D Rollo 11/11/21 D Rollo 11/11/21

SEVEN VAX FACTS, EXPLAINED FOR KIDS!

by The Kidizenship Editorial Team

Getting a shot can be scary. That’s always been true, but during COVID-19, anxiety is extra-high. Part of the issue is the mixed messages you might get from friends, family, and the news. It can be hard to understand what is true or false about COVID-19 vaccination.

Are you concerned about getting vaccinated? Are you seeing a lot of discouraging headlines? The Kidizenship Editorial Team understands where you’re coming from. We’ve scoured the media coverage of COVID-19 and examined the myths and facts to help you navigate the confusing info that’s out there.

TRUE OR FALSE? Getting vaccinated means being injected with COVID-19, which might make the average person really sick.

ANSWER: FALSE.

HERE’S WHY: When formulating vaccines, scientists create imitations of parts of viruses. Those replicas give your body the tools you need to fight against the virus WITHOUT getting you really sick.

Some COVID-19 vaccinations, like those from companies Pfizer and Moderna, put genetic material called mRNA into your body. mRNA works like a tiny blueprint that shows the proteins in your body how to build something new on the surface of your cells. That mRNA breaks down as your body learns how to protect itself, and the second dose of the vaccine just gives your immune system extra practice.

Vaccines are basically training wheels for your immune cells, the little pieces that make up your immune system and protect you from all of the nasty stuff in this world that might get you sick.

SOURCES: “Understanding how COVID-19 Vaccines Work” from the CDC, “How do vaccines work?” from the World Health Organization

2) TRUE OR FALSE: The vaccine will put a microchip into your body.

ANSWER: FALSE

HERE”S WHY: One in five Americans currently believe that COVID-19 vaccinations contain microchips. This is not how the vaccine works! In fact, this myth which was circulated on some news outlets has been exposed as a conspiracy theory.

One helpful source for verifying information in the news is this Reuters guide: Fact Checking Methodology.

SOURCE: “False claim: Bill Gates planning to use microchip implants to fight coronavirus” from Reuters

3) TRUE OR FALSE? Getting vaccinated means that “viral shedding” will occur — bits of the vaccine could infect those around you. It could even put your family at greater risk.

ANSWER: FALSE.

HERE’S WHY: It is impossible for a vaccine to shed pieces of COVID-19 off of vaccinated individuals, because the vaccine never puts the COVID-19 virus into your body, as explained above. It’s like showing your immune cells a picture of COVID-19, so if they encounter the virus in the wild, they know what it looks like and how to respond.

SOURCES: “Understanding Viral Vector COVID-19 Vaccines” from the CDC, “The different types of COVID-19 vaccines” from the WHO

After that point, viral shedding could occur — bits of the vaccine could infect those around you. It could even put your family at greater risk.

4) TRUE OR FALSE? The testing of COVID-19 vaccines was sped up, so the vaccines aren’t reliable.

ANSWER: FALSE.

HERE’S WHY: COVID-19 vaccines were developed so quickly because the entire world wanted to get out of the pandemic! This meant that money for science research was coming in from every direction. Also, scientists were already studying viruses similar to COVID-19.

The standard of safety for COVID-19 vaccine approval was not different from what it has been for other vaccines of our time. Scientists did not shorten any part of the trial process, and no COVID-19 vaccine has ever been authorized for distribution in the United States without passing robust clinical trials.

SOURCES: “Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines” from the CDC, “Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines” from the WHO

5) TRUE OR FALSE? Because of the Delta variant, COVID-19 vaccination will not end this pandemic.

ANSWER: FALSE.

HERE’S WHY: Variant is the kind of word we used to think we’d only hear in sci-fi shows, but it’s a term that describes what happens when a virus mutates.

All viruses change constantly. For example, the structure of the flu virus changes every year — that’s why, annually, the flu vaccine has to take a slightly different shape. With the flu vaccine, which is a viral vector vaccine, scientists have to try to predict how the virus will change in the future. They adjust the shot’s structure to protect against that expected flu variant.

In the words of the CDC, variants of viruses require constant observation: “Scientists monitor these changes, including changes to the spikes on the surface of the virus. By carefully studying viruses, scientists can learn how changes to the virus might affect how it spreads and how sick people will get from it.”

You’ve probably heard about several COVID-19 variants, but that’s no reason to give up the fight. As far as we can tell, the COVID-19 vaccines continue to be highly effective against variants, including the Delta variant. (For more information about this, read this article from Yale Medicine.)

Vaccines are never a guarantee that you won’t get sick, but they offer crucial protection that sways the odds in your favor, Hunger Games-style.

REMEMBER: variants don’t mean that the pandemic as we know it now will last forever. The number of COVID-19 variants will increase over time. This will result in higher risks for unvaccinated people. Since vaccinated people’s immune systems have already developed protection against COVID-19, variants pose the greatest threat to unvaccinated groups.

Decreasing the rate of mutation by creating larger areas where more people are vaccinated is the end result vaccines will help us reach. It’s like having more people in your Houseparty call or more Snaps to keep up your streaks in order to combat loneliness when you can’t socialize in person.

SOURCES: “About Variants of the Virus that Causes COVID-19” from the CDC, “5 Things To Know About the Delta Variant” from Yale Medicine

6) TRUE OR FALSE? I’m young, so COVID-19 wouldn’t affect me that much, anyway.

ANSWER: FALSE.

HERE’S WHY: You can still get sick from COVID-19 even if you’re young. While it is true that young people often experience less-intense COVID-19 symptoms, often doesn’t mean always. And even if you don’t get sick, you could pass the virus to someone who’s older or less healthy than you.

And who doesn’t hate being sick? COVID-19 vaccines are distributed for free across the country. You’ll never need to pay for one, and if someone asks you to, that’s a good sign it’s a scam!

SOURCE: “Coronavirus and COVID-19: Younger Adults Are at Risk, Too” from Johns Hopkins Medicine, “Learn More About COVID-19 Vaccines From the FDA” from the FDA

7) TRUE OR FALSE? I don’t have parental consent, so I can’t get the COVID-19 vaccine.
ANSWER: BOTH: TRUE, in SOME STATES, but FALSE in OTHERS.

HERE”S WHY: Getting this information used to be a challenging research task. Now, it’s all in one place. Enter Kelly Danielpour, the incredible KIDIZEN responsible for founding Vaxteen, a database for students interested in learning more about vaccines in general, Consent Laws by State or figuring out how to talk to ‘anti-vax’ parents about vaccinations.

SOURCE: Vaxteen

D Rollo 10/4/21 D Rollo 10/4/21

Netflix Makes Civic Education Fun, But Not Much More Than That

Celebrity-studded show “We the People” merges civic education with civic entertainment

By Darius Cowan

Who remembers “Schoolhouse Rock”?

When I was in elementary school, there were days where my teacher would wheel in the cart

with the TV on it, select a movie, press play, and we would spend the rest of class glued to

whatever educational animated program played on the screen for the next hour. More often than

not, the video was “Schoolhouse Rock,” a collection of musical numbers that would explain

pretty much everything, from English to physics.

