SCC English Dept. Scholarly Journal – Two Waters Review 2.3

REVIEW

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TWO WATERS REVIEW

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Volume 2, Issue 3

THE CRYPTIC PROBLEM WITH CRYPTO Brendan Boyd

In the human race’s ever growing thirst for technological advancement, there have been talks of a potential replacement for the physical currencies running the global economy today. Physical currencies such as the dollar or the pound are run by national banking companies that oversee basically everything that happens with those currencies: transactions, trades, income and more. This allows the government to impose taxes upon citizens based on what they do with their money. The proposed solution to that problem is something called cryptocurrency. In layman’s terms, cryptocurrency is a peerto-peer currency system, which means that all crypto transactions are traded directly between the two individuals taking part in the transaction. There would be no “middleman” overseeing crypto processes. On paper, this sounds like a dream come true to people looking for a different, more private way to use their money. However, in practice, there is a lot more to cryptocurrency than what it promises. There are talks of rampant fraud and theft within the crypto community, along with the absolutely devastating effects crypto processes have on our planet as a whole. The overwhelming amount of risk and power consumption involved in investing in cryptocurrency harshly damages its potential viability as a form of currency.

Understanding how exactly cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) function as a whole is crucial in understanding why they are entirely illegitimate. Antony Lewis, ex crypto trader and author of the book The Basics of Bitcoin and Blockchain, explains cryptocurrencies as “digital assets

(‘coins’) whose ownership is recorded on an electronic ledger that is updated (almost) simultaneously on about 10,000 independently operated computers around the world that connect… [to] each other” (150). This means that cryptocurrencies are not created, issued and, most importantly, regulated by the government. They are entirely maintained by the Bitcoin holders themselves. This allows the holders to create their own Bitcoin wallets, which are essentially apps that do everything related to Bitcoin, including transactions, address creation, balance, and more. Addresses are Bitcoin accounts that serve as the main storage compartment for cryptocurrencies. These addresses are split into 2 “keys” to function: the public and the private key. Lewis explains addresses and keys more in depth:

Bitcoin addresses (accounts) are derivatives of public keys, and when you make a Bitcoin transaction, you use your private key to sign, or authorize, the transaction which moves bitcoins from your account to someone else’s. Most blockchain schemes operate this way. Digital assets are held in accounts made from public keys, and the respective private keys are used for signing outbound transactions. (135)

The electronic ledger Lewis mentioned is what is referred to as “the blockchain”. Lewis explains the blockchain as a database that is maintained and replicated on the 10,000 computers mentioned earlier. He goes on to say that this database contains records of every single Bitcoin transaction that takes place, which allows Bitcoin wallets to function,

as the blockchain doesn’t store wallet balances, it stores transactions. For example, a typical crypto wallet doesn’t calculate the amount of bitcoin that is actually stored in the wallet. It goes through all of the transactions that are currently associated with that specific wallet and calculates the balance that way. It works this way to prevent users from simply copying their digital wallet and doubling their total amount of crypto. Essentially, this allows all cryptocurrency transactions to be entirely peerto-peer as opposed to the centralized banking system the economy revolves around today.

One might be wondering how cryptocurrencies are created. Crypto is created through a process called “mining”, which is the process of creating blocks on the blockchain, which is done through “recording transactions in batches, page by page instead of transaction by transaction. Individual transactions… can be passed around the network, then entered into the [database] in less frequent batches” (Lewis, 163). There are many bitcoin transactions created per second. As such, it would basically be impossible to take note of and verify every single one as it’s created as it would take too much time. Therefore, “blocks” are created which are batches of transaction data that get sent to the “bookkeepers”, which is essentially anyone with “a computer, adequate storage, and access to internet bandwidth” (Lewis, 161). The bookkeepers then verify all pending blocks of transactions, which get sent to all other bookkeepers to show that the block has now been verified.

A block gets verified through a process called “proof of work” (PoW). Lewis describes the PoW process:

Each block-creator takes a bunch of transactions that they know about, but which have not yet been included in any of the previous blocks, and builds a block out of them, in a specific format. The creator then calculates a cryptographic hash from the block’s data. [...] The rule of Bitcoin’s proofof-work game of chance says, if the hash of the block is smaller than a target number, then this block is considered a valid block which all bookkeepers should accept. (167)

Many will notice the wording of “game of chance” and wonder what exactly makes this process a game of chance. There is a chance that the hash of the block will end up being bigger than the target number of that block. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the block creator is out of luck if this happens. They can simply try the process again by altering the “nonce” (number once), a “special part of the block that block-creators can populate with an arbitrary number” (Lewis, 167). The nonce has nothing to do with the actual data inside of the block. Its only purpose is to allow the block creator to “change the input data for the hash function” (Lewis, 168). Once they finally reach a number below the target number, the block has now become validated and rewards the original bookkeeper with bitcoin as a commission of sorts for completing this work. This cryptocurrency can then be used as legal tender for any participating establishment.

Cryptocurrencies have built their own asset-fueled economy through the use of things called non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In his article NFTs: crypto grifters try to scam artists, again, cryptocurrency analyst David Gerard describes NFTs as “a crypto-token on a blockchain. The token is virtual — the thing you own is a cryptographic key to a particular address on the blockchain — but legally, it’s property that you can buy, own or sell like any other property.” An NFT can be anything, be it a video, document, screenshot of a tweet, or most commonly, an entire line of algorithmically generated artwork that gets distributed on a virtual market, such as OpenSea. Most people would probably be thinking that when they purchase the NFT, they are purchasing the actual asset itself. However, Gerard reveals that when someone purchases an NFT, they aren’t actually purchasing the asset. They are purchasing the link that leads them to wherever the asset is stored on the blockchain. These links have become investments to crypto enthusiasts, with the perceived value of some NFTs growing to over thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of crypto. They then trade these NFTs with other crypto investors, regaling each other with promises of riches when these NFTs eventually grow

in “value” in the future. Many people would look at this model and say “Wait a minute, that just sounds like some kind of Ponzi or pyramid scheme”. They would be right.

One of the main proponents behind the value of NFTs is the demand for it. Obviously, demand only grows if more people want the product. Well, due to NFTs being entirely virtual products with absolutely no physical financial backing and no initial demand to begin with, the only way that crypto investors can increase the demand for their NFT is through something akin to recruitment. Many NFT lines market their NFT series as “the next big thing” in the crypto space. They overhype their product in hopes that investors will get pulled in and invest in their NFT. The investors then proceed to also hype up the NFT series, mostly through social media, in order to generate new investors, increasing the value of the NFT and, in turn, generating more profit on the investors’ end once they attempt to sell it. This leads to these investors being fooled into investing into these NFTs, only for the proverbial rug to be pulled from under their feet, and the original people behind the NFTs shutting down the project and running with the money. The word “rugpull” has become synonymous with crypto as a whole due to the sheer amount of them happening, with the biggest reason behind their numbers is the fact that more often than not, they can’t be stopped or protected against.

The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency allows for theft and fraud to easily run rampant throughout the crypto space, with the worst part being that victims of scams can’t be compensated in any way. An example of this can be seen in a recent Ponzi scheme covered by the U.S. Department of Justice, in which a man named Satishkumar Kurjibhai Kumbhani, the founder of a cryptocurrency company called BitConnect, was found guilty of stealing over $2 billion dollars worth of crypto in a Ponzi scheme. The case review states that this was accomplished through “earlier BitConnect investors [that] were paid with money from later investors to promote the fraudulent scheme.” This is just one of many Ponzi schemes that have been recorded under the crypto umbrella, which is already a massive

pyramid scheme as a whole. There have quite possibly been many more of these types of schemes that have fallen under the radar, scamming many investors out of their funds.

Many might say that these kinds of schemes also happen all the time with regular currencies, such as the ongoing trend of multilevel marketing schemes lately, but they fail to realize that crypto scams are tremendously more damaging to investors. Kaleb Davis explains why in his article “The Economic Impact of Cryptocurrency”: “Because the sites are against using a third party to delegate transactions, some buyers are left scammed. Currencies such as Bitcoin are only accepted by a very small group of online buyers.” It’s entirely in the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies. Many crypto investments very easily fall through, leaving nothing for the investor making the purchase. There is no middle man managing the transaction, so this leaves the investor with no options to potentially get that money back as opposed to potential compensation options that regular banking offers, which further adds to the sheer volatility of investing in crypto over other assets.

These schemes are just a smaller part of what makes crypto so volatile as a whole, which would be the value of the bitcoins themselves. Yes, there is inherent risk in investing in assets with regular currency, but the money being used to invest has a fixed value. 1 dollar is worth 1 dollar. This is not true for the vast majority, if not all cryptocurrencies currently available. The massive, frequent fluctuations in crypto value prevent it from being a viable alternative currency even without all of the other ramifications surrounding crypto. Nathan Reiff delves into the volatile history of cryptocurrencies and their less than stable value in his article “Where Is the Cryptocurrency Industry Headed in 2021?”:

Heading into 2018, Bitcoin traded for close to $13,500 after reaching an all-time high of $19,783.06 in December of 2017. It subsequently dropped as low as $3,400, a loss of about three-quarters of its value— and other digital currencies weren’t faring much better at the time. Ethereum (ETH),

for example, fell from an early-year high of $1,300 to just $91 by December 2018 before rallying back to over $450 by the end of 2020.

The nature of cryptocurrency (and non fungible tokens) means that all of their value is perceived. While that may be true for all forms of currency, as we can see here, that perceived value is the only driving factor behind the value of cryptocurrency, meaning that their value is infinitely more volatile than even the most unstable stock investments. This is simply not sustainable for longer than a few years as there will always be the looming likely possibility of crypto value becoming so volatile that the economy could see an accelerated inflation/depression, losing investors and eventually coming to collapse.

The downfalls of crypto don’t just stop at the financial level; their processes (PoW minting and transactions) are actively doing harm to the planet. In Hadas Thier’s article “Cryptocurrency Will Not Liberate Us: Deflating the egalitarian fantasies of digital currencies”, he explains exactly how, stating that “[a] single transaction requires 707 kilowatt-hours of electricity, emitting half a ton of CO2. According to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, one Bitcoin transaction uses as much power as an average U.S. household uses over 73 days” (17). Just a single transaction is all it takes to send half a ton of CO2 into the air. There are reportedly thousands of crypto transactions that take place every day. This absolutely does not bode well for the planet in the continual climate change battle as the atmosphere gets filled with more greenhouse gasses. Thier also reveals some more concerning stats: “A study published in Nature in 2018 estimated that the process of verifying and mining Bitcoin could on its own raise global temperatures above 2 degrees Celsius by 2048” (17). This isn’t even accounting for the minting of NFTs and the 15,000 to 50,000 NFT transactions (Carter) that also take place alongside regular bitcoin transactions every week, which also consume a ludicrous amount of power. If cryptocurrency makes it past the next 5 or so years, it spells grave consequences for the health of the planet.

Many crypto enthusiasts insist that there are some tangible benefits to crypto over regular currencies. For example, the editors at the NACD Directorship explain in their article “Weighing the Pros and Cons of Cryptocurrency” that one of the benefits cryptocurrency has over traditional currency is that crypto transactions can be transferred in mere seconds, compared to the three full days it takes for a bank payment with traditional currency to clear. Yes, this does allow money to be transferred faster, and allows investors to reach international markets rather than just staying within their own nation’s economy. However, this potential benefit gets canceled out by the sheer volatility of crypto. It doesn’t matter if one is able to send money overseas in seconds if that money isn’t worth nearly as much the next day. This could potentially serve to shake the trust between international investors, shaking the economy and further segmenting economies rather than unifying them.

Cryptocurrency, as a whole, sounds great. It is a peer-to-peer currency system which allows for speedy and private transactions without interference or taxation from the government. However, its execution is so blatantly horrible that there is simply no upside to it that outweighs the myriad of downsides that come with it. Peer-to-peer currency relies practically entirely on trust in order to function. Clearly, that is a… less than reliable currency model due to the overwhelming amount of scams that take place under the crypto umbrella, investors losing billions of dollars worth of crypto over a relatively short amount of time. Even outside all of that, the harm crypto as a whole is doing to the planet is an extreme cause for alarm that should not be ignored. Crypto by itself has the potential to raise the global temperature within the next 20 years, not even accounting for every single other pollutant contributing to climate change right now. As it stands, cryptocurrency is simply not a viable alternative to regular currencies and should be sifted out of the mainstream as fast as possible to avoid further damages to unfortunate investors’ wallets and the Earth.

Works Cited

Carter, Rebekah. The Ultimate List of NFT Statistics (2022). Findstack. 18+ Fascinating NFT Statistics &amp Facts for 2022 (findstack.com)

Davis, Kaleb. The Economic Impact of Cryptocurrency. globalEDGE Blog, 21 Nov. 2021, globalEDGE Blog: The Economic Impact of Cryptocurrency >> globalEDGE: Your source for Global Business Knowledge (msu.edu)

Gerard, Davis. NFTs: crypto grifters try to scam artists, again. Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, March 25, 2021. NFTs: crypto grifters try to scam artists, again – Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain (davidgerard.co.uk)

Lewis, Antony. The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains: An Introduction to Cryptocurrencies and the Technology That Powers Them. Mango Publishing, 2021.

