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Since the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine became FDA approved, one would expect less resistance to becoming vaccinated. With three out of ten Americans still remaining unvaccinated, and 14% staunchly against the idea of taking the vaccine, this is not the case. Some of these Americans give explanations as to why they don’t want to receive the vaccine, the major ones being that the vaccine is more dangerous than the virus itself and that their religion is opposed to it. Though both of these have been dispelled, people still find ways to disagree and refuse the shot, being major contributors to the ubiquity of COVID.

To many, the United Nations is a seemingly distant organization with little impact on our daily lives. This year’s UNA-USA Youth Observer, Cynthia Yue, is trying to change that mentality.

Lil Nas X seems to be on top of the world lately. Ever since the 2019 release of the record-smashing hit “Old Town Road,” Nas proved his mastery of media and kept all eyes on himself. When he had the #1 charting song in America, he had the courage to come out to fully express himself in his music. He created a buzz this year when he created a custom Nike Air Max 97 with human blood inside, and later when he promoted his debut album, Montero, in a photoshoot where he was “pregnant” with his baby (the album). Due to controversial choices like these, along with the fact that he is a Black queer man, he is often the target of bigots and pundits in the “culture war.” Although Nas has been extremely vocal on social media about shrugging off criticisms like these, on Montero we finally get a look at what’s going on inside Lil Nas X’s head.

Officially having gone into effect on September 1, 2021, the new Texas abortion law, named the Texas Heartbeat Act, banned abortion past six weeks of pregnancy. More specifically, the act banned abortion once cardiac activity can be detected, which occurs arounds six weeks into pregenancy. The law allows for no exception for rape or incest, or if the pregnant person is a teenager. The only way to escape the ban is if the pregnancy causes severe health concerns of the pregnant person and may lead to death or substantial damage to body functions.

Fifty years ago, in September of 1971, a revolution took place that would change the course of criminal justice in the American prison system as we know it. It would go down in history as the day that an act of desperation from the prisoners of Attica would serve as a wake up call about the conditions that prisoners all over America are subjected to. It is no secret that the conditions of prisons in the past were horrendous. Formerly incarcerated Tyrone Larkins spoke out about his experiences when he referred to Attica as “the roughest place I’ve ever seen in my life”. As a prisoner, you were stripped of your human rights and as a black prisoner, you never had any to begin with.

As an international student from Boise, Idaho, I first saw this trip solely as a professional development opportunity. I could not imagine how this trip would have brought me joyful memories with my peers who I had not met or only met through Zoom conference meetings. Despite coming from different backgrounds varied from business administration … Read more

On September 11, 2001, America faced one of it’s deadliest terrorist attacks ever: the attacks on the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and an attempted attack on Washington DC. In response to the brutal hijackings, President George W. Bush vowed to “win the war against terrorism,” and invaded Afghanistan, in hopes to find Osama Bin Laden, a key planner of the 9-11. In October of 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom began, and US forces initiated airstrikes on al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Quickly, Taliban forces fell and the Taliban regime collapsed.

After almost two years in virtual learning, many schools in the United States have at last reopened their doors for a full-time in-person education. People have said that this is the next step into recovering from COVID-19, and returning to “normality;” however this may be a step backwards. Cases were at a record low in June of this year, only for them to rise as the first schools began to reopen in July and as more people became content with not wearing masks.

For most Americans, the fireworks on the Fourth of July weekend symbolize national prosperity and patriotism. They represent the long and colorful history of sacrifices made for the independence of their country. They trigger a sense of pride. But for one fellow American, Gulia Dale, a black man and a retired army major, that wasn’t the case.

Chocolate and coffee, it is hard imagining life without them isn’t it? Well, if governments don’t do something to combat climate change quickly, it might just come to that.