Icona Pop, 'First Time'

Homeless people are a vulnerable population in many respects that they always face discrimination and exclusion because of their housing condition. It is a social problem that typically low wages and shortage of affordable housing are the main factors contributing to homelessness. In fact, many poor people face significant barriers to maintain stable housing because they don’t have accessibilities to increase their economic stability. Overall, there are significant factors that contribute to homelessness that many homeless people usually struggle with limited access to resources, lack of information about services, and lack of support systems.

n the essay “Embraced by the needle” by Gabor Mate, he highlights how an individualès childhood experiences would make them more susceptible to addiction in their future. He highlights if an individual experienced a traumatic, neglectful, or stressful environment in their childhood they are more vulnerable to addiction as adults. If children grew up in relatively stable and loving homes, but still grow up to become addicts, then there are other underlying factors, like stressed parents, that cause them to turn to vices like drugs or alcohol that lead them to addiction. Maté focuses on events that happened in an individual’s childhood and how they developed from it, and discusses the biology of addiction and how without some key experiences in an individual’s childhood it will lead to addiction because “the fewer endorphin exchanging experiences in infancy and early childhood, the greater the need for external sources” (289). Drugs like cocaine or benzodiazepine imitate or inhibit the reabsorption of endorphins, reaffirming that in Maté’s perspective addictions are caused by pain and unhappiness. Bruce K Alexander’s perspective on addiction and drug abuse in Reframing Canada’s “Drug Problem” is that of dislocation. He describes dislocation as being “the absence of that essential integration and identification with family, community, society and spiritual values that makes a “straight” life bearable most of them time and joyful at its peaks.” (226). When individuals are

In S.E Hinton's novel, The Outsiders, there are many themes represented in the book, but one of the main themes is social ostracism, or the conflict between the economic classes. There are two rival gangs within The Outsiders:  the Socs and the Greasers.  The Socs represent the upper class while the Greasers represent the lower class.  The Socs, "jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next." The Greasers, who are on the low social economic side, "steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in

Women throughout history have been continually oppressed and have faced inequality in all aspects of life. In My Forbidden Face by Latifa, this theme recurs many times since the main character has been robbed of all basic human rights because of her gender. During the time period of the book, the Taliban took over and forced the people to take part in a radicalized version of Islam and worship as they saw fit. They made their own rules on how people should live, by taking the words of the Koran and twisting it to suit their needs, without any thoughts of how it would affect the people. The majority of the rules were aimed towards women and how they should live their lives.

Under the lights by Abbie Glines. There are three teens that grew up together in a southern small town. Willa’s mom had her when she was a teenager. Willa had gotten into some trouble at a young age and had to stay with her Nonna. Willa’s two best friends were Gunner and Brady. Willa has made some bad choices in her past life which made her go down the wrong path in life. Brady’s a high school quarter back now and with the choices Willa has made Brady sees Willa as a different person. Gunner is also a football star in high school. Gunner is living a good rich life the only matter though he cares about himself only, except for Willa. He understands the person she has grown into over her time. As they were known to be child hood friends secrets start to come out and the truth may be the reason of them losing each other.

Ha is the main character from Inside Out and Back Again this book is by Thanhha Lai. Her family has been kicked out of there home and, there life is turned inside out. They are forced to move to Alabama, and they are having a are time trying to fit in. They are now living in Alabama with their Cowboy and, his wife. The Cowboy's wife does not like Ha and her family just because they are from Saigon, and they speak another language than they do. In Inside Out and Back Again, Ha and her family’s life turns into a crazy mess. She is forced to move and, she has to get use to a new home. Then, she finally gets accepted by everybody at her school.

The ocean of life is a constant routine to not only reconcile with certain circumstances, but to learn, to understand, and to accept them. With every new obstacle we face, this process is repeated absentmindedly, but the way we choose to react and what we absorb from these events is what ultimately makes us grow. As humans, we tend to find a suitable comfort space, that when in front of the unknown we close ourselves off in fear. Unfortunately, we become so accustomed that we take the hinges off our door, isolating ourselves and repressing the daunting task of opening up again. This submissiveness

In the novel Eight Seconds written by Jean Ferris, John is an 18 year old boy that lives on a ranch near the Rocky Mountains. John lives on the ranch with his mom, dad, three sisters, and dog Howdy. At the beginning of summer john receives the gift of a week at rodeo school from his father. When he escapes reality he begins to learn something about himself he never knew.

