Thinking Spatially - AP Human Geography and Current Issues

 Over the past 2 years the world as we knew it, has changed tremendously. Everything from how we go to school, to cultural norms, to work habits has rapidly changed. Another unexpected change occurring is a new migration pattern. We are seeing rural areas becoming less rural. Rather than the typical migration pattern we have grown used to seeing where people from rural towns move to big cities to get a job and pursue a career, we are now seeing people that work for big corporations actually moving to less populated areas. What's the driving force behind this new trend you might ask? You guessed it, Covid 19. CoronaVirus forced us to improve our technology to allow students and companies to work from home. It became evident that jobs previously done in-office could actually be done from home. Big corporations don’t have to have employees physically on campus anymore. This means that instead of living in the cities or even the suburbs around the cities, families could move into small...

 Gun violence is a national issue. Violent gun reports are filed everyday. Some of these cases of gun violence are accidents, while some other gun violence cases are intentional acts of terrisiom. Some of these intentional ones are people shooting up schools and workplaces, pedestrians and cops, restaurants and neighborhoods. People commit these heinous acts and not all get caught. However, most do and serve their rightful time. According to the Washington Post, 2021 has been the worst year for gun violence. Many people fear it will only get worse from here. Last weekend alone, more than 120 people died in shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, with three especially dangerous incidents in Austin, Chicago and Savannah, Ga., leaving two dead and at least 30 injured. Through the first five months of 2021, gunfire killed more than 8,100 people in the United States, about 54 lives lost per day, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the Gun Violence Archive, a n...

Photos of U.S. Border Patrol agents chasing Haitian migrants on horseback have sparked outrage and prompted investigations into the matter. The migrants, who were trying to cross the Rio Grande in order to reach U.S. soil were pushed back towards the Rio Grande in Mexico. A photo of the chaos shows that one Border Patrol agent grabbed a migrant. AFP photographer Paul Ratje, who took the photos, says, “Some of the migrants started running to try to get around the horsemen, and one of the agents grabbed the Haitian in the picture by the shirt and he ended up swinging him around while the horse trotted in a circle.” The chaos unfolded on Sunday, in the wake of Haitian migrants coming to the U.S. en masse, with a reported 14,000 migrants attempting to cross the border this past week. More and more migrants are seeking asylum in the U.S. as misinformation around immigration policies continues to spread. While Haiti is reeling from the assassination of their president and a powerful earthqua...

 On September 11, 2001, Al-Queada extremists hijacked and rammed two passenger planes into the World Trade Center towers. Shortly afterward, another plane was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon. The Taliban then sheltered and protected those responsible. This attack on America lead to the war against terrorism. (“I. The Taliban’s War Against Women.”) On May 2, 2011, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S forces, Bin Laden was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and his death meant a huge victory for the United States. The war raged on though, as many more terrorist groups would remain a threat to the security of the U.S. Troops were placed in middle-eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, with the war not seeming to slow down even with the aid of armed forces. The conflict caused a huge loss of life for both sides, with hundreds of Americans being killed in mine traps, ambush attacks, and suicide bombings.  (“I. The Taliban’s War Against Women.”) Rec...

This is a picture of Robert E. Lee statue in Virginia.   The Robert E. Lee statue was erected in 1890 as one of the first of six confederate statues. It was put up during a time in which southern states were forcing  white supremacists systems and structures. A lot of protests were centered around the statue to symbolize racial injustice. A lot of BLM protests have been centered around this statue. The statue was covered in graffiti with different messages regarding racism and denouncing the police.  The removal of the Robert E. Lee Statue relieved a lot of people. The statue represented white supremacy and that white people should be above everyone else. That’s what the South believed for a while, but after the racial conflicts that have been happening in the past couple of years they changed their minds. After the death of George Floyd and the protests on how black people should fight injustice they decided to take the monument down. After George Floyd’s death and even ...

 As of September 7th of 2021, The El Salvadoran Government has officially announced bitcoin as a legal tender. This makes it the very first country to do so. This is a big moment for not only bitcoin but cryptocurrency as a whole. It wasn’t too long ago that the idea of cryptocurrency was a joke but here we are now, as bitcoin has officially become a currency of a country. In 2008, a white paper, an informational document, was written and published by Satoshi Nakamoto, an anonymous individual/group. It outlined the idea of a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that could remove the need for banks to be a part of the transaction process. One year later, in 2009, Bitcoin was officially released, and thus began the rise of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are relatively new and there is a massive amount of distrust in the currency’s volatile nature. Cryptocurrencies grew in popularity in 2016 and 2017 but only really took off during 2020 due to the Coronavirus. The price of Bitcoin pe...

 As of September 1, 2021, the state of Texas officially enacted one of the country’s most strict abortion laws, despite dissent from four Supreme Court justices. This new law places a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most women even realize they are pregnant. Not only does this law prevent abortions as soon as “cardiac activity” is detectable; it prevents abortion even in cases of rape or incest. After much controversy over this law, the Justice Department has officially sued the state of Texas. This law being enacted brings into question; should the government be able to have control over women and their bodies? On September 9, 2021, the Justice Department announced that they will be taking action against the state of Texas in federal court. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that, “The act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent.” However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton  The Texas government has attempted ...