Siebs Squad

Something that is interesting about this quarantine and remote learning is that I have had more time than I have had in years for myself. In other words, every day I end up with hours of downtime that I can devote to myself. After school and working out, playing video games and watching movies has almost become a new routine for me. Our junior year of high school, which is considered the most rigorous year, is now considerably easer than it was a month ago. Practically overnight we all went from busy students focused on school and extracurriculars, to students who do a couple of hours of school and then have hours of disposable time on our hands. In a sense, I have really enjoyed having all of this extra time because it allows me to focus on myself, and what I want to be doing at any given time.

I have been going on a lot of runs lately in order to keep my training up for the track season (the status of which is still tentative). Over the last couple of weeks, I have seen more people outside walking or running than I probably ever have before. However, even though there are so many people out, everyone seems pretty isolated. Everyone seems very focused on staying apart from one another, and trying to follow the guidelines set by te CDC. In a way, I feel like this has made people much less courteous, and in a way, everyone seems more suspicious of one another. I think that as a community, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we are all in this together, and that we should all be working together to try and slow the spread of this virus.

One thing that I have realized in the past couple of weeks is that this is a time of great uncertainty. Every passing day brings new surprises and challenges, and all that anyone can do is speculate about what the future will bring. Some predict that COVID-19 will come and go in the next few months, while other experts predict that a return to normal life could be almost two years away. Everyone always says to focus on what you can control, but in a time like this, focusing on the smaller things is difficult when there are problems happening on a global scale. While it hard to do so, taking things one day at a time helps from getting lost in the constant speculation over the future.

For my junior theme essay, I drew inspiration and influence primarially from my AP U.S. History class. In my essay, I explored the issue of Native American poverty in the United States. Interestingly enough, the rate of Native American poverty compared to the poverty rate in the United States is more than two times higher. I found that the reasons for this are past government policy (Andrew Jackson era), media portrayal of the people, and lack of assistance from the government. Due to many of these issues, Natives are unable to disassociate themselves from many stereotypes, and elevate their economic statuses. In my essay, I referenced over 15 different sources, ranging from books and academic journals, to magazine/newspaper sources. From all of these sources I learned a lot, but the most surprising thing that I learned was the conditions on many Native American reservations. On the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, there is limited running water and electricity, and the near

The American Dream is one of the fundamental beliefs that draws immigrants from all over the world to the United States of America. This American Dream is built on the belief that in America, somebody can go from rags to riches through hard work and devotion to the idea. Based on capitalism, the American dream promotes entrepreneurs and individual ideas as a way for one to better themselves. Although this dream is considered great by some, it does lead to American ignorance of certain major social issues prevalent in our nation. At the forefront of these issues: racism, and mistreatment of many minority groups. In Ta-Nehisi Coates' novel Between the World and Me , the idea of American ignorance related to the Dream is one of his most widely explored ideas. Coates displays the view of Black in America when he says: "Black life is cheap, but in America black bodies are a natural resource of incomparable value" (132). Here, Coates suggests that black lives are considered to

Interestingly enough, communities seldom share the exact same sets of values. This can be based on a multitude of factors including socioeconomic standing, location, and expectations. Many of the values that are held in North Shore communities are different from other communities around the United States. The primary value in the North Shore is education, and a great focus and emphasis is focused on it by members of the community. The North Shore is considered to be one of the wealthiest areas in Illinois– according to a Crain’s Chicago Business  article– with certain areas in Glencoe and Winnetka where the median household income is upwards of $200,000. However, this above average household income does not get in the way of core North Shore values such as the importance of getting a high school and college education. In fact, New Trier Township property taxes are of the highest in the state of Illinois, and are the primary source of funding for the school. According to a Chicago Tri