“Schoolhouse Rock!: America” was a popular one in my classroom. The series explained the

fundamentals of American democracy – how it works, along with our rights and responsibilities

as citizens. To this day, I still recall the “I’m Just a Bill” song, the paper scroll with a button that

read “BILL” sitting on the steps of the Capitol explaining how federal laws are made. Things like

that, cartoons and music and strong imagery, are what stick in the minds of children for years

after.

They were stuck in my mind this summer, while I watched Netflix’s “We the People,” a series the

network describes as “U.S. civics lessons, set to original songs performed by many artists with a

mix of animated styles; attempting to reframe their understanding of what government and

citizenship mean in a modern world.” If I had to elevator pitch it, I would call it “Schoolhouse

Rock” given the Hamilton treatment.

The subjects covered in the series are broad, covering everything from taxes to free speech.

The tunes themselves are catchy and fun to listen to, with a “patriotic hip-hop beat” (this is an

actual quote from the subtitles) playing at the opening and ending of each animated music

video. The style of the animation varies wildly from episode to episode—from cartoonish to

realistic-- but all of it is accessible and fun to watch. This is civic education remade as solid civic

entertainment.

As the title suggests, the show is centered on the people. Every song, video, and storyline in the

series revolves around the idea that the government is meant to serve you, the people. And you

are expected to serve it – holding government officials accountable and checking their power.

The second-to-last episode, titled “We the People,” follows three members of a rural community

who, after experiencing a devastating natural disaster and finding themselves dissatisfied with

the government’s response and lack of aid, rally themselves to become leaders in their own

local government. The message is that all of us, the people, have the right and responsibility to

rise up and fix things ourselves. And it’s a good one.

But the show left me wanting something.

“We the People” is rigorously non-partisan--you can interpret its content however you want.

You’re expected to apply your own perspectives and opinions to each episode, yet the stories

within them often feel vague or aimless. You’re left mulling what, exactly, they’re urging you to

rise up and fix.

Many of the episodes are simply music videos displaying concepts. For example, the first

episode is all about being an active citizen. In the video, a young woman walks around her

neighborhood, sees all the things that are going wrong, and decides to get active in her

community to make some change. In one scene, she locked eyes with a young man sitting in

the back of a police car and being driven away.

I wondered: Is this a commentary on crime or on overpolicing? Is it a commentary at all? Is the

story here supposed to describe how people who aren’t successful turn to a life of crime, or are

we discussing the school-to-prison pipeline? Did I mention that the woman in the video is Black?

Or that the boy in the back of the car is Black? It’s just one scene, barely even a moment, and

yet it sticks with me, as I’m sure it sticks with many Americans after last summer’s protests on

police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. So, what is the point here? Or is the point

simply to start a conversation?

Let’s take another example. In the episode on the court system, which follows a biracial girl

(who, the episode points out, is a product of Loving v. Virginia; I’m not joking) going about her

day, we witness her arriving at school, where she passes through a metal detector and has her

bag searched. This scene gave me pause. It gave rise to memories of school shootings, and

gun rights protests, and my thoughts drifted to the many youth activists who have been fighting

for stricter gun regulations for years. Is any of this in the episode? No. This is an episode on

supreme court cases, not gun laws. And yet. It felt like a blind spot.

I understand that civics education is not a political or partisan education – it’s meant to foster an

understanding of democracy and how it works, not to shape opinions about how democracy

should play out. And I can see that media that intends to start conversations, not guide their

outcome, is important. But I fear that the non-partisan approach that “We The People” has

chosen to take has weakened its impact. There is no mention of political parties or partisanship

at all in the show -- yet anyone coming of age in America right now can tell you that this is what

drives our politics, for better or worse.

I’m pretty sure that old paper-scroll Bill on Capitol Hill, if it returned to the screen today, would

have addressed this reality more directly. “We the People” fails to acknowledge that all of the

topics in its episodes are colored by partisanship in the real world. And that glaring omission

leaves a lot to be desired.

D Rollo 8/31/21 D Rollo 8/31/21

Back-to-School in Maskless Texas: A Student’s Perspective

By Reagan Buvens

School starts in a few days, and I feel nothing but anger. I’m not afraid; my fear has faded into a dull buzzing, a muffled roar at worst. I just feel helpless. Governor Abbott and the Texas Congress have seen to that.

On July 29, Governor Abbott issued an executive order, barring state-funded organizations, including schools, from requiring masks. His reasoning is that no one should be forced to do anything against their will, and “personal responsibility” ought to be enough to protect us all.

“Personal responsibility” has seen Texas’ vaccination rate remain low, with only 58.2 percent of the population fully vaccinated, according to The New York Times. “Personal responsibility” is the reason that, on August 10, there were only 30 ICU beds left unfilled in Dallas County, according to The Dallas Morning News. Two were pediatric ICU beds. “Personal responsibility” is why, after only one week of school, Garland ISD reported 314 cases of COVID-19 among their students and staff. I can’t trust “personal responsibility” to protect me, my family, or my friends.

In Florida, Governor DeSantis is refusing state funds to schools who dare to require masks. In Tennessee, Governor Lee signed an executive order allowing parents to “opt out” their students from school mask mandates. In Arizona, Governor Ducey set aside $163 million in grant funds for schools without a requirement for masks.

I’m angry that our leadership is throwing our safety to the wind, that they would rather let children get sick and die than admit that they were wrong. Yes, children are somewhat less susceptible to severe disease than adults, but even one preventable death is too many.

I’m angry that I’ve lost so much time to COVID. I’m sixteen, seventeen in two weeks. For me, a year and a half is a long, long time. It’s almost a tenth of my life.

I’m angry that people still don’t seem to care. Vaccination rates remain low, despite full FDA authorization. Parents are advocating against mask mandates, arguing that their comfort is more important than everyone else’s safety.

Despite all of this, I am so indescribably proud of those who are fighting for us. On Monday, August 9, the Superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, Michael Hinojosa, announced a mask mandate for all students, teachers, and visitors, and a little bit of my anger dissipated. Austin ISD swiftly followed. The two school districts combined have roughly 230 thousand students, all of which are now safer than they would have been. I’m glad that someone cares, that someone is trying to protect us.

However, there are 1,427 school districts in Texas. 48 have announced mask mandates. The other 1,379 are obeying Governor Abbott and sending their children into harm’s way. While I’m no longer quite so angry for myself and everyone I know within Dallas ISD, students in the rest of the state are still in danger.

I’m going into my senior year. Three years ago, in freshman year, I thought my biggest worry would have been college. I thought I would be stressing over essays, funding, and applications. I thought I would be looking forward to prom, and graduation, and moving into my dorm.

I’m still doing that, but nothing in my future seems quite so certain anymore. I’m working on my applications to colleges, but I can’t visit some campuses because of COVID. Others don’t offer guided tours. I’ve started on my essay, but I’m so tired and burned-out that I hardly have any ideas.

This was all preventable. I think that is what I’m most angry about. If, at the beginning, everyone had taken this seriously, the world would be in a much better place today. If Governor Abbott hadn’t banned mask mandates, Dallas and Austin ISDs wouldn’t have had to risk their funding to keep kids safe.

I am angry, and I am tired, but I am hopeful for the future. Leaders in Dallas and Austin are trying to keep us safe. They are fighting for us.

