I was partnered with Kamreon Kuszlyk

Stereotypes. Many exist, many of you probably believe them, and some of you have most likely been victims of them. You know, “All blondes are dumb”, “All women are bad drivers”, “All Asians are smart”, and “Americans are greedy, violent, overweight, patriotic to a fault, etc.”. The question is, why do these stereotypes exist? More importantly, why do they still persist despite the years of schooling we’ve accumulated that’s constantly reminded us that everyone is different and no one fits a stereotype perfectly?

   Single stories, my friends. The answer is that. When we are told a story about a place, a person, or anything in general, we often only hear one kind of story: the most popular one. Whichever story has received the most attention is the one people tend to believe. Even if the story is wholly inaccurate, and there exists another story that is more correct, the inaccurate perception wins out. There is something about the popularity of a topic or an opinion that leads people to believe it even if it is wrong.

   A bigger reason for the persistence of stereotypes is the fact that they have become entrenched into our culture, especially our media and cinema. For example, take any teen drama about high school you can think of (a good example I find is the movie Mean Girls). What are the characters like? I’d bet there’s a few of these “tropes” (stereotypes) in the story: the pretty popular girl, the geek, the jock, the outcast weird kid, the theater kid, the “bad boy/girl”, and the class golden child. These roles are so predictable that it’s like clockwork. The impact of this is that any kid watching a show, if they are young or manipulable enough, with these characters will start to believe that this is how the real world works. They start to assume people’s character traits based solely off of their perception of the characters; fantasy becomes reality. The popular girl is an airhead and unforgiving when it comes to choosing friends/partners, the geek only cares about their books and is weak physically, the jock is a jerk and not too bright; you know all of the assumptions because you might have made them before. They’re shown to us all the time, and they never go away because people continue to believe them. What do we do then?

Start by not taking someone at face value. Get to know them. Pick up on things that break the stereotypes. And seriously, stop making jokes about them, cause it only furthers the problem.

(Topic inspired by the “Danger of a Single Story” TED Talk by Chimamanda Adichie)

   At first when I heard of covid I thought it was just being blown out of proportion, all around people dying because of a virus that spread like wildfire. The last day of school March 13th, I ended up not even going to school because it was some lame half day. I begged my parents to not go because I didn’t want to waste my time. Then that weekend everywhere was shutting down and everyone was going crazy wondering if or when school was going to be next. We ended up having a cancellation for 2 weeks, then 3, then 4, then the rest of the school year. I spent the first almost month of covid summer stuck in my house or strictly wearing a mask outside for the two hours a week I was allowed out with a 8 pm curfew. Later in the summer, riots began happening all around the state and the world so my mom stopped letting me go out in fear I would get caught up in it for about a week.

   Next thing I remember I was back to school, my first thoughts were excitement to be back because I missed friends. Then when I get to school all the regulations are awful and its so hard for me. I have anxiety sitting in classes for some reason which makes me have to use the bathroom every 30 minutes. My goals this year are definitely going to include keeping my average high. I typically have about 93/94 I would like that to increase this year. I can tell some benefits this year will be the social distance, I’m a big lover for personal space and quiet so with all the distance I can achieve that.  With all the distance I find myself very lonely during school. Half my friends are at Boces, another good chunk are the second half of the alphabet. I find myself sitting alone at lunch and most classes, even in a gym with 50 people I have not one person I know so I had ended up doing class alone the other day. I can tell this distance has its perks and definitely some downfalls. This year will definitely be a challenge, hopefully I can push through with all these mixed feelings and thoughts. 

Hello!

My name is Elizabeth Kingston, I am from a small town Batavia, New York. I am a senior at Batavia high this year learning through this new hybrid learning schools have converted to due to covid. Its very difficult to keep up with but its okay because I have great friends, family, and animals to keep me sane through these hard times. I also love working, im a busy body when it comes to working hard and find myself always up and doing exciting new things when i have the chance. Hopefully you can find my page exciting and give you a break from the everyday world.

Hi everyone! My name is Elizabeth I would like to welcome you to my page. I hope to keep up to date and post about my life to inform those around me of what it truly is like living in the life of Liz! I would like to start out to tell you about my home life. I live with my mom and dad who are always working but when they are not, we spend good family time together. Also, I have a young brother and an older sister. My brother never leaves the house while my sister is never home, total opposites.

My house is never quiet due to all the animals we home. To start, I have my childhood kitty Ginger, she is a black cat with brown specks found throughout her body. I also have a lot of small animals. A bunny named Thumper, two hamsters Chloe and Elliott. Then the wild side with 8 guinea pigs! 5 females: Carly, Charlie, Ham, Penelope, and Meatball. Then 3 males: Leo, Cooper, and Cody. Although it seems like a lot my home would not be the same without any one of them. Thats the animal side of my life, as time goes i will fill you all in more on myself and my family of animals around me

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