Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, August 8, 2017

English language learners join the conversation

Editor's note: The University of Alaska Anchorage and the Anchorage School District partnered for the second year to offer a Summer Academy for English Language Learners in city schools for grades 7-12. For the past four weeks, about 150 multilingual students from across Anchorage have attended UAA for comprehensive writing and math courses while also participating in a university studies class and campus tours to prepare them for their higher education.

These letters were written in a class focused on expressing opinions using an effective argumentative approach. Each student identified a social or community issue he or she felt directly affected him or her, or needed attention. Most letters were written by students who do not speak English as a first language. Several have lived in the United States for only a number of weeks.

Homework load stresses teens

Anchorage School District teachers sometimes give too much homework.

I am going to be a freshman and every night I get five to six hours of sleep. Sometimes at school I get too much homework. Too much homework can cause mental health problems for high school students. That's because they are not getting enough sleep. People are supposed to sleep for seven to eight hours, but don't. This can also cause people to develop depression and stress out.

I was told by a teacher that high-schooler brains don't intend to shut off until midnight. What if you were one of those students not getting enough time to sleep, or to socialize, how would you feel? Pretty bummed, right? So to the teachers out there who always give out too much homework, Don't give out too much homework!

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— Amanda Yang
Anchorage

I will miss academy teachers

I am in the ASD/UAA Summer Academy school. It is good for me because we learn and read and improve our math skills. I love to learn and read. In my past school, some teachers were good, but others were mean to us. Next year I go to East High School, and I am scared about how my teachers might treat me.
My first day at this UAA summer school, I was so quiet because it was new for me. Now, at the end of this program, I love UAA because we learn and it makes us feel happy. I wish now to go to UAA for college. The teachers are good for me.

I will not be happy this last day of summer school, for I will miss all my teachers. Thank for helping us. I wish I could stay in one place.

— Cherly Aitofi
Anchorage

Immigrants strive for better life

I am a senior at Service High School and throughout my high school education I have been paying attention to the worldwide news. In Syria, there are adults and children dying because of their war. On social media, we see children dying because of the lack of food. I feel like nobody is helping. It makes me really furious to see. I also am concerned for the people immigrating to the U.S. to have a better life for themselves and their families. Like my grandmother, who immigrated to the U.S. when she was 20 years old from Mexico; she came to give us a better future. However, not everyone who comes here are criminals, as is often implied by the current administration. That is to say, not everyone who comes to America is a bad person. People make their own choices, just like everyone else. Crossing the border is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, it is very dangerous. You have to put yourself in their shoes, because if we were ever in trouble, wouldn't we want help, too?

Therefore, we should try to help the Syrians, and people like my grandmother who are immigrating to this country, and by welcoming them to the land that we call home.

— Vanessa Jimenez
Anchorage

Shut down dog meat festival

My name is Daniela Ramos-Vazquez, a senior at Service High School. I love animals, and they are a very important part of my life. Since the age of two, I've practically shared my whole life with my dogs. So when I see on social media an animal suffer in any way, it makes me furious. I would hate to see my dogs experience that type of cruelty. I'm just going to lay down some hard core facts about the dog markets in Asia.

Let's talk about the poor dogs being skinned alive or beaten to death in public before being turned into meat and sold on the street in Asian marketplaces. A petition to ban China's annual Yulin Dog Festival has gathered 2.5 million signatures, but local government officials say it's organized by private businesses and they are unable to prevent it. Imagine your dog being skinned alive right in front of your face, yelping and struggling trying to get out because of how painful the knives are — cutting through their skins. If you look up Yulin Dog Festival, you are going to find very explicit and horrifying pictures of dogs being tortured, fried and cut up.

Dogs are similar to toddlers: All they want to do is play, sleep and be taken care of. Many dogs are stolen from their owners and bred to make more dogs to eat. Imagine coming home one day and your pet is gone, then you come across the Yulin Festival pictures on the web in hopes of finding a post about a lost animal, but then you zoom in and see your pet … being deep fried, and you can see the tears and pain in their eyes. I don't know about you, but I'd be in tears.

In 2015, the organization found 20 percent fewer dogs were killed for the Yulin event, but I feel like no one is helping enough, we need more petitions, more protests. The animals cannot speak, so we are their voice. It isn't even an ancient Chinese tradition. It started around 2009, telling people it will bring good luck if you eat dog meat. If we all work together we can decrease and even shut the markets down by signing the petition at Change.org. Just go to the site and search for "Shut Down Yulin Dog Meat Festival." You can help all of those poor helpless animals suffering in those cruel revolting markets.

