Dear Anita

People tend to be prejudiced or discriminate against different races, ethnicities or genders when they don’t understand things from their perspective and it sometimes comes from roots of fear. One factor of prejudice and discrimination is power, people who often are powerful might fear someone taking their status so they try to belittle people to assure a more authoritative role. I feel this happens in dictatorships and totalitarian regimes. The people in power are fearful that the people they rule might overpower them so they take away their access to media (or they heavily censor their media). By invoking fear in people, those in power will keep them in tune following the rules set for them. I’ve recently been reading the news about the protests in China and a journalist was captured and beaten. People were tired of being restricted in their travels as the government tried to stop covid spreads. They were protesting about President Xi Jinping isolating them and not allowing them freedom to explore the outside world. President Xi Jinping holds total power in China and there’s security cameras watching citizens who try to defame China’s President and if they are serious enough then the government locks them away. When one person holds all the power in a country, they can make laws and regulations and others are in the minority.

The minorities are often small groups within a nation or they don’t have as much power as the person in charge so they’re often hurt and discriminated against. Media and news play a role in making discrimination more prominent too. Every time there’s a news about a black person killing someone it’s often the head of the news. The media can be selective about what order they feature stories in which makes them stick in people’s minds longer and leads to more fear and racism against blacks. However, overall blacks and other races have relatively equal crime rates when comparing things worldwide.

I feel like discrimination and prejudice comes from what people are taught to believe by the media, how they grew up or corrupt leaders. There’s social discrimination too in the workplace where women earn less than men and they are more likely to be harassed in the workplace.

I feel a lot of the discrimination and prejudice comes from not understanding different perspectives and cultures which is why having social studies in middle schools into college can be helpful teaching people about geography and different cultures.

Dear Anita

I feel allowing people to understand lgbtq and transgender communities can help them develop awareness of how to be more inclusive in the world. In 1969, a gay transwoman (named Martha P. Johnson) and other lgbtq rights activists started the Stonewall Riots protesting police searching lgbtq clubs in NYC. Martha P. Johnson was a black, gay transwoman and her and other lgbtq activists were able to seek better rights for transgender people and the lgbtq community. Johnson, being black faced racism too so she was able to fight against racism and prejudice against people of color. I feel like allowing people to learn about lgbtq and trans history can help bring awareness about the intertwining networks of racism and prejudice in our society. When schools incorporate an inclusive curriculum, students experience different cultures and perspectives allowing them to build better relationships to the people around them. One activity for middle school people could be having people form groups of five and write down answers to these questions:

What is something someone wouldn’t be able to tell looking at you?

How do you see yourself (what traits would you describe your personality)?

What do you like as a hobby?

Then the students would hand the questions  they answered on index cards and the teacher would shuffle the responses and have students try to match their responses to the person they thought wrote them. Many students who do this activity are surprised at how different their impressions of the people around them are. This lesson teaches students to be aware of not pre-judging a person and promotes more awareness.

Having lgbtq and transgender safe spaces at schools can help improve mental health and lives of lgbtq people.

Students can have tea and informal events with lgbtq and trans people learning about their experiences. Learning about diversity can help people be more open-minded about things.

Parents who might be afraid that teaching lgbtq and transgender imclusivity in schools might impact their children could be shown resources about famous trans and lgbtq people who have changed history. They can learn that having supportive bases for lgbtq and transgender communities can help save lives. It’s a good way to share compassion with the community.

Everyone regardless of gender, race or ethnicity has a right to be supported and loved for who they are.

Having emotional first aid classes where people learn about mental health can be helpful because students often feel stressed.

No matter who people identify as there’s a connection as we all came from the same gas and dust of stars from the universe.

Allowing people to understand their communities and support lgbtq and transgender people can lead to more inclusive communities where there is less prejudice and hate in the world.

