Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in The Swamp.
Alyssa Milano's Sex Strike
After the introduction of a so-called "heart beat bill" in the US state of Georgia that would prohibit women from having an abortion as soon as a fetus has a heartbeat, pro-choice folks are rightly upset. This is a move that would restrict women from getting an abortion after a time period when a women might not even realize she is pregnant. This latest move by a Republican-led state government reflects a growing war against abortion by other "Red States." If there is one thing that Republicans don't seem to like, it's the freedom to have an abortion.
By Chris Hearn7 years ago in The Swamp
Why I Won't Vote in Today's Elections
It's that time of the year again, where in around 60 million registered Filipino voters will go to the voting precincts, and vote for their preferred candidates for seats in the Senate, the House of Representatives, and also local government positions such as Mayors, Vice Mayors, and Councillors. 2019 is the third year of Rodrigo Duterte's term after he was elected in 2016, promising to curb the rampant criminality, corruption, and prevalence of drugs. Filipinos still retain a great amount of trust in him despite all the controversies he, his allies, and even some of his family members were embroiled in as showed by the latest polls from the Social Weather Survey, wherein Duterte enjoyed a satisfaction rating of around 79 percent during the first quarter of the year. With this, the battle between the candidates from the Administration (those in the Hugpong ng Pagbabago and PDP-Laban coalition) and the candidates from Otso Diretso (Liberal Party slate) and other senatorial bets from the Opposition are getting deeper, and more heated. This battle takes on many different fronts, from senatorial debates hosted by the Philippines' biggest television networks, to social media posts, and candidates from both sides devised different kinds of strategies, and gimmicks to capture the attention, as well as the hearts and minds, of the voting public. This election will also be the first time that members of the Gen Z population, those born in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, will be able to demonstrate their power in making their voice heard in perhaps one of the most divisive, and debated elections in history. Everything is up for grabs in this election, which at first doesn't seem to show importance at first glance. Everyone, from former Senators, lawyers, civil society leaders, and re-electionists to sons and daughters of former politicians, and even a doctor famous on social media named Dr. Willie Ong is testing their luck to gain the privilege to be among the members of one of the most powerful bodies in the Philippine government. Every Filipino is also picking their bets on this elections, citing their various reasons from candidates' credentials, and past accomplishments to the perceived charm, and kindness a senatorial candidate possesses. Nonetheless, the 2019 midterm elections is the talk of the town. Despite my constant activity when it comes to politics, and also the power that new and young voters are now willing to wield, on May 13, I will choose not to vote in today's elections, no matter how historical its importance could be.
By Jakeson Eudela7 years ago in The Swamp
The 19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment is one of the most progressive, and historic amendments to our Constitution. Before the reversal of democrats and republicans, the Republican party was progressive enough to detail a woman’s right to vote. A huge step forward, the infamous Women’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Two years later there was a nationwide meeting in Worcester, Mass. In 1870, the Massachusetts Republican State Convention showed off two suffragettes, named Lucy Stone, and Mary A. Livermore as the main delegates. Even the National Republican Convention of 1872, had to approve a resolution favoring the admission of women to “wider fields of usefulness.”
By Iria Vasquez-Paez7 years ago in The Swamp
Fentanyl–Use vs Abuse
The National Institute of Health recorded 9,580 deaths related to Fentanyl use in 2015, and projected it to go higher in the next few years. In 2017, Fentanyl had become the most widely used synthetic opioid in medicine. Fentanyl is so potent that it is measured to be anywhere between 50 to 1,000 times stronger than morphine. It has been illegally used to cut heroin, and prescribed for non-cancer pain. The drug, Fentanyl, has a narrow therapeutic index,, which suggest it has a higher risk of death than most drugs.
By Alex Hernandez7 years ago in The Swamp
Reason First: Strike Against Alyssa Milano's Strike
In the Lysistrata yarn by Greek playwright Aristophanes, women withhold sexual congress until the men in the Peloponnesian War lay down their arms. In the centuries since this play saw action on the stage, the dramatic has become the actual... to an extent.
By Skyler Saunders7 years ago in The Swamp
American Detainees in North Korea
North Korea has been known for their infamous concentration and labor camps. Many people have been captured for numerous illegal activities, but a lot of people are unaware of how many United State citizens have been captured. Many people have lost their lives due to the harsh conditions.
By Jasmine Mason7 years ago in The Swamp
Fall of the Soviet Union
The USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a socialist alliance that existed from 1922 to 1991. The union was a group of Soviet Republics where the economy and government were highly centralized. The country was governed by a one-party state, the Communist Party, with Moscow as its Capital. Their motto was “Workers of the world, unite.”
By Jacob Nelson7 years ago in The Swamp
Southern Pride, My Ass
While in Minnesota last week, I found myself at a crossroads once again. I was scheduled for an orientation for a truck driver job, along with four other truckers. Of the five of us, I was the only Black person; no females in attendance.
