Unfortunately, domestic violence is an issue that is all too common within relationships world-wide.  Sometimes what happens behind closed doors is never recognized soon enough before the abuse occurs resulting in destroyed families, households, and individuals.  According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.  Domestic Violence can occur to both women and men, but according to Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, it is the leading cause of injury to women ages fourteen to forty four.  Regardless of who the victim is, the most common factor among almost all domestic abuse cases is the overuse of drugs and alcohol.  Sixty one percent of domestic violence offenders and thirty six percent of victims also have problems with substance abuse. It is never uncommon to see the two factors of substance abuse and domestic violence hand in hand in a single case.  Yet everyday, women are denied access to domestic violence shelters due to their use of drugs.  Many state policies and shelter managers refuse to give women who use drugs the shelter and support they need when most of the time, the case may be that they started using drugs as a result of being abused.  In fact, women who have been abused are fifteen times more likely to abuse alcohol and nine times more likely to abuse drugs than women who have not been abused.  The fact that a woman has finally built up the courage to speak out about the abuse from their intimate partner and then is ignored due to their use of drugs which may have been an issue caused by the violence itself, really speaks out about the unfairness of these policies.  Domestic abuse victims have problems with talking about their stories of violence and grasping the fact that their intimate partner is even an offender.  These policies are only discouraging that women speak up for themselves and stop taking the abuse. Domestic Violence Shelters should be able to provide support for women whether they suffer from substance abuse or not, because the involvement of drugs and alcohol is too common to be ignored in these cases.

https://www.addiction.com/3322/domestic-violence-substance-abuse/

https://www.futuresofpalmbeach.com/womens-health/domestic-violence/

Many more people are moving closer to the coastline for the relaxing environment and the peaceful ocean.  However, as the population on the coastline continues to increase, questions of whether overbuilding is harmful to the coastal communities continue to increase as well.  There are several points that argue for both sides of whether overbuilding is harmful or not, but I think that the side supporting that it is, strongly outweighs the other.  For instance, it is argued that the buildings on the coast are what brings in money through tourism; however, the buildings and construction are proven to have destroyed natural buffers and ecosystems that prevent heavy storms from destroying even more of the community than it already does. Sea levels are rising at a constant rate as the years go by, which will only make the storms worse.  If the construction continues to occur, then the buildings will just keep getting damaged.  Not only will the physical properties be destroyed, but also the town’s people’s pockets.  The people will have to spend their taxes on continuous damage control instead of other benefactors to help improve their community.  In another light, the combined effects of the booming population and the want for more development are threatening the ecosystems and habitats that attract the tourists to the coast to provide those economic benefits.  

Overdevelopment is ultimately harmful for the coastal communities but they need to figure out how to reap the economic benefits of the coastal resources while preserving them for future generations.  There can’t just be a repetitive cycle of spending the money to build for economic benefits, but then having to spend more money later when those buildings get destroyed by increasingly damaging storms.  The suggestions I would make to solve this problem, based on research, would just be to minimize the development and focus on preserving the natural habitat of the coastlines that bring in a lot of revenue from just the outdoor activities that it provides. People go to the coastlines for the beach and then spend money in those developments while they are there.  Keep the development farther inland, renovate the existing buildings, and the revenue will follow.

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Reports/2003/RippleEffectsPopulationandCoastalRegions.aspx

http://www.wickedlocal.com/article/20151211/NEWS/151218614

The Austin-based network of clinics, Emancipet, believes everyone should be able to give their animals a healthy and happy living situation no matter their income level so that they can have their pet for comfort when times are tough.  The clinic began with a single trailer and has since expanded to six locations in Texas as well as one treatment center in Philadelphia.  Thye basically provide proper veterinary care to dogs whose owners are incapable of affording it themselves.  Emancipet, a nonprofit organization and Tito’s Handmade Vodka, a for-profit organization, have a unique relationship as the both of them care tremendously for the treatment of animals and believe strongly in the relationship between owners and their pets.  Bert Butler “Tito” Beveridge worked exhausting days at the distillery as he was bringing his business up and would go days making contact with only one other lifeform, his dog Dogjo.  Often times stray dogs would smell Dogjo’s food and would go over to the building.  Beveridge would then bring the dogs to the closest Emancipet location and the partnership began.  Beveridge would communicate with members of the community looking to adopt and ultimately found homes for over 60 different dogs.  The partnership continued to be a positive influence on each other when Tito’s Handmade Vodka decided to “Vodka for Dog People” products as a way to promote Emancipet’s expansion and bring awareness to the fact that they want to build as many clinics as possible.  The two organizations support each other’s causes and invest money in each other when either one hosts events to raise awareness for the treatment of animals.

http://paidpost.nytimes.com/titos-handmade-vodka/american-underdog.html?tbs_nyt=2017-april-nytnative_hpmod&cpv_dsm_id=8987558