NACD Directorship. Weighing the Pros and Cons Of Cryptocurrency. Vol. 48, Jan. 2022, p48-49, EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier, Weighing the Pros and Cons Of Cryptocurrency: EBSCOhost (scottsdalecc.edu)

Reiff, Nathan. Where Is the Cryptocurrency Industry Headed in 2021? Investopedia, August 25, 2021. Where Is the Cryptocurrency Industry Headed in 2021?

Thier, Hadas. Cryptocurrency Will Not Liberate Us: Deflating the egalitarian fantasies of digital currencies. Vol. 358, Jan/Feb 2022, pp16-22, EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier, Cryptocurrency Will Not Liberate Us: Deflating the egalitarian fantasies of...: EBSCOhost (scottsdalecc.edu)

U.S. Department of Justice, Founder of Fraudulent Cryptocurrency Charged in $2 Billion BitConnect Ponzi Scheme. 25 Feb 2022, Founder of Fraudulent Cryptocurrency Charged in $2 Billion BitConnect Ponzi Scheme | USAO-SDCA | Department of Justice

DEPRESSION TREATMENT IMPROVEMENTS FOR MOTHER AND INFANT

Anna Henning

Many agree that the birth of a baby is a joyous occasion full of celebration and adoration–except sometimes it’s not. Postpartum depression (PPD) has the potential to affect a mother for up to a year after the birth of her child, and access to appropriate maternal mental health care is vital for the ongoing health of the mother and her infant (Hansotte et al. 2). Mothers suffering with PPD have a more difficult time caring for themselves, and in turn caring for their infant; infants of mothers suffering with PPD are “at increased risk for long-term health and developmental problems… and behavioral issues” (Hansotte et al. 2). Mothers suffering with PPD are at an increased risk for suicide as well (Hansotte et al. 2). Unfortunately many suffering mothers don’t receive necessary treatment for their PPD, contributing to the health problems of mother and infant. There is a necessity for the reformation of the current maternal mental healthcare system, as the treatment of postpartum depression is a public healthcare concern, wherein treatment for PPD would be improved with mandatory screening, in-home treatment, and advances in quality of care offered for mothers looking to obtain services.

Mandatory postpartum depression (PPD) screenings would aid in improving the health of mothers and their infants by evaluating mothers for possible illness.

With an introduction of mandatory PPD screening, the social stigma often associated with PPD screening and diagnosis could be eliminated. According to the article “Postpartum Depression: The Worst Kept Secret” from Harvard.edu, “Screening is very important because studies have shown that many women with postpartum depression are ashamed of their symptoms and are afraid of the social stigma associated with the diagnosis” (Chisolm). Because many mothers avoid requesting a PPD screening due to fear of associated social repercussions and stigma, mandatory screenings would eliminate this fear and offer help to those who potentially need it, leading to more women being accurately screened and therefore treated for PPD.

Mandatory PPD screening would also assist populations of mothers less inclined to seek professional help for their illness. An article titled “How Much Does Low Socioeconomic Status Increase the Risk of Prenatal and Postpartum Depressive Symptoms in FirstTime Mothers?” from Women’s Health Issues states that “women with lower incomes are less likely to have adequate access to mental health services and are least likely to report symptoms of depression to healthcare professionals,” further discussing a study finding that women of lower socioeconomic status with “low education, low income, being

unmarried, and being unemployed” were at an increased risk of developing PPD and “were 11 times more likely than women with no socioeconomic risk factors to” develop PPD (Goyal et al. 97). Mothers of lower socioeconomic status (SES) seem to be less likely to request help and most likely to need it, but if PPD screening is made mandatory, mothers of lower SES won’t have to ask for help; it will be offered to them during their prenatal and postnatal physicians visits. If PPD screening was made mandatory, it would lead to early detection of illness, helping mothers to obtain treatment they may not have known they needed. The same Havard. edu article discussed as earlier explains “The key to the prevention and successful treatment of postpartum depression is early intervention. Women may not realize they are depressed after having a baby, or may realize they are struggling but feel too embarrassed to seek help. This is why it is very important to screen all new mothers” (Chisolm). Mandatory screening for all mothers during their prenatal and postnatal period would assist them in obtaining treatment they may not otherwise have recognized that they need, eventually allowing a mother to heal from an illness she didn’t realize she was suffering with. Mandatory screenings for PPD would benefit mothers and their infants, providing mothers with insight into their emotional state so that they may appropriately treat their illness if necessary.

In-home PPD treatment for mothers benefits the health of the mother and her child, and should be more widely offered. Treating PPD with in-home treatment is beneficial because it removes associated social stigma. An article from Public Health Reviews titled “Positive postpartum depression screening practices and subsequent mental health treatment for low-income women in Western countries: a systematic literature review” states that “A woman may … feel freer to talk about her feelings in her home without the fear of being stigmatized,” and “Mothers in many studies … did not seek PPD care because of the stigma attached to it. Some reported not wanting to be seen as ‘crazy’ or to have a ‘real’ mental illness” (Hansotte, et al).

Often mothers avoid seeking PPD treatment out of fear of social stigma and retaliation, but with in-home treatment mothers can express the symptoms they’re experiencing more honestly and vulnerably without fear, allowing mothers to receive appropriate and accurate treatment. In-home PPD treatment furthermore provides much needed social support within the home. One journal article from the International Journal of Preventive Medicine called “Effect of Health Care as the “Home Visiting” on Postpartum Depression: A Controlled Clinical Trial” explains “many studies showed that the lack of social support is one of the most important risk factors for postpartum depression, … and health-care services by home visiting after delivery are an appropriate way for improving social support” (Milani, et al.). In-home treatment brings social support into the picture, erasing a common stressor mothers experience, and improving the overall PPD experience and health of mother and infant. Additionally, bringing PPD treatment into the home can alleviate many financial barriers a mother may experience when seeking treatment, making treatment more accessible. According to the article “Positive postpartum depression screening practices and subsequent mental health treatment for low-income women in Western countries: a systematic literature review” in Public Health Reviews, “financial barriers were a main reason that women did not seek treatment for PPD. Financial barriers were broader than not merely being able to pay for treatment; women with children could not afford to pay someone to watch the child(ren) during treatment, could not afford transportation to go for treatment, or had insurance issues that impeded getting treatment.” (Hansotte et al.)

In-home PPD treatment erases certain financial stressors that warrants treatment otherwise inaccessible, allowing mothers to obtain the help they need. In-home treatment eliminates concerns associated with a mother’s opposition to receiving treatment, allowing mothers to receive treatment for their PPD, benefiting the health of the mother and her child.

Advances in quality of care offered to mothers for PPD treatment would benefit the health of mothers and their infants. Many mothers

avoid seeking PPD treatment because their medical insurance coverage doesn’t accommodate their needs. An NPR article titled “Lawmakers Weigh Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Screening For Postpartum Depression” Dr. Laura Sirott comments that “her patients give a range of reasons why they don’t take her up on a referral [for PPD treatment] to a psychologist: “‘Oh, they don’t take my insurance.’ Or ‘my insurance pays for three visits.’ … ‘It’s a three-month wait to get into that person’” (Dembosky). Medical insurance coverage requires change within itself, as mothers suffering with PPD often avoid treatment because their insurance isn’t covering their needs in a cost-effective manner; with a change in medical insurance coverage, mothers’ access to treatment can be more available, assisting mothers’ and infants’ health. When a mother suffering with PPD is seeking treatment, doctors often don’t understand the intricacies of prescribing antidepressants to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Dr. Sirott from the aforementioned NPR article comments on this issue as well “it’s also hard to find a psychiatrist who is trained in the complexities of prescribing medications to pregnant or breastfeeding women, and who is willing to treat them” (Dembosky). Because many doctors don’t understand how to treat mothers with medication, emphasis and attention needs to be placed upon proper and accurate treatment of mothers by means of prescription therapy within the medical field, so that proper treatment for PPD may be made accessible to benefit the health of mothers and their infants. Only one PPD-specific antidepressant is available for mothers’ treatment, and it’s not very attainable, requiring thousands of dollars to use. In another article by NPR titled “Women

Say California Insurer Makes It Too Hard To Get Drug For Postpartum Depression”

this drug is explained: “It’s the first and only drug approved by the FDA specifically to treat postpartum depression … brexanolone replenishes a hormone metabolite that gets depleted after childbirth — allopregnanolone … Brexanolone is a synthetic version of allopregnanolone, delivered through an IV infusion over the course of 60 hours. It costs

$34,000,” as well as requires a three-day overnight hospital stay and demands that mothers must be under 6 months postpartum to be able to undergo brexanolone treatment (Demobosky). With these stipulations, a potentially life saving drug is made inaccessible to mothers who can’t afford the IV 60 hour treatment and 3-day overnight hospital stay, can’t afford to be away from their children for three days, and can’t afford to identify and express their symptoms to a healthcare professional in a timely manner; if brexanolone was made more readily available and affordable, the health of suffering mothers and their infants could improve. It is vital that advancements are made in the quality of care offered to mothers requiring PPD treatment, as improvement would vastly enhance the health of mothers and their infants.

Doctor Laura Sirott contends that mandatory screening for postpartum depression might not be as beneficial to the health of the mother and her child as previously mentioned. In an earlier discussed NPR article titled “Lawmakers Weigh Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Screening For Postpartum Depression,” the article explains “Many obstetricians and pediatricians say they are afraid to screen new moms for depression and anxiety,” with Dr. Sirott commenting “What are you going to do with those people who screen positive? … Some providers have nowhere to send them” (Dembosky). While physicians’ fears are valid and can be taken into consideration, physicians’ reluctance to screen eliminates a resource many suffering mothers may need and not otherwise have access to. Another physician by the name of Dr. Nirmaljit Dhami is interviewed in the same article, with the article stating “Supporters of California’s proposed bill, however, say doctors need to start somewhere,” before explaining Dr. Dhami believes “Screening is the first step in recognizing the full scope of the problem … Women should be screened on an ongoing basis throughout pregnancy and for a year after birth … not just once or twice as the bill requires … I often tell doctors that if you don’t know that somebody is suicidal it doesn’t mean that their suicidality will go away … If you don’t ask, the risk is the same”

(Dembrosky). As discussed, often mothers may not realize they need help or may not feel safe asking for it, and if PPD screening isn’t conducted, many struggling mothers and their children will suffer the repercussions of lack of treatment. Screening for PPD within our current healthcare system may seem daunting to some providers, but the screening is necessary to ensure that PPD is detected as early as possible to ensure the health of mothers and their infants.

A report conducted by the National Home Visiting Resource Center argues that PPD inhome treatment is subject for improvement due to home-visitors needing more training. It is explained in the report titled “Addressing Maternal Depression in the Context of Home Visiting: Opportunities and Challenges” that “Home visitors need specialized training to address maternal depression effectively … many home visitors report low levels of knowledge, training, and self-efficacy related to addressing depression with participants. A … study found that 44 percent of home visitors felt that they had not received sufficient training to help support families with mental health problems, including maternal depression” (NHVRC). While home visitors may feel underprepared for the roles they take on, it is shown that their presence is beneficial to the home environment nonetheless, as well as to mothers suffering with PPD. An earlier mentioned review titled “Positive postpartum depression screening practices and subsequent mental health treatment for low-income women in Western countries: a systematic literature review” discusses a study conducted on two groups of mothers suffering with PPD and the in-home visitors effects on mother’s PPD status stating “the intervention group with the home visitor showed lower depression scores at follow-up than the control group. The subjects … agreed that in-home support would be a preferred treatment method for PPD” (Hansotte, et al.). In-home visitors provide documented relief to a mother’s PPD. “Effect of Health Care as the “Home Visiting” on Postpartum Depression: A Controlled Clinical Trial” states that in-home visits “after delivery [are] one of the best ways for family supportive and educative

needs [to be met]… and due to problems of transportation for mothers and infants in early days after delivery, it is better to provide health-care services at home” (Milani, et al.). In-home visits provide many means of support to a mother, both socially and financially. While there are advancements to be made in in-home visiting for PPD treatment, there are advancements to be made in all healthcare fields, and to discount the advantages that inhome treatment provides to mothers based on need for improvement would be disingenuous.

It is important to the health of mother and child that the current maternal mental healthcare system is reformed, in which access to PPD treatment would be enhanced with mandatory screening, in-home treatment, and advances in quality of care available to mothers looking for treatment. An advancement in our current maternal mental healthcare system would provide an improvement in the health of mothers, their infants, their families, and the direct population. Postpartum depression affects virtually everyone; consider all of the women in your life capable of conceiving a child, and then realize that anyone capable of conceiving and carrying a child is capable of conceiving and carrying postpartum depression as well. When election time comes, consider voting for officials who value the passing of bills regarding maternal mental healthcare advancement. Speak with mothers around you and understand how common and how difficult suffering with PPD can be; an open conversation surrounding such topics can only diminish associated stigma and encourage those suffering to seek treatment when needed.

