Illinois, the “Prairie State”, was once covered by endless fields of native tallgrass prairie. Now, it seems all you see is miles upon miles of cornfields. According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, over 99.9% of native Illinois prairie has been cleared. So how can we help? I study Geography and GIS and am very passionate about conservation. I had the incredible privilege of walking the Poag Sand Prairie in Edwardsville with Dr. Richard Essner this previous fall, and it showed me how important, fragile, and beautiful our now rare prairie ecosystems are. This pamphlet is intended to be distributed across highway rest stops, local community spaces, and among…

Health literacy. What is it and how is this an issue? Start your journey by watching the TED talk below. Health literacy is a huge problem in the world today, whether or not we realize it. As a pharmacy student who has spent lots of time studying this topic and figuring out how to overcome it, I realized patients aren’t getting the same education. According to the WHO, Health literacy is the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to make informed health-related decisions for oneself and others. Not understanding medical terms, procedures, and medications we are taking can create incomplete autonomy, medication mistakes/misuse, and consent without really…

Hi, my name is Zayden Storm and I have created The Art In History podcast, which is a conversation about advocacy and understanding, surrounding topics that people don’t often think about. This first episode covers the autonomy of women throughout history, and leads us from the past in the 1500’s all the way to present, covering topics of women’s anatomy, birth giving, hormonal cycles, rape, women viewed as object, what people today are taught growing up to do in uncomfortable situations, slurs, and many other things. Here we are encouraging education of history through art and looking at the artists and artworks of major historical moments. It is through this…

                                                             In the year of 2008, Miley Reed and Ava Robinson met for the first time.  Between many adventures, they became like sisters.  In 2013, Miley passed away, in her sleep, from an unexpected heart issue.  This is the story of how Ava Robinson reimagined her reality.  Hi.  My name is Ava Kathryn Robinson.  I am 3 years old, and my favorite Disney princess is Ariel.  Today my Mommy is having me meet this girl.  She says that I am going to like her a lot and that she will be my new babysitter.  As I wait, I am starting to get a little nervous because I don’t…

What actually happened:   Australia is known to have bushfires every year around October however, the fires that took place in 2019 were unmatched in destruction. The reason the fires were so bad that year in particular is because 2019 also had the driest spring on record for the country (Britton et al.) Because of the dryness, the fires were able to spread at a pace that was hard to keep up with and hard to predict. The fires continued to escalate through December when smoke began to generate storms. The lightning from these storms only caused more fires to ignite. In December, the United States sent aid to Australia while…

Sonya Massey called the police to her home on July 6 at 12:50 am in fear of someone outside her house. The officers get there and start asking Sonya why she called. She tells them why and invites the two officers inside her home. Grayson (the murderer) spots the pot of boiling water and tells Sonya to turn off the water. Sonya got up and went to turn it off and said her last words. “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Grayson got aggravated and shot Sonya three times fatally. (Johnson, 2024) BOOM, CRASH… is all Sonya heard when her life flashed before her eyes and the only thing…

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.” George Bernard Shaw, The Devil’s Disciple, 1897. Link to The True Story of Factory Farming (YouTube) With a bowl of SpaghettiOs and a glass of milk, eight-year-old Bel sat in front of the sleek black rectangle on her torn-up couch and mindlessly watched television. Commercials of liquid-green slime and robotic toy hamsters dulled her mind. Flipping through channels, she paused on a blue-tinged commercial. The emotion-filled eyes of cows held in captivity met hers through the screen. A voice-over narrated the sad lives of the captive animals. Born…

On September 4, 2006, Steve Irwin (the beloved Crocodile Hunter), was fatally injured by a stingray while filming a documentary at the Great Barrier Reef. After the injury, Irwin was administered CPR while on a boat sailing to the nearest hospital. Once arrived, the hospital staff announced him dead. What you’ll read next is what every little kid wishes had happened. Once upon a time lived a cheerful, animal loving man named Steve Irwin. Far and wide known as the Crocodile Hunter, everyone adored him for his boundless positive energy and love for the natural world. With his trusty khaki shorts and button down green shirt, Steve was always ready…

                  In 2017 a man shot out of his hotel window killing 60 people at an outdoor Jason Aldean concert. This man was named Stephon Paddock, he purchased a hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort for that night. Within one day Paddock drove 70 minutes from his house in Mesquite, Nevada to Las Vegas, Nevada, and in that drive, he brought over 20 suitcases filled with guns and ammunition. He checked in a little after three p.m. and workers at the hotel recognized him as a regular guest, as he played slot machines and visited the gift shop. He stayed in a corner room on the 32nd overlooking the…