By Sharieff Massey7 years ago in The Swamp
9 Bisexual Activists You Should Know About
Diane Anderson-Minshall works for Here Media, the country's biggest LGBTQ+ media company where she is the executive editor of The Advocate magazine, editor in chief of HIV Plus, and editorial director of Chill Magazine. Her writing has appeared in numerous books and online publications. Her memoir Queerly Beloved: A Love Story Across Genders is about her relationship with her trans husband and how they navigated his transition and the new dynamics of they're relationship. Much of her writing centers around LGBTQ+ issues/relationships. June Jordan was a poet, activist, journalist, essayist, teacher, and a civil rights activist, feminist, antiwar and gay and lesbian rights activist. June talked about her sexuality in her writing many times. "Bisexuality means I am free, and I am as likely to want to love a woman as I am likely to want to love a man, and what about that? Isn't that what freedom implies?" In terms of LGBTQ+ issues, she used her platform to talk about internalized biphobia within and the LGBTQ+ community and being LGBTQ+ as a person of color in the '60s and '70s. She died in 2002 of breast cancer. Jason Jones is responsible for Trinidad and Tobago's overturn of its same-sex intimacy ban. He challenged the rule in the highest court in the country and gained an important win for LGBTQ+ Trinidadians and for the broader LGBTQ+ movement. Jason has been an activist for 28 years in both Trinidad and Tobago and the UK. He received over 50 death threats and lots of harassment and slurs from native Trinidadians, specifically men. He plans on taking his fight to the Caribbean where there are little LGBTQ+ rights or movements. Robyn Ochs crafted a definition of bisexuality many use to describe themselves, "I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge in myself the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one gender, not necessarily at the same time, in the same way, or to the same degree." Robyn is from San Antonio and is one of the biggest and most recognizable names in the fight for Bi visibility and LGBTQ+ rights and education. She is the editor of Bi Women Quarterly and two books: the 42-country collection Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World and RECOGNIZE: The Voices of Bisexual Men. She speaks at numerous events on topics like LGBTQ+ history, questions and stigma surrounding bisexuality and how to be an ally to the larger LGBTQ+ community, and helps up and coming LBGTQ+ politicians. Cece Mcdonald is a trans woman who gained notoriety in the LGBTQ+ community after she received 19 months in a men's correctional facility for second-degree manslaughter. After leaving a bar with her friends they passed by at least four people yelling racist, homophobic, and transphobic slurs at them, and one of them broke a bottle across her face, cutting her. When she tried to run away a man followed her when she grabbed a pair of scissors from her purse, he was stabbed during the struggle. Cece and her friends were the victims of a white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime. Cece's story became even more popular after famous trans actor, and activist Laverne Cox created a documentary FREE CeCe, about the attack and the unfair treatment of Cece in the courts. Since being released on January 18, 2014, Cece co-founded Black Excellence Collection and Tour when she and others talk about mass incarceration, sexuality, violence, and the struggle of being both black and trans in today's society and political climate. Fritz Klien is known for the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid, a system of measuring the complexity and fluidity of one's sexuality by rating your sexual attractions, fantasies, emotional preference, social preference, lifestyle and self-identification from 1-6 as they relate to your past, present, and ideal future. He concluded these factors change from person to person over time in groups fo straight to gay to bi and that people generalize a whole sexuality based on their experience of it. He tirelessly educated others about bi stigma and issues, and a was an incredible asset to the community. He wrote numerous books on LGBTQ+ subjects like The Bisexual Opinion and Bisexuality and Transgenderism: InterSEXions of the Others (this was when it was called the gay and lesbian rights movement). He also started the American Institute of Bisexuality and the Bisexual Forum in New York. Wendy Curry, a bi and animal rescue activist, and her friends Michael Page and Gigi Raven Wilbur, came together are responsible for Bisexual Visibility Day or September 23. Wendy says the idea came when they were sitting around venting at an annual bi convention when Gigi Raven suggested they have a party: "We all loved the great bisexual, Freddie Mercury. His birthday was in September, so why not Sept? We wanted a weekend day to ensure the most people would do something. Gigi's birthday was September 23. It fell on a weekend day, so poof! We had a day." Bi visibility day is now celebrated worldwide and used to bring visibility to bisexuals around the world. Now she is the president of BiNet USA, the oldest national bisexual support network in the United States were she was previously vice president and secretary. Brenda Howard is known as the mother of pride. A year after the revolutionary Stonewall riots marked the beginning of the liberation movement, she organized the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, the first pride parade in the world. Her efforts encouraged other cities and countries to hold similar events still taking place today. She was also active in the fight against the Vietnam war and the feminist movement. In the 970s, she chaired the Gay Activists Alliance, she successfully lobbied for LGBT rights laws in New York City, in 1987, she co-founded the New York Area Bisexual Network, as well as opened the first chapter of AA specifically for bi people, and participated in rallies and events for people living with HIV/AIDS. Brenda was a huge figure during the liberation movement and helped created a space for bisexual people when most were focused on gay men and lesbians. She dies in 2005 of colon cancer. Stephen Donaldson was an LGBTQ+ and prison reform activist. He's rarely recognized for what he's done for the community, probably due to his numerous arrests and eccentric behavior. He began the country's first student gay rights group at Columbia University in 1967, before the liberation movement. He was the first sailor to contest a discharge for homosexual conduct after a letter he sent talking about his sexual experiences with both men and women to his former shipmate was stolen and turned into the Naval Investigative Service. He was a significant figure in normalizing and including bisexuality within the liberation movement. He was heavily involved in the New York bisexual movement in the mid-70s. He died in 1996 of AIDS.
By Sarah Eubanks7 years ago in The Swamp
The Cults of Brexit: Leave VS Remain - A Battle of the Antagonists
I am completely and utterly fed up with Brexit, you might be as well. But it seems as though the savage Leave and Remain armies, that do battle daily, have become stuck in a kind of ideological trench warfare, with neither side willing to budge an inch. None of the participants involved in the Brexit debate will submit to the will of the other, a massive democratic decision is being rolled back, and each side is looking more and more like fascist generals squaring off their infantrymen and preparing for death or glory.
By Johnny Vedmore7 years ago in The Swamp