Works Cited

“Addressing Maternal Depression in the Context of Home Visiting: Opportunities and Challenges.” National Home Visiting Resource Center, Aug. 2018, pp. 1-13.

https://www.nhvrc.org/wp-content/uploads/NHVRCBrief-081318_FINAL.pdf. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Works Cited Continued

Chisholm, Andrea. “Postpartum depression: The worst kept secret.” Harvard Health Publishing: Harvard Medical School, 8 Feb. 2017, https://www.health. harvard.edu/blog/postpartum-depression-worst-keptsecret-2017020811008. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Dembosky, April. “Lawmakers Weigh Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Screening For Postpartum Depression.” NPR, 19 Mar. 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/ health-shots/2018/03/19/592225598/lawmakersweigh-pros-and-cons-of-mandatory-screening-forpostpartum-depression. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Dembosky, April. “Women Say California Insurer Makes It Too Hard To Get Drug For Postpartum Depression.” NPR, 13 Jul. 2021, https://www.npr.org/sections/ health-shots/2021/07/13/1011757615/women-saycalifornia-insurer-makes-it-too-hard-to-get-drugfor-postpartum-depres. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Goyal, Deepika, et al. “How Much Does Low Socioeconomic Status Increase the Risk of Prenatal and Postpartum Depressive Symptoms in First-Time Mothers?” Women’s Health Issues, vol. 20, no. 2, Apr. 2010, pp. 96-104. ELSEVIER, doi:10.1016/j.whi.2009.11.003. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Hansotte, Elinor, et al. “Positive postpartum depression screening practices and subsequent mental health treatment for low-income women in Western countries: a systematic literature review.” Public Health Review, vol. 38, no. 3, 31 Jan. 2017, pp. 1-17. PubMed Central, doi:10.1186/s40985-017-0050-y. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Milani, Hourieh Shamshiri, et al. “Effect of Health Care as the “Home Visiting” on Postpartum Depression: A Controlled Clinical Trial.” International Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 8, no. 20, 6 Apr. 2017, pp. 1-6. PubMed Central, doi:10.4103/2008-7802.204003. Accessed 7 May 2022.

DIGITAL PRIVACY

Cory Mangum

Digital privacy is a topic which America has grappled with since the beginning of the information age. The current state of affairs for consumers in America leaves people feeling powerless regarding the information collected on their private life. Americans’ privacy remains inadequately protected on a national level, which fuels the debate: does America need a modernized federal privacy law? Personalized ads have become uncomfortably relevant, imparting an uneasy feeling of unwelcomed surveillance. Today, each interaction with a digital device generates data detailing aspects of the user’s life. The smartphone’s omnipresent relationship with its users provides an endless source of this data. This collected information serves as the sole commodity of a data ecosystem generating profits over $200 billion annually. This commoditized data can range from a person’s seemingly trivial Instagram “Like,” to a gym membership or hobby. However, Personal Identifiable Information (PII) falls within this spectrum as well. PII represents any information that can identify an individual, which includes but is not limited to Social Security numbers, addresses, biometrics, and names. Data brokers are at the center of this industry, specializing in consumer data collection from every source possible. In a void of adequate federal regulation, this sector has thrived in the shadows and remains unbridled. Data broker companies presently lobby with power equivalent to Big Tech firms (Ng and Varner). An assortment of acronyms (HIPAA, FERPA, ECPA, etc.) stand for the existing patchwork of federal privacy regulations intended for antiquated circumstances (Klosowski). A handful of U.S. states have begun passing their own consumer protection laws. However, many fear inconsistencies among state laws will

undermine each American’s long-term privacy rights. Currently, California, Virginia, and Colorado have passed their own variations of consumer privacy laws. Virginia’s law has been criticized by privacy advocates as too business friendly, namely for neglecting to address civil right protections. Allowing companies to continue harvesting data essentially unfettered is similarly contentious (Klosowski). The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) is regarded by experts as the strongest in America. Yet even the CCPA falls short on providing consumers the full spectrum of privacy by design protections. Particularly the opt-in consent by default is seen as counterproductive for data privacy (Klosowski). These laws can only produce results when backed by staunch enforcement. Virginia and Colorado granted exclusive authority to the Attorney General for enforcement. In contrast, California has established the Consumer Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA). Since many states lack legislation to address data use, privacy rights, and enforcement, a comprehensive federal law is needed to guarantee all Americans the fundamental human right of privacy.

First, data use has two key issues which need to be addressed, beginning with a perfect example of unnecessary personal data collection that most definitely falls outside the needs of the service provided. Metropolis, a parking validation app, is used nationwide to facilitate paid parking fees, a service that should require minimal data from a user. The company’s 4,000-word privacy policy depicts a conflicting situation. David Lazarus, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, reported his findings within their policy: “Along with collecting a startling amount of user data, the policy says that Metropolis reserves the right

to monitor pages that you visit before, during and after using the company’s online parking validation, as well as ‘information about the links you click’” (Lazarus). A straightforward service became hungry for data which falls far beyond the necessary information to carry out its stated purpose. Metropolis has no justifiable reason to monitor and harvest user data outside of providing its specified purpose, parking validation.

This is not an issue unique to mobile app companies. Internet service providers (IPS) monitor and collect customers’ browsing habits, a revelation to nobody in 2021. A staff report conducted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission detailed far more surveillance,

The vertical integration of ISP services with other services like home security and automation, video streaming, content creation, advertising, email, search, wearables, and connected cars permits not only the collection of large volumes of data, but also the collection of highly-granular data about individual subscribers. (4)

The excessive harvesting of customer data needs to be eliminated. Shoshana Zuboff, author and professor emerita at Harvard Business School, coined the term “Surveillance Capitalism” (Laidler). Zuboff notes this surveillance capitalism was invented the same year of the 9/11 attacks. Consequently, the aftermath was the catalyst for the United States’ accelerated self-preservation method of maintaining absolute awareness through surveillance. This is further exacerbated by intelligence agencies tapping into and nurturing the capabilities of commercial technologies. Over the decades, selfregulated companies have taken advantage of the lack of legislation to determine the terms of engagement into the digital world. Washington legislators must regain control of the unquenchable beast it has unleashed upon its citizens. Data minimization would be a big step towards this goal. This entails restricting businesses to only handling data pertinent to the services provided.

A justifiable duration of storage that should be defined in regard to customer data which aligns the service provided, followed by deletion of the customer’s data after the completion of said service. Ending needless data collection would seriously hinder this aspect of the intrusive data ecosystem.

Next is the other troubled half of data use: collecting and sharing rights. Nonexistent federal data-privacy laws allow service providers to sell customer databases to third-parties. These third-parties go by many names: information brokers, data brokers, data controllers, and data processors. These companies specialize in acquiring mindbending volumes of personal and company information for marketing profiles. One of these brokers, Epsilon, was acquired by Publicis, a multinational advertising and public relations company. Patience Haggin, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, describes the acquisition: “The deal. . .gives Publicis a trove of data on 250 million Americans [--] up to 7,000 attributes about each of them, such as age and income” (Haggin). Epsilon and other data-focused companies operate largely unregulated within the United States. This allows service providers to sell user’s information to data brokers. The risks for consumers are immeasurable when a single entity holds this amount of PII. Americans have continually felt the negative impacts of data brokers. In September 2017, the credit reporting agency Equifax, which also acts as a data broker, was hacked. AnnaMaria Andriotis, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, detailed the consequences, “The issues add to consumers ire over the data breach, which has exposed vital personal identification data— including social security numbers, names, addresses and dates of birth—potentially as many as 143 million Americans’’ (Andriotis). Equifax delayed publicly disclosing the incident for over six weeks after the breach. Data brokers remain high profile targets for cybercrime due to the valuable nature of this data. Michael Harwood, a victim of identity theft, recounted his experience: “Initially, it’s really terrifying, especially having your Social Security number taken. . . .You’re worried about the tremendous implications

this could have and the possibility of it going on for years” (qtd. in Hsu). Mr. Harwood had noticed an unauthorized attempt to transmit $1,000 out of his financial account. Harwood recalls, “It ends up being fairly far-reaching and inconvenient – you’re still making discoveries months later that there’s another account you have to correct” (qtd. in Hsu). Companies like Equifax acquire and exchange private data without consequence or consideration of the persons of origin. Consumer data has become the new oil, pumping its profits into the lucrative data ecosystem. This revenue model has crept into every sector and industry. The difficulty to efficiently participate in daily life without exposure to these detriments is substantial. Regulation should allow consumers to identify which companies hold their data. Additionally, enforcement should require a simple consistent mechanism to request the erasure of any data companies have collected. Also, regulation must bar the sale, exchange, and distribution of user data by companies without user consent. These measures are absolutely necessary for regulating data collection and sharing and would further improve the vital privacy protections of Americans.

Establishing a standard of fundamental privacy rights for Americans is essential to a federal consumer data protection law. State laws have and will continue to differ from each other. Inconsistencies from state to state will result in varying protections for U.S. citizens. The goal should be to create the same consumer protections for all Americans and prevent further confusion. Whitney Merrill, a privacy attorney and data protection officer, provided insight on this subject claiming, “We need a federal law that thinks about things in a much more consistent approach. . .to make sure that consumers understand and have the right expectation over rights that they have in their data” (qtd. in Klosowski). Privacy advocates can all agree on a core of protections paramount to consumers. First, the opt-in consent practice that requires companies to seek permission from the user if it may share or sell data to third parties. This eliminates the responsibility of the user to onerously opt-out of private data collection for every

service. Also, the consumer has the right of requesting to view, obtain, rectify inaccuracies, and delete the data companies have collected on them. Moreover, the consumer is entitled to transfer data with ease from one service to another. Lastly, a consumer should be protected from discriminatory practices by companies when exercising their right to privacy. A form of this discrimination could be charging users a fee for withholding their data or offering a discounted service fee in exchange for a consumer giving in to data collection. Lawmakers failing to meet these principles will continue perpetuating the existing privacy-hostile landscape. The outlined protections will have profound impacts on America’s privacy climate. Having said that, regulation means very little without a mechanism to compel compliance.

Rounding out a comprehensive approach to federal regulation hinges on effective enforcement. Tech companies wield vast financial, human, and technical resources. An enforcement body must hold this sector, plus others accountable for adhering to a legal framework set forth. While enforcement is, with no doubt, a formidable task, the United States should learn vicariously from other jurisdictions’ enforcement efforts – specifically, the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), being touted as the world’s most comprehensive privacy law upon its implementation in 2018. However, European regulators have experienced the inadequacies of enforcement, straining the GDPRs noble ideals. Johnny Ryan, a leading campaigner for privacy regulation, said, “If you don’t have strong, robust enforcement and investment, this law is a fantasy. . . .We have failed to realize the potential of G.D.P.R. thus far” (qtd. in Satariano). Ryan also serves as the chief policy officer at Brave, a web browser focused on privacy measures limiting intrusive data tracking and marketing. Over the course of several weeks, Ryan scrutinized the budgets and staffing details from the data regulators of 28 European countries. Detailed in Ryan’s published report, most counties staffed a handful of investigators with inadequate expertise to carry out their functions. Additionally, only the United

Kingdom, Germany, and Italy were found to have annual data authority budgets over €25 million. Ulrich Kelber, the chairman of Germany’s data protection authority, professed, “We have a lack of enforcement.

. . .Most of the European governments don’t give enough resources to the data protection authorities” (qtd. in Satariano). Kelber motioned to combine resources and responsibilities among EU countries, a more centralized approach to police the biggest companies. Currently, disproportionate regulatory responsibility falls upon particular EU countries. This is dictated by the borders in which the companies’ European headquarters reside. Ireland’s disproportionate burden in this scheme has attracted criticism. Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple, along with many other companies have their European headquarters in Ireland. The fines issued by the GDPR are perceived to be ineffective as well. The regulation’s fines cap at up to four percent of a company’s global revenue, a trivial amount for some of the top earning companies in the world. The culmination of the enforcement difficulties facing the EU’s GDPR provides a reference for the U.S. in shaping its own enforcement structure.

Some officials have suggested the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as a possible candidate for enforcement. Nevertheless, the FTC already faces funding and staffing problems. The creation of a federal data privacy protection agency has been considered as well. Key factors in ensuring effective compliance are evident. Ample resources and funding for an enforcement agency are crucial to its ability to be effective; initially this will involve the willpower of lawmakers and voters. Once operational revenue is established from fines, agencies can be selfsustaining entities, financed by the results of investigations. Next, a skilled workforce must be in place to match the capabilities of the private sector. Compensation rates and benefits cannot severely pale in comparison to its commercial counterparts. Competitive employment packages will be necessary to limit the gap of knowledge and skill between enterprise and regulator. Finally, the fines issued by this agency must scale accordingly

with the offender’s revenue. Small fledgling companies will require different penalty considerations in contrast to behemoths like Google or Facebook. A quarterly slap on the financial wrist will not change corporate cultures decades in the making. Potential lawbreakers must fear the ensuing repercussions when in violation. Repeat offenders should be treated in a more severe manner. Meaningful enforcement has the ability to reshape America’s relationship with digital technology for the better.

For too long, the privacy rights of Americans have been disregarded. The United States federal government has instead prioritized corporate profits and unethical surveillance. Americans have accepted the status quo of this ecosystem as the cost of participating in digital technology. This misconception must be eradicated. Technology can exist within society without pervasive surveillance if the people demand it. Americans must take it upon themselves to improve awareness and basic insight on privacy rights and consumer protections. The efforts of individuals will quickly lead to many harsh realizations. One is that of the double standard which currently exists; U.S. based companies treat American’s data with less privacy protections in contrast to their European counterparts. These unjust truths will evoke a pivotal shift in public perception triggering widespread anger and outrage. The subsequential duty of informed Americans is to channel this indignation, overwhelming lawmakers with demands for privacy regulation. Washington legislators characterized by disinterest and inaction in the fight for privacy must be met with the public’s vote for new, willing alternatives in leadership. Furthermore, consumers must reject commercial enterprises that abuse their privacy. Users must research and choose alternative service providers focused on privacy by design. An exodus of privacy-minded customers from businesses rooted in the practices of surveillance capitalism can shape an alternative ecosystem. This will open the door for users to recalibrate their relationship and expectations with a new type of technology company. However, without effort at the individual level to address these issues,

Works Cited

Andriotis, AnnaMaria. “Equifax Customer Complaints Continue to Pile Up.” The Wall Street Journal, 10 Sept. 2017, www.wsj.com/articles/equifax-customercomplaints-continue-to-pile-up-1505080789.

