Meet Your Maker
There’s a certain irony in the phrase “Meet Your Maker.” It simultaneously implies birth and death, joy and sorrow, and all the other intricacies of creation. We tried to capture that same irony in our cover images: a singular egg, for the majestically commonplace everyday miracles of life, and its transformation (or making, shall we say) into a new form over the fire. Birth and death. Creator and creation. A strange juxtaposition, to be sure. Here’s to the creators who make it happen. Join us in taking a little time to examine, celebrate and remember, because everything we know had a beginning, and will have an end.
In this issue, we have tried to look at the various meanings of “making,” from the development of decisions to art and technology. We have explored composers, inventors and death in this effort to introduce you to the creators all around you. And they are all around you: the normal and ordinary (or singularly talented), doing the extraordinary task of making something new. But before we begin this journey of religion, artistry and construction, ask yourself this: What can you make? What can your hands do? And who has made you, you? -Lauren Lu, editor in chief
hi@chsacumen.com | chsacumen.com | facebook.com/chsacumen | @chsacumen
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< COVERS AND PG 2-3 PHOTOS AND DESIGNS BY LAUREN LU
EDITOR IN CHIEF: LAUREN LU laurenlu@chsacumen.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: STEPHANIE ZHANG stephaniezhang@chsacumen.com
REPORTERS: Lucus Cheng, lucuscheng@chsacumen.com Miriam Hu, miriamhu@chsacumen.com Nida Khan, nidakhan@chsacumen.com Ellen Peng, ellenpeng@chsacumen.com Sriya Ravi, sriyaravi@chsacumen.com Naomi Reibold, naomireibold@chsacumen.com Grant Smith, grantsmith@chsacumen.com Kyle Walker, kylewalker@chsacumen.com
GRAPHIC ARTIST: Scott Liu, scottliu@chsacumen.com
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Daniel Goldberg, danielgoldberg@chsacumen.com Dara Levy, daralevy@chsacumen.com Sarah Liu, sarahliu@chsacumen.com Nivedha Meyyappan, nivedhameyyappan@chsacumen.com DESIGNERS: Kyle Crawford, kylecrawford@chsacumen.com Annika Wolff, annikawolff@chsacumen.com
CONTRIBUTORS: Aaron Shi, aaronshi@chsacumen.com Dennis Yang, dennisyang@chsacumen.com Michael Zhao, michaelzhao@chsacumen.com NON-STAFF CONTRIBUTORS:
Natalia Chaudhry, nchaudhry@hilite.org John Chen, jchen@hilite.org Katie Long, klong@hilite.org Maham Nadeem, mnadeem@hilite.org Selena Qian, sqian@hilite.org Sreeti Ravi, sravi@hilite.org Brielle Saggese, bsaggese@hilite.org Aster Samuel, asamuel@hilite.org Jenny Zhao, jzhao@hilite.org Alice Zhu, azhu@hilite.org
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In this picture, an engraved plate emerges from a 280-degree oven after drying. The plates are then carried to another room, where the ink setting begins. Read more about the printing process on chsacumen.com
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Making visual stories
14
Capturing visual art
On death, faith and being left behind. 22
Making wearable creations
26
Making robots and a place for himself
30
Meet Your Maker, in numbers
PHOTOS AND DESIGN BY LAUREN LU
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08
Edible creations and the artists behind food.
THE ART OF Photography is more than merely clicking a button on a camera.
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bbey Wiggam, photography student and junior, has found a new passion. This is Wiggam’s first year in photography. She is currently enrolled in Digital Photography and Photography I. “In darkroom, we take pictures on 35 mm film and then go through the process of developing the film and making prints,” Wiggam said. “Meanwhile, In digital photography, we take the photo and can immediately see the outcome.” Wiggam said she prefers digital photography because of the color the images contain. In darkroom photography, the pictures lack color, which Wiggam said detracted from the power of the photo. “Color brings out emotions in people,” Wiggam said. Wiggam said the difference between photography as
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Daly said he teaches his class as an art class, allowing students room for creative expression. “A photograph can be just as impactful as a sculpture or a painting,” Daly said. He added that photography is just as important as the other forms of art to society. “It can move a person, artwise,” he said. According to him, students are able to see the world differently after taking his class. When students approach photography, Daly said he encourages them to break the process down. He said a lot of detailed work goes into taking a high quality photograph. To illustrate, as of press deadline, students
enrolled in darkroom photography have made only two prints of pictures they have taken in ten weeks of school. One quality a person must have in photography is creativity. “You need to be creative to make creative photography,” Daly said. He said a noticeable difference can be seen between the quality of pictures of a student who puts his creativity into the assignment and a student who lacks the creativity. “You have to take (photographs of ) something you actually care about,” Daly said. He displays this quote to students: “If you are not a curious person, you certainly are not going to a good photographer.” He said students who are creative and explore their surroundings will take quality photography. Daly also quoted Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt: “How do you take more interesting pictures? Become a more interesting person.”
