Growing up and living in Georgia, you see many families attend the typical Sunday and Wednesday services offered by local Christian churches, especially in my area, and the parking lots would be filled to the brim like a pitcher of sweet tea. As for my family, we did not grow up in the church. In this case we were outsiders, and I felt that way about my religious background growing up. My parents did not fail in providing me any spiritual feeling as I was taught to treat others equally, to not discriminate, and to “love thy neighbor as yourself.” 

I would attend church via friends as I grew. My childhood friend from elementary school introduced me to the church; where we would be taught the basics of Christianity in small groups. The basics were the essentials, and not much more was needed, in my opinion, to follow religion. 

Continue reading Get Back to the Basics- by Jacob Robinson →

Teenage smoking has been a problem for over a century. Smoking itself has existed for thousands of years, but it really took off when cigarettes were invented in the 1840’s. For a long time, smoking was the norm – everybody did it. In fact, in the early 20^th century, doctors even encouraged it. Because of this, teen smoking was a major problem for a long time. However, although it was encouraged in the first half of the 20^th century, people woke up in the latter half. They realized that smoking caused lung cancer, and from the 1960’s through the 1980’s, smoking became much less popular. In fact, a report published by the CDC in 1992 said that half of smokers quit in that timeframe.

Continue reading Ending Teenage Smoking – by Matthew Cook →

I remember the first night I took my pills. 

One was round–tan, roughly the size of a dime, AN/515 inscribed on a side–and the other was ovoid–blue, half the size of a pinky fingernail, 887-2 on one side, “b” on the other–and they were going to change my life. I had been taking the first pill, spironolactone, for three months. Ostensibly, this was to allow my body time to adjust; truthfully, it was so my doctor knew I was committed to the changes my body was about to undergo.

Continue reading I dreamed I was a moth – by Sam Bigham →

I am a huge fan of many different fantasy worlds and the stories told inside those worlds. From Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, fantasy storytelling is a very important aspect of my life. And as a fan, I’m also very active in the communities and partake in many of the hobbies that go along with these interests. The most involved hobby and most important to this article is that of tabletop roleplaying games. Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, all these fantasy games happening in the theater of the mind have been a massive part of my life for the last 5 years. But being so involved in this culture has brought up a massive consideration to my life that I never put any thought into before; what should be considered “normal” diversity in reference to a fantasy world?

Continue reading Elves and Dwarves: Diversity in Fantasy Worlds – by Trent Mitchell →

Since black people have been brought to the mainstream side of media it has been a hurdle for some. Black women have been labeled as loud, ghetto, aggressive, and overreactive in almost all settings. On TV, we are very seldom shown in a light that would make us proud. The problem is women, black women specifically, have experienced racism and even sexism in all forms of the different communication fields. 

Continue reading The Angry Black Woman – by Breanna Lomnick →

Growing up, I never realized the privilege that I inherently had due to the color of my skin. I was aware that we were all unique, but never thought twice about it due to the bubble that was my home town. I had and to this day still have many friends from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. One in particular is my friend Naveed who I consider one of my closest friends since childhood.

Naveed comes from a Muslim family and his parents were both born and grew up in the middle east. We have hung out with each other a countless amount of times throughout the years ever since the third grade and have grown closer as we get older. We are obviously both of a different skin color, but I had never witnessed me being treated differently from him, likely due to the very privileged town that we live in Middle Tennessee. That all changed when we went on a vacation one summer to a music festival with a group of our friends. 

Continue reading Racial Profiling in Security Systems – by Kylee Boone →

Diversity is an aspect that all people should look for in their everyday life, however, that is not always the case. When it comes to diversity, some people feel the effects of the world more than others simply because they are being marginalized, and that produces a racial inequality that almost all members feel. One particular group of people that have always had problems with diversity and racial inequality are Black people, especially Black men. Black people are continuously being racially targeted based solely on the color of skin despite the several movements that have paved the way for such occurrences to not happen. This racial profiling is exceptionally rampant in the way Black men are viewed on social standards. Typically, these views are very stereotypical and degrade Black men in such a way that they have to be a shell of themself in order to not be seen as a threat or physically harmed. 

Continue reading Black Men in Diversity – by Nardia Ingram →