The Mighty Spark

 3/24/25 Women's Sports and March Madness      March Madness has fallen upon us and like me, millions of others fill out brackets. I enjoy using the "MM Live" app to fill out a bracket and invite my friends and family into a group to start a friendly little competition. This year my friend and I have a wager that whoever has the better bracket gets a $10 Starbucks gift card. I always enjoy filling a bracket out in hopes of guessing the winner.       However, this year after filling out the men's bracket, I wanted to fill out a women's bracket too. I scoured the MM Live app and found nothing. The app does not have women's basketball listed. This is one of the many examples where women's sports, in this instance basketball, does not get the recognition it deserves.       Just recently women's sports have started to get more recognition and larger audiences, but the MM Live app is just another reminder we are not there yet.  ...

3/17/25  Women’s Reproductive Health  Our last group speaker did an amazing job at educating us about women’s reproductive health and health care. I learned that in Kentucky, abortion is not completely banned but rather falls under medically necessary. However, to define medically necessary and the point at which we believe a mother’s life is in danger, is the complexity.  The speaker shared a story of her sister in Tennessee having to get an abortion. The sister tried to schedule one but the doctor would not allow it because her life was not actively in danger. The sister had to come back for an abortion when she ran a fever. This is totally mind boggling to me because I wholeheartedly believe that health care is a human right but yet there are so many obstacles in this country. Why is it like this?  Another topic the speaker discussed is the narrative surrounding abortion services. Abortion services are seen as elective procedures but rather should be seen as true ...

2/24/25  Parenting      I went to my little cousin's 2nd birthday on Sunday, and I had a wonderful time playing with all the little kids. I have six little cousins ranging from 6 to 2 years old and I love to make them laugh and smile. My 2-year cousin has two older brothers, and I witnessed both of them get spanked at the party. Now spanking is probably something we all went through growing up. But these boys were spanked in front of a room full of people and quite forcefully. They got spanked by their dad for throwing a sticky ball on the ceiling, which is something we were all guilty of doing.       Now I am discussing this because parenting is difficult. However, I think there is a time and place for spanking and the circumstances in which these little boys got spanked, in my opinion, did not warrant it. After they were spanked the whole mood of the party soured because there were over 10 little kids there and they were all having fun but then,...

 02/17/25 Learning More      I wanted to write about our discussion in class today. I am so grateful to get a more multicultural view of the world. I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky and still live here. I have never lived anywhere else. I travel to Daytona Beach, Florida, once or twice a year and that's about all. Hence, my worldly view is quite small. I am always appreciative when I can expand my understanding of the world I live in.       I was shocked to learn that parts of Nigeria think, politically, in similar ways to parts of Kentucky. The talk today made me feel more connected to other cultures.       I learned that there is a program in parts of southern India that pay mothers for prenatal care visits, appointments, getting their tubes tied, antenatal care visits, etc. This program is very interesting to me because we know incentives are a powerful motivator. I would like to see how this program would work i...

 02/10/25 One Day at a Time      I just watched the Super Bowl last night and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs. I enjoyed the game until the score got so uneven and became boring. The halftime show by Kendrick Lamar was something I really enjoyed. The symbolism was powerful with the game controller, the American Flag and Uncle Sam. The messaging was striking and bold especially in front of the current President of the United States.       I was lucky enough to attend a Super Bowl party. There was food and friends. Everyone had a good time. However, when Kendrick Lamar started performing, the crowd or well one person, in particular, started murmuring. Some quotes include, "There is not a single white person up there!" "Can you understand what he is saying?!" "Do you know his songs?!" "I can't understand him!" "You all like this kind of stuff?" and I also saw some people post on Facebook, "let's get back to...

 2/3/25 Close to My Heart      My blog's name is The Mighty Spark,  and I thought I would tell you why. When I was a senior in high school at Presentation Academy, I was a part of SIP, the Senior Independent Project. This was a class dedicated towards individual research in whatever the student chose. You had to apply for this class and have a vision in mind. You also had to have a mentorship. I was mentored by Dr. Steph and Yvonne. They reside in Chicago, and I would Zoom with them every Saturday on book updates. There were 7 SIP students. In the past there has been fashion shows, documentaries, novels, displays, and other projects created. I wanted to create a children's book. I wrote this book to tell my own story. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) was my home away from home for the first five months of my life. Growing up, I never read a book about my experience, and I wanted to change that. My message to all readers is that medical complexities do not...