All posts by Holly Gibbard

Passion Blog

Jamaican Jerk Vegan Tacos

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I decided to run with my idea of cooking vegan dishes from now on. I’ve really started to embrace the vegan lifestyle, however I am not fully a vegan. To start with vegan recipes, I looked at the list linked here from Love and Lemons of 85 vegan recipes. I started with the Jamaican Jerk Vegan Tacos (recipe linked here). 

The journey to make this dish was filled with roadblocks for me. First, it was kind of difficult to find canned jackfruit. I called Weis and they did not have jackfruit so I called Wegmans thinking that they would. They told me they did so I went to Wegmans, but they only had actual jackfruits that were uncut, not in a can. I have never worked with jackfruit before and this recipe calls for jackfruit in a can so I wanted to stick with that. If you have never seen jackfruit before, you know that they are huge and intimidating. I finally was able to find canned jackfruit at the Trader Joe’s. 

My next issue was when I was actually cooking the dish. The recipe calls for either a habanero, serrano, or jalapeno pepper; all of which are very hot. I had some things cooking on the stove, and the pepper was one of them. I felt completely fine, but next thing I know all four of the other people in the apartment with me were coughing and sneezing. After about 10 minutes, one of them finally asks me if I am cooking with peppers, and I was. It turns out that peppers can make people cough and sneeze even if they’re being cooked 20 feet away. I had no idea! I also felt fine for the most part, maybe a little tingly in the eyes but I had nowhere near as bad a reaction as the other people I live with. I felt really bad about it. If you ever decide to make this recipe, make sure you warn the people around you first!

The jackfruit was really weird. Like I previously mentioned, I have never worked with jackfruit before, or even seen it before, so I had no idea what to expect. The recipe says that jackfruit gives a really good impression of meat, and this is definitely true. If I didn’t know that these tacos were vegan and someone served them to me, I would think that they had meat in them. And the jackfruit is also so much healthier than meat which is a big plus! Jackfruit pretty much takes the taste of whatever you season it with. With nothing it is really plain, kind of like tofu. 

The meat part of the taco was really spicy but it balanced nicely with the mango salsa. I was lucky to find a really ripe mango that was super juicy and absolutely delicious. If you’re not a fan of spicy foods I would not recommend this recipe, or just don’t add the pepper. I also toasted my tortilla in a pan on the stove before stuffing.

RCL

Issue Brief Draft

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Holly Gibbard

HEARTBEAT BILLS:

THE LATEST STRATEGY IN THE FIGHT TO BAN ABORTION

Introduction

Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, there has been a strong pro-life movement aimed at prohibiting abortions. Recently, individual states have been passing heartbeat bills. A heartbeat bill is a bill that prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected (Estep). The states that have already passed these types of bills are Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri (Lai). The fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as five weeks (Medical News Today), which causes a problem because many women do not even know they are pregnant by the fifth week (Lai). These heartbeat bills violate a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, therefore the federal government needs to step in to protect abortion rights.

The Legality of Heartbeat Bills

In 1973, the Supreme Court decided on the Roe v. Wade case that a woman has the right to obtain an abortion, under the right to privacy in the 14th Amendment (oyez). Individual states cannot prohibit a woman from getting an abortion before the fetus is viable, which is at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy around the start of the third trimester (Lai). After the fetus is viable, states can decide whether or not to allow, prohibit, or restrict abortion (Oyez). The recent heartbeat bills are in violation of a woman’s 14th Amendment rights because of the Roe v. Wade precedent.

A fetal heartbeat is only detectable as early as 5 weeks using a transvaginal ultrasound (Medical News Today). A transabdominal ultrasound detects a heartbeat around 8-12 weeks of pregnancy (North and Kim). Planned Parenthood refers to the anti-abortion legislations as six-week bans not heartbeat bills because the “heartbeat” that is detectable through a transvaginal ultrasound at 5-6 weeks of pregnancy is not a heartbeat, but a movement by a fetal pole (North and Kim). A fetal pole is an appendage made of tissues that comes out of the developing heart (North and Kim). At this stage, the heart is not fully formed so it is up for debate whether this movement can even be deemed a heartbeat (North and Kim).

Legally, a fetus is not a person until they are born. By restricting abortion on the grounds that a fetus is a person, many issues arise regarding the fetus’s rights. If a fetus is a person, should mothers begin collecting child support when she finds out she is pregnant instead of when the child is born? (Chatman) If a fetus is a person, could an illegal immigrant who conceived her child in the U.S. be deported even though technically her child is a U.S. citizen because they were conceived on U.S. soil? (Chatman) If a fetus is a person, could the mother insure the fetus and collect if she miscarries? (Chatman) All of these questions posed above are issues that arise when a fetus is regarded as a person from conception.

