The Antlerette November 4 2019 Volume 94 Issue 3
New Vaccine Law Yasamine Yusufzai, Copy Editor A new law is going to go into effect in California. On September 20, 2019, Governor Newsom signed the Senate Bill 276. This new law makes it harder for children who aren’t vaccinated to go to school. In the bill, it states, doctors aren’t going to be the final authority when it comes to medical exemptions and instead, public health officials are going to be the final authority. Some doctors over the past few years have been bribed by anti-vaxxers to exempt them or their children from getting vaccinated so that’s the main reason why they are passing this law. The bill is going to review children who attend a school with an immunization rate of less than 95%, doctors who sign more than five vaccine exemptions, and schools that didn’t provide its vaccination rates to the public health officials. This law is going to go into effect on January 20, 2020. The governor also asked that in exchange for his signature of this bill, he wanted a slate of revisions in the shape of a second bill, but the bill has to go to the legislature before September 13, 2019, since that was the deadline for the current legislative session. These statements condition that any student with a medical exemption before the first of January in 2020 doesn’t have to be
subject to the new restrictions until they reach the next time they have to be vaccinated by the law in order to go to school, which is usually kindergarten or seventh grade. This can be revoked, though, if the doctor that gave them the shot has been subject to disciplinary action from either the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, and temporary exemptions would be limited to one year. Though many people are against this new law, it is very important because it stops innocent people from getting a disease that is preventable. Vaccines are an important part of healthcare because they make your immune system stronger and I honestly don’t understand why people are so against this because vaccines don’t hurt anyone. The most it can do is give you a bad allergic reaction, but you should already know if you’re allergic to something in a vaccine because they put everything that’s in it on paper before you take a shot. If you don’t want to get sick from a disease that is preventable and spread it to everyone else, please get your shots.
https://www.insider.com/vaccineexemptions-by-state-map-2019-2
Hate Comments and Their Effect on Mental Health Tess Sommer, Design Manager Social media has been a very good platform for communication, but sometimes the communication isn’t always the most positive. For instance, there have been multiple people that have committed suicide because of hateful comments such as Stevie Ryan, Jamie Rodemeyer, Etika, and Daniel Kyre that are Youtubers. These hate comments need to stop because they result in people ending their lives. A huge factor for the appearance of these hate comments is that social media can be used as a platform to spread messages while keeping names anonymous. Since these platforms can keep these haters anonymous, people start to share their truest true form of their opinion-most of the time, it is negative. Whether it could be that they feel insecure about themselves, their family situation, or they enjoy watching people feel hurt by these comments. These hate comments won’t get into people’s heads at first, but if the comments pick on their insecurities, they will tear them apart. People, such as the YouTubers will constantly think about these negative comments and start to feel insecure and hate themselves for them. If no one in the comment section is standing against these hateful words, the person will think that no one cares about them and will eventually hate themselves even more. If these comments aren’t addressed, the person will develop feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness and they will feel alone and might make a fatal choice. Everyone’s life is important, and what if you were in their shoes? I don’t think you would appreciate getting picked on for your interests or insecurities and knowing that no one stood up for you so you feel as if you are a worthless person. Stand against these hate comments, so that you can prevent someone from killing themselves.
https://9gag.com/gag/a4d3nqA/words-canhurt-too
The Cons to Technology Usage Kyle Williams, Staff Technology is constantly in this evolving loop where something is always being updated or refreshed to look more trendy or advanced. We all own some type of technology, whether it is a phone or a laptop, or even a modern-day car or smart home. We all go head-over-heels when the newest iPhone comes out. Every person is drawn to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on the latest because they like the new features or because it's the “cool” thing to own. Maybe we have new colors for the back or the size maybe got a little bigger, but the phone itself works just as fast as your iPhone XS Max you just had to have the year prior. Why do we feel this sudden pressure to buy the newest phones or drive the most sleek and expensive cars? Two wordssocial media. Everyone has at least some type of interaction that goes out into the world to see how they live their lives and spend their money. We find those “Social Media Influencers” that show off their designer Gucci outfits and drive expensive fully-loaded BMWs. They live in huge houses that are filled with cool features, and these things people show off are filled with technology. We use technology to see what others do with their lives and what the newest and latest products they have purchased are. We are slowly going brain dead and immune to
always having some type of digital communication in our hands and never actually looking into the real world anymore. Everyone would rather look up pictures of the world than see it for themselves. So many things that go on in our world will soon only revolve around certain technological advances which are always being updated. This is getting out of hand, waiting around to see what the latest iOS update is and what comes along with it only to be disappointed that it only fixes bugs again. We stay on our phones all day and night and have all this blue light from our screens going straight to our eyes, keeping us up all night and not being able to fall asleep. Teachers try to get us to put our phones away and out of our reach during the class period. The students don’t even pay attention in class because they are wondering how their phone is doing or wanting to see if their best friend replied in the group chat on Snapchat. Then, we get weirded out if our Instagram photos don’t get to a certain amount of likes because we want to be able and show others how great their photos are and the responses they receive. If we aren’t virtually funny and becoming the next trending topic on Twitter feeds, we sit and cry over it. All we strive to do this century is to become social media famous and show the world who can get likes and followers. Our Gen-Z and Millenials are witnessing all the people born after 2008 walking around with the latest iPhone 11 Pro because how our parents would raise us as kids no longer work. This generation will slowly get worse and worse over time as more and more things start to take technology to the next level. Shall we look forward to how technology evolves even more over the years? Only time will tell and our patience is sure a virtue.