Editorial Board. “America, Your Privacy Settings Are All Wrong.” The New York Times, 6 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes. com/2021/03/06/opinion/data-tech-privacy-opt-in.html.

Haggin, Patience. “Advertising (A Special Report) -Big Ad Agencies Hope to Gain Edge by Buying Data Companies.” The Wall Street Journal, 18 June 2019, ProQuest, www.proquest.com/usmajordailies/ docview/2241926072/17750687EBD1409DPQ/1?accountid=227.

Hsu, Tiffany. “Data Breach Victims Talk of Initial Terror, Then Vigilance.” The New York Times, 9 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/09/business/ equifax-data-breach-identity-theft-victims.html.

Klosowski, Thorin. “The State of Consumer Data Privacy Laws in the US (And Why It Matters).” The New York Times, 6 Sept. 2021, www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/state-of-privacy-laws-in-us/.

Laidler, John. “High Tech is Watching You.” The Harvard Gazette. 4 Mar. 2019, www.news.harvard. edu/gazette/story/2019/03/harvard-professor-sayssurveillance-capitalism-is-undermining-democracy/.

Lazarus, David. “Column: Your ISP Says it Cares About Your Privacy. Not so Much, Actually, Says FTC.” Los Angeles Times. 12 Nov. 2021, www.latimes.com/business/ story/2021-11-12/column-internet-service-providers-privacy.

Lefkowitz, Peter. “Why America Needs a Thoughtful Federal Privacy Law.” The New York Times, 25 Jun. 2019, www.nytimes. com/2019/06/25/opinion/congress-privacy-law.html.

Ng, Alfred, and Maddy Varner. “The Little-Known Data Broker Industry is Spending Big Bucks Lobbying Congress.” The Markup, 1 Apr. 2021, www.themarkup org/privacy/2021/04/01/the-little-known-data-brokerindustry-is-spending-big-bucks-lobbying-congress.

Satariano, Adam. “Europe’s Privacy Law Hasn’t Shown Its Teeth, Frustrating Advocates.” The New York Times, 27 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/ technology/GDPR-privacy-law-europe.html.

U.S. Federal Trade Commission. A Look at What ISPs Know About You: Examining the Privacy Practices of Six Major Internet Service Providers. A FTC Staff Report, 21 Oct. 2021, p. 4-44, www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/look-whatisps-know-about-you-examining-privacy-practices-six-majorinternet-service-providers/p195402_isp_6b_staff_report.pdf.

Americans will endure another lifetime without meaningful protection to their digital privacy.

AMERICA’S PLASTIC PANDEMIC

Cassandra Moore

The United States of America’s addiction to convenience has produced a poison that chokes the environment and infiltrates our bodies. This poison presents itself as a plastic bag, bottle, utensil, or any plastic that is used and then immediately discarded. While the decades flew by and people happily went about their plastic-powered lives only vaguely aware of plastic pollution, leaving a solution up to somebody else, a sinister, practically unstoppable plague was being created as a result of disposable plastic sloshing around the ocean for half a century. This plague comes in the form of microplastics. These are plastic particles so microscopic, and so pervasive, that the vast majority of people currently have microplastic inside their bodies. With possible solutions now being actively researched and developed, the United States of America is at a crucial point in history where every citizen, and every state, must come together against the disaster that is plastic pollution or else suffer the dark reality of a crisis beyond repair.

The history of disposable plastic in the United States is one of good intentions. The advent of modern plastic traces its roots back to an ivory shortage in the middle of the nineteenth century due to the popularity of billiards, a game which uses balls made mostly of ivory (Obermeyer). In order to ease the rising production costs of the ivory being used to make the billiard balls, and at the same time sparing the lives of the animals being slaughtered for their ivory, a synthetic polymer was created to replace the increasingly scarce material (Obermeyer). Soon it was discovered that the synthetic polymer could be manipulated and

molded to be used for a multitude of useful purposes. According to Charlie Obermeyer,

The discovery of a viable synthetic material was revolutionary because nature can only provide so much wood, coal, and metal. Using a fully synthetic material in lieu of natural resources ostensibly meant that using this new product would be beneficial to the environment.

In other words, originally, plastic was genuinely believed to be a propitious invention. At the time, not knowing what we know now, plastic really was, and in many ways still is, a technological miracle. Plastic was saving the environment from the demands of industry and became a cheap alternative to natural materials. As everyone in the United States enjoyed the seemingly limitless benefits of disposable plastics for the better part of a century, largely indifferent or else ignorant to the pollution being produced for the sake of convenience, the crisis of plastic pollution would eventually grow to become substantially ungovernable.

The plastic produced by the United States of America has grown so refractory over the last century that it is now a predicament with the potential to negatively impact virtually everyone on earth. In 2016, the amount of plastic pollution being released into the oceans surrounding the United States on a yearly basis came out to about 42 million tons, or about 287 pounds of plastic per person, more than any other country (Root). In 2008, only 7.1 percent of the plastic produced in the United States of America was properly recycled (Kiener). Now

being the largest producer of plastic in the world, the United States is beyond the point where the luxury that is disposable plastics can continue to facilitate the lives of United States citizens. The reason for this shift in what is reasonably viable in terms of disposable plastic is due to what becomes of disposable plastic once it degrades down to a microscopic level.

One of the most dreadful results of plastic pollution is microplastics. Coined in 2004 by Richard Thompson, a marine ecologist, to refer to plastic particles smaller than five millimeters, microplastic is an especially disastrous phenomenon due to its tremendously diminutive size and resistance to degradation and bioaccumulation (Lim). Most often microplastics are created when disposable plastics are discarded into aquatic environments where they’re exposed to sunlight and eventually photo-degrade due to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation (Kiener). There are a number of other ways microplastics are created, however, according to Jun Chen et al. of Advanced Science, who says, “MPs (microplastics) are unintentionally formed from the gradual fragmentation of mismanaged plastic wastes by photolysis, abrasion, and/or microbial decomposition.” At a certain point in a segment of discarded plastic’s lifespan it will begin to weaken and fragment into smaller pieces. The dangers caused by disposable plastics are no longer a matter of cutting the plastic rings when done with a six pack so that birds don’t get their heads entangled. It’s also no longer enough to forgo a plastic bag so that it doesn’t end up in the ocean where turtles mistake it for an edible jellyfish, ultimately resulting in the turtle’s death. The problem of plastic pollution has gone on so long with so little done that microplastics are being spread to every ecosystem within the United States.

Microplastics are outstandingly dangerous for a variety of reasons, all of them having to do with their minuscule proportions. Being less than five millimeters and virtually weightless, microplastics are able to be carried by air currents, joining all other forms of air pollution, to all habitats within the biosphere (Singh et al.). These microplastics travel through the atmosphere to places far away from

where they originated to ultimately land in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, poisoning ecosystems that may have otherwise been safe from such pollution (Singh et al.). There are also recent studies to suggest that microplastics can be found in rain or freshly fallen snow (Singh et al.). In the cases regarding microplastics finding their way to terrestrial ecosystems, studies have mixed results on how much of a negative impact they tend to have on soil and the animals living within the soil. According to Alison Pearce Stevens, author of Polluting microplastics harm both animals and ecosystems,

Numbers of the larger organisms, such as ants and larvae, also decreased. It’s possible the plastic poisoned them. Or they might simply have moved to less polluted soils. The microbial communities didn’t seem much affected by the plastic.

With microplastic being such a relatively new phenomenon, we don’t yet know the full scale of the damage being done by microplastic’s ability to travel to all avenues of the biosphere. There is so much that is unknown, and precious little research being done to find out. What is known, however, is that this microscopic form of disposable plastic has found its way into the human body by means of respiration as a result of the plastic pollution being carried through the atmosphere.

While microplastics ravage marine ecosystems, scientists are only just beginning to understand the impact that plastic pollution is having on the ecosystem that is the human body. According to Emma Schmaltz et al. of Sciencedirect, people consume up to 52,000 microplastic particles a year. Disposable plastics are deteriorating into such tiny, microscopic pieces that, when consumed by people, have the ability to cause diabetes, obesity, and reproductive issues. According to Sardinha et al. of ACS Omega,

For example, it has been shown that nanoplastics impact negatively the composition and diversity of microbial communities in the human gut, which, considering emerging research evidencing

the strong relationship between the gut and neural networks in the brain, could negatively impact the endocrine, immune, and nervous systems.

Plastic is now degrading into particles that are able to enter our bodies through the air we breathe as well as the food we eat. Plastic pollution is no longer an external matter that can be kept at a distance and left up to the invaluable few to find a solution. And now, as Sardhina et al. mentions, experts are identifying particles that are considerably more nanoscopic than microplastics.

There is currently no official term for anything smaller than microplastic, though there is one designation being used that is quickly becoming popular among experts. These particles are nanoplastics. The term “nanoplastic” was created only a few years ago by Julien Gigault et al. to categorize microplastics that are so microscopic that the methods currently in place that filter and capture microplastic are rendered useless (Mitrano). These nanoplastic particles are now inside the body’s of the majority of American citizens.

According to Christopher Rhodes of Science Progress, after taking samples of drinking water throughout the United States, it was found that 92% of drinking water contained nanoplastics. Recently, in March 2022, Heather A. Leslie and her colleagues reported in Environment International that plastic has found its way into human bloodstreams. Leslie et al. explains these findings,

This pioneering human biomonitoring study demonstrated that plastic particles are bioavailable for uptake into the human bloodstream. An understanding of the exposure of these substances in humans and the associated hazard of such exposure is needed to determine whether or not plastic particle exposure is a public health risk.

As of now, there is no reliable data detailing the possible ramifications of regularly ingesting plastic, nor the damage caused by having plastic being transported to all sections of the human body via the bloodstream. Ultimately, this lack of information, and the insufficient

progress being made toward eradicating plastic pollution, is the consequence of the United States being decidedly not united in one of the most salient crises of the last century.

A massive obstacle in this perennial point of issue comes as a result of each state in the United States having their own methods and policies for dealing with disposable plastics. Consider this interview between Scott Nyquist and Rachel Meidl, in which she states that her research has led her to conclude that there are massive gaps in the necessary data we need to accurately address plastic pollution. Meidl claims,

Currently, it is difficult to conduct studies and draw valid, reproducible comparisons because there is no globally standardized approach. If we want to improve marine and human health, we need to create harmonized international methods. Otherwise, we cannot fully comprehend the effects of plastics on the entire ecosystem, including below the ocean’s surface, or in fresh water systems.

Since there are currently no standards to measure and collect data regarding plastic pollution, it’s small wonder that the United States has made such little progress. Meidl rules out the possibility of banning plastic as a solution until we’re able to categorize each individual problem being caused by plastic pollution. Meidl says,

Before instituting a ban, it’s critical to identify the problem being addressed. Is it marine health? Climate change? Phasing out fossil fuels as feedstocks in plastics production? Each has a distinct policy path.

According to Meidl there is no one single solution to eliminating plastic pollution. It’s paramount that all the different aspects of plastic use and production are understood by all relevant parties and then enact policies accordingly. If plastic is truly to be banned, as it must be in due course, there is the unavoidable question of how exactly to replace an all-purpose, miracle material, that has existed without rival for more than a century.

The main concerns people have with the idea of replacing disposable plastic seems to stem from how simple and inexpensive plastic is to produce compared to natural materials. This was, after all, the entire reason plastic was originally invented more than a hundred years ago. Even those who are environmentally conscious are hesitant to suffer the consequences of a ban on disposable plastic. In Tik Root’s article for the Washington Post he explains that the American Chemistry Council supported the idea of a federal approach to plastic pollution but was strongly opposed to the idea of banning plastic. Joshua Baca, the American Chemistry Council’s vice president of plastics, is quoted as saying,

Plastic is a valuable resource that should be kept in our economy and out of our environment. Unfortunately, the report also suggests restricting plastic production to reduce marine debris. This is misguided and would lead to supply chain disruptions.

Clearly, it’s not simply a matter of what is best for the environment. While the importance of the topic that is plastic pollution can not be understated, it won’t do to address this challenge if one cannot see the forest for the trees, so to speak. To focus on the negatives of disposable plastics and ignore the larger complications of banning plastic entirely would be doing a disservice to the subject at hand. The debate between what is economically viable and environmentally custodial seems to be one that must be concluded before clean, sustainable, and comprehensible change is made on a federal level. Once a reasonable replacement for disposable plastic is found, and enthusiastically agreed upon, only then will fears ease and minds change.