On August 19, a group of parents of disabled students sued Governor Abbott over his mask mandate ban, arguing that it failed to protect their children and, in fact, denied them access to an equal education. Also on August 19, the Texas state Supreme Court refused to enforce Governor Abbott’s order, though they had previously backed the ban. On August 17, in an ingenious circumvention, the school board of Paris ISD voted to include masks in the dress code. Since Governor Abbott’s executive order made no mention of the dress code, they face no penalty for their mask mandate.

School this year might not be quite the same, but at least we’re all in it together. We are going to keep fighting. We are going to make it through.

D Rollo 2/15/21 D Rollo 2/15/21

What We Talk About When We Talk About Ossoff:On Jon Ossoff and the Politics of Southern Jewry

By Maia Siegel, 18 years old

In his first weeks in office, Senator Jon Ossoff has been busy. He has introduced legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 and pushed for new legislation to get COVID relief for smaller cities in the peach state. He has fought to support the rights of undocumented citizens, pressed for more funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, worked to direct federal stimulus money to the families who need it most, and advocated for cancelling federal student loan debt.

It's a thrilling show of purpose and confidence from a man who was elected to the Senate and announced his victory on the same day -- in the same hours -- the Capital was being ransacked, democracy turned upside-down. Ossoff was sworn in while holding his grandparents’ arrival records from Ellis Island. Just weeks after this, another elected Senator, Marjorie Taylor Greene, claimed Jewish space lasers caused wildfires. We cannot control the spaces we enter, the people who knock them over before we enter the door; let’s talk about Ossoff’s journey to that door.

At just 33 years old, Ossoff is a young Jewish southerner, and as a young, Jewish political junkie in the South, it felt affirming to see him run. And win, at that. Talking about politics was hard at my temple in North Carolina. I was always surprised that there were members of my community who could excuse white supremacists spray-painting our doors, as long as Israel was given words of support. This is to say, they voted for Trump, even when others who checked that box on their ballots were in the news for chucking rocks through temple windows. Even when bomb threats were called in to my Sunday School, or when police circled our temple during the High Holy Days. There was, at temple, a palpable need to feel accepted by the South, even while the South was rejecting us.

Our temple youth group was named after a Confederate senator and secretary of state, Judah P. Benjamin. Congregants were confused why a Jew in a position of power, any position, could be anything less than something to be proud of. The name was changed, thankfully, after my family’s protests, but the sentiment still held. The need to be accepted by the South, to

become safely homogenous, meant absolving its racism, meant claiming whiteness, meant pretending that the men storming the Capitol with Confederate flags in Neo-Nazi shirts weren’t directing their hate at us, no.

Ossoff brings me hope in that he is a model of a new sort of Southern Jew: liberal, young, focused on outreach to other minority communities. This outreach was important: young voters and Black voters were instrumental in getting Ossoff his victory. Black youth voters favored Ossoff by 88%, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. Ossoff has them to thank.

Ossoff is the only Jewish senator from the South to join the current Senate, the first Jewish Senator from Georgia, and the first Jewish Senator from the Deep South since the 1880s. Often, it feels like we don’t exist in the lower half of the country. Or, at least, that’s how it’s presented to us, when you talk to southerners, yes, but also Jews in the North. To see a young, Jewish Democrat representing the South shows that can change. Change, however, does not come without growing pains.

Ossoff had to stand up to bigotry from his Republican opponent, Perdue, when his nose was edited to be bigger in an attack ad on Facebook that drew on antisemitic tropes. Ossoff tweeted that “sitting U.S. Senator David Perdue’s digital attack ad distorted my face to enlarge and extend my nose. I’m Jewish. This is the oldest, most obvious, least original antisemitic trope in history...” Kelly Loeffler, who was up against the Georgia Democrat Raphael Warnock for Georgia’s other Senate seat, posed with a known white supremacist in a photo. Ossoff, in a speech, said Loeffler was “campaigning with a Klansman.” Ossoff and Warnock’s side-by-side wins were talked about as an image of Jewish and Black allyship, with both referencing each other’s upbringings, and Warnock even calling Ossoff his “brother from another mother.”

I was struck by how Ossoff was not only open about his Jewish identity, but used it as a tool for outreach to other minority groups, as well. Compare that to Bernie Sanders, who, at the start of his presidential runs, rarely talked about his Jewish heritage, even when he made history as the first Jewish American to win a presidential primary in 2016. This felt like a self-protective choice, especially representing a state like Vermont, which houses only a thousand Jews. Focusing on his Jewishness could detract from his plans, could invite antisemitic attacks. It was easier to stay quiet. Ossoff, however, feels like a new page in Jewish American politics, one rooted in how our different backgrounds can connect us.

Being a Jewish southerner interested in politics means contesting with your religious community, but also your neighbors and classmates, who often may not understand fears based in your religious identity. Ossoff’s voice feels powerful to me because I remember having to modulate my own tone to tell my classmates that the Charlottesville protests, in which men waving Confederate flags chanted Jews will not replace us, were a direct result of a man they supported proudly, whose red Make America Great Again hats they’d hang on hooks by their beds. I do not remember their reactions. I remember my cheeks were hot.

One of the most striking moments of Ossoff’s run was when Perdue refused to debate him, and so Ossoff decided to debate himself, with an empty podium standing in for the vacant senator. There is really no better visual message for Ossoff’s race, no better show of Perdue’s refusal to participate in democratic proceedings. For almost thirty minutes, Ossoff underwent what seemed like a self-interrogation, without the presence of another candidate. It was a stunt, sure, if you’re cynical, but it was striking, seeing him stand there alone, determined to answer every question, ranging from COVID relief to reports of Perdue’s insider trading. If we could all debate ourselves the way Ossoff did, I thought, maybe we could start to reckon with this big,

bleeding mess before us. Maybe we could speak and hit something raw. Ossoff is a young Jewish senator opening a door that, most recently, was thrown open by men in Nazi t-shirts. And still, his voice isn’t quavering.

D Rollo 1/4/21 D Rollo 1/4/21

Write Your Hero - Mila, 9 — Grandpa

What would the world be like if there were no civic heroes? I guess problems and injustices in societies would never change. In Navajo Nation, people would have stayed without food or clean water if Ethel Branch did not step in. In the United States, we would still have racism. Black people would still have to give up their seats in buses, have separate schools, and have job discrimination if it wasn’t for heroes like Rosa Park and Martin Luther King. In India, Indians would still be under the British rule if Mahatma Gandhi did not start his peaceful movement. In Lebanon, refugees will not have someone to support them or help them if it wasn’t for my grandpa.

Civic heroes are people who notice problems in their communities and change it to make it better. I believe my grandpa is a civic hero. He lives in Lebanon. Currently, there are many Syrian refugees where he lives. It is very hard for them to find work and they have to pay expensive rent. My grandpa is helping them as much as he can. I have seen him wear 3 pajamas on top of each other, a hat, and a jacket indoors to stay warm in the freezing winter. He does this so he doesn’t have to use the diesel fuel he has for heat. He would instead give it to families who have young kids or old people so they could stay warm. He supports many families and gives them cash every month so they can spend it on things they need most. No one knew about this until recently when he had an open-heart surgery. He told my uncle about these families so he can continue taking care of them if he did not make it.

