The right to own a gun

Do we have the right to own a gun? And if we do, what are the complications with it?

According to the Second Amendment, ratified in 1791, "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

I take in consideration the Second Amendment that gives citizens the right to bear arms, but I also understand that they need to be responsible and trained to use a gun.

It's alarming that 900 of our fellow Americans have reportedly died at the end of a gun, 900 in the past month. It's even more shocking knowing that 40 percent of all gun purchases are conducted without a background check, despite the fact that the law requires licensed gun dealers to run background checks, according to Barack Obama and Joe Biden's article "Gun Control."
 

"Congress needs to help, rather than hinder, law enforcement as it does its job. We should get tougher on people who buy guns with the express purpose of turning around and selling them to criminals. And we should severely punish anybody who helps them do this," said President Barack Obama.

Along with the right that was given to us by the Founders, we also have an obligation to allow others to do the same.

By giving the right to bear arms to a few people that abuse their limits, others are having their rights taken away, such as the right to worship freely and safely, the right to assemble peaceably, the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
 

If you are selling a gun, it is expected that you won't sell to a person that is a felon or prohibited from buying the gun. It's common sense. Luckily, an overwhelming majority of Americans agree with us on the need for universal background checks, including more than 70 percent of the National Rifle Association's members. 

There needs to be a balanced approach on gun control in the United States where both sides agree on several issues.

 Americans that are qualified to possess firearms shouldn't be denied the right to participate in their own defense.

We live in a country full of adventurous people that love sports and hunting, and I'm a big supporter of all activities, if done responsibly.

President Obama suggests that Congress should restore a ban on military assault weapons, and limit guns with the only purpose to pump out as many bullets as possible, and as quickly as possible. These types of guns with the purpose to cause extreme damage, are designed to inflict maximum damage and should only be held by the people, said President Obama at a speech delivered at the South Court Auditorium, on January 16.


"For the 25 other innocent children and devoted educators who had so much left to give. For the men and women in big cities and small towns who fall victim to senseless violence each and every day. For all the Americans who are counting on us to keep them safe from harm. Let's do the right thing. Let's do the right thing for them, and for this country that we love so much," said President Obama at the Sandy Hook shootings aftermath on December 14, 2012.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members. Prior to driving to the elementary school, the killer shot his mother at home.

Without a doubt, many families are still suffering the tragedy that took lives of many innocent citizens.

It's time for the people to stand up and fight for a world where violence, racism, and stereotypes does not exist.

Let's be proactive in prioritize peoples'  lives.

 A version of this was published at The Vista.

Are you a feminist?

Feminists didn’t burn bras in the 1968 protest against the Miss America beauty pageant. Are you in shock?

Protesters against the pageant threw false lashes, bras, and feminine items at the Freedom Trash Can, as they called it. They also had a pig called Miss America, but no bras were burned at the event.

We may talk about feminism a lot, but sometimes we are not educated about the ideology that it holds.

Feminists are people that fight for women’s rights and equality in all aspects of society. As everybody understands, feminism is defined as a movement for political, social and economic equality for women in the society.

Feminism stands for a broader concept and holds different beliefs and ideologies, but how did it all start?

Everything started with the women’s rights movement engaging activism to enlarge women’s political rights. Women wanted to vote, they wanted to contribute to their society but often felt left out from social problems.

Nothing was easy at that time, but women fought for their rights and demanded respect.

Let’s explore the different types of feminism, and understand what they represent.

Radical feminists: 

This was the first form of feminism during second wave feminism, also called the women’s liberation movement. They relied on revolutionary politics on public events to call attention to women’s oppression, and demand changes in a woman’s place in society.

At that time women were second class citizens and couldn’t engage in public arguments, as well as many other discussions.

Ecofeminists:

Ecofeminism was first launched in 1974, reinforcing that if oppression is culturally valued, it will be imposed on anyone that cannot resist it. Several animal rights activists, vegetarians, vegans and peace activists joined the ecofeminism movement.

