For our History of a Public Controversy Project, my group and I were thinking of making our documentary about the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. We are deciding whether or not we want to make the controversy from the point of view of incarceration or if states should have the power to regulate the legality of this drug/even calling a drug in the first place. If we were to do it from the incarceration viewpoint there would be a discussion on why or why not people should still be charged and sent to prison for using weed and also could segway into how it is being used against minority communities. However, if we’re to do our project from the power of states to regulate this substance we were thinking of including the definitions of a drug and how the states could use their power to define marijuana in the eyes of their laws and what they seem is fit.

In reflecting on last week my TED Talk consisted of speaking about the gender imbalance in the punk scene and how it negatively affected female performers. I spoke about how this problem finally rose to the public’s attention with the paradigm shift of the Riot Grrrl Movement and how feminists back then tried to put an end to the harassment and inequality in this specific music industry. The movement was short-lived, so I continued speaking about how this movement still inspires many people today–protests, fanzines, museum exhibits, music camps, etc. are making progress every day in trying to end this issue. To conclude, I restated my thesis and said by educating one another on sexism in this community, however, we may attempt to end this problem.

Work Cited:

author, no. “Lawmakers Announce Deal on Bill to Legalize, Regulate Recreational Marijuana in New York State.” ABC7 New York, ABC7, 28 Mar. 2021, https://abc7ny.com/legalize-marijuana-in-ny-cannabis-weed/10453759/.