In Lebanon, there is tension between two religious groups. They always argue and sometimes fight over their differences. So, grandpa always makes meetings to make them respect their differences and be in peace. He has written many books about religion that he gives to people for free because he wants to make a change in the society. His plan is working well so far as more and more people are being respectful as they talk to each other. I love my grandpa so much. Every time we visit him, he spends time with me and my cousins, plays with us, makes us noodles, and teaches us about planets and space. My grandpa speaks seven languages, he has a PhD in physics, and traveled to so many places around the world.

I want to be like my grandpa when I grow up. I want to help my community but in a different way. I want to organize events and activities for poor kids. I want them to have fun because their parents don’t have extra money to enroll them in activities. Also, I want to have classes for the adults and elderly to teach them how to farm, cook healthy food, and to sew clothes. I want them to learn how to do things on their own and be independent. I do not want them to wait for people to help them. I want them to believe in themselves and that they can do whatever they want.

I believe there are many civic heroes around the world that we do not know about. Not many people know about my grandpa.

Heroes do not need to be recognized, they only care about helping others and making the world a better place to live.

D Rollo 1/4/21 D Rollo 1/4/21

Write Your Hero - Lydia, 10 -- Yu Gwan Sun

What is a hero? For many, there are two types of heroes: heroes with superpowers, such as Superman, and the heroes without superpowers, which is an average person. However, I believe that heroes without superpowers can be considered superheroes too. Although an average person doesn’t have the abilities to fly or turn invisible, all of the heroes end up fighting for what they believe in.

My superhero, the martyr Yu Gwan Sun, was an average person and her special powers were bravery and perseverance. Her powers made it possible for her to be a Freedom Fighter who rebelled against the Japanese colonists from 1910 to 1945.

Yu Gwan Sun was born on December 16, 1902, in South Korea into a Christian family. She was a very bright and knowledgeable child growing up and could memorize Bible passages after only hearing them once. When she grew up, she attended Ewha School (presently Ewha Womans University — located in Seoul, Korea) for middle school and high school. In 1918, Yu and her colleagues engaged in March 1st Movement independence rallies to protest Japan’s colonization of Korea. After the Japanese government closed all the Korean schools, Yu returned home to her family, bringing the thirst for national independence with her. To quench her thirst, she went door-to-door with her family, encouraging more people to join them in fighting for Korea’s independence from Japan. Yu and her family organized the Aunae Marketplace Demonstration that was held on April 1st, 1919.

Why did Yu and Yu’s family protest? Firstly, the Japanese had invaded their country and colonized it from 1910 to 1945. The Japanese banned Korean textbooks, Korean names, and the Korean language. If you spoke Korean even with your family, the Japanese would hunt and capture you. Imagine someone barging into your house saying that your name is something you’ve never heard of. They would change a big part of your identity. They even forced the Koreans to show their loyalty to the Japanese Emperor. The Japanese were destroying the Korean culture. This is what Yu fought against.

Three thousand people attended the rally and the Koreans shouted for freedom along with Yu Gwan Sun. They cheered “독립만세!” Which meant, “Hooray! We are independent now!” Then the Japanese started shooting and ended up killing 19 unarmed people. Among those killed were Yu’s parents, Yu Jung-Kwon and Lee So-Jae. Yu complained to the authorities saying that using the military police to stop people from demonstrating peacefully and rallying was wrong and unfair, causing her to be arrested. Because of her actions, the Japanese burned Yu’s home to ashes. Yu’s uncle went to the police to oppose their actions carrying his own dead brother in his arms. Unfortunately, these actions caused her to serve three years in prison. Her parents’ death motivated her to fight even more.

During her imprisonment, she and other prison mates still held peaceful rallies, even in-between prison walls. This caused her to be severely tortured. How she was tortured was unknown, but we do know that it was beyond imaginable. On September 28, 1920, she died because of how painfully she was abused, but even then, Japan would not release her body. They didn’t want the public to see what they had done to her. Eventually, they released the body, because of the threats sent by Lulu Frey and Jeanette Walter, former principals of Yu’s school. They then held a funeral on October 14th, 1919. The death of Yu motivated the other Koreans to fight even more.

Yu had affected people outside of South Korea, even though the country was mostly unknown to an abundance of people in the world. Her peaceful protesting possibly inspired two people’s non-violent work, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, according to the New World Encyclopedia. Her death encouraged more and more to resist the Japanese colonization, and eventually, Korea became a liberated and independent country.

One reason I chose her as my hero was because she was young yet so brave. She saw her parents get killed but that only motivated her. She wouldn’t even stop after being arrested. She was persistent and brave during several events in her life that some kids her age would be petrified. Her age makes her even more heroic.

Yu Gwan Sun not only matters to me but also my family. My parents were both born in South Korea, and if Yu Gwan Sun didn’t fight, I might be living in Korea. Even if I did live in Korea, I may be under Japanese rule. My grandfather was present during the reign of Japan and if Yu Gwan Sun didn’t inspire others, he would’ve never been free from Japan’s colonization and so would’ve my parents and me. Her patriotism has had a tremendous impact on my family’s lives. Yu Gwan Sun is a civic hero in South Korea, but she will always be a superhero in my heart.

D Rollo 1/4/21 D Rollo 1/4/21

Write Your Hero - Julia, 12 -- John Krasinski

President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” This quote is relevant for the past, present, and most likely for the future, but is especially relevant right now. During these sad and confusing times, people really have to make do with what they can and have.

John Krasinski is an extraordinary and recent example of how powerful this quote is when put into action. John Krasinski is my civic hero because he used his platform as a comedian, actor, director, and producer to bring attention to what the people needed during this pandemic, meet the challenge this year has presented, and inspire people to do what they can with what they have.

In March 2020, John Krasinski, like every other American was watching the news for updates and statistics on the COVID-19 pandemic. He noticed that no news channels were sharing any genuinely good news; he realized how this was impacting families, and how much it would help people’s mental well-being to know there was still good circulating the world.

He decided, with his resources at home, to make a web series on YouTube named Some Good News. The web series, as you can tell from its name, focused on good news that was happening at the time. From celebrating health care and essential workers, to congratulating a girl on her last chemo treatment, Some Good News shared all kinds of enlightening news. John Krasinski even became a certified minister to hold a wedding on Some Good News. He also held a live prom for the students of 2020 who had their proms canceled.

Important artists such as Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell, the Jonas Brothers, and Chance the Rapper performed at the “prom”. On Some Good News, John Krasinski also hosted guests such as Steve Carell, a co-star from the show The Office, the Hamilton cast, Rainn Wilson, who also acted in The Office, and more. John Krasinski also held a graduation for the students of 2020. He got important people such as Oprah Winfrey, Malala Yousafzai, Jon Stewart, and Steven Spielberg to be commencement speakers. He did all of this at home with what he could, using his platform in society to bring attention to the subject of good news, and made sure that this web series included all good news, not just big moments.

John Krasinski has always been a generally happy and funny person, from what we’ve seen; Some Good News, once again, proves how benevolent John Krasinski really is.

I remember on March 11th when we were all sent home from school. The teachers claimed we would be back to school after break. I remember watching the time we were in quarantine get longer and longer, thinking, “This year is horrible. Everything bad that could happen, has happened. We can’t see our friends and family. People are losing their jobs, homes, and loved ones. I just want this year to be over.” I didn’t watch Some Good News until a couple of weeks after it was introduced. I thought it was a waste of time, especially because I had online school, which makes you work twice as hard.