Dear Anita

Snowflakes form when temperatures are lower than -10⁰C (-20⁰ C snowflakes) and the air is saturated with water vapor.  The air contains tiny particles of clay, salts and dust that are picked up by the wind. When temperatures get cold enough and the air is saturated with water vapor, the tiny particles in the air start to freeze and form ice crystals. The tiny droplets of water vapor that freeze are still too small to fall to the ground. So they supercool which is when the liquid droplets are cooled below their melting point without freezing solid, allowing small droplets of water to accumulate until they droplets of water vapor become heavy enough to fall to the ground. The cold temperatures in the atmosphere air cause the droplets of water to freeze and crystals to form into different shapes of snowflakes. No two snowflakes are alike.

In some places like Wisconsin when the weather drops below -40 ⁰ C the trees will explode because they can’t take the cold temperatures. This is another example of supercooling. When snowflakes form the temperatures outside are below freezing and trees must protect themselves. They do this by adapting to the cold temperatures with thick layers of bark and store sugars in their inner cells. However if temperatures get to below -40 ⁰C then the trees sugar sap contains water and water freezes. So the tree’s life supply freezes and it can’t take the pressure of the cold temperatures so it’s bark explodes and the tree dies. Supercooling of water is the reason why this happens. Since the trees store sap to prepare for the winter, if the temperatures are too cold (below-40⁰C ) then the liquid sap in trees becomes hardened and doesn’t flow as well and later the hardened sap begins to develop ice crystals that chill the tree from inside and cause its bark to crack.

I love learning about nature in my pine barrens class. My pine barrens professor believes everyone is unique and has potential to inspire the world. I’ve learned lots about the New Jersey Pine Barrens in the class. I learned about supercooling with trees too. The Pine Barrens spans from Ocean County to Cape May County New Jersey and it’s a UN  recognized biosphere  because of the importance of its species like pine barrens tree frog. The Pine Barrens contains red cedar trees (which are actually juniper trees ) and the true cedars are Atlantic White Cedar. Atlantic White Cedar trees make good tassels for building road paveways and for making charcoal to help keep warm in winters. There are lots of “ghost forests” where the Atlantic White Cedars were chopped down for industrial purposes and it takes about 90 years for the trees to regrow back. Atlantic White Cedar trees are very important since they help with holding soil together and prevent bad floods. The Pine Barrens is just as large as Yosemite National Park and the Great Egg Harbor River in Egg Harbor City, NJ used to be as deep as the Thames River in England. The Pine Barrens has 17.7 trillion gallons of water underneath that feeds groundwater Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer for people in South Jersey.

Before the Pine Barrens was a “no-place” and people didn’t think much of it because it’s sandy, acidic soils couldn’t grow anything but now it’s a “someplace” with books written about it and its biodiversity.

Dear Anita

Opponents of incorporating LGBTQ inclusive curriculum mostly are concerned that it might impact other children or infringe on parents’ rights to raise their children as they see fit. Some families who are Christian oppose incorporating LGBTQ inclusive topics into schools.

However, having sexual orientation and gender identity taught in schools can help promote more diversity in the environment. Students learning about LGBTQ people will develop awareness about them and learn skills to communicate in the world without prejudice and discrimination. There’s prejudice and discrimination with hate crimes against people of color and LGBTQ people in the world and education might bring awareness and allow people to build better relationships. Everyone deserves to be appreciated for who they are and LGBTQ people are no different. In some English writing classes, students are required to read the book “The Picture of Dorian Grey” about a man who sold his soul to not age. His pride over his appearance led him to lose his free will to the Devil. What’s not mentioned is that the author who wrote the novel was gay. The more people are aware of people’s differences, the less prejudice there will be. Ignorance often causes apathy and not caring and sometimes leads to fear over people who are different. Children need to learn that it’s okay to be different and be able to learn things that help them build diverse perspectives on the world. Having LGBTQ inclusive education helps LGBTQ people who will have safe spaces and will improve their mental health.

Having age-appropriate LGBTQ education can help mitigate parents objections to things. Such as providing K-2 children activities like coloring. Coloring activities like tracing hands and coloring the hands different colors can help children learn about diversity because everyone has different shape hands and different colors. The students can take turns hanging up the hands and linking them together to show cooperation and teamwork. Since people of color are often marginalized and hurt, the hands activity might promote some sense of connection between people of different races and genders. The teacher can explain that everyone is different like the shape of their hands and each child could go around sharing something about them.