In order to rid modern society of its dependence on disposable plastics it’s of vital importance that an alternative is presented that will do the same job of disposable plastics without the negative impact on both living and non-living aspects of the environment. Doris Tang et al. of Sciencedirect recommends the use of algae. Algae can be used to create a bioplastic that would replace the disposable

plastics currently being used around the country. According to Tang et al., while it’s possible to create bioplastic polymers using crop-based plants such as wheat and corn, it would someday become an issue of space and sustainability. This is what makes algae so special, as it can grow on comparatively less arable land and the cultivation time compared to agricultural plants is much shorter (Tang). Algae can also be used to biodegrade the plastic waste already scattered about marine environments (Tang). Microalgae in particular has been proven to degrade plastic by use of the toxins and enzymes generated by the microalgae (Tang). Bioplastics that are created using algae are practically identical to the current petroleum-based plastics while having none of the repercussions (Tang). Though, currently, bioplastics can be as much as 50% more expensive than conventional polymer plastics, researchers are actively working to make bioplastics more economically attractive (Cho). Thanks to the work being done to create a sustainable, eco-friendly alternative to the current polymer-based disposable plastics, there is still hope for the future of the biosphere and those who dwell within it. With the support, unification, and funds of every state in the nation, hope would inevitably become a matter of course.

The citizens of the United States are addicted to making their lives easier and disposable plastic continues to proliferate as a result of this dependence. The once noble goal of saving the environment by creating synthetic polymers, the very reason plastic was invented in the first place, has created a cankerous blight that damages both the living and non-living aspects of virtually every habitat in the country. The enticing convenience of disposing of a single-use plastic item, rather than washing and caring for a reusable item, has warped our society into a plastic-fueled mess with the environment taking the brunt of the damage. As the country currently stands, unless a reasonable substitute for disposable plastic is implemented nationwide, the job of ridding the United States of plastic pollution entirely is an exercise in futility. The United States must decide to live up to its name and finally unite the states in opposition to

Work Cited

Baca, Joshua. National Academies: Coherent and Comprehensive Policy Necessary to Reduce Plastic Waste in The Ocean, American Chemistry Council, 2021

Chen, Junliang, et al. “How to Build a Microplastics-Free Environment: Strategies for Microplastics Degradation and Plastics Recycling.” Advanced Science, vol. 9, no. 6, 2022, pp. e2103764-n/a.

Cho, Renee. “The Truth about Bioplastics.” State of the Planet, 7 July 2021

Gigault, Julien et al. Current opinion: What is a nanoplastic?, Environmental Pollution, Volume 235, 2018, Pages 1030-1034, ISSN 0269-7491

Kiener, R. Plastic pollution. CQ Global Researcher, 4, 157-184, 2010

Leslie, Heather A. et al., Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood, Environment International, Volume 163, 2022, 107199, ISSN 0160-4120

Lim, X. Z. et al. Microplastics are everywhere - but are they harmful? Nature News, 2021

Meidl, Rachel and Nyquist, Scott. “What to Do about Plastics: An Interview with Rachel Meidl.” McKinsey & Company, 2019.

Mitrano, Denise. “Nanoplastic should be better understood.” Nat Nanotech 14 (2019): 299.

Obermeyer, Charlie. “The History and Proliferation of SingleUse Plastic Products.” CleanUp News, 18 Feb. 2021, www. cleanupnews.org/home/history-of-plastics-and-recycling

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Root, T. U.S. is top contributor to plastic waste, report shows. The Washington Post, 2021

Sardinha, Jose et al. Plastic Pollution: A Perspective on Matters Arising: Challenges and Opportunities, ACS Omega, 2021, 6, 30, 19343–19355, July 23, 2021

Schmaltz, Emma, et al. “Plastic Pollution Solutions: Emerging Technologies to Prevent and Collect Marine Plastic Pollution.” Environment International, vol. 144, 2020, pp. 106067.

Stevens, Alison Pearce. “Polluting Microplastics Harm Both Animals and Ecosystems.” Science News for Students, 21 Dec. 2020

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disposable plastic or else suffer the hopeless reality of what will certainly become a permanent plastic pandemic.

GENDER BIAS IN THE MEDICAL SYSTEM

Michaela Page

Women have not always been treated equally, but great strides have been made throughout society in order to close the gap between men and women. Although many improvements have been made, there are still aspects of society that are affected by gender bias against women. In “6 Dismal Findings

From U.N Report on Gender Bias” Kim Elsesser writes of a study conducted by the United Nations Development Program. This study showed that an alarming number of men and women both have felt a biased attitude when it comes to women and their abilities. These numbers are 90% of men and 84% of women. Women start to notice the bias from childhood, and it follows them through school, their careers, and even through their own health care. An especially important part of our society that is majorly affected by bias against women is the medical system. The inequality between men and women affects several aspects of the medical system including medical school, women’s medical careers, and even affecting their own healthcare.

It is undeniable that women’s experience in society has improved some throughout history. It is well known that women were given the right to vote with the introduction of the nineteenth amendment in 1920, as well as given more rights to make decisions about their own lives in the next several decades. In “Women are better off Today, but Still Far from Being Equal with Men,” Nikki Van der Gaag explains how in the past few decades, increased numbers of women have begun to be employed outside the home. Van der Gaag states that in 2011, for the first time in the history of the United States, women made up

a little over half the workforce. There are more women in positions of power throughout the workforce as well. Rosie Benson in “How Being a Woman has changed in 100 Years” gives an especially important example of societal improvement as well. Benson states that only just as recently as 1961 did women receive access to birth control. Prior to this, women everywhere were denied access to birth control, and many suffered because of it. The legalization of birth control was definitely a huge step forward for women’s medical rights.

Regardless of these many improvements, many women still start to notice gender bias in early childhood, which can impact their confidence as they are developing. This can affect their personality whether it is consciously or subconsciously. Adolescent boys are often encouraged to be messy, creative, and speak their minds while their female counterparts are taught to be quiet and ladylike. In “How Puberty Kills Girls’ Confidence” by Claire Shipman et al. a poll was performed showing the alarming percentage of young girls who do not feel confident. This poll surveyed over 1300 girls who were asked to rate their confidence on a 1-10 scale. Claire Shipman et al. state that, on average, these young girls only rated themselves a 6, and the average drops as the age of these young girls increases. Some of these young girls grow up and want to become medical professionals. In “How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence,” Dina Gerdeman interviewed Katherine B. Coffman, an assistant professor from Harvard Business School. Gerdeman writes how Coffman believes that women’s lack of confidence causes them to

undermine their own abilities and can also cause them to question their place in any male-dominated career. Dina Gerdeman quotes Coffman, “If talented women in STEM aren’t confident, they might not even look at those fields in the first place. It is all about how good we think we are, especially when we ask ourselves, ‘What does it make sense for me to pursue?” It is crucial to society that intelligent women have the confidence to express their ideas. In “The Confidence Gap”, written by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, they explain how a lack of self-assurance can influence any woman in a male-driven career. They interviewed women from all levels of society, from athletes to CEOs, and the feelings were unanimous. These professionals shared that they felt they had to work ten times harder than their male coworkers in order to be successful in their field. These are prime examples of intelligent girls growing up to pursue their dreams only to let what has been ingrained in their heads get in their way.

The lack of confidence that young girls may possess directly translates to the medical system in the minds of female medical students. In the article “Female Medical Students Underestimate their Abilities and Males Tend to Overestimate Theirs,” the Indiana University discussed a study that was done by Patient Education and Counseling. According to Dr. Richard Frankel, the study’s senior author and a professor at Indiana University, third-year medical students were observed interacting with patients as well as being given non-verbal sensitivity tests. Frankel states that the female students’ superiors, as well as their patients, noticed women medical professionals have a tendency to be less sure of the medical advice they are giving. Indiana University quotes Doctor Richard Frankel, “Our finding of decreased confidence among female medical students is important because it makes it very clear that somewhere in the training of future physicians the issue of confidence needs to be addressed.” The findings in this study demonstrate how a lack of confidence can have a detrimental impact on women entering the medical field. This, in turn, makes the already stressful process of going through medical school even more so.

For medical students, there are many aspects of their education that induce stress. Female medical students experience more stress because of the gender bias that is inflicted upon them. Caitlin Bowen et al. released an article for BMC Medical Education discussing the difference in application rates of men versus women in medical scientist research programs. These studies show that although men and women often have the same qualifications, women apply for the medical scientist research programs in smaller numbers, even though they are accepted at the same rates. According to the aforementioned article, the program type that the female medical students apply to is also dictated by gender bias. The AMA Journal of Ethics quotes an article written by Kevin McMullen et al. “Nearly equal numbers of men and women graduated from U.S. medical schools in 2011 overall, but three-quarters of applicants to radiology residencies were male and four-fifths of applicants to ob./gyn programs were female.” It is fair to assume a number of these women were influenced by societal norms to choose the more feminine specialties. Lauren Barnes et al write about a survey done by the University of New Mexico Hospital of their female surgical trainees in the article “Gender Bias Experiences of Female Surgical Trainees.” Two focus groups, both containing fifteen female surgical trainees a piece, indicated through the survey that one hundred percent of them had experienced gender bias and/or discrimination while receiving their education and surgical training. When asked about their future in the medical field, many of these women confided that they have considered leaving medicine altogether because of the obvious divide in the way each gender is treated. This just goes to show that gender bias, whether it is conscious or not, impacts women in their education.

Another instance of gender bias in medical school is the harassment and mistreatment women experience during their time in college. Bethany Ao in “Medical School Can Be Emotionally and Physically Dangerous for Women and Minorities, Study Finds,” quotes the American Medical College Graduate Questionnaire, which shows that forty-one

percent of female medical students have experienced some kind of mistreatment at least once versus twenty-five percent of their male peers. This mistreatment could mean anything from just being treated differently because of their gender to even sexual harassment. Sexual harassment specifically has been a long-standing issue within the medical education community. Amy Paturel in “Sexual Harassment in Medicine” writes that, according to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), sexual harassment in medical education is almost double the amount than that of other science and engineering fields. Paturel quotes NASEM, “The cumulative effect of sexual harassment is a significant and costly loss of talent in academic science, engineering, and medicine, which has consequences for advancing the nation’s economic and social well-being and its overall public health.” This information tells of the negative impact this unfortunate part of many women’s education experiences can have on them personally, but also on our society.

An entirely new wave of gender bias occurs if and when these women can ignore the bias along the way and become doctors. This comes from the massive pay gap between women and male coworkers in the same field.

Anna Weiss et al. in “Assessing the Domino Effect Female Physician Industry Payments Fall Short, Parallel Gender Inequalities in Medicine,” discuss a study done for the American Journal of Surgery showing this pay gap. Data was received from the Open Payments Program Database, which was then matched with the National Provider Index. This data helped determine the gender of physicians being studied. Of the 136,845 physicians, 31,297 of those were surgeons. Male surgeons have an average payment of $131,252.00 compared to the $62,101.00 average for their female counterparts. The American Journal of Surgery also stated that there is a decreased likelihood of female physicians receiving payment for consulting, speaking, royalty, and ownership. Logically, there is only one explanation: extreme gender bias is still prevalent in the medical system today.

Although the pay gap is an important topic that highlights the gender gap in the medical system, the negative effects go deeper than just income. An interview with Megan Reynolds explains another side of the gender bias that women medical professionals experience. Megan Reynolds, who is a CT technician at Sweetwater County Memorial Hospital, was interviewed. Reynolds explained that as a medical professional she experiences gender bias often in her career from patients and superiors alike. A seemingly small instance of gender bias Megan has experienced is patients automatically assuming that she is a nurse, without ever asking for her qualifications. Although there is nothing wrong with pursuing a nursing career, this just further explains how society has a challenging time seeing women as anything but what they consider feminine. Megan also stated that patients had actually refused care from her because of her gender and requested a male CT technician. Reynolds was quoted stating, “I have several stories I could tell. I have even seen the effect it has had on my co-workers and the people around me. It’s made it really difficult at times to stay focused on the work that needs to be done when the patients don’t have faith that you know what you’re doing.” This is just one of many real-life examples of how the treatment of women medical professionals differs from that of their male colleagues.

The gender bias does not only come from being a professional in the medical field, but it is also glaringly obvious as a female patient. Duke Health quotes Emily Paulsen,

A survey conducted in early 2019 by TODAY found that more than one-half of women, compared with one-third of men, believe gender discrimination in patient care is a serious problem. One in five women says they have felt that a health care provider has ignored or dismissed their symptoms, and 17% say they feel they have been treated differently because of their gender—compared with 14% and 6% of men, respectively.

Fatalities and other health risks increase because of the bias within the medical system.

There is a difference, biologically, between men and women, and this difference affects many aspects of medical care, including symptoms and treatment. Although this is true, it is not always taken into account when treatment is being provided. Kelly Burrowes, a researcher at the University of Auckland, provided an example of this. She states that women are more likely to develop autoimmune disorders, chronic pain conditions, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Burrowes states that because women tend to not show “normal” symptoms of a heart attack, they often receive a late diagnosis, which can cause their heart attacks to be more fatal. The majority of heart attack research was done on male subjects by male researchers.

In the article in New Scientist magazine titled “End Medical Gender Bias” by Caroline Criado Perez, a study shows specifics of how male and female heart attacks differ. The original study was conducted on male mice and showed that a heart attack that occurs during the day was less likely to be fatal, but the revised study done on female mice showed the exact opposite results. Since heart disease is one of the top causes of death in women, more can be done by the medical community in order to lessen unnecessary deaths.

