Intersections (Spring 2025)

       Since I was a I child I’ve always been told to eat my vegetables, but it wasn’t until now that I understood why a well-balanced diet is important. My experiences with poor nutrition have had a significant influence on my mental health. And even today as a someone who lives in a Hispanic household with traditional meals and the snacks in the pantry that don’t follow the Healthy Eating Pyramid, and in college unable to provide a “good” diet for myself struggles with the influence of a poor diet. The first time I experienced the effects of a poor diet was in 2023 when I decided to start going to the gym and eat healthier because for many years I struggled with my mental health. I believe I was consistent for almost that entire year, I noticed I had a lot more energy, my skin was a lot clearer, caffeine intake lowered, and overall, just felt better about myself which improved my mental health.  It wasn’t until later that year when I took on more responsibil...

  Are Dating Apps and Online Dating Sites Making Modern Dating Worse?          Imagine it’s your eighteenth birthday… you find yourself wondering what opportunities are out there for you now that you’re a legal adult. You were just listening to a friend who also recently turned eighteen talk about someone they just met on a dating app, so you think to yourself, “why not?” and download a dating app yourself. However many minutes pass by and you finish setting up your profile, and once you feel satisfied with your work, you begin swiping. Excited about this new dating journey, you match with a few people and suddenly get a direct message from one of your matches. Curious, you open the message only to be met with an unsolicited photograph. Shocked and disgusted, you immediately close the app and delete it from your smartphone. This interaction leads you to avoid dating apps for the rest of your life.  Modern dating apps and online dati...

The Effectiveness of Cancel Culture

Credit: Victor_Brave Shining a Light on a Silent Struggle and Building a Path Toward Healing Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is often and unfortunately a misunderstood behavior due to its complexity. Society has made significant progress in understanding the populist’s mental health, but sadly, misconceptions and stigmas surrounding self-harm persist. Which can lead to lackluster support for those who are struggling with NSSI. This Cover Letter is looking to clarify the myths surrounding NSSI with evidence-based insights. Promoting awareness and compassion.   Misconception 1 : Self-Harm is Attention Seeking. One of the most persistent myths around those who engage with self-harm is that it is done solely for the purpose of gaining their peer's attention. Stephen P. Lewis, et al. states in They Just Don’t Get It: A Qualitative Study on Perceptions of Anticipated Self-Injury Stigma across Generations,  page 1 , “ Overall, our results indicate that all age-groups aske...

  Shadows of the Past: Sonic Adventure 2 vs Sonic x Shadow Generations Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most recognizable characters in modern video game media, coming close to Nintendo’s Mario. This positive outbreak continues to grow, influencing the production of merchandise, movies, and specifically games. Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 were the start of Sega’s big break in popularity. And as of recently, games like Sonic X Shadow Generations closely retell the story of Sonic Adventure 2, further continuing the story with  a  different perspective on the tale that Sega fans are used to. Which begs the question, “Which one is better?” Modern or Original? 

  Tradwife Influencing and Its Harmful Similarities to the 50’s Housewife             A woman. She serves dinner to her family with a smile on her face. She cooks, cleans, and tends to the children while her husband goes to work to bring home the daily bread- a classic advertisement pasted on magazines and newspapers throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Or is it the depiction of a modern woman? The perfect, American, nuclear family. But the reality is not so well-hidden.. My US History teacher liked to introduce us to songs that are reflective of the era she is teaching. One song in particular stood out to me. “Mother's Little Helper” by the Rolling Stones, released in 1966, highlights the realities of being a stay-at-home mother in that era. Since those times, the Feminist movement has pushed this lifestyle aside, encouraging the working woman. In modern times, the average American family consists of two working parent...

 “What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not, my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. ’’ -  Nicholas G. Carr The beginning of the internet started in 1969 known as ‘’ARPANET’’ which was originally intended as a way to potentially connect computers nationwide. Before the invention of the worldwide internet, the internet was not so easy to browse. Until Tim Berners-Lee who not only invented the worldwide internet, but he is best known for the creation of a URL system, and the ‘https’’ as a way for computers to communicate with servers. This was a huge milestone as it allowed people to surf the internet for information, academic, and entertainment purposes. The world was changing at a rapid pace, and by the end of 2005 Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Skype, YouTube, and Wikipedia are one of the most iconic platform...

  Adamary Lopez Professor Montoya English 102 24 April 2025 What are the psychological motivations behind someone committing murder? Murder is one of the worst things someone can do, but calling someone “evil” doesn’t tell the whole story. What pushes a person to kill often comes from something deeper, something psychological. In many cases, murder isn’t random or impulsive, it’s the result of long term emotional, mental, or environmental influences. Throughout my research, I found out that most murderers don’t just snap one day. In this article, I’ll explore some of the most common psychological factors that lead to murder, including mental illness, childhood trauma, thrill seeking, power struggles, revenge, and emotional breakdowns. Mental illness is often linked to violent behavior, but not everyone with a mental health condition becomes dangerous. One disorder that stands out in murder cases is antisocial personality disorder, where the person lacks empathy or guilt...

                                                            This nation, since the beginning, has always been built by immigrants. Currently in the political state of our country, there’s an ongoing debate over immigration and immigrants. Growing up, I learned about my own community’s experiences and watched the way immigrants, especially from Mexico are treated, I started to question, how can a country built by immigrants also be a place where so immigrants are rejected, feared, or pushed aside? Over the years, the country has passed harsh laws, carried out mass deportations, and treated people as outsiders, despite their important contributions to American life. Not all immigrants have the same immigration status. Those who come to the U.S. through legal pathways with visas, green cards, or refugee status,...