Just Hilly

Hey everyone, it has come to my attention that the video of my speech at the rally was randomly speeding up at some points and made me sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. The video has now been fixed, please let me know if any problems arise whe watching. As always, thanks for checking out my blog :)

Surrogacy , in layman’s terms , is the use of a woman’s womb to carry and birth a baby for couples or individuals who want to have a child- and can’t have one on their own. There are two types of surrogacy in these modern times, traditional - where the surrogate mother and the biological father are the genetic parents of the child or gestational where the surrogate mother has no genetic relation to the child.(Patel et al., 2018) In some western countries like the United States , surrogacy has been a somewhat normalized alternative to traditional reproduction- on a global scale- as with most things- legality , social acceptance , and ethics surrounding surrogacy vary greatly. Most ethical arguments for surrogacy focus on either surrogates that donate their wombs out of generosity , or the agencies created to vet surrogates for prospective parents and assist with any potential legal issues; arguments against surrogacy are critical of the vast discrepancies in the practice and how...

Pursuit of Happiness “Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. ” ― William S. Burroughs In J.D. Salinger’s “Slight Rebellion Off Madison”, the plight of Holden expresses a theme of deviance and the individual’s incompatibility with the predestined life he’s been set up for. He is not passionate about his education and feels school is not where he’s supposed to be. His feelings bubbling up during his date in the city, shows just how strongly he feels about this. He relates to his date, Sally, “Boy, I hate school! You oughta go to a boy’s school sometime. All you do study, and make believe you give a damn if the football team wins, and talk about girls and clothes and liquor, and-” Holden does not find the bland conversations and seemingly pointlessness of going to school. On one hand, school and traditional paths to becoming an established adult aren’t for everyone. There is some merit to...

On May 31st, I attended a rally for Transgender Rights held in Mineola, Nassau County, NY. The event was hosted by Gender Equality NY (GENY), an organisation dedicated to advocacy, education and upliftment of Transgender, Gender Non-conforming and Intersex individuals. Numerous local LGBTQ ran and supportive organizations supported the rally as well (see poster) and contributed to what was an awesome turnout. I was invited to speak at the rally by a friend who works with GENY, a former alumni of FSC and member of Farmingdale Pride. This coming school year will be my last year as the president of Farmingdale Pride Club and based on my work and dedication to the community, I was given the privilege to speak amongst other fantastic speakers. It was amazing hearing from local, statewide and country wide organizations like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Planned Parenthood of Greater New York Action Fund, the Long Island Progressive Coalition and local county legislators.   The message...

The Penny Pub in Bay Shore, NY is a warm and cozy Irish bar on Main St. A bit on the smaller side, they use the best of their space. The decor combines traditional Irish pub fixtures, beer memorabilia and a little cottage core. The stained-glass luminaires on the ceiling are a nice soft touch to the stained wood in the background.  My friend and I went the weekend after the St. Patrick's Day parade in Bay Shore (arguably the best on the island). Luckily for us they still had their special St. Patty's menu available along with their regular fixings. I had their potato soup, and it was to die for. The bacon was a nice touch, but it would have been just as filling without it. We split a basket of wings after being recommended by two people we met at the counter. We were happy for the suggestion because they were so good. We scarfed them down before remembering to take a photo lol.  Speaking of the folks we met, both the bartender and strangers at the bar added to how enjoyable th...

 The Most Anticlimactic of Escapades “Disappointment forever lurked just beyond the edges of her joy, ready to spring like a ravenous cougar.”     - Kathleen Rice Adams, Prodigal Gun  In “An Adventure in Paris” by Guy de Maupassant the subject of the story is a woman dissatisfied with her life. The narrator refers to her as a “little person from the provinces” suggesting she is not of a lavish lifestyle. She is a wife, mother and homemaker; exactly what a woman should be yet she yearned for more. Sexual exploration and being a participant in group sex was her main fantasy, those thoughts being her escape from the everyday boredom she experienced. Even while next to her sleeping husband, those thoughts ran through her mind. The lives of the wealthy appealed to her, “ she was continuously thinking of Paris and read the fashionable papers eagerly.” She was naive, adventurous and ready to change her life. Once she got the nerve to go, there was no stopping her; her ...

The topic to be discussed in this essay is Black women in sports; more specifically how they navigate the challenges as both female athletes and black athletes. This will be an analysis of literature and statistics through primarily Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the feminist theory .  My first lens, critical race theory, formerly studied on college campuses, has seen a recent push to be applied to broader schools of thought and institutions. It evaluates the significant inconsistencies in the consideration of the place of “race” in legal circles impacts life chances, freedoms, and every day experiences in social structures (Lawrence & Hilton, 2022) With one of those social structures being sports, black athletes have had to navigate exclusion, abuse, unequal opportunities and protections. The beginnings of most black American participation in sports at a higher level began in historically black colleges and coloured leagues. Those athletes were some of the first to encounter ...