The Communicator, v. 47, Ed. 3, 2020-2021

THE COMMUNICATOR MAGAZINE VOL. 47 EDITION 3, MARCH 2021

The Adaptation Edition

About

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COVER BY ELLA ROSEWARNE AND MIA GOLDSTEIN | BACK COVER BY AYLA SOOFI

This edition’s cover features a picture of CHS senior Sage Iwashyna that corresponds to our “Through the Window” series highlighted later in the magazine.

Iwashyna is pictured peering out of his window at photographer Ella Rosewarne. He was photographed spontaneously in his home on an unusually cold afternoon in February.

Our intention for this cover and “Through the Window” was to represent the perspective of an outsider looking in, recognizing others in their natural, true form. With Covid-19 still consuming social life, capturing someone in their window accurately represents how we are forced to be distant and are stripped of physical contact.

Cover

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THE COMMUNICATOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE

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Letter from the Editors Dear Readers,

It has been a long semester. As we complete this edition, we are beginning the second semester of online school — and it has been no easy feat.

Last year, at the pandemic’s inception, we entered an extended spring break as a district. But as this spring break eventually lasted into the summer, our online school was conducted almost entirely asynchronous. These learning plans, however, shifted once again for the fall as it became evident the virus’s impact would last longer than most could imagine. For the 2020-2021 school year, we have had to adjust to synchronous instruction online with asynchronous lessons in the middle of the week. This adjustment has been challenging, and many of us are still trying to figure out the nuances of this isolated instruction.

As the clock struck midnight on New Years Eve, welcoming the highly anticipated new year, it seemed almost inevitable to reflect on the past year. Instead of making New Year’s Resolutions to try to better ourselves for 2021, we realized the only way to move forward is to reflect on the past. It has been a long year — and an even longer time since we have seen one another, face-to-face, in an educational environment. We wanted to reignite the sense of community so unique to CHS by sharing the experiences our peers have had since the start of the pandemic.

And with this same sentiment, we present the theme of our third edition: adaptation. Since March 2020, we have all had to learn to adapt to our new circumstances in some capacity; whether it be taking up new hobbies, changing routines or reflecting on personal growth, CHS students and teachers have established a new sense of normalcy. As we are more isolated now than ever, we decided it would be important to share the stories of our peers, friends and community members, getting an inside look into how they have adapted over the past year.

It has not been easy to endure the hardships of the past year; but it has been even harder to endure them alone. We watched a historical presidential election and the gravity of its aftermath create a chokehold around our country’s politics. We have inaugurated a new president. We have anticipated the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccines. We have seen the emergence of new variants of the virus. And we have experienced all of this alone.

Hopefully, this edition will be somewhat therapeutic: the coping mechanisms and activities our peers implored to adapt to the situation may rekindle a connection in our community. We hope you enjoy all of the unique strategies our CHS community created to entertain themselves over the past year.

Your Editors,

Zoe Buhalis

Mia Goldstein

Mori Ono

Taisiya Tworek

MAGAZINE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF ZOE BUHALIS TAI TWOREK MORI ONO MIA GOLDSTEIN WEB EDITORS-IN-CHIEF CHARLES SOLOMON GENEVE THOMAS-PALMER DAN GUTENBERG JENNA JARJOURA SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS-IN-CHIEF LILY SICKMAN-GARNER CATE WEISER NOAH BERNSTEIN DESIGN EDITOR CY VEILLEUX NEWS EDITOR LUCY TOBIER A&E EDITOR AVA KOSINSKI FEATURE EDITOR ELIOT KLUS OPINION EDITOR EVAN ASH PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR ELLA ROSEWARNE BUSINESS EDITOR HANNAH BERNSTEIN ADVISER TRACY ANDERSON

STAFF ABBI BACHMAN DELIA BINETTI ELLIOT BRAMSON SAM CAO AMALIA CHAPPELL-LAKIN LEDA CELESTE EMMY CHUNG HENRY CONNOR MCKENNA DUMAN ALANA EISMAN SOPHIE FETTER ELLORY FIFE ETHAN GIBB-RANDALL ZARA GREENE SELA GUR-ARIE KURT HAUSMAN ADDI HINESMAN AIDAN HSIA FIALKA KACVINSKY ANJALI KARKARLA AILISH KILLBRIDE ELIJAH KLEIN CHRISTINA KUIPER NICOLAS LANGDON MEGHAN LONDON SCARLETT LONDON RIA LOWENSCHUSS ARISTA LUONG REAGAN MASEK MORGAN MCCLEASE ALEX MERCIER NATALIE MYCEK-CARD SOPHIE NUNEZ SEBASTIAN OLIVIA LEWIS PERRY SANA SCHADEN MIRA SCHWARZ ELIZABETH SHAIEB RUTH SHIKANOV ERIN SIMMONS LEVI STRASZEWSKI GRACE WANG MAGGIE WOLF HENRY COLLINSTHOMPSON KEVIN DUTTON

The Communicator Policy: The Communicator is an open forum for student expression created by Community High School students. The Communicator does not represent the views of Ann Arbor Public Schools. The Communicator staff seeks to recognize the individuals, events and ideas relevant to readers. The Communicator is committed to fair reporting, providing a platform for student voices and equitable coverage.

