Identifying Local Opportunities

I, like many others, decided to support the local “Independent Florida Alligator” and look into the work of future journalists for this nation. I was pleasantly surprised to see many well written articles, some about the problems of the community and the nation; and others written with a more optimistic viewpoint. 1. Man and woman accused of stealing credit, social security cards- Their bond is set at about $1.8 million each https://www.alligator.org/news/man-and-woman-accused-of-stealing-credit-social-security-cards/article_fc3a597a-1f9a-11e9-9098-4facb819242a.html Christopher Lee Grisby and Amber Marie Morreale made several mistakes before getting pulled over on January 23rd. They were not only in possession of many social security cards and credit cards. They were also in possession of crystal meth. They also had cannabis on hand, probably to take the edge off because committing crime is a stressful endeavor. The problem seems obvious. A couple steals identities and they go to prison. And they DO deserve punishment. It’s rather unfortunate that Christopher Lee Grisby will likely get life in prison due to the 3 strikes law, and many people probably think it’s a justifiable life sentence. But maybe his school system failed him. Maybe he had terrible parents. Maybe a friend introduced crystal meth to him earlier in his life, and it had completely changed demeanor. There are many factors at play. Amber Marie Morreale only has one other prior conviction, so she may receive a lighter sentence. But she could also be the victim to a society that failed her. Obviously the people Christopher stole identities from had a problem. Some of them may have been struggling financially and noticed that there card had been stolen too late. But Christopher and Amber also have problems. Sure, they may be bad people. But maybe not.

2. Youth vaping increases in Alachua County Youth vaping has increased about 60 percent in two years. https://www.alligator.org/news/youth-vaping-increases-in-alachua-county/article_91200192-1dd5-11e9-9850-bbdf28ac9a68.html This article explains how more youth in our community are becoming exposed to nicotine. According to this article “15.1 percent of youth, from ages 11 to 17, use an electronic vape. In 2016, only 9.5 percent were using.” The article explains that JUUL accounts for most of the increase in usage. We all knew it. I grew up in Alachua County and my sister is still in high school. When she explained to me that “everyone in her grade vapes”, I was astounded. She is in the 10th grade. Of course, I made my share of mistakes in 10th grade, but I had not dabbled with nicotine in that point. Nicotine was the one thing everybody everywhere agreed was terrible for you. Luckily, Alachua County agreed to ban nicotine products to those under 21. The children of our community are the ones being affected by this. And they are the future. They are my generation and I must help them fight this epidemic.

3. This is not a debate’: 2019 Clean Energy Campaign kicks off https://www.alligator.org/news/this-is-not-a-debate-clean-energy-campaign-kicks-off/article_075d8ac6-1923-11e9-8162-63ab7986a5ce.html This article talks about how this super cool kid named Patrick Gilmartin presented his video explaining the Ready for 100 initiative which was a resolution passed by the city commission back in October. The video was the start to the 2019 clean energy and at the kickoff, several people explained the goals of 2019 including members of the UAB and members of the commission. The problem here is an international problem. Are climate is collapsing. The ozone layer is being depleted and greenhouse gases are being emitted into the atmosphere at rates previously unknown to the human race. So who is experiencing this problem. Well, you are. And so am I. And so is every single person on this planet. So everyone needs to pull their weight in order for us to get through this.

4. Ole Miss leads start to finish to down Gators

https://www.alligator.org/sports/ole-miss-leads-start-to-finish-to-down-gators/article_ce09b89a-1d13-11e9-b58c-4f97777c59af.html#tncms-source=article-nav-next The Florida Women’s basketball team was behind against ole miss the entirety of the game. During the 2nd quarter, Florida was able to reduce the deficit to just 1 point. It was looking like a comeback, but Ole Miss just completely tore up Florida in the 3rd quarter. This is a problem to the Florida Women’s basketball team. This is, for some reason, also a problem to the rest of the school. The rest of the school, including me, for some reason are full of pride when their team wins in any sport. A small sense of satisfaction trickles down our spines because for some reason when our team wins, we who had nothing to do with the outcome, also think we are winners. This is a problem to the University of Florida. We are winners. We don’t lose.

5. The downside of online education at UF https://www.alligator.org/opinion/the-downside-of-online-education-at-uf/article_f33e792c-1ec9-11e9-a56b-fb13062afcb9.html This is an article that explains that although the University of Florida has a competitive online program nationally, it may not be as good as the faculty like to say it is. It explains that most of the Heavener classes (ENT3003 for example) are hybrid/completely online and this makes it tough for those work better in a traditional classroom setting. The students, such as those in the PaCE program are affected by this. People are excited about being accepted into UF because they feel that the University will help them succeed. Not because they want to work on an online program.