HIV/AIDS

Our story is about a child, who's name is unknown, but was born two years ago with HIV and is now free of the virus. The doctors have not released the name or sex of the child due to protect the baby. The baby is now two and a half years old and is free of the HIV virus and doesn't need to take medicine. Dr. Hannah Gay is the doctor who cared for the child. She was cared for at the University of Mississippi medical center. The baby is cured but its called a "functional cure." That means that after the treatments, they gave the child standard tests and it tested negative but it is possible that the baby may still have some tiny amounts left in their body. Dr. Hannah says, "Now, after at least one year of taking no medicine, this child's blood remains free of virus even on the most sensitive tests available." The baby was at very high risk and doctors are hoping that this approach could lead to the same outcome for other high-risk babies. One main place this is happening is in sub-Saharan Africa. There is around 387,500 kids in Africa who are 14 and under that were getting antiretroviral therapy in 2010. Many of these children were born with the infection. Almost 2 million more children of the same age in this same region are in need of these drugs. In a lot of these cases in Africa, the mother is unaware that she has the virus herself until she tests herself after giving birth. Once she gives birth and finds out she has the virus, she most likely has already passed it on to her new born. During pregnancy there is drugs that the mother can take to reduce risks of the baby having the infection. But since most mothers don't know that they are HIV positive, it then increases the amount of babies that are born with the infection. There is drugs that the new born babies can take to try and get rid of the virus at the early stage but it isn't always guaranteed to get rid of it. So the event that's happening is that mothers in this region are unaware that they are infected with the disease and then pass it on to new borns which is what makes the number of people and children who have it so high. It keeps getting passed onto one another and they don't even know until they are tested. 

For Future Generations

We've been talking about some pretty serious stuff in school, and I'm encouraged to get engaged by writing a blog on some of the topics. I've tried my hardest for this to represent my honest opinion accurately and appropriately. Our world shapes its citizens to be workers in our society. We're all shaped out to rush to be better and be forced to do well, to always do what we're told, to take orders. But that's where our world goes wrong, has always gone wrong. As Emerson's "The American Scholar" shows, this has been the case for quite a long time now. 

Instead of telling kids what to do and feeding them things they may never need, how about we shape the future generation based on what they are good at? Maybe some kids excel in one subject, but do poor in another. Yes, I understand kids need the basics, preschool through eighth grade is basic, but high school should be full of real choices, choices made by you. Choices that affect YOUR future. 

High school should be full of things you like, things you're good at, things you want to do. Looking around at the kids in this class, I no longer see kids, I see futures. I see authors, salesmen, business people, managers, artists, journalists, news workers, most importantly hard workers, I see students that deserve more. I like this idea of someone like me and any other average teenager making differences. We need to sing to the world until the world starts dancing.

Birthday Confliction

In 19 days, I'll turn sixteen years old. And all I've been doing is contemplating on even wanting to turn 16 because it'll mean another step of growing older and growing responsibility. Do I want to take on even more responsibility? I mean i already feel extremely suffocated with everything going on in my social and school life right now, that do I really want to add on to my own stress and problems with more things to worry about. My mind i always all over and I can never even concentrate anymore. Being young your supposed ti have fun and enjoy every inch of your existence on this cruel earth, but instead I feel cluttered, like I need to run away from things for only a little while just so I can clear my head. I'm just so tired of everything and nobody ever listens to me. Thats why I write. A computer and a keyboard will always be there to listen. Writing sets me free. 

High School

I like the idea of being able to roam free, not getting assigned certain assignments and saying this is due this day. It's a major change for me. All of my life and probably all of yours as well, the teachers have all been the same, they tell you they care when they don't, they throw a stack of papers on your desk and say this is due tomorrow. But here and now it's much more different. I'll be honest I don't cope well with change, if you go along with something for so long and it's never been different, you've known it that way for as long as you can remember and then someone just goes and changes the way it's done. It does scare me, and maybe that’s not good thing. The thought of growing older and gaining this freedom that we've gained in this school as you rise on the high school food chain, as your future that you've always dreamt of comes to life. But it's so much more complex then you've ever imagined. When I was a little girl, I dreamt of these days, you watched the movies of the pretty girl that was the cheerleading captain and dressed like a model to school, with the football captain boyfriend. But it's so much more than that, all that stuff is made up and you never knew, I never knew. You thought this would be a piece of cake, but this journey you embark on is real. You need to prepare yourself and you were never told that, but here I am, telling you that. Now these things I dreamt of are honestly my worst fears, growing up from the little girl I was isn't easy and it never has been, but I learned at a young age, life is short and life is hard. You need to make your decisions based on the long run not based on the moment and you need to mature out as soon as you can, the world won't deal with your immaturity the way your parents do. And by the tenth grade, some people just haven't figured that out yet, those are the people I feel sorry for. Those kids with the fake outlook, the ones that see high school as you do in the movies. You’re going to mess up and things won't always be perfect, but you need to make the best of a situation and be ready to walk the long winding road. So take it from me, you better lace up.

Overthinking

So, were actually supposed to start using this thing. The thought of writing anything about my personal life for display on the internet, where the world can see, doesn't cradle my thoughts well. It makes my stomach turn in nerves. I'm not a shy person, never have been. But people are quick to judge. Especially if you don't know them. Well, judge this, Someone you thought was the one keeping you safe, keeping you grounded and sane, drifts far. Without a single word, friends will come and go. Family is forever and boyfriends and girlfriends will stray… always. You will always loose someone or something you love, and there is no preventing that. Sorry for going all philosopher all the time, but what else is there for you to learn from me? Why not tell everyone about the stupid mistakes I make so you can prevent yourself from doing the same? You can prevent yourselves from the hurt others have bared by just reading. I wish someone would have done the same for me. 

Opportunity Knocking

Hi, my name is Ashley. I'm a tenth grade student at Lakewood High School. I'm not on here to pretend I have this awesome life to blog about, cause I really don't. I'm an average teenager, one small person in a one big world just like most of you. The only difference is I've been given this opportunity, I've been handed this "microphone" of sorts, this microphone that could speak to tons of people that I could impact. There's only one problem... When your given something so large, so worldwide, so spread that you could talk to millions of people all over the world, what do you say to them? What information is important or useful enough from an average 15 year old girl? My train of thought was in chaos and I had no clue what I could pass on to those of you, and I guess it finally crashed here. Life is full of surprises, you get opportunities that are just to good to pass up, things like this, what teenager gets such a huge chance to talk to such a huge body of people? When I was told that people from all over could potentially read my blog, my mind went crazy. These opportunities will come and go and its up to you to make the right choice, but life is short and you're not getting any younger! Take risks, get messy, mess up, fix it, learn from it and let it shape who you are! Live your life the way you want to live it! And this may not be the best thing to say, but come on, don't take life too seriously, no one makes it out alive as it is. So forget yesterday, live for today and screw tomorrow, it'll come, but you'll never have another today.

About Me

Hi Earth.