Later, my family suffered from a death due to COVID-19. We really needed and craved some good news, so I thought it was the perfect time to start watching Some Good News. I turned on YouTube and found the first video of Some Good News. I was amazed how one guy, with his resources and connections at home, could be such a beacon of light and hope. He willingly shared the points of happiness and humanity from his life with the world. I started sharing some of the stories from Some Good News with my family and friends, just to give them a little light during these dark times.

Seeing this one man become a beacon of light and hope made me want to be one too. He inspired me to be grateful and celebrate the little things, for the little things create the big things. He made me want to be kind to everyone and pay attention to what was going on around me. He moved me to want to help those who were less fortunate than me. He made me want to give back to my community, even if it was in a small way. He also made me want to do one very difficult thing during this pandemic; think of my glass as half-full. He also inspired many other people, not just me. Other people began making smaller versions of Some Good News focusing more on their communities.

A lot of people say that we are thinking too individually and not thinking of our communities during this pandemic. Many people are not willing to sacrifice and share what they have or what they can do for the benefit of others that are less fortunate than themselves. The great author, motivational speaker, and professor, Leo Buscaglia once said, “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential
to turn a life around.” People really need to take this kind of thinking to heart, like John Krasinski has. You don’t have to donate an arm and a leg or give up your life savings to contribute to your community. Just like Some Good News and John Krasinski has shown us, lending someone a listening ear, or simply being kind, is more than enough.

D Rollo 1/4/21 D Rollo 1/4/21

Write Your Hero - Zyah, 9 -- Tamika Mallory

In the beginning, I only knew a little bit about Tamika Mallory. I participated in the first Women’s March, in 2017 and I knew she had a part in it. I don’t think I really knew what a “hero” was besides cartoon characters, like Superman or Batman, when I was that little. Now that I know what a hero should be like, I choose Tamika Mallory, as my civic hero!

Tamika Mallory is a known activist, who is very passionate about social justice and civil rights. Her position in the fight for women’s rights and the black lives matter movement, have put her at the top of the list as an active civil rights leader, in my eyes. She fights for the right thing to be done for all people and every situation that involves the rights of everyone.

The world is crazy right now. The murder of George Floyd and the Coronavirus pandemic, has really shown the type of world we live in. Racism and equality are the biggest issues that are being questioned. There are people that think they are the only people that matter and that’s sad to me.

On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor was murdered in her own bed, by Louisville, Kentucky cops. The news started to circulate and become a big deal, I think because Tamika Mallory became the leader for getting justice for Breonna Taylor. She saw the problems that a lot of other African American people face, when they deal with the police. With all the African Americans that have died because of police, it has become something that is on everyone’s mind and a very big issue.

Ms. Mallory made it her business to help the family of Breonna Taylor find justice. Her organization, Until Freedom, staged a sit in at the Kentucky Attorney General, Daniel Cameron’s house. This was to protest how he and other Kentucky leaders handled the investigation into Breonna Taylor’s death. She and other people were arrested, but this wasn’t a problem to her. She then decided that she would move to Kentucky, so she could finish what she started.

I admire Tamika Mallory because she gave a whole town of people a voice and helped them understand what they were facing, but also steps to take to make the situation a better one. She led marches, walked around the communities and organized rallies to fight for justice. She actually listened to the community members and gave them someone to talk and be sad with. Without her, I think people would have still organized marches but she gave the fight, the “who!” She always says that she fights so hard because not only was what happened wrong but because Breonna Taylor could have been any of us.

Tamika Mallory has used her platform to amplify voices in the community and I hope to be able to do that one day also. I am an emcee. Yes, I rap, although I am 9. And a big part of hip hop is making your voice be heard and telling truth. In July of this year, my family wrote a song called, “Our Generation.” In the the first verse, I said, “I speak like Tamika Mallory when I’m fed up,” and that part meant so much to me! Tamika Mallory has inspired me in so many ways. To say what needs to be said, whether everyone agrees with you or not. Show empathy because that’s how you connect with people. And one of the biggest things is that, I am human but I am also enough.

Somehow, she came across my Instagram post and reposted my, “Our Generation” freestyle and said that I was the future. This made me know that I was doing something right! It also made me never want to stop what I am doing and how I am doing it!

D Rollo 1/4/21 D Rollo 1/4/21

Write Your Hero - Maia, 17 — Muriel Rukeyser

Muriel Rukeyser was a real “poet of witness,” as coined by the poet Carolyn Forché. Rukeyser wrote The Book of the Dead in 1938 about the Hawk’s Nest disaster in West Virginia, and fought for workers’ rights through her poetry.

The Hawk’s Nest disaster was one of the worst industrial mining disasters in American history, and it happened not far from where I live, but I never knew about it until I read Rukeyser.

Rukeyser was a Jewish woman writing poetry about the rural South in a way that’s honest about the area’s failures, as well as its love and grit. It was shocking and wonderful to find someone writing about my home who was also a Jewish woman like me. There are not many Jews in the rural Virginias, and there aren’t many writers who sing on the page like Muriel Rukeyser. She used her poetry to cast light on the injustices caused by corporate greed, and documented the harrowing deaths of miners due to silica. She championed the legal efforts of the miners, wrote down their doctor’s visits, their last words. Rukeyser was the voice of a small worker’s movement, the movement to right the wrongs of the Hawk’s Nest disaster. She did this by letting the miners speak for themselves, by treating docupoetics like serious journalism.

The Book of the Dead is serious documentation, and yet still manages to be incredibly lyrical, experimental on the page, and, well, beautiful.

For the longest time, I wanted to leave my hometown, and the last thing I wanted to do was write about it. Rukeyser changed that for me, and I started writing about the dying train industry and the boarded-up stores, yes, but also the deer you can find on the mountains, the way the Appalachian Trail’s huge trees sway right before a storm. I want to document my town in all its complexities, in all its shifts and changes. The pandemic has already changed the face of my town, of what businesses turn their lights on, of how many people are sleeping on the street. Climate change has, too. Parks that never flooded now sit deep in water for days after it rained, and in the thick of summer, the only place cool enough to sit in outside is the top of a mountain, shaded by trees. Soon, the trees will not be cool enough to combat the temperatures, and then there will be nowhere to go. The home I knew last year, the home I could’ve documented then, has completely changed, and this will only accelerate with time.

Rukeyser maps out the roads and highways of West Virginia, navigating the mountains and valleys by car. Everything is connected to the land: the money, the injustices caused in the pursuit of that money, even the silica that kills the miners comes from the rock of the mountain itself. Rukeyser is a visitor to this place and this atrocity, and she never forgets that. These mountains are not hers. But what is a civic hero if not someone who could leave, and yet chooses to stay?

Before reading Rukeyser, I was having doubts about the role of poetry in our world today, of whether my poetry could have importance to anyone outside of myself. Was writing a purely narcissistic act? Was the empathy that writing builds real, or was it forgotten as soon as you closed the book? Discovering Rukeyser and docupoetics was discovering a way writing could be important, could be part of a real cause. Rukeyser interviewed the town of Gauley Bridge, West Virginia by digging up its injustices, its victims, and giving them pages and pages to document their stories, their coughing fits, the amount of times they woke up during the night.

