Growing up I never thought about the food I am eating or the products I am using and how it is not only effecting me but also effecting my environment. I used to eat chicken, ground turkey, microwavable rice, and more canned goods from the grocery store and then put them in plastic tuppleware to save for later. This all sounds pretty healthy, right? Although I thought consuming these foods were good for me and it was only making my body stronger and healthier, I could not of been more wrong. After reading peer reviewed essays, studies, and watching documenteries, I realized that it does not matter if the food we eat is presumably healthy; it matters where that food comes from. Seeing all of the chickens in confined spaces with widespread infections and given food with no nutritional value made me think. I was digesting the food they were digestiing which meant, yes, I was getting nutrition from the chicken, but they were not being fed nutrient-dense food, so, that would affect my body's way of functioning. To add, seeing the microplastics found in our own bloodstream and evidence that plastic is no good for humans, I realized that the world around us is not sustainable and is slowly consuming us. It took me a while to change my diet and although I feel like I am at a good place right now, I can still be doing better. I stopped eating meat and began shopping at a wholefood store that only sold locally grown products, knowing where my food came from was important to me. I also stopped using as much plastic, I switched to biodegradable bamboo toothbrushes, along with biodegradable charcoal toothpaste. To add, I stopped shopping with plastic bags that I would throw away after one use and only limited my shopping to one day a week so I did not have to use my car as frequently as I was. All of these steps may seem like they are not making a difference but that is one less bag and tooth brush that is found on the ground or in the ocean... Also cutting meat out of my diet not only saves the lives of at least one animal, but it will in the long term decrease the methane released by these animals that is warming the air and playing a major role in climate change. Living sustainably is not just to make our own bodies work to the best of their abilities, but it also saves the planet in the planet.

When I was growing up I had no desire to be a nurse. For my entree life I knew that the only thing I wanted to do was travel across the country and world and help people who are in need. When I told my mother this she simply responded with, "There is no such job." As a grew older and became more aware of the world and the tragic events that happen on the daily I knew that I was destined to become a nurse. A nurses job is to be the one person that is there no matter what is happening; they are there to provide, take care of, and make the individual feel comfortable and safe in their surroundings. The justice system is broken; with women, colored minorities, lower income classes, and the LGBT community all being effected. Health care is not equal and in my mind every human should have equal opportunity to get the help the they need. A life is more important than a piece of paper. To continue, at this time I am attending Georgian Court University and am getting my Bachelors of Science in Nursing degree. I will start out in the hospital but would like to choose a speciality and then go back to school to get my masters and eventually my doctorate. My big goal is to specialize in women reproductive health and work with cisgendered women along with transgendered women on problems that may arise with either pregnancy or hormonal issues. I also want to start a program and open a practice where women from other states can come to get a safe and legal abortion. Similar to Cindy, my desire to become a nurse is to be able to connect with my community and the people who are imbedded in it. Not only do I believe giving them the best care is important but also showing them the importance in seeing the good in themselves and others. With all the bad that is in the world right now, I want to be like Cindy, I want to be the good, to show other people how they can be the good, and to make the world a better place starting with my own community. Nurses are overlooked almost all of the time, but I do not want to be seen and acknowledged by others. I know that the hardest and most under appreciated job is to be a nurse, but the reward of being able to help families and people heal is enough for me.

Am I the crazy one? My favorite book at the moment is “American Predator” by Maureen Callahan. This true crime book follows the murder and then the FBI investigation into Israeli Keyes. The book opens up with a young girl being abducted at her job, a barista at a coffee kiosk, in Anchorage Alaska. It then goes on by following lead investigators and police on the manhunt of the abductor. Is Samantha, the girl that was abducted, still alive? Was this a set up by her dad? Did her jealous boyfriend murder her and then ask for ransom money? To be honest, the reason this is my favorite book is the whole mystery behind it. How does a girl get abducted by gunpoint in the middle of a busy area in a bustling city. It gives me chills thinking about it because I have worked alone countless of times. This eighteen year old, blonde, blue eyed, white girl went missing and it took police almost a week to declare her a missing persons. Then, it took them over a month to finally get a lead on the case based on a ransom note. It lead them to the notorious serial killer, Israeli Keyes. To conclude, the most interesting part about all of this to me is that we don’t know who we are interacting with in our daily life. We never really now if that sibling, the teacher, the co-worker, or the person sitting next to you on the bus, is capable of such horrendous and cynical crimes.