A Look at Some States Implementing Restrictions on Abortion

Georgia

In Georgia, doctors who provide abortions could get up to ten years in prison (North and Kim). The laws in Georgia also do not directly state what would happen to a woman who performs her own abortion (North and Kim). This leaves the door open for women who perform their own abortions to possibly be charged with murder if the fetus is considered a person from conception (North and Kim).

Alabama

Alabama recently implemented a complete ban on abortion, with no exception for rape or incest (Chatman). This goes beyond the heartbeat bills introduced in other states, even though those are basically complete bans as well. Ohio is another state that does not allow exceptions to the restrictive legislation for rape or incest. In Alabama, a fetus is considered a person from conception, regardless of viability (Chatman).

Texas – (all Najmabadi) <- ignore that pls

On March 30, 2021 the Senate of Texas passed various pieces of legislation imposing significant restrictions on abortion. The legislation still has to go through the House and Governor.  If federal abortion laws are changed or Roe v. Wade is overturned and these abortion bills stand, doctors who violate the laws could be faced with up to a $100,000 fine. To compare, the maximum fine for sexual assaults in Texas is $10,000.

There are some exceptions for medical reasons, but not for rape or incest. Additionally, late term abortions in the case of birth defects or a baby who would not survive very long outside of the womb are also prohibited. The woman will be forced to carry to term even though her baby will not survive, and then she will be provided resources for how to handle her terminal child.

Why Now?

Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, which is almost 50 years ago, so why are heartbeat bills only being introduced now? The appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court created a conservative 5-4 majority (Lai). Conservatives and anti-abortion activists saw this as their opportunity to pass strict abortion laws that will hopefully be challenged and go to the Supreme Court (Lai). The Supreme Court can then either uphold or overturn Roe v. Wade (Lai). Conservatives are even more empowered now to get a case dealing with abortion rights to the Supreme Court because as of late 2020 there is a conservative supermajority after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a left-leaning judge, and the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett, a right-leaning judge who is known for being against abortion (Lai).

Negative Effects of Restricting Abortions

There are many negative effects to implementing harsh restrictions on abortion, some of which are listed below:

  • Liberty is one of the core ideals of the American culture and the Constitution. Abortion restrictions violate a woman’s right to liberty over what she does with her own body (On the Issues).
  • 49% of women who get abortions live below the federal poverty line, so abortion restrictions will disproportionately affect poor women (Wind).
  • The abortion rate for Black women is 27.1 per 1,000 women. The abortion rate for white women is 10 per 1,000. Abortion restrictions will disproportionately affect black women, which is another example of institutional racism (Wind).
  • Abortion restrictions do not stop abortions from happening, it just makes them illegal and unsafe. This puts both the mother and fetus at risk. Restricting abortions actually causes a slight increase in abortions (Estep).
  • In 1965 (before abortion was legal federally), illegal abortions were 17% of maternal deaths. About 200 women died that year from illegal abortions. These are only the reported deaths, but there was most likely more (Gold).
  • 6% of abortions (20 million procedures) worldwide are unsafe. ~68,000 women die of unsafe abortions each year, which accounts for 13% of all maternal deaths due to pregnancy or childbirth. 5 million of the surviving women will face long-term health effects from the unsafe procedure (Haddad and Nour).
  • Women who cannot get abortion but want one are 4x more likely to live below the poverty level (Estep).
  • Women who are not able to have an abortion but want one are more than twice as likely to become victims of domestic violence (Estep).

Effective Ways to Lower Abortion Rates and What the Federal Government Can Do

In the United States, 50% of pregnancies are unplanned and 90% of abortions are the result of unplanned pregnancies (Williams). From 2008-2014 there was a decline in the rate of abortions which could be attributed to more widespread use of contraceptives (Wind). If anti-abortion activists actually want to reduce the number of abortions, they should support legislation and programs that provide free birth control. The most effective forms of contraception are IUDs (intrauterine devices) and implants, but they can be very expensive and might not be covered by insurance (Williams). Free birth control leads to less unplanned pregnancies, which leads to abortions decreasing by 62-78% (Williams).

The federal government also needs to take action to protect a woman’s right to get an abortion. Cory Booker, a Democratic Senator from New Jersey, discussed some of his ideas of what he would do to protect abortion if he was elected President in the Democratic Primary Debates for the 2020 Election. His first idea is to codify Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to have an abortion (On the Issues). His next idea is to create an Office of Reproductive Freedom and Reproductive Rights in the White House (On the Issues). These two ideas are great steps for policymakers to implement to protect a woman’s right to choose.