It is my biggest hope to be like Rukeyser, to carry her conviction, her determination to reach justice for the miners of Hawk’s Nest. When I shut The Book of the Dead, I still felt my anger at the unethical, money-hungry mining corporation, the hurt of the sick and dying miners. It was then that I realized Rukeyser was heroic. She had carried her cause off the page. It was mine, now, mine to care for and yell about. I realized that I wanted to do that, I wanted to write like that, too, to be able to make people care. And that is the root of Rukeyser’s brilliance: to be heroic is to transmit care.

D Rollo 1/4/21 D Rollo 1/4/21

Write Your Hero - Briones, 17 — James Baldwin

James Baldwin captured the multifaceted nature of the American character with all its complications and its often-paradoxical nature. To be American is, to evoke Walt Whitman, to contain multitudes. And Baldwin captured this essence so well because of his many identities — he was an expat, a Black man, a gay man, a civil rights leader, a legendary writer and speaker, and an
American. He understood both the benefits and complications of being American, giving him incredible insight into the dynamics of the American character and offering priceless reflections on its simultaneously convoluted and amazing properties.

Born in 1924, Baldwin was thrust into an existence with limited opportunities and resources, a child treated harshly inside of his home and persecuted outside of it. He desired so deeply to be seen outside of the identities that others used to oppress him that he left the country for decades to escape the often suffocating existence others imposed on him. But at the critical moment, when the Civil Rights Movement was underway, Baldwin returned.

He saw opportunity to harness his experiences with both personal and collective trauma into change; to allow others, through his clarity and reason, to see America and her inextricable connection with
oppression more clearly. And he saw an opportunity to fight for an America that would not be wracked with such oppression and, thus, one freer to develop its positive qualities and a more honorable legacy.

James Baldwin is my civic hero because he exemplifies something I so wholeheartedly believe in: that you can love your country deeply and still be incredibly disappointed and angry because of its faults. As he so astutely wrote “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” America is my
country, and the reason that I am often so dissatisfied about the state of affairs here is not because I hate it or want to abandon it, but because I recognize its flaws and wish desperately to improve it.

Given this, I think the epitome of patriotism is recognizing that your country has flaws so that you might seek to improve it. Some Americans have a tendency to claim that America is the most exceptional country to ever exist and insist it needs no improvement or revision. This seems to me
not a prideful celebration of patriotism, but a rejection of it. And by extension, a rejection of the American Dream, the idea that everyone may attain their own version of success within our society through one’s own efforts. Why should the American Dream not apply to America herself?

Democracies take work. Democracies are never perfect. And democracies are often hypocritical. In order to build a democracy in which this dream can truly exist and be accessible to everyone, to be less hypocritical and to form a “more perfect union” — it will require perpetual evaluation, the type of evaluation Baldwin tirelessly advocated for all his life. And thus, we should cherish the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of being an American with equal weight. Our continuous, individualist drive to better ourselves and to achieve great things is so ingrained in American identity it has become inseparable from it. We should harness that perseverance and apply it more broadly — to subject the country itself to ruthless, continuous reexamination and reform in the spirit of ensuring it is a country that works for us all. America was founded on principles that we still strive toward 244 years later — freedom to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But it was not without its flaws, and people like Baldwin allow us to appreciate that America is not infallible; to see this as strength rather than weakness.

I believe our own Constitution is an example of finding strength in the imperfect. Despite its seemingly revolutionary claims of equality, the Constitution has contained many deeply flawed and imperfect premises: originally proclaiming some Americans to be but 3/5th of a person and denying rights to 50% of our population on the basis of gender. But in the face of great injustice, Americans have persevered. The Constitution has been amended many times to better reflect the rights and liberties of all Americans, and this growth and change should be viewed as a strength and a testament to the adaptability of the American people.

Baldwin said that “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” Baldwin became a civic hero because his works do not allow us to live in ignorance. They exerted a force that allows us to turn inward, to introspect and reflect, and to wield these observations in order to improve both ourselves and our country. His wisdom allows us to see ourselves, our identities as Americans, and how we might better relate to one another. And by extension, this introspection allows us to view America through a critical, yet loving lens.

The clarity of his writing, his speaking, and his activism allow us to better appreciate the unique experience of America, not in spite of its flaws, but because of them. The preservation of our nation relies on a delicate balance of realism and idealism; to see things as they really are, while allowing ourselves to believe that we can do better.

James Baldwin is my civic hero because he has taught me that the beauty of American identity lies both in the multifaceted and singular; the collective and individual; the complicated and straightforward; the perfect and imperfect; the terrible and great. Perhaps his most resounding
message is that “You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you, not with its idea of you.” His wisdom has convinced me and many others that America is adaptable; that we should harness the despair we feel about our flaws into genuine change, so that we may always work toward a more perfect union.

D Rollo 1/4/21 D Rollo 1/4/21

Write Your Hero - Adriana, 15 — Edith Windsor

A young girl walks through the elementary school halls. Taunts about her big nose and ears fade into the background as she stares across the room and fixes her eyes on her classmates- her one classmate- that never knew she stared at her like that every day.

“Edie-” her boyfriend calls.
“Edith! Pay attention!” her teacher scolds.

The young girl snaps to attention and stares down at her tattered school shoes in embarrassment.

Edith Windsor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Russian Jewish immigrant family. Edie’s father owned a successful business, but once the Great Depression fell, he lost his store and their home.

However, this obstacle was unable to bar Edie from pursuing what she loved. Despite the infrequency of a female mathematician in the 1930s, Edie obtained her masters degree in mathematics at New York University. She attended university alongside her older brother’s best friend, Saul Windsor, who proposed during their third year at university.

A young woman walks through the halls of a prestigious university. The inappropriate catcalls and whistles fade into the background as she stares across the room and fixes her eyes on her classmates- her one classmate- that never knew she stared at her like that every day.

“Edie-” her husband calls.
“Mrs. Windsor!” her professor scolds.

Once again, Edie fell in love with a female classmate. She divorced Saul to pursue her love. However, after Windsor decided she could not live life as a lesbian, they remarried after graduation. Less than one year after, they divorced again, and she admitted she longed to be with women.

After Edies’s graduation from university, she further broke the status quo by finding work at IBM, America’s leading computer software company at the time. Throughout her 16 years there, she attained the highest level technical position in the company and was well known for her “top-notch debugging skills,” with which she helped many LGBTQ groups become “tech
literate.”

Shortly after her divorce, in 1963, Windsor met Thea Spyer, who was making strides in her own field, being a female psychologist. Two years after meeting, they started dating. In order to avoid discrimination, Edie told her coworkers that Thea was not her partner, but that she was engaged to Thea’s fictional older brother. When Edie tried to put Thea on her insurance, she was told that only a man and woman may be listed as partners. Despite these seemingly insurmountable barriers, Spyer asked Windsor to marry her in 1967, with a circular diamond pin instead of a ring, so as not to expose Edie’s sexual orientation to her coworkers.

In June 1969, Windsor and Spyer returned from vacation to the Stonewall Riots- a series of riots demanding the cease of LGBTQIA+ police violence and demanding rights and equality. To Thea and Edie, these riots were inspirational. In the following years, the couple publicly participated in LGBT marches and events like these.