DESIGN BY SELENA QIAN
an art or as a simple observation depended on how it was used. For example, Wiggam said she thinks photojournalism is observation of daily life, while the photography she takes is art. Wiggam has broad assignments and uses her creativity to brainstorm ideas that will convey emotion to the viewer. “Photography is all about artistic interpretation,” Wiggam said. “Photography helps go into the minds of people; it is truly a form of expression.” To create a truly great image takes much work, and Wiggam said she must be inspired before taking her image. “Inspiration is the key to good photos,” Wiggam said. Wiggam cited Picasso, saying, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Wiggam encouraged everyone to take photography. Kevin Daly, photography teacher, said, “The majority of (photography) is observation, but if you’re an artist creating art, then it is art.”
WORDS AND PHOTOS | DANIEL GOLDBERG
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DEALING WITH DEATH WORDS | BRIELLE SAGGESE PHOTOS | LAUREN LU
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DESIGN BY LAUREN LU
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remember that I just kind of sat there and cried,” senior Emily Abshire said. “I didn’t understand how something like this could happen. His daughters woke up one morning and he was lying on the floor in his office, just dead. And they don’t know why. They did an autopsy and they just don’t know. He was just dead.” 36 Years Before On Oct. 7, Tim Clark was born. As the sons of a pastor, both he and his brother, Brian Clark, grew up with a strong
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DESIGN BY LAUREN LU
Christian presence in their home. Through Sunday church services and backyard ice hockey matches, Brian said their relationship grew past the point of being siblings to also becoming friends. “My favorite memory would be ice hockey in the backyard in Ashoka, Canada,” he said. “We always had a rink that was in our backyard for two or three months of the year, and we’d play in the snow, or we’d play ice hockey a lot. We were competitive as rivals, but (we were also) friends. We just liked being together. The relationship was like, as long as we are alive, we are each other’s brothers.” One Year Before On April 28, 2013, Abshire and Tim met in the Indianapolis International Airport, just moments before embarking across the world together. They spent the next week teaching English classes and sharing biblical stories to students who were not accustomed to the Christian faith. And while roaming the wonders of Taiwan, they also formed a bond that Abshire said she valued greatly.
“We became really close. He’s a really good guy, and we talked a lot about religion, and obviously, if you’re in another country with someone, you’re going to do things together, but we just got along really well,” she said. “He was kind of like an older-brother figure or a father figure. I mean, he’s old enough to be a father, (and) he was a father, (so) he was kind of like that to me.” As the week progressed, Abshire collected memories from both her journey in Taiwan and her journey with Tim. “We have a lot of really good memories because we were across the world being weird. First of all, he just annoyed me. He would hit me or make fun of me and would ask me about boys,” she said. “One (memory) that I really like is on the fourth or fifth day of our trip. We were sitting in the train station, and he was making fun of me about boys, and he was asking me about relationships and commitment, and he really opened up to me about (his) marriage and how there were a lot of problems and whatnot, and (about) his daughters. It was just a really good memory.”