— Daniela Ramos
Anchorage

Humans are caretakers of Earth

There's this issue that I've been seeing a few times and it's starting to bother me. I've been witnessing a lot of people who have poorly impacted the environment. This has to stop because human impacts have a lot to do with harming ourselves and other living organisms. Pollution and litter are most common because they affect most biotic organisms. The burning of fossil fuels can pollute the air we breathe and could damage our lungs. I've seen forest fires when I'm watching the news and I think this is a problem for wild animals. About 60 percent of forest fires are caused by humans. Forest fires are capable of destroying homes of animals and could kill more biotic life. The carbon dioxide that is released by fire can also harm humans. Building construction causes much harm to the environment, also. Even though builders want to improve human life, they don't know how much they' re destroying this planet with their work.

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I've see the way humans purposely and accidentally harm the environment. People should stop and start thinking about how all living organisms are harmed by selfish people. People can start helping the environment by switching to renewable energy other than greenhouse gases. This will stop the pollution from surrounding the air. Renewable energy is cleaner and reusable. Start picking up trash you see, even if you're not responsible for it. If plants are destroyed, we should plant new ones. If we try to do all these things, we could have a strong impact on our environment and perhaps save our planet.

— Denielle Doctolero
Anchorage

Misuse of social media is risky

I'm a student who goes to a school where a lot of students use social media at the wrong times. Even I myself find it difficult not to use social networks in classrooms. I believe social media has a negative impact on other students because it is distracting them from learning when they text in classrooms. It might be a waste of time too. In addition, the misuse of social media could cost someone their life. For example, someone who got bullied online might decide to kill themselves and commit suicide. In the United States, 4,500 kids commit suicide each year and more kids think about committing suicide. On CyberBully Hotline it says, "Cognitive research shows that the human brain does not attain full cognitive and reasoning capabilities until the age of 21-24, the child lacks the mental maturity and support network needed to resist the onslaught of bullying and harassment that can come with access to social media." We already know social media has a lot of benefits, but its misuse could cause damages and affect the younger generation in the future.

Adults need to talk to teenagers and make them understand that cyberbullying is a serious problem. Teens should know how to deal with it. We need to take an action now; otherwise more young people might decide to take their own lives to end this online social harassment.

— Asma Akal
Anchorage

Together we can end hunger

No one should go hungry. I really care about the world. As a young student who goes to Bartlett High School, I wonder why the United States exports more food than any other country in the world. The fact that many kids in the U.S. go to bed with an empty stomach makes me sad.

I am writing about hunger to try to help people suffering from starvation and poverty. This is especially relevant to our community. As you get closer to the Mountain View Library, you will see people who have no place to live, sleep, or even something to eat. I see these people when I pass them in the morning when I go to my ASD/UAA summer classes. When I see them, it touches my heart. In fact, I want to be a social worker and help this population of people.

According to the Alaska Dispatch News, "During summer in Alaska, 36,000 children lose access to the free and reduced-price meals that they receive during the school year. Thankfully, there are organizations around the state opening their doors as schools close theirs. They do this to serve nutritious meals through the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program.'' We never know when one will need help because in this world,
everyone needs help. Together we can end hunger and put a smiles on Anchorage kids faces.

— Acquah Benedicta
Anchorage

Homophobia hurts everyone

Something I want to talk about is homophobia and how we can prevent it. But first, I want to talk about some things about the LGBT community. Approximately 6.7 percent of the U.S. adult population identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Also, 42 percent who are LGBT report living in an unwelcoming environment. The rate of suicide attempts is four times greater for LGBT youth and two times greater for questioning youth than that of straight youth.

There are lots of LGBT youth and adults who are constantly bullied by people who are against the community for what may be religious reasons, (that's what I think). Each episode of LGBT victimization, such as physical or verbal abuse or harassment, increases the likelihood of self-harming behavior by 2.5 times on average. We should definitely do something about it and stop homophobia. You may be wondering, "Why does it matter to me?" "Why should I care? I'm not gay." "Why should I trust you?" Well first off, if you actually had the experience of being bullied because you were LGBT, then you would. You should definitely trust me. I have had the experience myself, and I strongly support the LGBT community.