Several years later, Edie quit her job at IBM to pursue advocacy. In 1975, Edie began volunteering with various LGBTQIA+ organizations. She helped found Old Queers Acting Up, an improvisation group utilizing skits to address social justice issues. She also served on the board of Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders for many years.

In 2002, Spyer suffered a heart attack. In 2007, doctors told her she had less than a year to live. By this time, New York had not yet legalized gay marriage, but the two wanted more than anything to be married before Thea passed. To climb this mountain, they married in Canada, with Canada’s first openly gay judge, Justice Harvey Brownstone, presiding. On February 5, 2009, Spyer died due to heart complications, leaving her entire estate to Windsor. Shortly after Spyer’s death, Edie Windsor was hospitalized with stress cardiomyopathy, most likely due to grief. Windsor sought to claim the federal estate tax exemption for surviving spouses after Thea’s death, but was barred from doing so due to Section 3 of the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA).

In 2010, Windsor filed a lawsuit against the federal government because of the ingrained homophobia in DOMA, as it singled out legally married same-sex couples and practiced “differential treatment compared to other similarly situated couples without justification.” The Department of Justice declined to defend the constitutionality of Section 3, but thankfully the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group intervened. District Judge Barbara S. Jones ruled that Section 3 of DOMA was unconstitutional. She ordered the federal government to issue the tax refund, just as Edie requested, including interest. Her ruling was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2012, thereby eliminating an unfair and prejudice law. This was one of the largest political successes along the path of gay marriage in America.

Windsor continued to be a public advocate for same-sex marriage in the years following. She helped introduce the Respect for Marriage Act, and her court case supported the legendary Obergefell v. Hodges two years later, where the Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage. Edie’s determination also paved the way for the Obama administration to extend the federal rights and legal protections that LGBTQIA+ couples enjoy today.

Through every mountain she climbed, every taunt she ignored, every time she was brave enough to share her truth, Edie Windsor was standing up for kids like me- for queer Jewish kids in America. She was doing it for kids my age and for queer people everywhere.

Edie Windsor has inspired me to join LGBTQIA+ organizations in my area and create a Gender-Sexuality Alliance at my own school so that I can inspire other young children to accept who they are, remind them that there is nothing to be ashamed of if they can’t help but stare at their same-sex classmate across the room, that it’s ok if it takes them years to come to terms with their identities, that they have the power to scale any mountains that come their way, and that it is perfectly within their rights to marry whoever they love.

D Rollo 1/4/21 D Rollo 1/4/21

Write Your Hero - Anisha, 17 — Kailash Satyarthi

My finger swirled in cobalt blue and magenta. The result was a pool of indigo with threads of blue and purple on the edge of the palette. I scooped up the mixture with my thumb and laid it on the canvas. Continuing to rub the paint in, I attempted to replicate the fingers of my left hand using the fingers of my right. I was finger painting my own fingers.

When I got home from the art studio that night, I kept thinking about how I would turn a painting of my left hand into a complete piece of art. My “ah-ha” moment was a pair of shorts. They were color-blocked; each side a different shade of blue. Layered curtain fabric made up the sky blue half, and material from a navy skirt had turned into the other half. The lopsided stitching and uneven waistband gave away that the shorts were my first attempt at sewing a piece of clothing. Yet, they gave me an idea for my painting.

I had recently begun making my own clothes. While scrolling through Pinterest, I came across a blog about retail brands that negatively impacted the planet and its workers — I was surprised to learn that I regularly wore almost all of them. Online magazines and YouTube videos validated that I was supporting the modern textile industry that causes long-term environmental damage and exploits young children.

This was when I first learned about Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian youth education activist and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. He launched various grassroots movements to spread awareness of the unethical working conditions of clothing factories in developing countries. Moved by Satyarthi’s work I began to reflect on how I, as a consumer and producer, could curb the effect of fast fashion. My solution was to sustainably buy or make clothes out of upcycled fabric at home. At first, the stitching was untidy, but I had started wearing clothes that were environmentally friendly.

At the art studio a few days later, I brainstormed ways I could raise awareness of the harmful effects of fast fashion through my unfinished hand painting. I decided to make the piece out of a variety of materials like I had done for the shorts. I used a piece of chicken wire to make a three-dimensional beehive attached to the large canvas. I then used gold silk, highlighter yellow
tulle, and mustard lace trim to symbolize the honey filling.

As I continued to dig deeper into the issues of the textile industry, I learned about Kailash Satyarthi’s humble beginnings at a young age; he published “Sangharsh Jaari Rahega” (The Struggle Shall Continue) about human rights violations in his twenties. Shortly after, he quit his well paid job as an electrical engineer to become a teacher. In the past 40 years, he has provided education and rehabilitation to countless children and he has founded the Global March Against Child Labor. From these events, I learned about the shocking extent of young children working in textile mills.

To portray the exploitation of these children, I painted paper worker bees swarming around the hive. Each striped insect with glassy wings seemed to be begging to keep their hard-earned honey. My artwork was starting to look complete as each cell of the honeycomb was filled with fabric, and each bee had a distinct job.

Discovering the work of Satyarthi and his contribution to reforming the fast fashion industry has sparked my interest in exploring social injustice around the world. And, though I had started addressing the harmful effects of the clothing industry through my art, I felt I could do more. The clothing brands I wore were either sustainable or ethically produced, but not both; the
intersection was missing. It didn’t make sense for me to wear a shirt made of recycled plastic bottles if it was manufactured by factory workers who didn’t earn a living wage. Why couldn’t a brand be both sustainable and ethical? I thus founded the company [b.a.z.z.o] & Co. that did both. Most accessories and apparel are made out of textured and printed clothes around the house. When this supply runs out, I turn to fabrics from thrift stores that inspire my designs. Along with the accessories, I started making masks after I learned that disposable PPE was polluting the environment. I donated reusable masks, made out of recycled fabric, to rural hospitals, senior living
facilities, and homeless shelters greatly affected by Coronavirus.

The finishing touch of the painting was honey. Hot glue spread from the palm of the hand off the canvas. Embellished, gold thread became tangled in the glue dripping from the beehive. The hand was depicted as if it was stealing honey from the comb that the bees worked so hard to make. I named the mixed media piece “Corruption.”

By working to liberate children from labor, Kailash Satyarthi not only provided almost 90,000 children with a plan for education but also inspired other young people, like me, to start raising movements against textile corporations. Satyarthi’s 100 Million campaign works to mobilize youth to create meaningful change in their area. So, to jumpstart awareness of these issues I continue to share my story through the arts and youth activism platforms. Though my painting is now complete, my fight for social justice has just begun.

D Rollo 10/12/20 D Rollo 10/12/20

Announcing... The Flag Winners: The Judges Have Spoken

1st Place

"I've drawn an ear of blue corn to honor the indigenous peoples of North America. The color of the kernels is a mix of the red, white and blue that we see on our current flag. The colors represent the hardiness, valor, innocence, purity, vigilance, perseverance, and justice of our country. The green of the husk signifies the earth and all that came before us, and on the ribbon it says, 'in radices speramus nobis,' which means, 'in our roots we trust,' in Latin."