Animal rights were also tied to feminist critiquing cultural values and how society supports aggression, exploitation and domination.

Multiracial Feminists:
 
Most feminists at the time were white, middle-class women that were seeking change. 

Multiracial feminists interjected that race cannot be viewed in isolation, and that gender does not have a universal meaning, but it varies depending on the economic class and sexual orientation.

They believed that race-ethnicity affected the meaning of being a woman, and automatically placed them in another category.

“For multiracial feminists, the key to understanding identity lies in the intersection of multiple categories such as gender, race-ethnicity, sexual orientation, and economic class. This leads multiracial feminists to write and talk, not about women or men as broad groups, but about more precise and complex categories such as black, working-class lesbians, and middle class, heterosexual Chicana,” said Julia T. Wood at Gendered Lives.

Revivalists:
 
These were feminists that focused on women’s traditional roles and activities, and brought appreciation to their skills.  They wanted to bring respect for music, literature and art created by talented women. Revivalists talk about recovering women’s history and illustrate the capacity of women in their traditional roles, such as weaving and quilting.

Lesbian Feminists:

Lesbian feminists focused on the sexual exploitation of women and male dominance. Members argue that only women who do not live their lives around men can be completely free, leading some women to embrace lesbianism as positive and liberated.

“For lesbian feminists, the primary goals are to live as a woman-identified woman and to make it possible for women in committed, enduring relationships to enjoy the same property, insurance, and legal rights granted to heterosexual spouses. First, lesbian feminism use their voices to respond to social criticism of their sexual orientations. Second, some lesbian feminists adopt proactive rhetorical strategies to assert their value, rights, and integrity,” said Wood.

Separatists:

This group of feminists builds communities in which women live independently in respect and harmony. They believe it’s impossible to reform America’s homophobic culture, so instead, they focus on living in harmony with people, animals and the earth.

“Finding that these values gain little hearing in a patriarchal, capitalist society, some women form all-women communities in which feminine values can flourish without intrusion from men and the aggressive, individualistic, oppressive values these women associate with Western masculinity,” said Wood.

As you can see, feminism is a term that has been misrepresented and misunderstood by the media, and covers more than one issue.

You don't have to identify with just one aspect of feminism. These theories blend with each other, and give feminists a broader ideology.

Yes, I’m a feminist, and no I don’t burn bras. What about you?

Changes further personal development

Many of us would prefer to shy away from changes and live in a world where everything stays the same. Despite all the fears, change is fundamental and is an integral part of our personal development.

Some things might stay the same longer where others might change faster. It doesn’t matter what kind of change, small or big, it alters all aspects of life and lets us embrace the unknown.

Your city doesn’t look the same, your friends are grown-ups and your favorite food has now been replaced. Things change with time, but use it as a challenge to push yourself more, alter your insight and further your personal progression.

Changes enable us to become the person we want to be. We practice, learn from our mistakes, pick up the pieces, and learn valuable life skills.

 If you are able to identify the areas that make you unhappy, you will be able to further develop the ones that give you confidence and joy.

 Living in the same neighborhood, same city, same state, will only narrow your view on the world. Avoid stagnation, move, take a course, develop new skills and be the boss of own your life.

 “You have to engage the community. We are blessed with a large international population. They come from a lot of countries, and it’s the biggest opportunity for them to learn about, and for you to learn about them. If you only hang out with people that look like you, think like you; talk like you… there are no new ideas. So you need to engage in the community and you do that through your imagination, and experimentation,” said Maurice Haff, Instructor at the College of Business.

 If you think you are moving too slow, take a look back at far how you’ve come. You have progressed, even if the changes seem small.

The seasons will change, new technology will arise, and years will fly by in the blink of an eye. Your college assignments will end, and your career will begin.

Your adult years are just a step from where most UCO students are now, and soon you’ll be responsible for bills, children, and work. Inevitable change will happen, whether you want it or not.