For our complete Guidelines & Policy, please go to www.chscommunicator.com March 2021 | 5

THE COMMUNICATOR MAGAZINE: ADAPTATION EDITION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume 47, Edition 3 | March 2021

10 Hobbs Makes History

BY DAN GUTENBERG

On Feb. 7, 2021, CHS senior Hobbs Kessler made history by running the fastest indoor mile time in high school history: 3:57.66. Now, Hobbs looks forward to a successful running career.

42 Cameras Off

BY SCARLETT LONDON, ARISTA LUONG AND NATALIE MYCEK-CARD

14 Through the Window

BY STAFF

To start off the theme of Adaptation, The Communicator journalists pitched in to tell the stories of their peers over the past year: how they’ve adapted, their hobbies and their struggles. Not only is this series a look into the lives of CHS students, but it is a physical look through their windows and into their spaces.

6 “The Tempest” Goes Online

BY LILY SICKMAN-GARDNER

As the pandemic caused a district-wide closure last March, the Community Ensemble Theater (CET) was preparing to perform “The Tempest.” Almost a year later, the group has released the fifth part entirely online.

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CHS students are not the only people who have had to adapt to the pandemic circumstances. Teachers have also faced challenges and have had to teach to students who have their cameras off.

46 Behind the Scenes

BY NOAH BERNSTEIN, AILISH KILBRIDE AND GRACE WANG

The pandemic has brought about unprecedented challenges. And with schools moving entirely online, how does CHS and AAPS provide resources for families?

48 Covid-19 Can’t Keep Us Down

BY MCKENNA DUMAN AND NOAH FULKERSON

The members of the CHS Depression Awareness Group (DAG) are well-versed in helping their peers through tough times — and Covid-19 is no exception.

58 Religion Rift

BY ELLA ROSEWARNE AND RIA LOWENSCHUSS

Religion is complex, diverse and nuanced.

Three Ann Arbor teenagers weigh in on their influences and religious experiences.

62 Living Beyond Existence

BY SOPHIE FETTER

During the first few months of pandemicrelated lockdowns, CHS junior Charles Eidelman used the challenge to perfect his musical talents.

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It’s Time to End Beauty as Usual

Going Against the Grain

BY MIA GOLDSTEIN

BY JENNA JARJOURA

One Communicator journalist shares her skin care journey and her self love and acceptance.

Emma Greene’s life is nowhere near “normal” — or whatever that means to others. The CHS alumna has lived her life in an unconventional way, raising multiple kids and defining what success means to her.

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IKEA Manual of My Brain

The New Wave of Dining

BY CY VEILLEUX

BY LEWIS PERRY

For Communicator journalist Cy Veilleux, it is easiest for him to compartmentalize his mental health experiences like an IKEA manual to achieve acceptance.

In the circumstances presented by the pandemic, restaurants in Ann Arbor have worked to adapt to these challenges. From heated outdoor dining spaces to curbside pick-up, these restaurants have implemented safe techniques for patrons.

CONSTANTS 1,000 Words – 102 Proust Questionnaire – 104 Fashion – 106 Playlist – 112

Media Reviews – 114 Artist Profiles – 122 Crave – 130 Our Turn – 131

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“The Tempest” Goes Online CET has just released the final act of their first fully virtual show.

BY LILY SICKMAN-GARNER

On Feb. 12, 2020, Community Ensemble Theatre (CET) was just over a month away from opening night of their winter production of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” A year later, they released the final act of the show — online.

CET’s in-person production of “The Tempest’’ was shut down on March 11, 2020, two days before their first performance was scheduled. After hearing that their show had been “indefinitely

postponed,” many cast and crew members left their classes and flocked to the theater, where director Quinn Strassel assured them that they would finish “The Tempest” when the time was right. Six months later, CET held auditions for their virtual production, which was to be filmed entirely on Zoom and released via live stream as a five-part miniseries.

