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The West Press

The West Press

The West Press

Ameenah Syed

Ameenah Syed

Ameenah has a background in public speaking (radio journalism) and has global, virtual work experience. She brings a critical perspective to the West Press in terms of both current events and candy! Ameenah joined The West Press because she believes in being a lifelong learner. Her favorite quote is one that she sees often in her English class, “Perfection is the enemy of the good.” She ultimately hopes to relay this message through her writing. 

All content by Ameenah Syed
Not The First And Not The Last: 108 Columbia Students Arrested For Anti-War Protests

Not The First And Not The Last: 108 Columbia Students Arrested For Anti-War Protests

Ameenah Syed May 9, 2024

Friday, April 19th, 2024– 108 student protesters at Columbia University have been arrested by the NYPD after Nemat Shafik, Colombia's President, authorized police to clear the many tents set up by protesters in Columbia University’s designated “free...

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Lady Liberty’s Harlem Shake– Northeast Earthquake Rumbles The Big Apple

Lady Liberty’s Harlem Shake– Northeast Earthquake Rumbles The Big Apple

Ameenah Syed April 11, 2024

On the morning of April 5th, the northeastern US experienced a 4.8 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), with its effects being felt from Boston to Philadelphia.  The earthquake's epicenter, the point directly above...

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No, Not Even Water - A Spiritual Breakdown of Ramadan

No, Not Even Water – A Spiritual Breakdown of Ramadan

Ameenah Syed March 14, 2024

In the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk. The purpose of fasting are many, a few of which are: to strengthen one’s self-control, to weaken the physical body so that the spiritual body can take precedence,...

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Gen-Z Has Their Eye On Iced Lattes, Shifting Financial Values Amid Impossible Living Expenses

Gen-Z Has Their Eye On Iced Lattes, Shifting Financial Values Amid Impossible Living Expenses

Ameenah Syed March 4, 2024

Will Gen-Z be the first generation to rely solely on unconventional financial outlets like social media influencing? What will this mean for the traditional 9-5? What will this mean for the future economy? Only time will tell.  In any introductory...

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Aaron Bushnell’s Plight For The Palestinian People: Self-Immolation

Aaron Bushnell’s Plight For The Palestinian People: Self-Immolation

Ameenah Syed March 4, 2024

Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active duty member of the U.S. Air Force set himself on fire outside of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC on Sunday night in protest of the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Bushnell later died from his injuries.  Bushnell’s...

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Cancer Strikes King Charles, Royal Reunion Still Out of Question

Cancer Strikes King Charles, Royal Reunion Still Out of Question

Ameenah Syed February 15, 2024

The wait line for The Crown is nothing like the ones outside of Target for the new Stanley release or in front of the Peter Pan and Pirates of The Caribbean rides at Disney World. Take it from King Charles, who waited 70 years to ascend to the throne....

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6-Year-Old Found Decomposed After 12 Days Trapped in Vehicle With Family's Corpses

6-Year-Old Found Decomposed After 12 Days Trapped in Vehicle With Family’s Corpses

Ameenah Syed February 15, 2024

6-year-old Hind Rajab was evacuating from Gaza with her uncle when they got caught in an Israeli ground offensive. Her cousin, aged 15, then called the Palestinian Red Crescent for rescue.  “They are shooting at us… The tank is next to me” said...

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Image generated with DALLE-AI

Kamila Valieva, Doping Russian Figure Skater Banned From Competition for 4 Years

Ameenah Syed February 2, 2024

Kamila Valieva, 15-year-old Russian figure skater, rocked the Beijing Winter Olympics with a gold medal victory and subsequent scandal for a positive doping test of trimetazidine– a performance-enhancing heart medication. On January 29th, 2024 the long...

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How to Lie to The American People: Media Censoring Edition

How to Lie to The American People: Media Censoring Edition

Ameenah Syed January 31, 2024

Mainstream media is witnessing an epidemic of carefully selected, blatantly misconstrued language in it’s reporting – the bulk of which is working to conceal the facts of the ongoing Gazan Genocide, beginning in 1948 after the Nakba (illegal colonization...

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Image generated with DALLE-AI

A Message to Our President

Ameenah Syed January 31, 2024

January 14th 2024 marked 100 days of incessant bombing in the Gaza strip. 1.9 million people have been forcibly removed from their homes, nearly 23,938 Palestinians reported dead, 60,582 Palestinians injured, 10,000 Palestinian children dead, 160,800...

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Image Generated with DALLE-AI

Stranger Things Are Happening: Noah Schnapp Faces Backlash For “Zionism Is Sexy” Stickers

Ameenah Syed January 30, 2024

Many Stranger Things enthusiasts won’t be watching season 5 amid controversy involving lead Noah Schnapp caught handing out stickers that read “Zionism is Sexy.” With Noah Schnapp handing out these stickers, many die-hard fans of the show now...

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Mid-Air Mayhem: Faulty Door Plug Tears Hole In Boeing's Reputation

Mid-Air Mayhem: Faulty Door Plug Tears Hole In Boeing’s Reputation

Ameenah Syed January 29, 2024

On January 5th, an Alaska Airlines flight 1282 (plane model: Boeing 737 Max 9) flying from Portland, Oregon to California had its trip cut short because a door plug detached from the plane mid-flight. A loud gunshot-like sound signaled that the door...