It’s important to understand that your personal development relies on the changes you made in the past, and where you are now. It doesn’t matter where you are in life, you are one step closer to your dreams and to becoming the person you’ve always wanted to be.

Your goal should always be to progress and use your memory to help you further your personal development.

 Take risks, go hiking, dance like nobody is watching and enjoy your favorite ice cream on a cold day. A happier lifestyle will bring you a sense of fulfillment and joy.

Benefits of coffee

Coffee is actually very healthy.

We see people drinking coffee everywhere, all the time. At work, school, or at the mall, people are indulging in the flavorful drink and relying on it to be active and get things done.

An estimated 100 million Americansconsume coffee on a regular basis, and appreciate the amazing taste and smell of the coffee bean. Honestly, the unmistakable smell is the reason many get up in the morning.

Besides the great flavor found in the bean, what are the benefits of drinking coffee?

The beverage increases energy levels, and has enough caffeine to improve memory, mood, reaction times and general cognition functioning.

Because of the great amount of caffeine found in the drink, it also helps the body to break down body fat.  The fat is released into the blood as free fatty acids making them available as a fuel.

That’s why coffee works as a stimulant, and can keep you up whenever you need to write a 10-page paper. College students will understand.

Several studies illustrate that caffeine is one of the few natural substances that is proven to aid fat burning, increasing metabolism by 3-11 percent.

It’s no surprise. Commercials targeting people trying to lose weight often mention coffee as a way to improve metabolism and decrease body fat.

Caffeine acts as an appetite suppressant, and may temporarily squelch your appetite after drinking a couple of cups.

Participants in a study were given green coffee bean extract and had a weight loss equivalent to 37.6 percent more than those who didn’t participate. They transitioned from being at pre-obesity weight to a normal weight range in only 22 weeks.

Coffee also contains minerals, such as vitamin B5, potassium and magnesium.

For people with Type 2 diabetes, drinking coffee can regularly decrease health risks, according to an Australian research done with nearly 458,000 people.

The beverage has also been linked to lower risks for heart problems, such as heart attacks and strokes, both for men and women.

People who reported drinking 1-3 cups of coffee per day had a 20 percent less chance of being hospitalized for abnormal heart rhythms compared to non-drinkers, according to a study of 130,000 people made by Kaiser Permanente Health Plan.

Coffee drinkers have up to 65 percent lower risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease, the most common neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of dementia in the world. Unfortunately, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but several studies show how to prevent the disease. This includes drinking coffee regularly, eating healthy, and exercising.

If you are feeling down, you might try drinking coffee. It has been shown to lower the risk of becoming depressed, and also the risk of committing suicide. A study with 208,424 individuals found that coffee drinkers that consume four cups of coffee per day are 53 percent less likely to commit suicide.

A coffee break might rejuvenate and even decrease your pain intensity level as well. Next time you feel tired and restless, drink a cup of coffee and enjoy a moment of peace.

Coffee is not the answer for all questions in life, but it surely can help improve our health.

A version of this article has been posted at The Vista

Don't live in your past mistakes

We have made mistakes, and sometimes it's hard to move away from the past and be positive for a bright future.

It's understandable and quite common, but there is still hope for you, for me, and for all trying to change.

You lost your flight to France, and now you are stuck with your grandparents in West Blocton, Alabama for the whole summer break. Bummer. But guess what? Alabama is still a beautiful place to visit. Your grandmother cooks amazing cinnamon rolls and many other opportunities will show up if you are hopeful and don't take things for granted.

We fail. We get disappointed, and when we think we can make better decisions, we might fail again.

It's life.

Nobody is perfect, but truly, should we live in our regrets or hope for a better journey? The more we condemn ourselves for our errors, the more we will be trapped in a negative mindset.

Try to find happiness in everything. The world is beautiful at its wonder, and we are given the gift of life, so why not enjoy that? Whenever we change our perspectives we start to see the world in a different light. The birds are singing louder, the people are smiling harder, the wind smells like roses, and the positivity lives within you. It's all about how you deal with situations.

