Singapore Summit: One Shot At Peace

History could be made in Singapore this week. 

All eyes will be on the tiny island in Southeast Asia this week when North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and United States President Donald Trump meet in-person for the first time ever. This is a huge revelation between the two countries as the pair are still technically at war following decades of ceasefire in the aftermath of the Korean War. 

Trump called the summit a one shot opportunity at peace in an attempt for North Korean to dismantle their weapons of mass destruction that have been threatened upon the United States, South Korea, Japan and others, in an exchange for military protection. 

This event has some marking it the first achievement in Trump's foreign policy, as previous presidents have shunned away from Jong-Un and the two other dictators who came before him in Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. Others consider the summit to be rushed and thoroughly planned with Trump wanting to chalk up a win for his administration. 

What's surprising about the summit is how quick the two world leaders were able to make light of the name calling and long-range missile tests less than six months ago. 

Negotiations for peace will take place on June 12 at the Capella Hotel on Singapore's Sentosa Island. Expected to be by Trump's side are Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton.

You can watch this video to learn more about this historical event: aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/singapore-summit-discussing-human-rights-180609095314504.html

Why I'm Taking JRN 105

My original career choice was sports journalism, having known that it was a path I desired to take since elementary school. My passion for writing and sports seemed like a perfect combination in translating over to the newspaper and blogging industry.

But once I entered college, transferring from Michigan State and CMU my freshman year, I found that finding a full-time job at a favorable publication wasn't going to as easy as originally intended. After seeing how many fellow writers were being laid off and fired due to downsizing and roll backs, I feared that for myself later on in life.

That's if I was able to get hired in the first-place, not knowing if there were going to be positions available following graduation. That's why I've slowly transitioned to the communications side of sports, hoping to land an opportunity with a professional franchise that wishes to add my talents.

Not to say that I've fully given up on the journalism dream, as I remain on staff at Central Michigan Life on its sports desk, covering football and women's soccer. I believe that staying attentive to both areas will make me stand out amongst other colleagues.

With that being said, continuing to improve and hone my craft stats with taking classes that relate to my passion, like JRN 105, where I can learn and truly understand the inner workings of popular social media website and why they're important to the industry.

That's also why I chose to attend Central Michigan for my undergraduate studies, hence the embedded Facebook video, for opportunity. It's here where I can work under and obtain valuable information from professionals that have been through this experience before. I feel other in this course have the same mindset, which has made these past few weeks very enjoyable.

Fighting For LGBTQ+ Justice

As someone who takes pride in being part of the LGBTQ+ community as a bisexual male, it pains me to see others who have faced ridicule and abuse for being who they are. 

It's sometimes very difficult to live my life knowing that there's a handful in this country who refuse to come to terms of people identifying as gay, bi or transgender. It's also concerning that direct violence may come onto me like the young couple who were hospitalized last week after being stabbed by a white male. 

The saddening thing about this story is the fact that the two men were simply holding hands after leaving a night club in Denver, Colorado. Nothing that they did deserved a provoked attack by someone else who doesn't agree with a different choice. 

Gabriel Roman, 23, and Christopher Huizar, 19, received knife wounds in the back, neck and hand, barely managing to escape the man with an excessive amount of blood dripping from their bodies. Thankfully none of the wounds were critical and it's expected that they'll be okay physically. 

But mentally is another story. For the remainder of their lives, they'll have that nightmare of an incident be replayed in their heads forever. 

According to thelatest.com, Dylan Payne was arrested later that night by the Denver Police Department in connection to the stabbing. His crime is now being investigated as a hate crime.

What's even more maddening about this affair is that it came two days before the start of the country's celebration of LGBTQ+ pride month, where organizations and individuals come together in support of inclusiveness. 

I hope that stories like these can come at a few in the future. Never again should someone face violence for simply being who they are. 

Where Are The Unaccounted For 1,500 Migrant Children?

Miriam, a citizen and national of Honduras, gave birth to her only child just under two years ago. She had the intention of leaving the country to seek protection of government violence, fleeing after the military teargassed her home. When she, her sister, brother-in-law and their two children reached the international bridge of Brownsville, Texas, they told immigration officers that they needed asylum. 

Instead of receiving the treatment or care they deserved, agents separated Miriam from her 18-month old son. She hasn't seen him since February and is anxiously awaiting to reunite with him soon. 