The 2013 Animated film, Frozen, is set to have a production in Denver this summer, and then is transferring to Broadway next spring.  Disney Theatrical Productions decided who they are casting for the various characters.  Caissie Levy will play Elsa and Patti Murin will play Anna in the musical adaptation.  Levy appeared in five previous Broadway productions including a revival of “Les Miserables” as Fantine and “Lysistrata Jones” which lasted only a short time but was very well reviewed.  Murin has been involved with the Frozen production since the beginning of its development while Levy is a fairly new addition.  Other decided cast members include Jelani Alladin as Kristoff, Greg Hildreth as Olaf, John Riddle as Hans and Robert Creighton as the Duke of Weselton.  The production will be directed by Michael Grandage and choreographed by Rob Ashford.  These two men are replacing the previous director and choreographer who decided to part ways with Disney.  The music feautured in the production will be the same music used in the film and written by the married couple, Robert and Kristen Lopez who composed the film score.  The film, “Frozen”, inspired by a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, “The Snow Queen”, was a huge hit with the general public as well as with Academy Awards.  I believe this should probably put tremendous pressure on the directors of the stage adaptation as they have big shoes to fill.  “Frozen” is scheduled to run from Aug. 17 to Oct. 1 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/17/theater/disneys-frozen-musical-casts-its-princesses.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmovies&action=click&contentCollection=movies&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Rock climbing was once an unpopular sport but now is becoming more and more mainstream due to the booming businesses that are promoting it such as Brooklyn Boulders.  Brooklyn Boulders has locations in Brooklyn, Chicago, as well as Somerville, Massachusetts.  There were 388 climbing gyms across the country in 2015 and by the end of 2016 there were 414.  Most major cities and even minor cities have at least one climbing gym and rock climbing is now going to be in the 2020 Olympics.  One of the biggest challenges for owners of climbing gyms seems to be finding and affording the real estate needed for the activity.  Another challenge is having enough customers convinced on wanting to participate in an activity that is considered by many to be dangerous.  There are various types of climbing that are available to try.  There is bouldering (climbing without ropes), top-roping (ascending a wall with a rope anchored above),  lead-climbing (ropes and harness, but no anchor above), and belaying (helping the lead climber by means of rope).  Brooklyn Boulders opened in 2009 out of a garage that had a load of space and a pop-off roof.  Success followed them with this opening along with expanding to offer yoga, pilates, and fitness classes.  The variety of activities as well as different levels of climbing allows people to have more of a reason to join a gym like this.  The wall is also used for events for the local government and the Boys and Girls Club.  You should go check some of these facilities out!  I am looking forward to getting a chance to as well!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/business/smallbusiness/rock-climbing-gyms-bouldering-walls.html

Investment by foreign countries can allow a country to grow by ultimately increasing the gross domestic product.  Even though that investment allows for additional income to flow back into the country who invested, it increases the other country’s stock in capital, leading to higher productivity and wages.  Argentina currently has a very weak economy having come out of an economic crisis in 2001 and in the effort to restore Argentina’s sovereignty, created other problems.  Also, former President, Cristina Fernandez was accused of manipulating the nation’s Central Bank in the final months of her administration.  She was selling the Central Bank’s US dollars at below market value in order to inflate the Argentinian peso, and she succeeded to do so by about forty percent a year.  Now the current president of Argentina is Mauricio Macri and one of his many goals is to revive South America’s second largest economy by increasing foreign investment.  Macri started his efforts by encouraging the CEOs of Coca-Cola, Siemens, and almost two thousand other foreign and domestic companies to invest in Argentina and help revive its struggling economy.  He spoke to businesspeople from 60 different countries about how a recession is near and once again people are looking at Argentina since the crisis with former President, Fernandez.  Cristina Fernandez was additionally criticized for continuing to raise tariffs and protectionist policies in an effort to decrease the deficit while resulting in discouraging any foreign investment.  Macri plans to return Argentina to global bond markets for the first time in fifteen years.  He also took back the restrictions on buying US dollars and reduced the taxes on exports and other protectionist policies that were put into place by Fernandez.  In conclusion, President Mauricio Macri is trying to revive the economy of Argentina by starting to encourage as much foreign investment as possible in order to increase productivity and gross domestic product.   

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/13/world/americas/ap-lt-argentina-investment.html?mabReward=&_r=0

