Welcome or welcome back to the Youth Voice Podcast! It's that time of year everyone. Back to school. You're probably either elated, frustrated, or chill about school starting up again, but undoubtedly everyone is adjusting for going back to school amid a global pandemic. For us, school is in person and we are all freaking out!!! There's positives and negatives to this switch authorized by the CDC, but if you are going back to school GET THE VACCINE. Our array of collaborators on this episode digs deep into the shared sentiments of teenagers during this point of the pandemic and going back to school. 

BUT WAIT. We would like to introduce our newest member, Alison, to the Youth Voice Podcast! She will be collaborating on episodes and helping out with research and social media promotion for YVO from now on. Behind the scenes is our other newest member, Tyler! You might remember him as a guest speaker from our combatting AAPI Hate episode, and now he has joined us as an editor, script writer, and will take on other responsibilities. 

Now, all of you are probably aware that YVO activity has been slow, but don't worry! We have A TON OF NEW CHANGES coming your way, so stay tuned for those! 

Thank you to Anu for audio editing and Sharanya for video editing!

Some resources to help :) 

Safety tips for returning to school during COVID-19 - Mayo Clinic

Mental Health Resources for Students and Educators | Maryville Online

20 Tips for Success in School (thoughtco.com)

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~Ben

Welcome or welcome back to the Youth Voice Podcast! We hope you are all having a healthy and safe summer so far! For the month of June, in honor of Pride Month, we decided to center our political episodes about the LGBTQ+ Community. For this episode specifically, we talked about the politics behind LGBTQ+ people, specifically how legislation impacts their day-to-day life. We encourage our viewers to educate themselves on LGBTQ+ issues in the United States and globally, and we left some links below to help you do so!  

Resources:  

CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth.htm

GLAAD: https://www.glaad.org/resourcelist 

Human Rights Campaign: https://www.hrc.org/resources/lgbtq-youth

ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/legislation-affecting-lgbt-rights-across-country 

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Welcome or welcome back to the Youth Voice Podcast! Happy Friday, we made it to the end of the week! For our fellow students watching who finished/are finishing school, have a happy summer! Today's episode was possibly one of our toughest discussions yet because the Israel and Palestine situation is one with deeply rooted history and animosity on both sides. Some brief history for our viewers: Jewish people have been persecuted, oppressed, slaughtered, and displaced ever since the inception of Judaism. The only homeland that was sacred to Judaism was Israel, but in the 19th century it was Ottoman Palestine and had a majority Muslim population, although it was mostly peaceful. When the Holocaust occurred, many Holocaust survivors were denied entry into myriads of countries until the British Mandate, Balfour Declaration, and 1947 Partition of Palestine, whence "Zionism" or Israeli Nationalism was born. After a plethora of wars that broke out between both nations, Israelis established Jewish settlements over Palestinian settlements (many of which were illegal for settlers in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip), leading to large loss of life and infrastructure for Historic Palestine. This became known as the Nakba, a catastrophe for Palestine because over 700,000 Palestinians became refugees in surrounding Arab countries. Meanwhile, Palestine revolted repeatedly against many Jewish settlements with leading attacks coming from extremist organizations such as the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and Hamas that essentially wanted to wipe out Israel completely. The ongoing conflict finally sparked a few peace talks, such as the Oslo Accords and the Camp David Summit, but they were consequently unavailing. Israel continued colonialist expansion until roughly 80% of the land became taken over as a Jewish State, while Palestinians to this day are ignored basic human rights, vital resources, etc. The issue today: Hamas fired over 3,000 rockets into Tel-Aviv and surrounding cities, but Israel was mainly able to shield itself with counter-rockets. In retaliation, Israel bombarded the Gaza strip with bombs and reportedly over 1600 people died. The ratio of children dying on either side is 550:1, Palestine to Israel. Aljazeera, one of the leading media networks in Palestine was bombed too, so these numbers might not fully contain the actual amount of casualties. We had a pretty fluid discussion on the issue, despite its daunting complexity. We had a brilliant guest speaker today, Ida, who was very well-informed about this issue because of her Palestinian roots and having lived in that area. Please make sure to educate yourself, advocate for peace, and share accurate information about this issue. Special thanks to Anu for audio editing and Sharanya for video editing! DO NOT weaponize information like this to be anti-semitic or islamophobic.