"The immigration officers made me walk out with my son to a government vehicle and place my son in the back seat," Miriam said. "My son was crying as I put him in the seat. I didn't even have the chance to comfort him as the door was slammed shut as soon as he was in the seat. I was crying too. I cry even now when I think about that moment."

Miriam's statement was taken from a federal document revived from MSNBC political host Chris Hayes, following the public outcry that the federal government has misplaced or lost nearly 1,500 undocumented migrant children from Mexico and Central America. 

The conservation began when the New York Times reported that a top official within the Department of Health and Human Services told congress about the missing children. It's the department's responsibility to find the children a place to stay after they are taken into custody. 

But of the 7,000-plus children placed with sponsored individuals last year, the agency did not know where 1,475 of them were. What this means is not only is the federal government punishing the immigrants for entering the United States illegally by ripping their children away from them, 21 percent of them are lost. 

It's term "lost" is probably putting it lightly as knowing how harsh and belligerent President Trump's administration is when dealing with immigration, I'll assume that the negligence and abuse those children faced and are currently dealing with right now while not being with their family is a sign of things to come. 

What surprises me about all this is the public outrage isn't as large on social media and television as expected. In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls in Nigeria and the world was pisses. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency "lost" 1,500 children in America and nothing close to the reaction four years ago is seen now.

Human rights violations are being committed in this country and accountability needs to take place.

 

Family Photo

When looking around my house for an item that held a lot of significance to me, it was pretty difficult. Not that there wasn't anything that I held true, but trying to come up with a detail explanation about the item wasn't proving to be successful.

That is until I walked by the picture frame that I bought for my mom on Mother's Day this past week. The wooden frame has the quote, "now you are home," and the picture has my entire immediate family, including my grandparents on both sides, smiling for a selfie on my sister's high school graduation ceremony last year.

This is a day that I'll never forget for a lot of reasons. Feeling like I was older than I actually was for the fact that my sister who's three years younger than me is heading off to college in a few months, but I remember vividly the smile that never left my mom's face that day. Of course, seeing her daughter walk the stage and receiving her diploma is a huge event for a mother, but this was the first time in a long time that both grandparents were together in person.

Not to say that they have animosity towards each other, far from it, but circumstances prevented them from being at events together. My grandma was just coming off the grief of her husband's death from Non-toxins Lymphoma and she had went into remission for lung cancer. So the couple years prior to my sister's graduation, leaving the house or hospital proved to have its strains.

My other grandparents continued to be busy with traveling the world during retirement, seeing the places they wish they saw as younger adults but as doctors, the time spent outside of the bigger hospital in Marquette, Michigan, was few. They also made sure to have quality time with all of their grandchildren, who lived in Metro Detroit like my sister and I, as well as Seattle, Washington, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

My sister's graduation couldn't have come at a better time for means of celebrating and moving forward from times of discomfort and stress. That's why my mom was so excited to see this day finally come and that's why I wanted to have the photo that was taken be framed in the dining room, right next to other photos taken of us throughout the years. My mom doesn't expect much in terms of extravagance on Mother's Day, so it's the simple things that make it worthwhile for her.

Humble Introduction

Hello!

It's actually been a while since I ran a personal blog writing strictly about myself. Not that I don't have an interest, it's just that I never rarely found the time outside of work, school, friends and family to sit down in front of a computer and talk about my life.

Despite that, I think it's very important for someone to have this form of medium. The value that this brings is tremendous, as it's technically the modern form of a diary or notebook, where a person to vent out issues or problems and even publish opinions on real world events.

One of my favorite personal blogs that I regularly check up on is Jeff Pearlman, the author of multiple New York Times bestselling books. His talent for writing and allowing readers to get a first-hand look at his life outside of writing is something that I really appreciate and it's what I hope to accomplish later on in life.

In terms of what this class can provide for not only my skills as a journalist and communications, but also being able to continue remaining relevant in what social media users expect for content, I'm very excited to learn the ins and outs of this technology. I believe that everyone should have a basic idea with social media because most, if not all, companies and brands rely on social media to gain and maintain a following.

I'm sure that everyone taking this class has had a previous or current interest in social media and wish to build their portfolio for future opportunities. My goal remains becoming an employee for a daily publication or a sports franchise so this course should allow me to take my experiences and build them up to another level.