“I’m stronger because of the hard times, wiser because of my mistakes, and happier because I have known sadness.”

Remember when you fell in front of your friends in 8th grade, and all your friends made fun of you? They were pointing at you and enjoying your pain. You were hurting, your elbow was bleeding but you still decided to numb the pain and enjoy the laughter with your classmates, right? That's how life is sometimes. You might be hurting, but deciding to find humor in your past mistakes will bring you to a state of joy.

"Happiness is in our hearts. I have no regrets of anything in the past. I'm totally cheerful and happy, and I think that a lot of your attitude is not in the circumstances you find yourself in, but in the circumstances you make for yourself," said Maeve Binchy.

Do something that makes you feel proud of yourself. You might be a skater, a painter, or a CEO, but whatever you do, do your best. Write a list of your goals, and don't give up when things get complicated. Difficulties come at some point, but persistence always wins.

Be proud of your work, and do the things you are passionate about. Life is too short to have tedious journeys. Go chase bunnies, cook exotic foods, hug the homeless, or even dance with a stranger, or anything else that will make you proud.

Keep moving forward. Life is too good for us to live in our past mistakes. You might have accidentally texted your former flame, or you might regret gossiping about your best friend and her awful hair products. But still, your problems are not the end of the world.

Controlling your negative thoughts can get you far, and give you a greater outcome in life. Be positive and hopeful.

What guys hate in women

Guys claim they like everything in a girl, but let’s be honest, that’s not how it goes.

With that said, there are many things that guys don’t like in women, and today I’ll explain a couple of them to you.

Guys are simple– too simple if you ask me. They won’t ask you to look like a Victoria’s Secret model or own a mansion, but they do look for certain types of girls.

Men do not like nagging women, and to be fair, nobody does. It really upsets me when somebody is constantly pointing out my mistakes and flaws. Don’t be that complaining person that can do nothing but demand and complain.

If something went wrong today, just move along and keep a positive mindset. Tomorrow might be better. Stop bringing negativity into people’s lives.

If you dropped your ice cream, stop complaining and go get another one. It’s not the end of your life, just move along and smile.

I’ve seen many relationships be torn apart because the woman could not stop nagging, and it literally drove the guy nuts. Please, take things slow. Let your man breathe and have a good life.

The drama-queen is definitely not a good catch either. I’ve heard many of my guy friends complain about how dramatic their girlfriends are.

Little issues can become the end of the world just because the girl is too full of drama and chaos.

A broken nail sucks, and it will take weeks to be perfect again. I get it, we are more sensitive than guys, but there is no need to make a huge deal out of a broken nail.

There will be other problems in your life, bigger problems, and you will have to be able to deal with it.

As a woman, I understand that we do like to expose our feelings and have reassurance, but being overly dramatic about a topic is definitely not the way to go. It will drive people away from you, leaving you with more drama to talk about it.

If you still want to be dramatic, please have your own TV show. I’ll make sure not to watch it.

Guys do not like the overly jealous woman that cannot go a few hours without calling, texting or snap chatting just to ask if the boyfriend is doing well.

You don’t have to know if your man ate tuna salad or a turkey sandwich at this lunch break. A little privacy, please?

If you need to be checking on your man every hour to make sure he is not with another girl, I suggest you leave him and find a better and suitable boyfriend. You do not need this stress in your life.

If you do not trust him, then why be in a relationship with him at all? Don’t be intimidated by his girl friends; he is with you because he wants to be with you. Grow some faith.

The calorie-crazy women will make any guy run in a week, or even less. There’s nothing worse than the food crazy person that cannot stop talking about protein, calories, fat, carbohydrates, etc.

If you want to be crazy about calories, then maybe you should marry a nutritionist, because no guy would be willing to put up with this food craziness.

Guys are simple but expect confidence, intelligence, spontaneousness, playfulness and honesty from his woman.

A version of this article was published at The Vista 

Trapped in your dream?