This inequality does not only occur in heart attack research, but the majority of medical research also included male subjects with the idea that the results would be the same for women. Kelly Burrowes states,

In 1977 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended women of childbearing age be excluded from clinical research studies. This was to protect the most “vulnerable” populations unborn children.... Another reason given for excluding women in clinical studies is that, depending on where a woman is in her menstrual cycle, the variation of her hormones “complicates” the results.

The lack of focus on female-specific medical research has had detrimental effects on women’s health care.

Aside from there being a lack of medical research on women and their bodies, there also seems to be a disconnect between female patients and their doctors. A book that was written by Caroline Criado Perez called Invisible Women: Data bias in a world designed for Men outlines a specific instance of a woman’s health concerns being ignored. “Part IV: Going to The Doctor” of this book tells the story of a woman named Michelle. Michelle struggled for years with stomach pain and was consistently told nothing was physically wrong with her and that the pain was all in her head. After decades and several doctors, she was finally able to receive her diagnosis of ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome. In her book, Caroline Criado Perez states,

It’s hard to read an account like this and not feel angry with the doctors who let Michelle down so badly. But the truth is that these are not isolated rogue doctors, bad apples who should be struck off. They are the products of a medical system which, from root to tip, is systematically discriminating against women, leaving them chronically misunderstood, mistreated, and misdiagnosed.

This is one of many stories of a woman’s symptoms being ignored and dismissed. There are stories similar to Michelle’s all over the world that just go to show how the gender bias against women can have a severely negative impact on their lives.

The medical system today still needs work, regardless of the other societal improvements. The solution begins with increasing the confidence of young women. By acknowledging the faults within the medical system and working to improve them, society will benefit in many ways. Creating a safe and healthy environment for the women within the medical system is a key piece in closing the gender gap. Increased research, representation, and a better understanding of women’s health will help improve the medical system as a whole.

Works Cited

Ao, Bethany. “Medical School Can Be Emotionally and Physically Dangerous for Women Minorities, Study Finds.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/health/medicalschool-discrimination-mistreatment-racism-20200224.html.

Barnes, Lauren, et al. “Gender Bias Experiences of Female Surgical Trainees.” Journal of Surgical Education, 2019, https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/abs/pii/S1931720419303058.

Benson, Rosie. “How Being a Woman Has Changed Over 100 Years.” Marie Claire, 3 Aug. 2017, https://www marieclaire.co.uk/life/woman-changed-100-years-480273.

Bowen, Caitlin, et al. “Medical School Research Ranking Is Associated with Gender Inequality in MSTP Application Rates.” BMC Medical Education, 2018, https://bmcmededuc. biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-018-1306-z.

Burrowes, Kelly. “Gender Bias in Medicine and Medical Research Is Still Putting Women’s Health at Risk.” The Conversation, 2021, https://theconversation.com/gender-bias-in-medicine-andmedical-research-is-still-putting-womens-health-at-risk-156495.

Criado-Perez, Caroline. “End Medical Gender Bias.” New Scientist , vol. 242, no. 3234, 15 June 2019.

Criado-Perez, Caroline. “Part IV: Going to the Doctor.” INVISIBLE WOMEN: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Abrams Press, New York, NY, 2019.

Elsseser, Kim. “6 Dismal Findings From U.N Report on Gender Bias.” Forbes, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/ sites/kimelsesser/2020/03/09/6-dismal-findings-fromun-report-on-gender-bias/?sh=3cee6de35d1c.

Gerdeman, Dina. “How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence.” Working Knowledge, 2019, https://hbswk.hbs edu/item/how-gender-stereotypes-less-than-br-greater-thankill-a-woman-s-less-than-br-greater-than-self-confidence.

Kay, Katty, and Claire Shipman. “The Confidence Gap.” The Atlantic, 2014, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/.

McMullin, Kevin, et al. “Expectation of Gender in Medical Education .” AMA Journal of Ethics, 2012, https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/ expectations-gender-medical-education/2012-12.

Paturel, Amy. “Sexual Harassment in Medicine.” AAMC, 2019, https://www.aamc.org/newsinsights/sexual-harassment-medicine.

Paulsen, Emily. “Recognizing, Addressing Unintended Gender Bias in Patient Care.” Duke Health, 2020, https://physicians.dukehealth.org/articles/recognizingaddressing-unintended-gender-bias-patient-care.

Reynolds, Megan. Personal Interview. March 2022. Shipman, Claire, et al. “How Puberty Kills Girls Confidence.” The Atlantic, 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/ archive/2018/09/puberty-girls-confidence/563804/.

University, Indiana. “Female Medical Students Underestimate Their Abilities and Males Tend to Overestimate Theirs.” Science Daily , 2008, https://www sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003122713 htm#:~:text=A%20literature%20survey%20by%20 the,males%20tend%20to%20overestimate%20theirs.

Weiss, Anna, et al. “Assessing the Domino Effect: Female Physician Industry Payments Fall Short, Parallel Gender Inequalities in Medicine .” The American Journal of Surgery, 2018, https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.scottsdalecc edu/science/article/pii/S0002961018300230?via%3Dihub.

AUTISM AND FRIENDSHIPS

Nicole Schneider

In the decades before the first description of autism in 1943, eugenics was widespread in America. People with disabilities were referred to by ugly names such as idiot and imbecile, and sometimes forcibly sterilized. While there has been progress, there is still a long way to go towards an understanding of and awareness towards autism that allows for friendships to form between autistic and non-autistic people. In public, kids with autism may get looks or stares, but kids cannot control their symptoms of autism. Due to misunderstandings, fear, and discomfort, many people with autism are left to live lonelier lives than their peers, and lonelier lives than they wish. Friendships provide everyone with clear benefits and can improve quality of life, but assumptions and stereotypes have so far limited societal understanding of how people with autism desire, obtain, and sustain friendships. It is important to work on increasing that understanding in order to increase opportunities for meaningful friendships for autistic people.

Friendships have a large positive impact on quality of life at every life stage. Healthy friendships during childhood help people have better adult lives. In the article, “Do Friendships Afford Academic Benefits? A Meta-analytic Study” the authors Kathryn Wentzel, Sophie Jablansky and Nicole Scalise reviewed 22 studies which together suggest that having friends significantly helps cognitive and academic performance outcomes (1241). More specifically, “having meaningful friendships -- or lacking them – has an impact on our cardiovascular and immune systems, stress responses, sleep and cognitive health” (Denworth 2). Numerous studies show the many ways having friends as a child pays off throughout

someone’s life, and this is the same for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

There is a wide spectrum of ASD, including people that are nonverbal and struggle with basic tasks of daily living as well as people that are highly verbal and very successful, prominent individuals. People that are on the severe spectrum of ASD have symptoms that can include body rocking, hand flapping, and sniffling. When bullies see this, they will make fun of them and mimic them. People that have ASD may not understand why they are being made fun of. Denworth explains that when an autistic child seems not to be interested in playtime games with other kids, they might actually be overwhelmed by different sounds and chaos (2). Denworth also notes that an autistic adult might avoid eye contact because they are trying to focus on the conversation or avoid too much stimulation (2). However, someone that does not understand why they are doing that might misinterpret their actions and think they are not paying attention or interested in the conversation. In the article “Beyond Friendship: The Spectrum of Social Participation of Autistic Adults,” Dara Chan, Julie Doran, and Osly Galobardi write that “While other symptoms of autism often plateau or improve in adulthood, characteristic social interaction difficulties persist and are potential contributors to lower rates of normative adult outcomes reported in the literature that involve social participation, friendships, or close relationships.” People who understand autism better can make a huge difference in the person’s life by being open to making friends.

For many years, researchers and clinicians thought that people with autism did not want friends, but new research has challenged

those stereotypes. Now scientists are recognizing that people with autism are often interested in forming friendships and that they do value friends. Widespread stereotypes assume that people with ASD do not have friends and that they do not want anything to do with friendships. Zucker and Donvan wrote a description of early attitudes towards autism that were painfully misguided, and “shrouded in shame, secrecy, and ignorance” (xii). The authors describe how children diagnosed with autism and their families were treated with bigotry and ignorance. They describe how “they were barred from public schools and banished to institutions where they remained through their adult years, often until death” (xii). New research says that people with autism do desire friendships. People with autism can and do make friends, although they often have some preferences and patterns of interaction that can be different than what most people without autism are used to. In her article “How People with Autism Forge Friendships,” Lydia Denworth writes that “Autistic people overwhelmingly report that they want friends. And they have shown that they can and do form friendships with both neurotypical and autistic peers, even if their interactions sometimes look different from those among neurotypical people.”

In the article “Self-perception of friendship style: Young adults with and without autism spectrum disorder,” Finke and McCarthy compare the perspectives and friendships styles of young people with ASD and without ASD. The results of their research might explain why autistic people are friends with other autistic people more than with nonautistic people. Young adults with autism wanted friends who kept physical distance more than young adults without autism, while most young adults without autism wanted more physical closeness with their friends (13). This research also showed that young adults with autism wanted someone to have fun with more than someone to confide in, while young adults without autism were shown to prefer a confidant over a playmate (13). Finke and McCarthy also found a similarity between adults with autism and without autism, which is that both of them would focus on the friends they currently have, rather

than making new friends. Overall, despite old stereotypes that said that people with ASD did not want friends, recent research reveals that people with ASD do want friends by their side.

Obtaining friends can be challenging for people with ASD due to difficulties with communication and reading social cues, as well as emotional and physical intimacy. Communicating with adults that have autism can be challenging and frustrating because they may not be able to talk at all or may not be as understandable in their communication style. Communicating with someone that does not have severe autism can be a little easier than communicating with kids or adults that have autism. Some people with autism may rely on sign language to communicate with their parents, siblings, friends or close relatives. It can also be hard for some people with ASD to express how they feel about a certain situation. They may struggle with intimacy and vulnerability, which makes it difficult to develop new friendships with people that do not understand the unique attributes of someone that has ASD. One reason that friendships can be hard is that emotion sharing is difficult for many people with ASD (Bauminger, Solomon and Rogers 751). This discomfort with communicating emotions can be a barrier to forming new friendships, since friendships involve emotional intimacy and vulnerability. In addition to emotional intimacy, other types of intimacy can also be a challenge. Physical closeness can be challenging for young people with ASD because they might not like receiving hugs or being touched by friends or potential friends. Despite these challenges, people with ASD can still make new friends and find ways to be vulnerable and develop intimacy with close friends. While making friends is an important first step, sustaining a friendship over the long term can be difficult for those with ASD.

In order to keep a long-lasting friendship, people with ASD can develop skills for keeping the friends they have made. Keeping friends for the long-term provides unique and valuable social support, because these friends are always there, every step of the

way throughout life. Young adults with ASD can have unique challenges with friendships in the long term, but others can develop skills such as learning to communicate effectively and understanding the communication styles of people with ASD. For example, when two people who both have autism are talking, there are more switches from connection to disconnection than in a conversation between two neurotypical people (Denworth 4). This could mean that one person is doing all the talking while the other person is listening or commenting on unrelated topics during the conversation (Denworth 4). One thing that improved this was watching funny videos together which resulted in more engaged discussion (Denworth 4). Therefore, watching funny videos with friends could bring people together and help build conversational and friendship skills through shared experiences. This could lead to long-lasting friendships and improve closeness. This could also build resiliency to protect friendships over the long-term.

One important skill for maintaining friendships is conflict resolution. This can keep friendships from ending and help people with ASD keep friends for a lifetime. Resolving arguments or fights can be hard at times, and this is the same for people with ASD. Denworth describes that even when autistic people develop deeper friendships, they may encounter difficulties like conflict (5). According to Denworth, conflict can be a challenge for women and girls with autism because of black-and-white thinking and catastrophic thinking as well as intensity of emotions (5). Denworth also states that having friends with autism can help reduce certain conflicts (5).

Friendship benefits for adolescents and young adults include reduced anxiety and support systems for independence including in college, yet students with ASD can have trouble in this area. In the article “College Students with Autism: Navigating the Bumpy Road,” Jacqueline Lubin and Jerrie Brooks say that: “College students with autism typically report some general social-communication challenges including limited ability to recognize personal space and engage in reciprocal

conversations” (319). Lubin and Brooks state that the college experience can have challenges for students with ASD, such as difficulties with social-communication and selfdetermination skills as well as social-emotional struggles (318). People that start friendships with someone that has autism and that sustain those friendships can have a huge positive impact on the person that has autism. If more people understand autism, there will be more opportunities for friendships to form both between autistic people as well as between autistic people and non-autistic peers.

Friendship provides benefits for adults throughout their lives. Long-term friendships have ups and downs over time, but knowing a friend for many years, they know everything and know how to help in certain situations, and this is the same for people with ASD. Friends can help people through everything they’re going through, and people with ASD can go through many difficult times in life and can use some support from a friend. Researchers Shin and Lee studied the effects of friendship on job stress for hospital workers, and their research “confirmed that a friendship network is a positive source to reduce job stress” (10). Not having enough friends could make it harder to cope with the stress of many jobs for someone that has ASD. If someone has a supportive friend, they will feel safe. For example, when someone is going through something traumatizing like a car wreck or feels lonely and needs someone to talk to, friends are always there. Being lonely is the opposite of having a friendship, and research shows that “loneliness has become increasingly recognized as a major public health problem and increases the risk of premature all-cause mortality” (Sundström et al. 924). Again, having a friend by their side through the tough times and the good times provides benefits that increase health for all people, including people with ASD.