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Image generated with DALLE-AI using prompt: “A robot wearing a funny looking pair of glasses and a ridiculously colored hat on a stage doing a stand up comedy show for a crowd of humans. The humans are unamused. ”

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It: Make Humans Laugh

Ameenah Syed December 14, 2023

Quick-wit, slang, and wordplay are the 0s and 1s of the grand language that is humor. Historically, bards, jokers, and, arguably, the greatest writer of all time: Shakespeare, each played a part in making their community chuckle. Now, software developers...

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Image generated by DALLE-AI with prompt:  A masquerade of cannons descending on to a small town of apartments in the shape of a dandelion. Art is created in a surreal dystopian style.

The Double Standards of the Palestinian Genocide

Ameenah Syed November 16, 2023

In the 20th century, society has seen more public figureheads and celebrities with no political power or knowledge taking stances on human rights issues, social justice efforts, and international affairs. The war the world is in now is not one of artillery,...

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Image generated by Dalle-AI with prompt: “Impressionism style of a girl figure skating at the Olympics"

600 Days Later, and Russia Still has America’s Gold Medal

Ameenah Syed October 13, 2023

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, an international sports court of justice, will oversaw a hearing, September 26th, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The hearing has been called to settle a long drawn-out matter involving Russian Skater Kamila Valieva and a...

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Image generated by DALLE-AI with prompt: “A watercolor drawing image of the back profile of a little boy fishing in the Pacific Ocean. The background of the image has a forest of trees that are on fire. The sky is an orangey brown, and yellow color and green trees have flames coming out of them. The water is a dark blue color.”

El Niño and La Niña on the Hot Seat: Your Questions Answered

Ameenah Syed September 21, 2023

What is El Niño El Niño means “the little boy” in spanish. South American fishermen were the first to notice the inconsistency of warmer waters in the Pacific, and in the 1600s, they affectionately coined the phenomena “El Niño De Navidad”...

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Stay Cool This Summer

Stay Cool This Summer

Ameenah Syed May 18, 2023

Put down your phone this summer and buy a kiddie pool instead! Trying to figure out your summer plans? Look no further! Check the list below for some summer activity ideas. 1. Try creating new summer drinks. Mix up flavors, try something new, and...

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Image generated by Dalle-AI with prompt: A dark academia style edison light bulb lighting a library in the style of surrealism

The Spotlight Effect, and Why You Need to Buy a Tide Pen

Ameenah Syed April 1, 2023

Picture this: Sally is in her chemistry class and the teacher calls on her to ask how many oxygen atoms are in water. Remembering that the chemical formula for water is H2O, Sally confidently says “2!” But to her great dismay, Sally mixed up oxygen...

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Image generated by DALLE-AI with the prompt: a crescent moon in the sky illuminating a buffet of samosas

Putting the Crunchy Back in Pakora – a Guide to Ramadan

Ameenah Syed April 1, 2023

If you haven’t already heard one of your Muslim friends’ stomach growling in class, you may not know that it’s the spiritual month of Ramadan.  Since Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, the first day of fasting is announced when the crescent...

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Image generated by DALLE-AI with prompt: “close up of a crushed insulin vial with a dark junkyard in the background”

The Insulin Chronicles

Ameenah Syed March 7, 2023

        On January 19, 2022, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, most famously known for his NBA team the Dallas Mavericks and appearances on “Shark Tank,” launched a pharmaceutical company Cost Plus Drugs to “disrupt the drug industry and...

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Image generated by DALLE-AI with prompt: “figure skates on red ice”

Year-Long Doping Deliberation Finally Reaches a Consensus

Ameenah Syed March 7, 2023

The 15-year-old Russian gold medalist figure skater Kamila Valieva is no longer under review for a positive drug test of Trimetazidine at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.          The appeals took over a year to resolve because of the tricky...

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Why is everything SO EGG-SPENSIVE?!

Why is everything SO EGG-SPENSIVE?!

Ameenah Syed February 24, 2023

Eggs are a hot topic lately. So are cars… and  houses… and health care…? Spanning from daily groceries to the family pet’s annual tetanus shot, inflation has hit American families hard. So when did it hit me, a 17 year old with little financial...

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She Really Needs to Sort Out Her Priorities… And Buy Hogwarts Legacy

She Really Needs to Sort Out Her Priorities… And Buy Hogwarts Legacy

Ameenah Syed February 23, 2023

It’s leviOsa not levioSA. Even for gen-z who didn’t grow up with Harry Potter, this infamous Hermione Granger quote managed to find its way into our culture. But as Emma Watson went from Hermione to Belle, to Meg March, the Harry Potter franchise...

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Treat or Trick? - The Candy Review You Didn’t Know You Needed

Treat or Trick? – The Candy Review You Didn’t Know You Needed

Ren Chaffee and Ameenah Syed October 27, 2022

Halloween is sneaking up fast, and nobody seems to know which treats the neighborhood ghouls and goblins are looking for. If you want to be the “cool house” this Halloween- don’t be a dum-dum, hear us out on some of our favorite (and not-so-favorite!)...

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