to choose or a person trying to help a disabled person use the bathroom, but not knowing which to pick. In giving all of his examples he still wants to focus mainly on the LGBT community saying that this is a huge battle for their civil rights. Some of the arguments against this bill come from a Wisconsin bill that says that students must use the correct gender specific bathroom according to their biological sex. Campos says that transgender people are constantly being harassed for going into bathrooms where they are not welcome and that this needs to stop. He finishes off by saying that going to the bathroom is such a big necessity and nobody should have a difficult time or be in danger because of that. This article goes along with some of the readings and research that I have done over ‘accommodating’. When people accommodate for one another we help each other try to fit in even if we do not fully agree with what is going on. Everyone wants to feel like they are included and important. This gender-neutral bathroom accommodation is spreading fast and it is only a matter of time before Atlanta implements this bill as well.