“I had kind of given up a little bit when I heard,” said Felicity Rosa-Davies,

CHS junior and stage manager for “The Tempest.” “It feels like it has really been dragged out a lot in some ways, but also, it’s cool to see how we’ve been able to adapt, even though it has been so much less than ideal.”

As stage manager, Rosa-Davies has attended every rehearsal of “The Tempest,” taking notes on blocking — where actors stand during a scene — and reading lines for actors who are absent. She has seen the process firsthand from beginning to end, and she says her role has changed drastically between the in-person and online versions.

“I have done much less, I think, in online rehearsals than I did in-person,” RosaDavies said. “When it was in-person, I used to be able to look at people and take blocking notes, but on Zoom, there’s nowhere for people to move to.”

In January 2021, when Rosa-Davies realized that auditions for the in-person version of “The Tempest” had happened a full year before, she was reminded of how much she had changed during that time. Jasmine Lowenstein, a CHS junior and “The Tempest” cast member, also experienced a period of personal growth during the Covid-19 shutdown, and it has affected her acting.

“I think I’ve grown a lot during quarantine, mainly because I’ve just had time to sit with my thoughts and think about how I see the world and how I see myself,” Lowenstein said. “When I used to act, I was always just thinking about

Photography courtesy of Quinn Strassel CET films a scene for “The Tempest.” The cast and crew were just two days away from opening night when they were shut down due to Covid-19, and this year, they modified their production to be done entirely online.

“I don’t think I could do a full Shakespeare production from scratch in a meaningful way had we started in Zoom,” director Quinn Strassel said. “So much of it is about developing character, exploring language and showing up, and showing up and showing up, and we did a lot of the heavy lifting last year.”

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the lines and never fully in the character.

But now when I act, I can actually take the place of that character and be the way they’re supposed to be.”

When online rehearsals began in September, Lowenstein was surprised by how much fun they were. Filming the show online felt almost like filming a movie, she said, and watching the livestreams of each act felt like attending her own premiere.

“I was actually super nervous [to watch the show], just because I had already done it, so I couldn’t really control it,” Lowenstein said. “Normally, when I’m on stage, I don’t remember anything. It kind of felt like that.”

As much as she enjoyed the process of an online show, Lowenstein missed the opportunities she would have had inperson to make and strengthen friendships, especially with newer members of the group. The CET student board — which Lowenstein is a member of — has been hosting game nights, which has somewhat helped during a time of lacking peer-topeer interaction. Despite this, Lowenstein has been struggling to form meaningful connections with her fellow cast and crew members, especially those she didn’t know

in person.

“I think the biggest thing I miss is just not getting to know new people as much,” Lowenstein said. “Even though I’ve had some conversations with people I had never met before, it’s harder to get to deeply know people when you’re online.”

Strassel agrees that some aspects of an in-person production are impossible to replicate online.

“That human connection of being in a theater together and creating a form of expression in the same room is obviously something we can’t do,” Strassel said. “I think that we’ve just channeled the spirit of that concept into trying to connect with each other through the lens of our cameras on our devices.”

Strassel has some experience with video editing, so when it became clear that an in-person production would be impossible during the 2020-2021 school year, he immediately began thinking about how to adapt the show that CET had already created into an online production. The fact that the group had already gone through almost the entire process in person made it much easier to start working on the online version.

Photography courtesy of Quinn Strassel CET films a scene from Act III of “The Tempest.” CET produced their fall show entirely online, mostly over Zoom. “That human connection of being in a theater together and creating a form of expression in the same room is obviously something we can’t do,” director Quinn Strassel said. “I think that we’ve just channeled the spirit of that concept into trying to connect with each other through the lens of our cameras on our devices.”

“I don’t think I could do a full Shakespeare production from scratch in a meaningful way, had we started on Zoom,” Strassel said. “So much of it is about developing character, exploring language and showing up, and showing up and showing up, and we did a lot of the heavy lifting last year.”

Going forward, Strassel hopes that this experience will give CET members a deeper appreciation for the work they do and one another, as well as more resilience in the face of future obstacles.

“I think that I have felt connected to the students and to the adults who’ve done this show. I felt a meaningful connection,” Strassel said. “It gives me hope that, if we can get through this, and if we can keep finding ways to be creative in even these circumstances, there’s almost nothing that can stop us. I think there’s real power in rising to this moment together.”

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Mock Trial On Feb. 20, the Michigan Center for Civic Engagement (MCEE) held the mock trial regional competition online.

BY AVA KOSINSKI AND ELEANOR NIMAN

Covid-19 has changed so many things this year. With many sports being canceled or postponed and school being online, nothing functions the way it used to. The CHS mock trial team has not been exempt from these changes. All of the practices for the team have been online, and it hasn’t been easy. Ava Kosinski, a senior at CHS and member of the mock trial A-Team, has felt that, even though practices are still happening, there’s a lot the team is missing out on.