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“I learned that you can connect with someone, no matter how old they are, about anything,” she said. Looking back on Tim’s life as a whole, and in particular, looking back at that trip, Brian said he often remembers the impact Tim made on Abshire and others around him. “It’s an honor while you’re alive to be in the moment and to see people thriving or embracing (life) and enjoying the moment,” he said. “It was very life-giving and very great to watch him come alive around others. (It) always put a smile on my face. It was just awesome.” The Day Before On Jan. 25, 2014, nine months had passed since the trip. For Abshire, this meant returning to Carmel, and for Tim, returning to West Chester, OH. The miles that separated them did not allow the two to see each other much, but over that period of time, they were still able to keep in contact and stay a part of each other’s lives. “So after Taiwan, we talked for a while, for a couple of months. I would text him or call him and
see how he was (and) see how his daughters were,” Abshire said. “And then I just kind of forgot. (I didn’t) forget him obviously, but I had just been busy and hadn’t talked to him (in) a while. I remember that winter I had been like, ‘I should talk to Tim. I miss him, and I want to see how his kids are and everything.’” Jan. 26, 2014 That morning, Tim’s twin daughters found him lying on the floor. Tim was not sick, and he had no injuries. Without any prior indicators that death was approaching, he had passed away. “In January my friend who had gone to Taiwan with us (called me) and was like, ‘Did you hear that Tim passed away?’ And I just did not believe that that could be true,” Abshire said. “He’s, like, 30. How could someone that I know and I love possibly die? Death is so final. I had literally been thinking the day before about how much I needed to talk to him. I remember I was upset for like a good week or so. I was very sensitive to the topic, and I didn’t want to talk about it very much. My parents wanted to talk, and I was like, ‘I don’t really have anything to say about it.’ But it was also really upsetting because they never knew why he died.”
Because there was no presence of cancer, disease or injury, an autopsy was performed. When the results came back, they gave no answer as to how Tim could have died. It was reported as inconclusive. Abshire said this made it hard for many to cope or find closure with Tim’s passing. But even though she wasn’t given the answer that an autopsy is supposed to give, she said her strong sense of faith helped her through the grieving process. “Tim and I were friends in Christ. We became friends through the trip, so our relationship was based on religion, so it was easy for me to consider what happened as God’s plan,” she said. “I just accepted that it was his time, like God wanted him for some reason. (Having a sense of faith) just shows you that this is not for the worst–it’s for the better. Even though it seems really bad here on Earth, you know that in a celestial sense, it’s better.” Like Abshire, Brian used his Christian faith to deal with his loss and to move forward with his life. “I’ve talked to funeral directors, and I’ve been a pastor,
12.04 Tim Clark, right; senior Emily Abshire, left
Brian Clark
The Months After On Feb. 1, 2014, Tim’s family and friends gathered for the funeral at his old high school in Oxford, OH. As more time passed, Abshire said she was able to deal with Tim’s death; however, certain things today still remind her of Tim and of their trip together. “Sometimes I’ll just think about it, like when people talk about death,” Abshire said. “Obviously I think about it. I haven’t experienced that much death, and that was really hard especially. Also, when I think
about Taiwan, he usually comes to mind, and I’m really close to Brian, Tim’s brother, and we talk about it sometimes. So I think it’s just those kind of things, like when you’re actually talking about death or Tim. It does come up sometimes.” To others who suffer from the death of a loved one, she offers the advice of how she found peace with her loss. Abshire said, “I would definitely say: reside in your religion. Obviously, I’m a Christian, so I believe that if you’re firm in your religion, then you should feel at peace with it because you know that they’re in a better place. Always praying and reading scripture helps. And the fact that my church prayed for him, and Anchors Away and Cru (all prayed for him) and being with Brian, who was like a religious figure in my life, (these) made it easy to cope with it that way.” Today Brian lives in Florida with his wife and children. It has been nine months since his brother passed away, and yet he said Tim’s impact on him still remains strong. He said, “(Because of Tim’s death) I ask this question: Why him and not me? But because I was given life and his was taken, I see my days and decades as a gift.”
DESIGN BY LAUREN LU; SUBMITTED PHOTOS ON BOTTOM
and I’ve seen that when you go to a funeral of someone who has authentic faith, there’s hope. There’s hope of a future,” he said. “When there’s not (faith), when this world is all there is to talk about or (when you only) talk about the past, you talk about what was, and you try to remember the good or anything about that person from what they did. There’s not a hope of the future. (With my religion) I would say there’s the hope of the future, but also a place to bring your pain.”
Below: A collection of memories from senior Emily Abshire’s time with Tim Clark. Abshire said her faith has made it easier to cope with the tragedy. MEET YOUR MAKER | 21
Abshire, Tim and the mission team
Tim Clark
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Senior Vincent Mai didn’t expect to find a home among the builders and makers at TechHOUNDS–but he did.