Conclusion

The Democrats are the more pro-choice party, and right now they control both houses of Congress and the Executive Branch, which is why now is the time for Democratic lawmakers to take action to protect American women’s right to obtain an abortion. The heartbeat bills that are being introduced in several states across the country could have far reaching negative impacts. Restricting access to safe, legal abortions have serious socioeconomic, physical, and mental/emotional effects. Additionally, the heartbeat bills violate a woman’s constitutional right to privacy, and they create problems in other areas if a fetus is considered a person. In order to effectively lower abortion rates without infringing on someone’s liberty, free contraception programs should be supported, not bills that prohibit abortion before most women even know they are pregnant.

Hi guys, I don’t have any infographics yet and I was wondering if you could give me advice on what you think I should make infographics of if you have any ideas. Also I don’t have my citations in Chicago form yet but I found out how to do it. Thanks!

RCL

Issue Brief Intro

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The Latest Strategy in the Fight to Ban Abortion: Heartbeat Bills

Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, there has been a strong pro-life movement aimed at prohibiting abortions. Recently, individual states have been passing heartbeat bills. These states are Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri (Lai). A heartbeat bill is a bill that prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected (Estep). The fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as five weeks (Medical News Today), which causes a problem because many women do not even know they are pregnant by the fifth week. These heartbeat bills violate a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, therefore the federal government needs to step in to protect abortion rights.

I tried doing the Chicago footnotes but I couldn’t figure them out so I am going to office hours tomorrow to get help with that 🙂

I am not that good at writing introductions or conclusions so please give me feedback on what you think I should change. Thanks!

Civic Issues

Social Media and Political Polarization

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For my final civic issues blog, I was originally going to focus my discussion on Marjorie Taylor Greene. Most of you have probably heard of her, she is a first term Republican Representative from Georgia, a fierce Trump supporter, and possibly one of if not the most conservative lawmaker in Congress currently. She has become notorious for supporting QAnon, a far-right pro-Trump conspiracy theory on the Internet. My research into Marjorie Taylor Greene brought me more into the realm of QAnon and the role that social media plays in political polarization, which is what I have decided will be my topic for today instead. 

Social media can best be described as both a blessing and a curse. It allows people all over the world to connect with one another and do things such as share information and raise money for charity; however social media is also a breeding ground for false information. I myself have even been the victim of sharing something to my story that was not completely true. It is always important to fact check any information you see on social media, but unfortunately not everyone does that, or maybe they believe what they want regardless of the actual information. Either way, QAnon was able to rise to prominence through social media and the Internet. 

Even though many people have heard of QAnon, some do not know what QAnon actually is or stands for. QAnon is a conspiracy theory that claims that the Democrats, people in the entertainment industry, and even the Pope, are pedophiles and cannibals, and that former President Trump was recruited by military officials to bring order back to America and the world (Roose 2021). QAnon then branched out to spread falsities about Covid-19, the Black Lives Matter Movement, and the 2020 election. The QAnon conspiracy theories have played a significant part in the political unrest that has unfolded in the U.S. recently, including anti mask/anti lockdown protests, and the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. 

In addition to spreading false information, social media has become a major platform for politicians on both sides of the aisle. Former President Donald Trump was known for using his Twitter account as a way to communicate candidly about current events; some people liked this approach while others didn’t. Other politicians have begun using their social media platforms more candidly. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez frequently goes live on Instagram to explain government processes and current events to her 8.9 million Instagram followers (Edmondson 2021). She will also put up stories where you can ask her questions and she will answer them. Both Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have used their social media platforms to candidly speak with constituents, but why is one applauded for it while the other was villainized and subsequently banned?

This question goes back to the major issue with social media: false information. Donald Trump was tweeting false things about Covid-19, the 2020 election, the Black Lives Matter Movement, etc. to stir the pot with his followers. His tactics were successful, as we saw with the events on January 6. Twitter banned his account as a result of his tweets inciting the insurrection. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while she arguably shares some polarizing information, generally sticks to more business-like matters and backs up her claims with facts. I follow her on Instagram and can say that I have never felt like she was spreading falsities to further her own agenda or to push followers further to the left. Of course, this could be up for interpretation, but I would say that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Donald Trump’s communication styles are what differentiates their candid posts to supporters. 

One final issue I would like to discuss on the topic of social media and political polarization comes from the New York Times article by Catie Edmondson linked here. She writes about how differences in goals lead to differences in communication. Right now, the Democrats control both houses of Congress and the Presidency, so Republicans have very little legislative power. This powerlessness has led them to focus less on legislation and more on riling up their constituents in an attempt to bring them out to vote in the midterm election of 2022. Madison Cawthorn, a Republican Representative from NC, said he “built my staff around comms rather than legislation,” on purpose (Edmondson 2021). In an official Zoom meeting Republican Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) had her backdrop of rifles on display (Edmondson 2021). She then went viral on social media. Notoriety on social media brings in donations. 