https://pennapowers.com/technology-thegood-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
What I Wish You Knew About Being Mexican-American Lo que desearía que supieran acerca de ser mexicoamericana
Selena Enríquez, Staff Every Latino who has been alive on this Earth has either been called gringo or called someone else gringo. It’s not a bad thing per se, as being gringo in itself doesn’t harm anyone by being a word. It’s just being someone who’s white, and being a white guy isn't going to put you in a dangerous position in society. It’s the way the word is used in the two different countries: Mexico and America. What’s shameful is the way that many second generation and further Mexican-Americans often criticize those who can’t speak Spanish well or don’t know their heritage as well as they could. The difference between Mexican-Americans and Mexicans is that Mexicans encourage one to learn about their language, culture, and country. Mexican-Americans that I have encountered more often than not turn their insecurities into hurtful comments that make Spanish-learners not want to speak up or get to know the culture, or even worse: they create harmful stereotypes around Latinos. Growing up, my family was full of rancheros, and I learned all the bad words and slang I could possibly learn in Spanish before the ripe age of six. After that, I started seeing my tíos y primos less and less. Learning Spanish came naturally when I started learning in eighth grade, but I still fumbled many words. I specifically remember saying largo, long, as large-o, and I remember my friends at the time laughing uncontrollably, which is understandable, but it made me feel very insecure about my Mexican culture. I took Spanish for the next four years, and was told I couldn’t dance right, I’ll always have a terrible accent, and I’ll never know what it’s like to be a real Mexican because I was so gringa. But hey, I
was trying, and I even knew all the bad words. Every year, it seemed, my Mexicanness was never good enough. Everyone knew I was Mexican because of my name and my facial features, but I never truly felt comfortable in my own skin. I was always so mad that I tanned so easily. I wanted to be pale and blonde so bad, because those girls were the popular ones who all the boys had crushes on. I want people to realize that it isn’t your ability to speak Spanish, your ability to dance to Cumbia, or how easily you tan that makes you Latino: it’s about being authentically yourself, unapologetically kind, and always having a good time that makes you Latino. Gringo is not a bad word, and Mexican-Americans need to use it like it is: to refer to a white boy, not refer to someone who isn’t “as Mexican” as one “could be”, especially if they are trying. Cada Latino que ha estado vivo en esta Tierra ha sido llamado gringo o llamado alguien más gringo. No es algo malo en sí mismo, ya que ser gringo en sí mismo no hace daño a nadie por ser una palabra. Ser un hombre blanco no dañará a nadie. Es la forma en que se usa la palabra en los dos países diferentes: México y América. Lo que es vergonzoso es la forma en que muchas personas de segunda generación y más mexicoamericanos a menudo critican a quienes no pueden hablar español bien o no conocen su herencia tan bien como podrían. La diferencia entre los mexicoamericanos y los mexicanos es que los mexicanos alientan a uno a aprender sobre su idioma, cultura y país. Los mexicoamericanos con los que me he encontrado la mayoría de las veces convierten sus inseguridades en comentarios hirientes que hacen que los estudiantes de español no quieran hablar o conocer la cultura, o peor aún: crean estereotipos dañinos en torno a los Latinos. Al crecer, mi familia estaba llena de rancheros, y aprendí todas las malas palabras y jerga que posiblemente podría
aprender en español antes de los seis años de edad. Después de eso, comencé a verlos cada vez menos. Aprender español fue algo natural cuando comencé a aprender en octavo grado, pero aún tenía muchas palabras. Recuerdo específicamente decir largo, largo, como large-o, y recuerdo a mis amigos en ese momento reírse sin control, lo cual es comprensible, pero me hizo sentir muy inseguro sobre mi cultura mexicana. Aprendí español durante los siguientes cuatro años y me dijeron que no podía bailar bien, que siempre tendría un acento terrible y que nunca sabría lo que es ser un verdadero mexicano porque era muy gringa. Pero bueno, lo estaba intentando, e incluso sabía todas las malas palabras. Todos los años parecía que mi mexicanidad nunca era lo suficientemente buena. Todos sabían que era mexicana por mi nombre y mis rasgos faciales, pero nunca me sentí realmente cómoda con mi propia piel. Siempre estaba tan enojada que me bronceaba fácilmente, quería estar pálida y rubia tanto, porque esas chicas eran las populares por las que todos los chicos estaban enamorados. Quiero que la gente se dé cuenta de que no es tu habilidad para hablar español, tu habilidad para bailar con Cumbia o la facilidad con la que te bronceas lo que te hace Latino, se trata de ser auténticamente tú mismo, sin disculpas y siempre pasar un buen rato. Ser Latino Gringo no es una mala palabra, y los mexicoamericanos deben usarlo como es: para referirse a un niño blanco, no referirse a alguien que no es "tan mexicano" como uno "podría ser", especialmente si están tratando
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/worst -slur-mexican-americans-still-mystery-somen959616