Were you trapped in a dream before? Did you try to wake up, but suddenly your body was immobile?

It is a nightmare. Your mind is awake but your body is still sleeping.

You can try wiggling your toes, fingers or try to make funny faces, but you just can’t wake up.

Many people have shared their terrifying experience, and for most of them it feels like they woke up dead.

Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon in which a person is either falling asleep or waking up, and has a temporary inability to move their body, speak or react.

“Most patients say the same thing to describe sleep paralysis: that it feels like you woke up dead. You know that your mind is awake and your body is not — so you’re trapped, essentially,” said Michael Breus, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

“It is often accompanied by terrifying hallucinations, such as an intruder in the room, to which one is unable to react due to paralysis, and physical experiences, such as strong current running through the upper body. One hypothesis is that it results from disrupted REM sleep, which normally induces complete muscle atonia to prevent sleepers from acting out their dreams. Sleep paralysis has been linked to disorders such as narcolepsy, migraines, anxiety disorders, and obstructive sleep apnea; however, it can also occur in isolation,” quoted Wikipedia.

For centuries, people tried to figured out this unexplainable dream, blaming witches, religions, UFO’s and even ghosts. However, nobody could find the reason for sleep paralysis.

The first observation was made in 1664 by a Dutch physician who diagnosed a woman with “Night-mare.”

It was believed to be caused by demons or spiritual possessions until the 19th Century, when the term “sleep palsy” became known in medical texts.

There’s no definitive cause for such a thing, but depression, stress and even genes have been linked to sleep paralysis.

“Hypnagogic and hypnopompic visions and hearing a demonic voice when resistance is attempted are symptoms commonly experienced during episodes of sleep paralysis. Some scientists have proposed this condition as an explanation for reports of ghost parasites and alien visits. Some suggest that reports of extraterrestrial involvements are related to sleep paralysis rather than to temporal lobe lability. There are three main types of these visions that can be linked to pathologic neurophysiology; including the belief that there is an intruder in the room, the incubus, and vestibular motor sensations,” quoted Wikipedia.

Episodes can last from a couple minutes to hours, leading the individual to suffer a living nightmare.

I experienced sleep paralysis before, and I can tell how traumatizing it was. No matter how hard I tried to move my body, or control my movements, I felt like somebody was pushing me down, tying me and holding my arms and legs.

I felt distraught and worthless. I could hear an evil voice and a force stronger than my body, holding myself tied to the bed.

I wanted to wake up. I wanted to move, but the only thing I could do was remain still.

Reasons why bacon is good for you

I’m tired of hearing how bad bacon is for you, how fatty it is and how obese you’ll get if you are a bacon lover.

I understand that 68 percent of the calories in bacon are from fat, and that each ounce of bacon has has over 30 milligrams of cholesterol, but can bacon be good for your health? I think so.

I believe all things can be good if taken in moderation, so I decided to focus on the positive side of bacon. Come on, it’s bacon.

Bacon has a lot of proteins, especially the ones valuable to maintain our energy levels and keep our body functioning. Impressive enough, fat is actually very healthy for us.

I know many fighters that go on a diet where they eat zero carbohydrates, and eat all kinds of fat, including eggs, bacon, chicken, etc. Sounds like a diet that I can keep up with.

“The fats in bacon are about 50 percent monounsaturated and a large part of those is oleic acid. This is the same fatty acid that olive oil is praised for and generally considered “heart-healthy.” I personally wouldn’t worry about it much, especially if you’re already avoiding vegetable oils, which are the biggest sources of Omega-6 in the diet,” said Kris Gunnars, reporter from Authority Nutrition.

Bacon helps increase our intelligence and memory through choline, a very vital nutrient. Research shows that bacon can help individuals debilitate effects of Alzhelmer’s Disease and other chronic mental impairments.

Maybe eating bacon before your final exam isn’t a bad idea after all.