“I think part of what was fun about mock trial was when you weren’t the person performing,” Kosinski said. “You could talk to 10 | The Communicator Magazine

your friends, and the coaches would bring snacks. We have this one coach, Bob. He would always bring brownies, and they were amazing.”

Being online has really changed the social aspect of practices.

“I miss actually seeing people, but it’s still nice to talk to everyone online,” said Anna Stansfield, another senior on the A-Team.

“If I had to be on Zoom with anyone it, would be with this group of people.”

Unlike some classes, cameras are frequently on for the team’s practices.

“It’s really weird compared to normal classes, where there’s no one with their

Drawing by Mori Ono These courtroom illustrations were done by A-Team member Mori Ono during the second trial. Since there is no photography allowed in courtrooms, the trials are captured through drawings. This drawing includes B-Team members on the prosecution side of the trial, as well as drawings of the defense side of Huron High School’s mock trial team, with whom they competed with.

camera on,” said senior Ben Cooper. “In this class, every single person does. Especially leading up to competition, Chloe would call people out for not having them on just because you can’t turn your camera off in competition.”

Along with the social aspect, team members have also felt a big shift in productivity.

“It’s been a lot slower,” Kosinski said.

“Normally, we do a run-through of the entire case in one practice. Our practices are two hours, and we’d usually be able to get that done with only a couple minutes over.

But this year, I don’t think we’ve been able to ever do a complete run through.”

After the cancellation of the statewide competition due to Covid-19 last year, the Michigan Center for Civic Engagement (MCCE) decided to hold the regional competition for mock trial online this year, which happened on Saturday, Feb. 20.

“Usually, mock trial competitions are this really big and exciting, emotional day,” said Geneve Thomas-Palmer, another mock trial member. “I’m with a lot of people, and it’s really intense. But over Zoom, it was very different.”

With people being on screens inside of

their homes instead of all being in a courtroom together, the competition had a less intense and more personal feel for Stansfield.

“The fact that I was sitting in my room, just standing in front of my laptop made it feel much less intense,” Stansfield said.

“Looking at the other team in the Zoom and seeing them just sitting there with their homes and bedrooms in the background made them feel more like just another person than my competitors.”

This decrease in intensity comes with some trade-offs, as it can sometimes dilute the feeling of competition some students get from participating in mock trial.

“There was some anxiousness, but during the real thing, when you’re stepping up there, it’s a lot more nerve wracking,” Cooper said. “I think it’s a good and bad thing.

It can help you a lot to get out of your comfort zone.”

The Zoom version of the competition brought many more new elements to mock trial, including what people wore.

“I was putting together this setup with my folding table, eating breakfast right before, and wearing half legal attire and half not legal attire,” said Charles Solomon, a

member on the A-Team. “In some ways, it felt less real.”

However, certain aspects of the competition being online were positive and helped it still feel special.

“My entire extended family was able to watch the competition,” Thomas-Palmer said. “It was fun to see them engaging in something that brings me so much joy.”

Similar to past years, the competition did have a long award ceremony before announcing the results.

“The lady hosting the ceremony was trying really hard to make it fun — trying to get everyone to turn on their mics and cheer,” Stansfield said. “But I think everyone just wanted to know if they won or not.”

In the end, the CHS A-Team moved on to States, which was “neutral news” according to Kosinski.

“Last year I wanted to go to States so badly, but this year, since it’s all online, I was just like, ‘If we go, cool. If we don’t, I guess that’s fine too,” Kosinski said.

Drawing by Mori Ono These illustrations feature A-Team members on the prosecution side, accompanied by sketches of some of the judges. “I enjoy drawing, but I don’t often get to do it,” Ono said. “With a variety of expressions and faces over the course of a single round, a mock trial gives me an exciting challenge to draw.”

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Hobbs Makes History

On Feb. 7, 2021, CHS senior Hobbs Kessler ran the fastest mile in high school history.

BY DAN GUTENBERG

Hobbs Kessler made it past the finish line at the state cross country meet his junior year. He didn’t place first, second or third. He placed sixth. But when he crossed the line, one thought went through his head: I can win next year.

As a lifelong climber, the transition to running was a slow progression, but after that moment, Kessler decided to fully dedicate himself to running with the goal of winning the following season. Ironically, that didn’t happen — there was no state meet the next season.

Instead, over a year later, in Fayetteville, Ark., Kessler ran at the American Track League meet. Running alongside collegiates and professionals, it was his first big race. He had never officially broken 4:20 in the indoor mile, but his goal was simple: run sub-four.