Zoe, age 14

2nd Place

"My re-imagined American flag seeks to depict the tapestry which makes up American culture and history. The main piece is obviously the intertwined lines which translate the feeling of this tapestry onto the canvas of the flag. The two different lines crossing again and again reflect the diversity of Americans and... [their] interconnectedness. To retain and recognize the historical aspect of our flag, the 13 colonies are now represented by 13 stars which appear on the left of the flag. Finally, I retained the flag's traditional colors mostly untouched beyond a slight brightening to display an optimism about America's future."

Christopher, 18

3rd Place

" I depicted a group of people of varying backgrounds painting and altering the American Flag...The figures in my flag are working in collaboration with one another to make the changes they want to see, showing it is the power of the people to push for the policies, beliefs, and ideas that will positively impact them. This flag not only symbolizes the progress we have made as a nation but the progress we are still making today.

I also wanted to include two people, to the right, that are retouching a tarnished American flag in order to restore and remind us of what America stands for: equality, justice, and liberty."

Milka, 17

1st Place

"I wanted to represent the diversity in the states and people in our country. I did this by hand cutting 50 unique and different stars to depict the differences in our beautiful states and a person's silhouette with 13 stripes in colors of the rainbow symbolizing our qualities and our individual personalities. After all, the world would be no fun if everyone and everything were the same."

Grace, Age 12

2nd Place

"The stars of the states are shown on 'Turtle Island' which is part of the Native American origin story for the American continent. Blue stripes are the streams to rivers of our nation flowing into the ocean, origin of all life on earth. Brown and white stripes are the diversity of our ethnic origins, flowing together with red stripes, our common blood."

Adeline, Age 9

3rd Place

"I cannot vote but my art expresses my understanding of our dreams and desires as US Citizens. My cultural background helps me realize how important it is that we are loved, we are shown kindness and everyone is honest with us."

Thomais, Age 12

D Rollo 9/18/20 D Rollo 9/18/20

The Second Kidizenship Contest Launches: Write Your Hero

When cases of COVID-19 first appeared in the Navajo nation, Ethel Branch knew she had to act.

Years earlier, Branch had been Attorney General of the Navajo Nation, and she understood that the virus would spread quickly through the Navajo and Hopi reservations. Many residents have limited access to fresh food and health care. Some homes don't have electricity or running water. So Branch quit her job at a law firm, and started A GoFundMe campaign that raised $5 million to provide food, clean water, and other necessary supplies to families and elderly residents of the reservations.

It wasn’t Ethel Branch’s job to do this. No one asked her to step in. But Ethel Branch did an important thing: she saw a community that needed help and figured out a way to provide it.

We call people like Ethel Branch “civic heroes” because they make a sacrifice or do something extraordinary to make life better for other people. Sometimes when we think of heroes we think of Black Panther or Captain Marvel, superhumans with secret powers. But all around us, every day, there are real people performing selfless acts of courage and generosity—no capes or superpowers required.

In the United States, we have a long tradition of honoring civic heroes because their contributions to society make this country stronger.

Former civil rights leader and U.S. Representative John Lewis, who was beaten and jailed for standing against racism in the Jim Crow South, said civic heroes are people who refuse to stay silent when confronting injustice.

Lewis said, “When you see something that is not right, that is not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something." Lewis encouraged everyone to raise their voices for justice: “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Former First Lady Michelle Obama says that the core characteristics of a civic hero are “dignity and decency...helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.”

The late Senator John McCain--a Navy pilot who was captured and tortured during the Vietnam War--said, “Nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself, something that encompasses you but is not defined by your existence alone.”

Civic heroes can be public servants like John Lewis, Michelle Obama, and John McCain, or they can be everyday people who contribute themselves to a greater cause.

They can also be kids. After the tragic shooting of 17 students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, students organized the #NeverAgain movement to eliminate gun violence. They weren’t old enough to vote, but they became leading voices in the national debate on gun control.

If you look for them, you will see acts of civic heroism everywhere. The story of America has been written by people who recognized problems or injustice in their neighborhoods or cities or country or world and said, “This needs to change. I can make it better.” Now we want you to write your civic hero’s story. It can be the story of someone you know or the story of someone you have never met, alive or deceased. Who has made change in your world? Who has shown you the potential of our democracy?

Tell your civic hero’s story in 600 to 1000 words. We want to know why these people are your heroes. What problem did they see? How did they make it better? What greater good did they create? What do they inspire you to do in your own community?

Your civic heroes should be celebrated. We can’t wait to meet them.

D Rollo 3/11/19 D Rollo 3/11/19

Civic Life is Life - Creating Relevant Civic Experiences for Kids

Does art imitate life? Or does life imitate art? In the Kidizenship Fly Your Flag Contests, the answer to both questions is “YES.” Students ages 8-18 were called to design a flag that reflected the ideals and values of their America. I was honored with the opportunity to judge this contest, and as you can imagine, the competition was tough. A diversity of artistic expressions were submitted, many of which challenged me to expand my own awareness of what our iconic symbol represents or could possibly look like.

Some student submissions were literal remixes of our current red, white, and blue flag, while others took a less literal approach, integrating symbols of unity, diversity, and inclusion. Flags paid respect to our military personnel, recognized indigenous people, and called attention to the need to rectify the variedness in which people experience justice across our nation.

At a time when it often feels like hope is in short supply, I realized that young people get it. Yes, civic education and social studies courses need robust attention, funding, and support to properly educate the next generation; but at the core, students know what it means to be American, or at least what it should mean.

I spend a lot of time promoting and working on student-centered, equitable civic education. In my work, I grapple with questions like:

How do we make civics relevant for students of all ages?
What civic experiences are absolutely necessary for establishing long-term civic engagement?
How do we make civic spaces more welcoming to diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences?

One key connection here— civic education, whether through hands-on experiences outside of school or via traditional forms of learning in schools, must be relevant and center students’ lived experiences. In order for civics to work, students must see how it connects to their life. When we encourage students to think about civic processes, either in games and simulations like iCivics or in family discussions like on the Let’s K12 Better podcast, civic learning encourages the healthy habits for an active and informed civic life.

Civic life is life. Civics is how we solve problems between neighbors. Civics is how we gain funding and resources for schools, roads, and sanitation. Civics is how we beautify our community, take care of our seniors, or provide safety for all members of society. We use civics to analyze how our rules are just or unjust or how we determine retribution. Civic life extends into every aspect of our society, even in artistic spaces.

Active and engaged civic participants contribute to a healthy democracy. If we are to impart this objective onto our youth, our work in civic education, and in every field, requires us to intentionally and clearly connect the dots between civic participation and social outcomes. Kids under 18 (and 16 in some places) can’t vote, so how do we lay down the foundation that their voice matters in our democracy?

Simply put, we encourage kids to express themselves authentically and engage them in the important problem-solving discussions that center their lived experiences and perspectives. From my standpoint, when adults step aside, providing our youth with the space to express their vision for our country, it ignites excitement for our nation.

Amber Coleman-Mortley is the Director of Social Engagement at iCivics, a nonpartisan civic education resource. She holds a B.A. in African American Studies from Oberlin College and a Master of Communications from American University in Media Entrepreneurship. Amber is a former educator and athletic coach. She podcasts with her daughters on the LetsK12Better podcast. Connect with her on Twitter: @MomOfAllCapes!

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Blog Post Title Two

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

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Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea.

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Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea.