That International Student from Kosovo

  Is Fast Food the New Tobacco? Should the obesity issue be government regulated or remain personal responsibility?   Obesity is quite a complicated issue and, when it comes to similar problems, I always find it hard to give my opinion because there is always so much prejudice and preconception on those subjects. I grew up in a generation where we lift each other up and we are all about acceptance. For example, in the past few years there has been an incredible and informative movement of body positivity emerging throughout social media so, as I learn more about obesity and its diverseness now, I find it even more difficult to address it. However, one thing I know is not right is to “glorify” obesity. Like Dr. Garth Davis states on the What The Health (2017) documentary, “this movement to be comfortable with our bodies has made us comfortable with being sick.” (9:48) Obesity puts people in high health risk, especially because it is related to chronic conditions, so it is nev...

Is Pop Culture Good For You? When I think of pop culture for some reason my brain immediately takes me to MTV . I was six years old when I was introduced to the magic of the entertainment world, and that moment had a lasting effect on my life. In the following years, pop culture greatly influenced my journey in music and my vision as a storyteller, and its impact has my attention to this day. I have realized that I am not the only one who notices this strong correlation between pop culture and the entertainment industry; if you go on YouTube and search "Pop Culture", it will mainly show you videos of celebrities and clips from their interviews that are either funny or the opposite.  However, since there is this evident connection between pop culture and entertainment, people are prone to not take pop culture seriously - or worse, show contempt for it. And with social media added to the mix - especially with its influence during the last few years - many people link pop cultur...

My Literacy Journey To tell you the truth, I have the memory of a goldfish. My childhood memories come to my mind in tiny fragments to never complete a whole scenario. However, I do remember very clearly the way I felt in those certain situations, and in each of those moments I learned things that I have kept with me until today. One significant aspect of my early childhood memories, which I remember vividly, was  the demand to learn . I don’t know if this is a part of American child-parent relationships, but it is definitely a part of Kosovar ones... When you live in a post-war country like Kosovo, education always comes first. That “demand” or “pressure” that I mentioned earlier was something that I certainly did NOT enjoy when I was 4-5 years old, but now I can look at it from a different perspective and honor my parents’ actions. I was born right after the war ended, so my parents were doing their best to offer me a proper education while the whole country was bei...