Let’s take a look of what 100-grams of cooked bacon contains, according to Authority Nutrition:

• 37 grams of high quality animal protein.
• a lot of vitamins such as B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and B12.
• 89 percent of the RDA for Selenium.
• 53 percent of the RDA for Phosphorus.
• Decent amounts of the minerals iron, magnesium, zinc and potassium.

Remember: too much is bad, but too little can be worse.

Bacon has been loved worldwide by people of all walks of life, and according to them, bacon makes you feel happy, satisfied, blissful and helps you relieve stress. It relieves the negative effects of life and gives great joy.

In a late research by Maple Leaf People, 43 percent of the Canadian recipients choose bacon over sex, and 23 percent wondered if their partners loved them more than bacon. Yes, I said it, and you shouldn’t be surprised with the results.

Bacon has essential vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamin B1, Vitamin B3, Vitamin b12, Zinc, Magnesium and the list goes on. With that said, don’t make bacon your diet, but understand that everything can be healthy when there’s moderation. Bacon is very nutritious, and help us maintain a good quality of life.

Next time you hear about bacon giving you heart disease, please, educate these people. Several studies have shown that the Omega-3 Fatty Acids and choline found in bacon can protect the heart from developing problems.

Advice: Make sure to cook enough in order to kill pathogens, and try buying bacon from local farmers that use traditional processing methods.

Besides that, have fun and delight yourself with some super scrumptious bacon.

A version of this was published at The Vista.

Dangerous selfies lead to tragedy

Getting together with your friends, focusing on a tiny screen and recording a memory for life is what this generation is about.

Selfies are the new trend, and they are here to stay.

For those who don’t know, selfies are photographs that someone had taken of their self,  typically with a smartphone or webcam. They are often shared in social media with the intention of receiving a lot of encouragement and likes.

If you want to get popular, taking selfies might be the right way to do just that.

Can selfies be dangerous?

Teens are getting more creative when it comes to art and photos, and they are looking for unique places to capture the right photos.

Tragedy is happening and we need to aware that these teens to find safer locations for photos.

On May, a Romanian teenager burst into flames after accidentally touching a live wire while attempting to get an incredible selfie on the roof of a train.

Her friend, Anna Urse, 18, said it was all a plan to get the perfect photo for her Facebook account. According to Urse, she was laying on top of a train when one of her legs got stuck in the air, and an electrical field surrounding the overhead cables sent 27,000 volts surging through her body.

The teenager died in the hospital with burns to 50 percent of her body.

“Some selfies are increasingly cutting lives short. The number of accidents while people were taking selfies has been growing constantly. People are looking for new perspectives and unforgettable places; they are taking risks and they are forgetting that great photos can be done in a safe environment,” said the Russian’s Interior Ministry.

Xenia Ignatyeva, 18, a keen amateur photographer, had a great passion for taking pictures of herself with a camera she bought at the end of 2013. But little did she know, her passion was leading her to a fatal accident.

The teen plunged 30 feet to her death as she climbed onto a railway bridge for a selfie, and was electrocuted as she tried to grab live wires.

When you think it can’t get worse, it does. Unfortunately these are not the only stories of selfies that led to untimely deaths.

A bride-to-be was killed in a fatal car accidentally after taking a selfie on the way to her bachelorette party, a women fell to her death while taking selfies on a first date and a teen died after falling from the bathroom door while attempting to take a photo for the #SelfieOlympics.

We need to speak wisdom for teens that are willing to do anything to have fun. We understand teenagers, we have been there, but risking your life for a photo isn’t the way to go.

Some selfie lovers say that if there’s no risk, there’s no champagne. They promote dangerous actions and the great reward for it, some saying they are willing to do that in order to gain attention, reported CNN Kellie Morgan.

Be more cautions of your actions. Your life has more value than a simple photo.

Please avoid: Selfies with wild animals, portraits from high buildings, photos taken from cliff edges and selfies with moving trains.

Don’t let that incredible photo be the last memory you ever make.

A version of this was posted at The Vista.