Overall, teachers and parents as well as potential future friends can use the combined research presented above to create opportunities for supporting friendships in people with ASD. Caren Zucker is a well-known journalist who writes about autism as well

as a parent of a child with autism and a coauthor of the book “In a Different Key: The Story of Autism”. In their book, Donvan and Zucker described the life of Donald Triplett, who was the first person to be diagnosed with autism. They describe how his parents did not want to send him to an institution as their doctor recommended and as was common back then. Instead, they educated the town about Donald and wanted them to understand that he has autism and to support him through everything. The authors share that as a result, Donald had many friends throughout his life. He had a hundred people throw him an 80th birthday party, and he lived a life full of connections thanks to people who gave him patience, understanding, and were willing to overlook and even embrace his unique way of existing. Donald had the support and understanding that he needed for connection and friendship. In an interview about this topic, Zucker said that “as a parent and someone who loves someone with autism, I think people with autism benefit from friendships just like everyone else. We all want to be loved and have people in our lives.” With more understanding and support, more people can have the same experience that Donald Triplett had. Teachers and parents can support young people with ASD by facilitating ways for people with ASD to connect with other people with whom they share interests.

People who are open to making friends with people that have ASD can start by learning about autism and friendship preferences and behavioral patterns. People interested in and open to these friendships can ask a person with autism what their favorite hobbies are. In their article, Abby Sesterka and Erin Bulluss discuss some key points on how to be a friend to an autistic person. One of the ways they suggest people approach these friendships is to get to know what the person with ASD likes and dislikes in their friendships, as well as their individual communication style and level of comfort with intimacy (5). Another way to be a great friend to an autistic friend is to be prepared to be serenaded with brutal honesty (11). Lastly, if someone is not confident about knowing or understanding

something, they should not be afraid to ask their autistic friend directly. Sesterka and Bulluss explain that autistic people are looking for friends that connect to shared interests more than small talk (7). They say that autistic people might not know how to greet people every time but will remember with a lot of detail anything that they have in common with each other, because this is how they show care and affection. Overall, how to be a good friend to an autistic person is not that different from being a good friend in general.

Friendships offer many positive impacts, but misunderstandings have so far interfered with broad understanding of the friendships of people with autism, and more work on increasing that understanding is necessary to improve and grow friendships for autistic people. Autism is a unique experience of being human that people need to understand. Making friends with someone that has autism can be hard at times, but understanding what someone who has autism is feeling, and how they are processing their social world can help start friendships. Having ASD is a serious disability that is very important to know about and understand, because people with ASD deserve better friendships. If people followed the recommendations above, including being patient and understanding with people that have autism, many more people that have autism could live their lives with as many friends as Donald Triplett did.

Works Cited

Bauminger, Nirit; Solomon, Marjorie; Aviezer, Anat; Heung, Kelly; Brown, John and Rogers, Sally. “Predicting Friendship Quality in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Typical Development.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 40, no. 6, 2009, pp. 751–761., https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0928-8.

Chan, Dara V., Doran, Julie D. and Galobardi, Osly D. “Beyond Friendship: The Spectrum of Social Participation of Autistic Adults.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05441-1

Denworth, Lydia. “How People with Autism

Works Cited continued

Forge Friendships.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 8 Apr. 2020, https://www.scientificamerican. com/article/how-people-with-autism-forge-friendships.

Finke, Erinn H, McCarthy, Jillian H., and Sarver, Natalie. “Self-Perception of Friendship

Style: Young Adults with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, vol. 4, 2019, p. 239694151985539, https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519855390

Lubin, Jacqueline, and Brooks, Jerrie. “College Students with Autism: Navigating the Bumpy Road.” College Student Journal, vol. 55, no. 3, Fall 2021, pp. 318–24. EBSCOhost, https://searchebscohost-com.ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/login.aspx? di rect=true&db=f5h&AN=152645032&site=ehost-live.

Sesterka, Abby and Bulluss, Erin. “How to Be a Good Friend to an Autistic Person: Psyche

Guides.” Psyche, 20 Mar. 2022, https://psyche.co/guides/ how-to-be-a-good-friend-to-an-autistic-person.

Shin, Sung Yae, and Sang Gyu Lee. “Effects of Hospital Workers’ Friendship Networks on Job

Stress.” PLoS ONE, vol. 11, no. 2, Feb. 2016, pp. 1–15. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.ezproxy.scottsdalecc edu/10.1371/journal.pone.0149428.

Stockall, Nancy, and Blackwell, William. “Mindfulness Training: Reducing Anxiety in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Early Childhood Education Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, Jan. 2022, pp. 1–9. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.ezproxy scottsdalecc.edu/10.1007/s10643-020-01116-7

Sundström, Anna; Nordin Adolfsson, Annelie; Nordin, Maria; Adolfsson, Rolf. “Loneliness

Increases the Risk of All-Cause Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.” Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences. vol. 75, no.5, 2020, pp. 919-926. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbz139

Wentzel, Kathryn R., Jablansky, Sophie and Scalise, Nicole R. “Do Friendships Afford

Academic Benefits? A Meta-Analytic Study.” Educational Psychology Review, vol. 30, no. 4, Dec. 2018, pp. 1241–67. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org. ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/10.1007/s10648-018-9447-5.

Zucker, Caren and Donovan, John. In a Different Key: The Story of Autism. New York, Broadway, 2016. Zucker, Caren. Interview. Conducted by Nicole Schneider. 17 April, 2022.

TWO WATERS PERSPECTIVES

THE CRUELTY OF LETHAL INJECTION

Julian Alemany

Before 2020, there had been a seventeenyear pause on federal executions (Balsamo). This brings into question why the federal government would want to reinstate executions. More importantly, is the method of lethal injection inhumane? There are several different opinions regarding the issue. One view is that the three-drug cocktail used is not a reliable method. If the process of lethal injection is doubted due to its efficiency in putting a person down, then it should not be used. While that side argues lethal injection should be changed, others would argue that lethal injection, while not pleasant to watch, is also not an inhumane method. Even after witnessing botched executions, these people have stood firm in their beliefs, which could either work for or against the argument of lethal injection. Trying to abolish the death penalty is a whole other debate and reasonably speaking would be a hard task to accomplish; however, setting laws for how executions should be carried out is realistically attainable. Lethal injection should be banned in the U.S. as it violates the Eighth Amendment’s “cruel and unusual punishment” clause.

Lethal injection is supposed to be a method that puts the inmate to death in a quick and painless manner; however, its reliability to do so is in question. If the dependency of the method wavers, so does the humanity of the inmate. In the article “New Rule Could Allow Gas, Firing Squads For US Executions,” reporter Michael Balsamo states, “As lethal injection drugs become difficult to obtain, some states have begun looking at alternative methods for carrying out death sentences.”

Since the drugs used for the lethal cocktail are becoming more scarce, new chemicals will have to be tried. The problem with this is that the inmates will essentially become lab rats when performing the executions for the first couple of times. This could lead to botched executions and increased suffering for the inmate. By switching to a different method, the variables that would have to be accounted for would be reduced.

While other options seem outdated, inmates in Tennessee have been choosing to be executed by the chair instead of the shot. If the lethal injection was quick and painless, then it would be a no-brainer to choose that option; however, it is not that clear cut. Dr. Joel B. Zivot, an associate professor of anesthesiology and surgery at Emory University, explained the controversy of the sedative, midazolam, used in the drug cocktail. While the drug is supposed to induce unconsciousness and numb the inmate so they do not feel pain, Dr. Zivot says that does not exactly happen. In fact, he stated, “the drugs can cause their lungs to fill with fluid, asphyxiating them, and making them feel like they are burning” (Rojas). Since midazolam is the first drug administered, the inmate would have to endure the pain of the other two drugs while still being tormented from the initial injection. When an expert says that a drug is actually torturing a person, an inmate would be wise to pick another means for execution. After all, they would not want to experience something that is cruel and breaks the Eighth Amendment.

After learning what happens at the anatomic level, a vivid picture can be painted in the

mind, which one would most definitely not want to witness. Despite this, many still have to watch while the inmate suffers. In Oklahoma, there was a case of a man who was yet another victim of a botched execution by lethal injection. Sean Murphy, an Associated Press reporter who had to watch the execution, reported that the inmate “had convulsed about two dozen times after being administered a sedative, the first of three drugs used in the execution.” Murphy then went on to state that “before the other drugs were administered, the doctor entered the execution chamber to wipe vomit from the face of Mr. Grant, who was strapped to a gurney” (Bogel-Burroughs). Without knowing that the person being administered the injection was basically drowning on the inside, one could argue that convulsion would only be natural as the body is shutting down. However, with the person basically imploding from the inside, they are forced to endure an extended amount of time which contradicts the reasoning of using lethal injection. By imposing lethal injection, inmates are being stripped of their humanity, and the experience that Murphy witnessed is only one of many.

It is apparent that lethal injection is not what many assumed it to be, but many do not know the alternatives. As mentioned earlier, inmates in Tennessee have been opting for the electric chair. By using the electric chair, the variables would be more consistent, and the inmates would undergo “Two cycles of 1,750 volts of electricity” (Rojas). When given the choice between a couple of minutes of electricity or possible hours of waiting for a drug to kill, one would probably want the quick route out. In addition, if the electrocution is botched, the inmate can be executed quickly by applying another cycle. Meanwhile, the same cannot be said about lethal injection as inmates may have to rest on the table for hours until they are officially pronounced dead. When taking into account what Dr. Zivot stated earlier, the inmate would not be in a peaceful, unconscious state for those hours they are spending on the table either. While the alternatives to lethal injection seem barbaric, they are getting the job done in a way that does not violate the Constitution.

While people should be served justice, execution is not the answer and only complicates the entire situation. A warden who executes a murderer is also one himself. He is no better or more righteous just because he did it in the name of justice. Since dealing with the entire topic of the death penalty is too much, narrowing it down to how it is carried out is a much better way to discuss it. It is important to discuss if lethal injection is unconstitutional or not because, even though it is a small portion of our justice system, it speaks volumes about how it is run. Some may not care about this because the inmate is someone who has killed another person, but the way the Constitution was written, they still have their rights, and they need to be respected. By correcting the way the death penalty is fulfilled, the integrity and sanity of the executioners will remain, as well as a more humane ending for the inmates.

Works Cited

Balsamo, Michael. “New Rule Could Allow Gas, Firing Squads for US Executions.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 27 Nov. 2020, https://apnews.com/article/international-newsexecutions-cc1b22bda846df0b331597a3b65010bb.

Bogel-Burroughs, Nicholas. “Facing Questions, Oklahoma Vows to Keep Lethal Injection:

[National Desk].” New York Times, 30 Oct 2021. ProQuest, https://ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/login?url=https://www. proquest.com/newspapers/facing-questions-oklahoma-vowskeep-lethal/docview/2588185447/se-2?accountid=227.

Rojas, Rick. “Fearing Lethal Injection, Inmates in Tennessee Opt for the Electric Chair:

[National Desk].” New York Times, 20 Feb 2020. ProQuest, https://ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/login?url=https://www. proquest.com/newspapers/fearing-lethal-injection-inmatestennessee-opt/docview/2358204265/se-2?accountid=227.

GRAVE-ROBBING MUSIC: THE MOST DISMISSED GENRE

Makenna Brice

For more than 80 years, posthumous music has been around, it is just now becoming more of a hot topic as more artists die. Some may say that the release of a posthumous album or song is exciting or amazing, others may say that it is disgusting, terrible, or even evil. For the fact that there are opposing sides on posthumous music release, it has become a controversy with varying opinions. Those who are supporting of releasing an artist’s posthumous music may feel it is respectful and a tribute to their idol, friend, family, or significant other. Those against it may think that it is wrong and an invasion of one’s privacy. They may also think it is unethical. For this, posthumous music should not be released because it is greedy, disrespectful, inconsiderate, and defaming to the artist of the music.

Most popular artists have no say in whether or not they want their leftover music to be released, making posthumous music a non-consensual agreement. One artist, for example, had left with no will, leaving a mess of his estate, more specifically, his music; this artist was Prince. Before the death of Prince, Prince had made something very clear: that “... accompanying a deceased musician’s recording was ‘the most demonic thing imaginable’” (Heller). Once artists have died, they have no control, no way to say anything, no way to stand up for themselves, they’re vulnerable. Prince believed nothing like this would happen. One day though, his half sisters found his unreleased music and videos in a Paisley Park basement vault, which they had come to discover upon finding mold and water damage, at the time, potential risk to California wildfires

(Heller). If someone had a vault of personal things, or more so, if an artist had a vault of their music, one would think to be considerate and treat whatever in the vault delicate, but again this is not the case. There is a door and a lock as there are curtains and blinds for a reason, to cover, to keep private.