BBC: Israel-Gaza violence: The conflict explained - BBC News

More info: Explained: Israel-Palestine-Hamas conflict from beginning (mrunal.org)

Current: The Latest Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Explained | Here & Now (wbur.org)

Get involved: Palestinian Territories | How to Help & FAQs | Doctors Without Borders

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Stay tuned for our next episode!

~Ben

Welcome or welcome back to the Youth Voice Podcast! 

Happy Monday, we hope you have a great week! This week we talked about the devastating Covid-19 surge occurring in India. The surge is very unprecedented and topping the highest case loads since the beginning of the pandemic. Please spread awareness about this issue and help in whatever way possible to relieve the struggling populace in India, it is extremely urgent! 

Stats: India: the latest coronavirus counts, charts and maps (reuters.com)

Unbiased Info: India's gov't eases hospital oxygen shortage as demand jumps (apnews.com)

Lockdown Opinion Piece: India Covid-19: Calls are growing for another national lockdown. That's not realistic - CNN

The Go-Fund-Me Sharanya talked about in the video: Fundraiser for Electro Robotics by Electro Robotics : Help us send Covid-19 relief supplies to India (gofundme.com)

More Donation Resources: https://donate.indiacovidresources.in/ 

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~Ben

Welcome or welcome back to the Youth Voice Podcast! Happy Friday, we made it to the end of the week! Mental health is becoming a pretty prevalent issue at this juncture, or at least it's finally being recognized as a more pressing concern than people thought years ago. We went over A LOT about mental health in today's episode with a very very special guest, Dr. Mykee Fowlin. Learn more about what he does as an educator, poet, actor, psychologist, and inspirational figure, as well as his insights on mental health by tuning in! 

Mental health is such a complex issue, and no one can truly understand what other people go through with mental health on a daily basis, especially because of the stigmatization, racial/cultural pressure, expectations, etc. For all of our listeners out there, know this: 1) You are absolutely NOT alone. 2)  You can always reach out, DM us on IG, email us via our business email, or communicate in some other way. 3) Take breaks and do what eases your mind when stress becomes overbearing, whether that's tuning into a podcast or doing yoga or whatever puts you at peace. Youth Voice Podcast is always here for anything, and if you ever want to have a place to have your voice heard, please reach out to any of our platforms! :)

Educate yourself on the status quo: 

What Is Mental Health? | MentalHealth.gov 

Learn more about what you can do: Mental Health First Aid

Special thanks to Anu for audio editing and Sharanya for video editing! <3

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Stay tuned for next week's episode going out next Friday!

Luv y'all <3

~Ben

Welcome or welcome back to the Youth Voice Podcast! Happy Friday, we made it to the end of the week! We hope you enjoy our 10th episode about Biden's infrastructure plan.  

Educate yourself on the status quo: https://infrastructurereportcard.org/​ 

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Stay tuned for next week's episode going out next Friday!

~Ben

Welcome or welcome back! Today we talked about the Immigration Crisis at the U.S--Mexico border, with the recently seen influx of children as well as migrant women crossing the border for refuge. The epidemic is nothing new, and has been gradually getting worse and worse since the United States Government first declared it a crisis. Most of how the situation came to be can be traced back to widespread violence and organized crime, compounded with the region’s socio-economic instability and poverty. In retrospect, the arrival is a hot mess in terms of organization, and has been disagreed with continuously over the years with how it should be handled in the Obama, Trump, and now Biden era. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are deciding how to handle the situation, where it seems Vice President Harris might take more precedence over the issue. Either way, the topic was the center of today's discussion and insights about the handling of the crisis, and whatnot. Shoutout to Sharanya and Anu for editing! Stay tuned for our next episode on Biden's Infrastructure plan!

Link to learn more and take action: 7 Ways You Can Help Undocumented Immigrants In The US Right Now (globalcitizen.org)

Thank you for watching, don’t forget to share!

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~Ben