It surprises me how we still don't accept part of our society. I know people are against the LGBT community because of religious reasons, but they can be really rude and hurtful. I read somewhere on Twitter that a white male broke into a LGBT community office and started a fire, which makes me really mad and upset.
We should start doing something about homophobia by actually educating the close-minded people, and maybe start talking to your child about preventing bullying and telling your kids to be themselves — be carefree.

— Darren Doctolero
Anchorage

Whiners shouldn't camp

Hello, my name is Joel Santillan, I am a junior at Service High School. I am writing this in response to the July 18 "Camping Courtesy 101" letter in the Alaska Dispatch News by Marianne Inman. I disagree with the letter you wrote in response to writer Joseph Robertia. I am also a lifelong camper, and I feel Robertia did not lack "the element of common courtesy." He was being reasonable. It is not like Robertia and his family were having a party and blasting music. They were only "giggling and softly playing guitar." The whole point of camping is to have fun with friends and family and to stay up late having a great time. You should also expect some kind of noise while camping. Not everyone is going camping just to go to bed at 10 p.m. You should not be camping anyway if you're going to bed at 10 p.m. and whine about people playing music or having a good time with their families. I hope I won't find myself camping next to you anytime soon!

— Joel Santillan
Anchorage

Early start time cuts into sleep

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Hi, I'm in high school and I'm having trouble with waking up so early in the morning to go to school. So lately, I'm having trouble with not having enough sleep. Apparently, I can't handle waking up so early anymore, and I'm really sick of being tired. I want to change the school's time schedule.

I'm going to be a sophomore and if I wake up tired and can't take notes properly, that could cause my grades to go down. I hated my freshman year because of the early morning schedule, and all the pressure that made me go to sleep so late, like studying for tests or quizzes and homework I needed to do that I didn't finish because of chores. That puts me at sleeping late, getting up tired, and I don't want that. I remember times I couldn't even take notes because I was so sleepy. I wish ASD would change the time schedule of all public schools to 10 a.m. instead of waking up at 6 a.m. Science has proven teenagers' brains are getting ready to shut down after 10 p.m., so teenagers will most likely go to sleep at midnight. They will not be ready to wake up until 8 a.m. We need our sleep!

— Lxx Vang, high school student
Anchorage

More letters: 

Murkowski did the right thing

I am proud to be an Alaskan and proud of my senator, Lisa Murkowski, who refused to be intimidated. Thank you for listening to your constituents and doing the right thing, regardless of others' threats and posturing.

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— Jane Reilly
Fairbanks

No thanks from this Alaskan

Lisa, you let many Alaskans down; the few highly vocal sign-wavers are happy but not the majority of voters. You are sent to Washington to do one job; why can't you get it right? Fighting with the president is not good business. I know you don't care about re-election, and that's good because you will never get elected again unless you become a Democrat, which is what you are anyway. Thanks for nothing.

— Nicholas Danger
Anchorage

Some have few housing options

Re: the Royal Suites Apartment fire on Minnesota Boulevard. I hope all Anchorage has a chance to take a look at the sad devastation before it is torn down. Authorities responding to the death of a disabled tenant claim, "We can't stop people from living in non-accessible housing." Yet, they did not tell you that there is often little alternative.

Most people don't live in substandard units for fun. Alaska grew during the pipeline/post-pipeline days when our average age was 26. There's a minuscule number of accessible, safe, affordable units in this town. Those that do exist often require a good income or have a very long wait list. Cook Inlet Housing has made great progress but much more is needed. The projected number of elderly or disabled residents growing here has been called a "silver tsunami."

As a medical social worker, it breaks my heart to see our elderly or families living in basements, living rooms and the omnipresent split level as they cope with multiple financial, emotional and logistical hardships of disability. There, but for the grace of God, go any of us. If you don't believe it, next time you drive down Minnesota, look at the burned-out alternative. This compromise goes on every day, all across town.

— Colleen Leibert
Anchorage

Lisa stood her ground

I know I stand with many others when I say I couldn't be prouder of being an Alaska woman after Lisa stood her ground, did what was right and did the will of her constituents. I do not always agree with her but value and appreciate her views. Standing up for what is right is something we hold true and of value here in the Last Frontier. Independent thought and the ability to make reasonable, forward-thinking decisions is what has helped build this great state.

— Julie Johnson
Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.

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