Some things are better left alone, as it can tarnish or stain something; it is best to leave these artists current discography alone as it can taint their image. Here is something to help put this in perspective: say there is a wall, and someone has a few pictures hanging, maybe a piece of art, or bookshelves. Say their friend has an idea that they think would look really cool by rearranging and maybe adding or getting rid of stuff, but the owner of the wall doesn’t like the idea, it isn’t the same as what they have, and it doesn’t match. In an article from The Observer (London, England), Dorian Lynskey and Peter Robinson write:

“Winehouse’s 2011 collection Lioness: Hidden Treasures was pieced together by her regular collaborators with the best of intentions but it just left me feeling depressed because it highlighted how little music she created in her last five years. A posthumous collection of bits and pieces is like a chalk outline after a dead body’s been taken to the morgue: it draws your attention to what’s missing.” If anyone else were to do it, it would feel wrong, incomplete, and depressing. Amy Winehouse isn’t around to perform these posthumous songs and if she were around she wouldn’t be performing these specific songs composed by someone that isn’t her, they wouldn’t sound like they do, just as any posthumous album/song. Lynskey and Robinson also express they were impressed

by David Joseph, CEO

of Universal

Music

UK, for destroying Amy Winehouse’s “sketchy demos” that would’ve been in her third album so not one of his successors could make a posthumous album out of them. People are so hungry for money and music that someone has to completely destroy an artist’s music for others not to go and “Frankenstein” a dead artist’s leftover music, as Lynskey and Robinson put it. It is better letting an artist’s memory live on for what music they made and performed themselves while still being alive, and just appreciate all they’ve done.

This control that the families and labels have does not benefit the artist or anything but themselves. No matter how posthumous music is viewed, its money does not go directly to the artist, the original creator, it goes to their families and labels. Rapper XXXTentacion found a snippet of an incomplete song by Lil Peep and ILoveMakonnen, fan uploaded, that X sampled and made into a song after Peep died, despite Peep not wanting to work with the rapper.

XXXTentacion died too, 7 months later in June of 2018 before he was able to finish and release the sampled song, however, XXXTentacion’s mother talked to Lil Peep’s management and was able to finish and release the song, as X wanted to release it as soon as possible (Boyd). There are two things happening here and they are different, but very well must be the same: posthumous music. Although X didn’t exactly poke through Lil Peep’s unreleased music, rather stumbled upon it, he still used his unreleased and unofficial music, and also collaborated with him posthumously despite not wanting to. Someone wouldn’t go and copy into their song another artist’s music or steal their work alive, but it’s happening as someone is not alive. When XXXTentacion died and his mother finished and released X and Peep’s song she may as well have been doing the same thing as her son, as they both touched posthumous music and had the same intent of releasing it. Another concern was whether or not ILoveMakonnen should be able to do what he wants with his own song that peep had a part in (Boyd). Lil Peep had a right to agree and disagree with things in a song just as any other artist, but this situation falls into the category

of whether or not posthumous music is acceptable. In an article from the MEIEA Journal, Richard T. Gretz and Stan Renard explain how sales tremendously increase when an artist dies, especially unexpectedly, looking at a study of over a two year period of time researchers look at an artist’s sales; they concluded that sales continue to increase through a long period of time. Families and labels can benefit for years off of an artist’s death from their music made when they were alive and their posthumous music.

When someone shares something personal with you it is not your place to share with others, just as it is not anyone’s place to share an artist’s unreleased music. Music is very personal to artists as they may usually tell their story or feelings of something, almost like a diary. Someone may have things they are not ready to share, or it’s something special they want for themselves, that others have to wait on or just be okay with not knowing. Music when someone dies is like picking through what is left from someone’s brain in what they had to say. After Roland Barthe died, French essayist, he left behind his Bereavement Diary, or Journal de deuil, published by his half brother, including an excerpt of him being reminded of his mother when going to the bakery by something a female employee said, feeling grief and later weeping in his apartment (Flood). Music and literary works may be related in the way of their words and emotions and Barthe’s diary was meant to be private, not to be shared with the world, Barthe could not have this to himself. “... his friend and former editor, the philosopher François Wahl, told Le Monde ‘would have positively revolted [Barthes] in so far as it violates his privacy,’”(Flood). This is something that gives someone peace and privacy and they have taken that away and can really put into perspective how posthumous music is on the artist’s end.

Showing someone’s own diary, something you can find from teen movies where the mean girl in high school gets ahold of the main character’s diary and shows it to the whole school during lunch. Looking at another example, Mark Twain, an American writer, wanted all of his “literary remains” burned, but

of course, ninety-nine years after his death, a collection of essays and short stories of his were published, against his wishes (Flood). Of course, the only way to get rid of something in Twain’s time was to burn it, compared to now where half, if not more than half, of an artist’s or author’s work is digital. Mark Twain very specifically asked after he died for his work to be destroyed, going to show it doesn’t matter who an artist or writer is or their wishes, people will try to get anything out of them.

If you wanted something so badly, you would probably go out and get it, and an artist would have already released their music if they wanted to. In an article for UWIRE Text by Ella Boyd, there is concern of artistic integrity at the plan of Columbia Records releasing a posthumous album of Lil Peep’s music, including the posthumous song released by XXXTentacion’s mother and Lil Peep’s management. Artistic integrity including if it would match his vision and desires in music. Similar to the wall example, if you have a painter, where half of their painting is complete and the other half is not, then no one can finish that missing half of details and personal touches if someone is not the original artist, they cannot put their name on it, it can’t be the same as the artist’s work. Just as it’s not the same if it’s not on an artist’s own terms. Speaking of an artist’s own terms, and coming back to Prince, Prince was very particular, he had strong opinions on things, specifically pertaining his music, wanting to solely be in control of it. His particularity in his music is seen when he halted his 1987 album “The Black Album” just a week before its planned release; he called it “evil” (Heller). He may work and focus on his music everyday, but this goes to show Prince would release his unreleased music if he really wanted to, he would make it happen. Additionally, if Prince felt this strongly about his music, one would think that his family and label would care, but no, this is not the case. It does not matter how famous an artist is, it will still continue to happen.

Posthumous music will still be released, but it should not be let off the hook and dismissed, as artists are not treated fairly and given respect from this once they pass. What is done

against these artists is violating, unethical, and disrespectful. Music is a gift, these artists have shared a part of themselves at their own will and freedom to give their music, no one gifts their gift to everyone as they did. There may be more talk that has come over the years but still. There is not enough talk on this subject or anything being shared, as it is lightly brushed over when mentioned. Talking about an issue is one of the best things to do to bring more knowledge and recognition, as any issue, but talking is only the first step to helping.

Works Cited

Boyd, Ella. “Does death equal permission? New release from Lil Peep with XXXTentacion feature sheds light on questionable ethics” UWIRE Text, 18 Oct. 2018, https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.scottsdalecc. edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=mcc_sctsd&id=GAL E%7CA559273268&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon

Flood, Alison. “Do We Need Posthumous Publication?” The Guardian, 20 Mar. 2009, www.theguardian.com/books/ booksblog/2009/mar/19/barthes-david-foster-wallace

Gretz, Richard T., Renard, Stan. “Music, Death, and Profits: Variables Contributing to the Surge in Sales After an Artist’s Death.” MEIEA Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2019 https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.scottsdalecc edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=mcc_sctsd&id=GAL E%7CA612031571&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon

Heller, Karen. “What would Prince want? Two years later, his estate is a mess and his legacy unclear.: The artist left a vault of unreleased music but no will — and Paisley Park is quickly becoming the Graceland of Minnesota.” The Washington Post, 18 Apr. 2018, https://proquest.com/ docview/207449494?accountid=227&parentSessionid=0Ti eGHXBFJ7nXduqnNrgTzNUrpqT%2FMHF1eZGEeaYQ%3D&pqori gsite=summon&forcedol=true

Lynskey, Dorian, Robinson, Peter. “Is it OK to release ‘new’ music after an artist’s death? Kurt Cobain and Aaliyah have new posthumous releases due, featuring unheard material. Is this fair to any musician?” The Observer [London, England] 18 Aug. 2015, https://go-gale-com.esproxy.scottsdalecc edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T004&resultListType=RESULT LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=1&searchType= AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docID=GALE%7CA42 5896407&docType=Article&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment= ZONE-MOD1&prodId=AONE&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE% 7CA425896407&searchId=R1&userGroupName=mcc sctsd&inPS=true

THE LIGHT IN THE SHADOW

Luke Jones

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being,” writes Psychiatrist Carl Jung in his 1963 autobiography Memories, Dreams, Reflections. We live in a world motivated by the ego and its perception of control. Jung was not the first person to theorize this and surely will not be the last. This need for control is arguably the greatest obstacle one encounters on the journey of self-actualization, and it is not a path many take willingly. The obstacle of all obstacles lies not in the external world but in the internal cosmos of our psyche. The question then arises- why would an individual purposely put themselves under a microscope and take an inventory of their character? What benefits lie in introspection and overcoming obstacles other than pain, shame, and guilt? The answer is that despite the lengths of aversion, the ego will go to avoid feeling out of control, and facing and being present with obstacles allows for unparalleled improvement of character and self-actualization.

Being present allows for the true self to be revealed. Philosopher Jiddu Khrisnamarit discusses in his 1969 book Freedom From the Known that most individuals struggle to be present due to fear. He further theorizes that, for most people, every emotion, from ‘hate’ and ‘anger’ even extending to ‘love,’ is motivated by a deep-seated fear of release (Krishnamurti). But unlike other gurus, Khrisnamaruti encourages his readers not to take his word for it but to meditate on and discover the truth for themselves. Krishnamurti states, “There is no guide, no teacher, no authority. There is only youyour relationship with others and with the world - there is nothing else” (Krishnamurti 8). Krishnamurti preaches a philosophy that

contradicts most, if not all, of what society teaches us. He tells us to discard everything we know and base our truth solely upon our individual experiences. To fully live in the present, according to Krisnamaruti, one must know themselves and lay the past to rest. But to accomplish that, one must release fear. He writes, “Most of us are frightened of dying because we don’t know what it means to live. We don’t know how to live, therefore we don’t know how to die. As long as we are frightened of life we shall be frightened of death” (Krishnamurti 62). If fear is the only thing holding us back from being present and embodying our true selves, how does one release fear?

Developing awareness of the shadow self through shadow work improves one’s character. Under the ego lies a self that yearns to be found, writes Robert Greene, author of the 2019 book The Laws of Human Nature. The rational self is bubbling beneath the surface, yearning to come out and help us in times of tribulation (Greene 39). But to access this rational self, one must do shadow work to become aware of one’s downfalls. Greene furthers his point by equivocating our emotional mind to a horse, and our rational mind to its rider, saying, “This horse has tremendous energy and power, but without a rider, it cannot be guided; it is wild” (Greene 40).

Shadow work is the best way to tame that metaphorical horse and is essential to learning how to ride it to its fullest potential. According to Jung, shadow work is the process of being present with not only one’s conscious mind but one’s subconscious as well. The Pursuit of Wonder, a content creator on YouTube, discusses in his video “Becoming Your True

Self - The Psychology of Carl Jung” that “...a considerable portion of who we are...and the reasons we do the things we do...persist within a realm we don’t actively understand or have access to” (Pursuit of Wonder). Shadow work is essentially making space for the parts of oneself that one labels as ‘dark’ or ‘negative’ and observing them instead of judging them. The narrator of Pursuit of Wonder elaborates that the only way to access this part of the psyche is to tap into it and integrate it into one’s awareness (Pursuit of Wonder). For most people, this is terrifying. Why would one actively channel the parts of themselves they consider dark, submitting to their immoral thoughts? Despite what one may think, the more awareness one brings to their ‘shadow self,’ the less control the shadow has over an individual. That is why Eternalized, another video creator on YouTube, in a video titled “Owning Your Own Shadow: The Dark Side of the Psyche,” equivocates shadow work to “the psychological equivalent of the labors of Hercules” (Eternalized). Shadow work is not for the light-hearted. But if one wants to improve their character, one must push through the storm of the ego and confront their dark side to better it. Self-actualization is a necessary aspect of taming the subconscious mind.

As Jung theorizes in his 1961 autobiography Memories, Dreams, Reflections, facing obstacles allows one to become a beacon of hope in an indifferent world. One’s greatest enemy is not an external foe one must cut down with a slash of their blade, but their ego. When an individual refuses to become aware of their downfalls, most often, those downfalls project themselves into the individual’s life as hatred of the self and others. As YouTube creator Externalized concludes in the abovementioned video, “When we do not assimilate what we despise, we project it” (Eternalized). The avoidance of the true self will lead to self-destruction. Unless one approaches and learns from obstacles that arise in their life, patterns of self-harm will continue to repeat until the individual learns from them or passes on. Taking an honest inventory of the self is the only way to overcome these obstacles. As Tatiana Denning writes in her

2020 Epoch Times article “The Gift of Hardship,” “Hardships give

our best chance to improve our character. There are just so many good things to be gained, and so many bad things to be discarded” (Denning 4). Though life may consistently provide obstacles that present growth opportunities, we are ultimately the ones who have the power to decide where our life goes and what we stand for. One can only begin fully living life when one releases fear.

Works Cited

Denning, Tatiana. “The Gift of Hardship.” The Epoch Times, Oct 07, 2020. https://ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/ login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.scottsdalecc. edu/newspapers/gifthardship/docview/2449507720/ se-2?accountid=227 Accessed 14 Jan. 2022.

Eternalized. “The Shadow - Carl Jung’s Warning to the World - YouTube.” YouTube, Eternalized, 1 Oct. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhzBo0dZNpY.

Greene, Robert. The Laws of Human Nature. Penguin Books, 2019.

1875-1961., Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Pantheon Books, 1963.

1895-1986., Krishnamurti, Jiddu. Freedom from the Known. Harper One an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.

Pursuit of Wonder. “Becoming Your True Self - the Psychology of Carl Jung - YouTube.” YouTube, Pursuit of Wonder, 22 Apr. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRDy4M5jI-g

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