TripAdvisor, the travel planning and booking site, decided to rate the ten best beaches in the United States based on the amount and quality of the travelers’ reviews and ratings on TripAdvisor over a twelve month period.  As well as rating the beaches, TripAdvisor listed the least expensive month for hotels in each spot.  Florida beaches seemed to overwhelm the list with seven out of the ten beaches on the list being located in the sunshine state including our very own Saint Augustine Beach at the number eight spot.  Siesta Key Beach in Siesta Key, Florida was rated number one as it is considered to be more the Caribbean than Florida with extremely white, soft sand.  TripAdvisor suggested that the least expensive month to vacation there is in September, when hotels average $214 per night.  Other Florida beaches that reached this top ten list include, St. Pete Beach at No. 3, Clearwater Beach at No. 4, Panama City Beach at No. 5, Hollywood Beach at No. 6, and Pensacola Beach at No. 7.  The other state that placed more than one of its beaches on this top ten list is Hawaii, with Ka’anapali Beach at No. 2 and Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve at No. 9.  The outlier of the list is Ocean City, Maryland which is the beach that I and my parents grew up going to.  Both of my sets of grandparents have owned places in Ocean City and I lived on my own there this past summer.  Ocean City moved up fifteen spots to number ten on the list because of its increasingly good reviews about its family-friendly, free activities as well as its quality for aquatic sports.  TripAdvisor claims November to be the least expensive month to travel there with hotel prices averaging $109 per night.  So start booking yourself a vacation and remember to check out one or two of these amazing beaches!

http://www.today.com/money/10-best-beaches-us-world-according-tripadvisor-t108440

As many of you may know, the 2017 Oscars are coming up this Sunday, February 26th, where actors and actresses such as Denzel Washington, Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Meryl Streep, and many more are nominated.  Winning an Oscar can be a very emotional experience as many can imagine, it is something almost every actor or actress has dreamed of.  Looking back on past Oscars, there are some speeches that are delivered which people never forget.  For one, Lupita Nyong’o recieved her first Oscar nomination and win in 2014 for Supporting Actress in her performance in 12 Years A Slave.  In the film, which was extremely successful, being nominated nine times for an Oscar and winning three including Best Picture, Lupita played a slave named Patsey who was raped and abused by her owner.  Her acceptance speech was breathtaking and full of emotion as she stated,”when I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child, that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.”  Another memorable acceptance speech was done by film legend, Peter O’Toole, after receiving his Honorary Award as the 2003 Oscars recognizing his incredible talents despite being nominated seven times for Actor in a Leading Role and never winning one.  He states, “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” making the audience laugh but continues on to describe his appreciation of the academy and the nation that has allowed him to still be so successful in his career despite his shortcomings of winning an Oscar.  Tune in to watch the 2017 Oscars to see who will deliver another unforgettable acceptance speech like these two actors!

http://oscar.go.com/news/winners/most-emotional-oscar-acceptance-speeches

Almost every week there is some type of article or study on whether or not video games are bad for children and adults to spend time playing.  However, cognitive researcher, Daphne Bavelier, takes a different approach narrowing in on the effects that fast-paced video games, including action-packed shooter games, have on the brain and our ability to learn and multitask.  She begins by immediately dismissing that doing too much of anything is not good for you especially binge playing video games.  Contrary to popular belief, Bavelier actually proves that video games do not lead to attention problems or greater distractibility.  She claims that people who play action games actually have a more efficient parietal lobe, frontal lobe, as well as anterior cingulate which all in some way or another determine someone’s measurement of attention and ability to multitask.  She performed several studies such as having subjects name the color of the text of different words as opposed to saying the word that the texts spells.  Another study tested the ability to track several moving objects at once and decide where the specific ones are when they stop.  For all of the studies, people who play action games were able to do better at the tasks.

I thought it was very interesting that the success of the tasks had such a strong correlation with individuals who play action video games; however, I wonder what other confounding variables could have effected the outcome.  On the other hand, I still agree with Bavelier in that if action video games, even violent ones, are played an appropriate amount they can probably be very stimulating to the brain allowing individuals to be better at multitasking.

https://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games#t-1054450

On Saturday January 28th, seventeen year old, Kayla Linton, passed away suddenly, going into cardiac arrest after battling the flu for a little less than a week.  As the tragedy broke the hearts of many, it brought the Landsdowne, Maryland community together.  Kayla was a senior athlete who played field hockey, indoor track, and lacrosse.  She was also a part of the National Honor Society and teachers such as Shaun Murphy described her as one of Landsdowne’s “best and brightest”.  When the community found out, they immediately decided to honor her loss, which really brought everyone together and helped family and friends cope.  At Landsdowne High School’s Boys Varsity Basketball game, the team came out to warm up wearing tshirts with “Linton 19” on the back which was her number that she wore throughout the sports she played at the school.  The gymnasium, full of an enormous crowd, was covered in posters with the twitter hashtag, #KL19 as well as a tshirt with Kayla’s picture on it, all in her memory.  The twitter hashtag has gotten national and international responses from places such as the UK, Canada, and Australia as well as all across the United States. The school’s athletic director, Todd Hawkins, said that a scholarship from the school’s athletic department in her name is in the works.  An autopsy has not yet been released to determine the exact cause. Having gone to Catonsville High School, five minutes away from Landsdowne High School, I know that this loss’ effect also has spilled over into the Catonsville community.  This post is for Kayla as well as all of her friends and family that are struggling with this sudden tragedy.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/arbutus-lansdowne/ph-at-kayla-linton-0208-20170131-story.html