The intersection of all this is several members of Congress and former President Donald Trump spreading false information on social media, which culminated in the insurrection on January 6 that left four people dead. The reckless usage of social media platforms combined with the gullibility of many social media consumers led to that event, which was arguably one of the most politically polarizing moments in our country’s history. To combat the spread of misinformation, platforms such as Twitter and Instagram have begun to put warnings on posts regarding the validity of the content; however this is not always enough. Sometimes banning accounts is the only way to stop the spread of misinformation on a specific platform. How do you feel about certain accounts being banned? Do you think banning is a form of censorship or not because the social media platforms are run by autonomous, private companies? Do you think the events of January 6 would have been avoided if social media was not a thing? Do you think social media is a blessing or a curse in the realm of politics? 

Thank you guys so much for reading my civic issues blog this semester! I hope you enjoyed it. I loved that I got to discuss a topic that I am passionate about and that is so relevant today.

 

Works Cited: 

Edmondson, Catie. “With Disruption and Trolling, Greene Reflects G.O.P.’s Shift.” The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/us/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-congress-gop.html. 

Roose, Kevin. “What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory?” The New York Times, 4 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-qanon.html.

RCL

RCL Blog 3/18

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As I touched on in my previous RCL Blog post, the topic of heartbeat bills has exigence because a number of states have recently begun to pass heartbeat bills. This essentially prohibits abortion after around 6 weeks of pregnancy. According to the article from the New York Times linked here, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri all have some sort of heartbeat bill. Alabama took their heartbeat bill a step further by implementing a near total ban on abortions. All of these bans and heartbeat bills happened in or after 2019, which is why this topic is relevant and the kairotic moment for discussing it is now. 

The moment becomes even more kairotic when you factor in that the Supreme Court is a 6-3 conservative majority, so now more than ever the federal government needs to act to protect abortion rights before a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade makes it there. With Democrats holding both houses of Congress and the Presidency, they need to use this power to their advantage, and to the advantage of thousands of American women who are affected by these heartbeat bills.

Passion Blog

Asparagus Rice Bowl with Almond Pesto

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Hello again, I am now back at school in my own apartment, so I’ve had to start cooking for myself. This post is not going to be so much about exploring my own cultures, but about exploring a new diet. Being able to cook for myself has given me the opportunity to experiment with the vegan diet. Two of my cousins both decided to go vegan when they were around 13 years old (about three years ago). When they first told me they were going vegan I thought it was radical and way too difficult to ever even imagine for myself. About a year after they went vegan I had to take a seminar at school from one of the teachers on how veganism helps the environment. The evidence for this is astounding, and even though I stopped seeing the vegan diet as completely outlandish I still never imagined myself doing it. 

Fast forward to the June after my senior year, and the video footage obtained by an undercover investigation of Fairlife Farms is released. I watched the video not really thinking it would move me that much. Obviously I would be sad but I know terrible things happen so I could handle it. Well I was totally wrong. To give you some perspective, I would not consider myself an emotional person, I probably cry about 1-3 times a month. After seeing this video, I bawled my eyes out several times a day for about a week straight. I started saying I wanted to go vegan. It still seemed almost impossible to me but I wanted to do it, for the animals. Sure it is nice that the environment benefits, as well as my health, but that stuff didn’t matter as much to me as knowing I didn’t play a part in the atrocities that were committed on these farms. 

Even though I really wanted to, I was unable to commit to the vegan diet while at home. I kept putting it off saying that I would do it when I got to school. Then I got to school, which at the time was Northeastern University in Boston, and I could not fathom eating what they served in their vegan section. It just did not look appetizing whatsoever. Why eat some weird looking tofu when I could just go get a piece of pizza? Then it got put off until I got my own place and could cook for myself. And here I am. 

For my first time cooking a vegan dish, I made rice with vegan pesto and roasted asparagus. I got the recipe from MyFitnessPal, an app that helps you achieve your fitness goals and also has lots of cool blogs. The recipe is linked here. 

Overall the recipe is pretty good. I am personally not a huge fan of lemon so the next time I cook it I will add less. I was really impressed with how well roasted asparagus with garlic tastes. Honestly, I liked the roasted asparagus more than I liked the rice with pesto. Pesto is also one of my favorite sauces so I love that I can still eat it even though I am trying to stay vegan now. Also another note about being vegan, I have decided that I am going to try and be vegan in my daily life but not necessarily 100% vegan. If I go to an Italian restaurant, I am not going to hold back. I’ll get the penne alla vodka with parmesan on top. But on the regular I am being vegan. For example, I switched my creamer for almond milk creamer, my ice cream for almond milk ice cream, and my yogurt for cashew milk yogurt. Stay tuned to see how long this lasts!

Here is my bowl 🙂