hat are three to six key points or impressions that you will take away from these stories?

Six key points that I took away from these stories were…

When people are struggling the best support for them is support from other people and their community.

There are a lot of good people in the world that go out of their way to help others and make sure others are in good wellbeing.

There are still parts of the world that are so far behind on social inequality; women in so many developing countries lack basic human rights, and this is a major social issue that many are trying to address within the counties and outside of the countries. 

The world is comprised of so many different people with different struggles, and there are different ways and solutions to cope with these struggles.

There are social issues that occur all over the world that people are fighting; they happen right here in the US not just developing and underprivileged countries.

People have come up with different unique solutions to deal with these problems.

Write a 200-word reflection that engages, analyzes, critiques, expands upon, and/or questions what you read or listened to.

I found two articles particularly interesting, the first one being “The Gym Fighting Drug and Alcohol Addiction with Exercise”. This article highlighted the struggles that people face with alcohol addiction and how many of them are insecure about their struggle. This article expands on the idea that exercise helps people with addiction. I think this is a good solution, and could really help people struggling with getting back on their feet after addiction. It not only helps them to get out of their comfort zone , but forces them to exercise. The second article that I found interesting and saved to my collection was “It takes a Village Not to Marry a Girl”. This article expands on the idea that a community in Malawi, Africa is trying to bring awareness about the dangers of marrying off young girls though plays throughout the community. These plays are often graphic and I think they are a really good idea because they do not downplay the situation like most people in the community try to.

Share your reflections on your experience reading, watching or listening to the solutions journalism stories. Did you learn new information; gain new understanding; see things with a different perspective than you had in the past? Did the stories reinforce an idea or thought you'd previously had? Did you meet new people, or learn about opportunities you were previously unaware of? 

I enjoyed the solutions journalism stories and felt like I learned a lot about the world through individual people and their struggles. The main thing that I liked about the concept of these stories and articles is that they are not things you would normally hear about on TV or major media outlets, because maybe they won’t get as many rates as the news channel or media outlet would like, but I feel like they are just as, or even more important stories. I learned a lot of new information reading the stories especially information that I believe should be more widespread and made aware of. The article that I read that discussed one woman's struggle with alcohol addiction discussed how she found a “sober workout group” that required them to be sober for at least 48 hours if they wanted to participate in the workout. Through this article I learned that exercise and working out can really help those suffering with addiction and I feel like many people don’t know that, or are not aware of this. Another thing I learned about that I was not previously aware of was the women facing struggles in Malawi, Africa. These women are fighting for their independence against child marriage, and they do this by staging plays in the middle of their village about their struggles with child marriage and starting a family so young. These plays bring graphic imagery to their community about what is really going on in hopes to raise awareness to reduce and stop it.

Were there other stories this week that you’d like to give an “honorable mention” -- that you enjoyed, but were not your top choice to share?

Another story I found really interesting but did not add to my collection was “Wilmington’s Solution to the Opioid Crisis”. North Carolina is finding a new way to deal with individuals who find themselves in trouble with Opioids and I feel as though this is a growing problem across the entire country. North Carolina rather than sending those who overdose or are having trouble with a painkiller addiction to jail, will send to a treatment facility. They want them to get help and find a solution to their troubles rather than punishing them for their troubles. Drug usage is a huge social problem in the US and other countries and I feel like no one knows the proper way to tackle this issue, but taking steps in any direction I feel like is progress.

What else would you like to share?

I really enjoyed this website, cause like I said previously, it shared a lot of meaningful impactful stories about different social situations occurring all over the world that you normally would never hear about on major media outlets. I usually shy away from listening to the news or looking at anything current events related cause I always feel like the articles or stories they are trying to share are always trying to grasp the audience and achieve that “wow” factor. This website provided new insight and new current events that I found interesting about things occurring here in the US and things occurring on the other side of the world. I plan on visiting this website more often and reading the other articles they have to share in the future.