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enior Vincent Mai didn’t plan to go to the call-out meeting in the first place. As a sophomore, still new to CHS, he just tagged along with his friends to some club that most of them were going to, hoping to have a good time. He paid it no extra thought. Three years later, one can consider this extra thought paid in full. Now a TechHOUNDS Information Technology (IT) division group leader and senior, Mai is an important part of the team’s roster, instructing the new members and teaching them tricks of the IT trade. This roster is an integral part of the team it comprises. In fact, there are many such rosters like this, which together make the complete unit known as “Carmel TechHOUNDS.” The TechHOUNDS participate in events hosted by FIRST, a robotics organization with an acronym that stands for: “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” Founded in 1992, its first conference was
DESIGN BY LAUREN LU
AN UNEXPECTED PLACE WORDS | JOHN CHEN PHOTOS | LAUREN LU originally confined to the gym of a New Hampshire high school, with 28 teams in total. In 2013, there were over 29,000 teams, with over 314,000 participants and nearly 1,500 conferences around the globe. TechHOUNDS goes to three in total: two regional competitions and the state championships. Their main objective is to complete a single task, the nature of which FIRST comes up with every year. Two years ago, the game, called “Ultimate Ascent,” was to score points by shooting Frisbees through rectangular goals 10 feet above ground. Last year, the game “Aerial Assist” was to throw an exercise ball over a truss and later shoot it through a goal for points. All of this must be completed by the robots, with no human intervention during the first few seconds of a match, leaving the robots to do everything autonomously. Afterwards, the human drivers grab the controllers. Once the robots get on the field — an imposing, 27 feet by 54 feet rectangular enclosure — the gloves are off. They duke it out round after round, metal against metal, to see which team will be crowned champion.
The Spirit of Competition These competitions, which TechHOUNDS revolves around, can be described as overwhelming affairs. As Mai said, it’s easy to brush it off as “just a bunch of nerds playing with robots,” but according to him, it can be so much more seeing the events. The grand finals of the FIRST Robotics Competition takes place in St. Louis, where the world converges on St. Louis to compete in a veritable Olympics of science and technology. When asked to describe this international championship, Mai paused, searching for fitting words. He started to speak. He paused again. “I don’t know… Like..,” was what he managed. He eventually found his tongue. “Seeing all sorts of people all around the world come together for this one program, because you’ve got teams from Mexico, from Israel, from Canada, from Australia, all coming to one place to play this game, to participate in these activities, to participate in the competition,” Mai said. “It’s an amazing experience.”
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The competition is difficult and only has become more so as the years have went on. Since the organization’s humble beginnings, the FIRST Robotics Competition has ballooned in size. It is now is a multinational event, with over 70 different countries represented (according to Mai, Canada always puts up the stiffest fight). For 2015, it has undergone further changes, adding two new venues, Renaissance Grand Hotel and Union Station, to its roster. According to FIRST, this is not only to increase the number of teams that can attend, but also to establish the foundations for a sustainable tournament structure that will allow the organization to grow further. It even has expressed interest in hosting the championships in different cities around the country. However, for now, the championships are to stay in St. Louis. The rowdy crowds and the enflamed spirits have always made it unique to Mai. “You’ve got people cheering, putting on costumes, waving flags around, and all sorts of stuff, just to cheer on their robot, their alliance,” Mai said. “There has been lots of animal costumes, like gorillas. Lots of people dressing up as the Stormtroopers from ‘Star Wars.’” He later affirmed that they were, indeed, very good Stormtrooper costumes. A Team Effort The robot constructing, the costume wearing, the contest winning, all culminates in… what, exactly? A trophy for the winners, a sense of finality, sure, but according to Mai, it brings with it something more intangible. From building, stressing and competing together, a sense of unity is created within the team. Notice the careful usage of the word “team.” In order to become champion, Mai said that it is imperative that a club works in harmony. “It’s all a team effort,” Mai said. “All the divisions are equally relevant to the team. So, for example, if