Then in grades 3-5 children can start learning about gender identity with simple activities. They can have a crayon with their name and write three things they enjoy doing. Have the teacher encourage the students to write hobbies that they enjoy. Each person is unique. If a guy says he likes to cook then that’s great. Have teacher explain to them that cooking and building things are life skills not limited to gender. By fifth grade, they can join clubs and community events. Maybe have teachers hold a tea party and invite a guest speaker about gender identity to help students better understand different perspectives.

Also, allowing students to get involved in the community allows them to see different people and builds connections.

In middle school, sexual education along with sexual orientation is important to teach. Many people are reaching puberty and they might feel insecure or have emotional well-being issues. Providing mental health courses can help middle school people like courses in emotional first aid allowing students to talk about their feelings. Telling men it’s okay to cry, dispelling toxic masculinity. Having groups with lgbtq people hosting bake sales or having tea can help people realize that lgbtq people are just like everyone else who deserves to be supported. People during middle school will often feel self-conscious about their bodies as they undergo changes and it’s a good thing to talk about biological anatomy and incorporate transgender and nonbinary people in here.

High school with SATs and college pressures can cause lots of mental health problems for people. Some people bullied in middle school might start developing depression and begin to socially isolate when going to high school. That’s why bullying, depression and racism are important topics to cover in high school. Many high school teens attempt suicide too. Having high school teens know there are safe spaces can save lives. That’s why it’s important that lgbtq people have mental health resources in high school because having safe spaces can help them with their mental health.

Most colleges are diverse and teach various topics maybe with the exception of religious private colleges. But public colleges are quite diverse and having students learn about lgbtq people and gender identity in early grade school can help them when they meet diverse people in colleges..

Even though lgbtq people might not have it easy in life, education brings awareness and understanding so there’s less hate and prejudice in life.

Dear Anita

It’s been sunny and breezy in New Jersey with some rainy 🌧 days. I think that snows 🌨 are starting to come later in the year. Hope that you stay warm from the snowy weather.

Snowflakes are often associated with star shapes because when the hydrogen and oxygen in water meet other water molecules, the molecular bonds that form align the molecules into a six-fold symmetry pattern.

As snow ❄ falls, it interacts with water vapor in the atmosphere. At low humidity there is low water vapor in the air so the snowflakes are thinner and form a shape referred to as “plates.” At high humidity there is more water vapor so the snowflakes ❄ exhibit branching, the water molecules collect and bond together and the bond orientation creates straight lines (dendrites) that branch out in different directions causing the star-shaped patterns often associated with snowflakes ❄ Additionally at higher humidity, more water vapor can freeze to form snowflakes so the snowflakes are heavier.

Article: “Why are all snowflakes unique?” (BBC 2022)

Having an lgbtq curriculum promotes diversity and safe spaces in school. People gain awareness of different sexualities and gender identities providing them wider perspectives of the world. Providing lgbtq history in social studies or maybe mentioning lgbtq people in mental health courses can improve the mental health of students. Mental health is just as important as physical health and there’s not much emotional first aid courses offered in grade schools. Providing students with emotional first aid courses such as learning healthy coping mechanisms can help reduce depression, anxiety and suicide rates. I think that people come from different walks of life but they share the same skin. We all want to be loved and appreciated. By allowing a community of lgbtq people to feel safe can build relationships and help people feel less fear and prejudice towards lgbtq people. Some states like California, New Jersey, Oregon and Nevada have passed laws requiring lgbtq curriculum in schools and not allowing discrimination based on sexualities, race, or gender.

Scientists have discovered that about 10% of people who attend public schools identify within the lgbtq community, that is about 5 million students. If people can opt their children out of health and sexual education as well as lgbtq education, this does not promote acceptance and awareness of mental health and diversity. By acknowledging lgbtq people there can be more diversity and inclusion in the world.

Even though we all come from different walks of life we are made of the same elements. Earth the body, fire the soul, water the blood and air the breath. We all are connected in the ecosystem and by lifting each other up we help encourage diversity and caring communities reducing hate and prejudice.

“LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum as a path to better public health” ABA human rights 2022