Second Chances-Stanhope House is a non-profit residential facility for women ex-offenders located in Norfolk, VA. Second Chances was established in 1999, sponsored by the city of Norfolk, and operating under the organizational umbrella of The Garden of Hope, Inc. This program is designed to assist non-violent women ex-offenders with transitional supportive services that lead to economic and social stability. “Since 1990, the number of women in America’s jails and prisons has tripled. The number of women on probation nearly doubled from 1990 to 2003, while the number on parole more than doubled. Considered collectively, the needs of thousands of women transitioning from some form of correctional confinement to the community

In the book, Inside out and Back again, by Thanhha Lai, a girl named Ha and her family are forced to leave Vietnam and subsequently experience hardships and face many obstacles as refugees in their new life. Throughout the story Ha demonstrates how her stubbornness and curiosity transforms her dynamic character.

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo follows the story of beauty pageant competitor Alana Thompson and her family. She originally made her reality TV debut on Toddlers and Tiaras, where even though she did not place as well as the two other girls profiled in that episode, she made an impression on the viewers with her funny comments and hyperactive personality. In Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, Alana shares the spotlight with her “crazy family.” In the first episode alone, they are seen farting, eating food off the floor, jumping into mud, and more. They claim that they are authentic and enjoy being themselves. Though the Shannon-Thompson family asserts their authenticity through pride of their bodily functions and seemingly gross behavior, they are also under

In PUSH written by Sapphire we learn about a young girl who fights through continually being raped by her father and abused by her mother. With the help of her teacher at Each One Teach One she escaped from that but also learned how to read and write as a form of expression. Her teacher asks Precious to communicate with her through writing poems. There are a lot of forms of expressing ones art. As one of Aptheker’s three important points “Art can tell the truth like nothing else can”, this was how Precious expressed her art. Art does not necessarily have to be expressed using a notepad and a paint brush. Sapphire writes “No I gonna be queen of those ABCs-readin’ n’ writin’. I not gonna stop going to school ‘n I not going to give Abdul up and

Teju Cole’s phenomenally written original novel majorly takes place in New York City. Cole character was easy to relate to because of his Nigerian American decent being that I am a Ghanaian American. Cole is a Nigerian American. He was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria and came to the United States in 1992 at the age of seventeen. Cole is also well educated and is a graduate student at Columbia University. I found it insightful how in the novel Cole met several various types of people, including other immigrants. He met and shared stories with a Haitian shoe shiner, at work in Penn Station; a Liberian, imprisoned for over two years in a dentition center in Queens; and a Moroccan student working at an Internet café. I enjoyed the fact that the narrator was well stocked minded. He touched on the topics of art, music, and interesting books. He had a very eclectic set of interest.

The main character that the book is based on is Drew Robinson. Drew, also known as True, is a sophomore in high school in Queens, NY and loves the game of basketball. He is arguably the best high school basketball player in the area. True’s best friend, Lee Atkins, is a senior at the school. Since he is in his last year of high school basketball, all Lee wants is to make a run in the playoffs and win the championship game. True’s mother is Darlene Robinson. Darlene got a job in California, thanks to a man named Mr. Seth Gilbert, who saw True playing an AAU basketball tournament. Mr. Gilbert wanted him to attend Oakley High School in CA to play for Coach DiGregorio. Mr. Gilbert believes True is the best player and that he will make it into the NBA. So, Mr. Gilbert helps True meet some people who can help him become sponsored. When True goes to play basketball by himself at Morrison Court, he keeps seeing a ghost man. He finds out that the ghost man is Urban Sellers, a basketball player who ruined his career before he was even out of high school. Seeing him made True not want to make the same mistakes. Callie Mason is on the girls’ basketball team and True has a crush on her. He even sneaks into the gym to watch the girl’s team practice from time to time.

“An Unknown Girl” by Moniza Alvi is a free verse poem about the author’s experience getting her hand hennaed in an Indian bazaar. Throughout the poem, Alvi makes use of structure techniques like end-stopped lines, occasional rhymes, language, imagery, and changes in tone to explore different aspects of the concept of identity.