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we had a robot operations division but without an electrical division we’d have a hunk of metal without any electronics to make it move. If we didn’t have a programming division we wouldn’t have the brains to make the robot move or perform actions, so all divisions are equally important to the team.” These divisions are an important part of what makes TechHOUNDS, and eventually, the robot it creates, tick. The programming division Mai mentioned focuses primarily on robot programming, commanding the actions of the robot in the ring. The robot operations division focuses on metalwork and fabrication of the robot. The electrical division wires up the robot, the construction focuses on building playing fields for the robot to practice on. All come together to create one final product. “Working with a large group of people to accomplish a single task is the main appeal for me,” Mai said. This academic group one of the only teams at CHS that is almost completely student run. According to TechHOUNDS faculty sponsor Zachary Bonewit, he has found himself taking a hands-off approach to managing the team. He said that he always gives a little input and, ultimately, has the final say on whether something’s viable or not, but the students are responsible for all the organizing, planning and constructing. This is not always easy for many of the mentors, as he also said that their backgrounds in engineering and construction make them want to help out every once in a while. He uses himself as an example. “Before I taught, I drag raced,” Bonewit said. “A lot of our mentors are engineers by trade. With my background, I like to be hands-on too, but we try to kind of step back and let the kids do most of it. Present and Future The strong legacy that Carmel TechHOUNDS has created wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for its
DESIGN BY LAUREN LU
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Being able to work with around 100 kids to accomplish a goal, an end goal, is a good experience, a good feeling, to be able to have your hand involved in something like that. -Senior Vincent Mai
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membership. Each year, it relies on experienced students to pass down the legacy and the collective knowledge they have accumulated to the new recruits. According to Mai, however, many people who may have interest in TechHOUNDS don’t believe that they too can attain the experience of older members, simply due to the seemingly complicated nature of the material. “You can’t go up to the average kid and say ‘you know anything about robotics?’ Because the answer will probably be no,” Mai said. Despite this, he said that this should not be a deterrent for someone who wishes to join the program. When asked whether someone with absolutely no programming or building experience should join TechHOUNDS, he,
without pause or hesitation, said “yes.” “We have a lot of leads and a lot of veteran members that are able to introduce and teach you everything you know for TechHOUNDS to be an enjoyable experience,” he said. Mai also said that the club was responsible for getting him more interested in engineering. With the constant exposure to robotics, construction, animation and more, it is only natural that any new member will become at least marginally more invested in the subject. “I was kind of interested in engineering before, but I didn’t really get a feel for it until I joined the team,” Mai said. “Joining TechHOUNDS has definitely (gotten) me more interested in programming than before.”
BY THE NUMBERS
2,515,458 DEATHS (2010)
DEATH RATE: 807.3 DEATHS PER 100,000 POPULATION
INFANT MORTALITY RATE: 6.07 DEATHS PER 1,000 LIVE BIRTHS
60%
TEEN DEATH RATES BY STATE
#1
alaska
(75/100,000 population)
#19
DECREASE IN RISK OF DYING FROM 1935 TO 2010
indiana
(56/100,000 population)
1,357 deaths in Hamilton County, 8th highest in the state
#50
New Jersey
(29/100,000 population)
overall average: 52.9 / 100,000 population
ONE IN THREE TEENAGE DEATHS ARE DUE TO AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS
LIFE EXPECTANCY: 78.7 YEARS
7
death TEENS DIE EVERY DAY FROM MOTOR VEHICLE INJURIES (2011)
TEEN DRIVERS AGED 16-19 ARE THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO GET IN A FATAL CRASH
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RELIGIOUS VIEWPOINTS ON ASSISTED SUICIDE AND EUTHANASIA Buddhism
catholicism
hinduism
OPPOSES
OPPOSES
It is morally wrong to destroy human life, including one’s own, even if the intention is to end suffering.
Life should not be prematurely shortened because it is a gift from God; God decides when a person’s life ends.
NO FORMAL STANCE There is a concern, however, that ending life prematurely can negatively affect karma in the person’s next life.
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH: (Percentage of total deaths)
heart disease (23.7%) cancer (22.9%) chronic lower respiratory diseases (5.7%) stroke (5.1%) accidents (5.0%) alzheimer's disease (3.4%) diabetes (2.9%) influenza and pneumonia (2.1%) kidney diseases (1.8%) suicide (1.6%) other (25.8%)
h and dying
GRAPHIC BY SCOTT LIU
CDC. GOV, PEWFORUM.ORG, STATEMASTER.GOV / SOURCES
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH AMONG TEENS:
OVER HALF
ARE DUE TO ACCIDENTS
1.) accidents 2.) homicide 3.) suicide 4.) cancer 5.) heart disease
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islam
OPPOSES
Life is sacred and comes from God; therefore it is a sin to take life. Endof-life suffering is also seen as a way to purify previous sins.
judaism
OPPOSES
Suicide and assisted suicide are prohibited; a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life belongs to God, and therefore deciding when it ends should be left to God.
unitarian universalist association
SUPPORTS The ultimate questions of life and death belong to the individual most intimately affected, rather than the church.
DEC. 4, 2014
IN THIS ISSUE: Meet the creators, the ones who are responsible for: - Making art - Making technology - Making decisions - Making a publication Or make your way over to chsacumen.com for more.