On Feb. 7, 2021, Kessler ran 3:57.66 — the fastest indoor high school mile ever. As the new national record-holder, he joined the short list of 11 high school milers to ever run sub-four. But while he now holds the fastest time, he wasn’t always focused on running.

Competing against the top kids in the country, Kessler grew up excelling as a climber — not a runner. He had always enjoyed running for fun, but it took until his freshman year of high school for him to seriously start getting involved in cross country — much later than most high school runners of his ilk. After a loving nudge from his parents — both of whom are runners themselves — he joined the Skyline cross country team freshman year.

“I joined to make friends and be a part of that community because [my parents] would say cross country kids are some of the nicest kids,” Kessler said. “And they were. I really got sucked in that way; the people, the team, the coaches, it was a really fun environment.”

During his freshman year running cross country and track, Kessler ran fast. But he wasn’t near a subPhoto courtesy of Hobbs Kessler Hobbs Kessler finished in sixth place in the state cross country race during his junior year. But after deciding to focus on running, Kessler ultimately ran a sub-four mile at the American Track League meet in Fayetteville, Ark. on Feb. 7, 2021. “Right before the race, I was really nervous,” Kessler said. “But it all went away. Once the gun went off, I was totally clear-minded, poised and present.”

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four mile. In fact, his fastest mile, 4:54, was actually the slowest freshman time out of all of the high school runners to ever break four minutes.

“My freshman self would never believe I would break four minutes in high school,” Kessler said.

Between his freshman and junior year, Kessler was still climbing. But he also spent increasingly more time running. During this span, he saw dramatic improvements in his 5k and mile times.

By mid-November of his junior year, Kessler ran an impressive 15:36 5k at the state meet, rapidly improving on a 17:42 freshman performance. This is when he really started to devote himself toward running.

Up until this point, he was putting equal effort into climbing and running at the highest level, but he knew that if his goal was to place first next year at states, he would have to give up his climbing aspirations. Splitting time between running and climbing, trying to be the best in two different areas, simply wasn’t working.

interest in Kessler. He began to coach him, while also assistant coaching at Skyline. In the midst of the pandemic, elite runners either found themselves quarantined or were unavailable to run in Ann Arbor, and the professional coach needed to coach.

“I invited him to some of my workouts — he started coming, and he saw something in me,” Kessler said.

“We became closer and closer and closer, now to the point where I see him every day. We have a super tight bond. He predicted that I’d run fast way before anyone else did. He’s really the one who saw it in me.”

Warhurst coaches New Zealand native and Ann Arbor runner Nick Willis, who also became a mentor of Kessler’s. Kessler found himself in a rare position with an iconic coach and a legendary two-time Olympic medalist mentor who has run a sub-four mile 19 years in a row. And still, he continued to work out with his teammates as well.

Kessler’s fall of 2020 was busy. His training regiment

The two sports were battling each other for his attention, time and energy. He had to learn how to let go and stop comparing himself to his peers. He learned to accept that they were going to be better than him. “[Comparing myself to my climbing peers] got kind of dangerous,” Kessler said. “I realized it’s really hard to be very good at two things. It’s just not possible to be at the highest level for both [sports]. But I still see myself as a climber. I don’t see any intention of stopping.”

After his junior fall season, Kessler was determined to run. But then the pandemic struck, robbing him of all the time with his team in the spring. Losing out on all of this time was hard, but there was one silver lining to all of the disruption caused by the pandemic: the only thing to do was run. Adapting to his situation, Kessler trained very hard during this time and worked to get a solid foundation in.

“I always just think of running as a triangle,” Kessler said. “A 60-60-60 triangle: the bigger the base, the higher you’re going to get. So I really got to build that base, and there was a huge physical benefit.”

There also was a circumstantial benefit. It was during this same time that former University of Michigan cross country coach Ron Warhurst started taking an

was draining, both mentally and physically. After one demanding workout after another, he was having trouble recovering, and his weekly miles dropped considerably.

“That was really hard because I had never really been in that big of a hole before, and I never really experienced being that tired,” Kessler said. “It was a little scary, like [I was] never going to recover, or if I recover, I’m going to be out of shape. It was just my lack of vision, and I recovered just fine. I was super fit by the state meet from it. I learned to do those big workouts because my body adapted.”

The winter arrived after a nonstop fall season and so did the American Track League meet in Fayetteville.

The invitation came six weeks in advance from Kessler’s mentor Willis, and Willis told him it’d be a great opportunity for him to run fast.

As far as training went, in January, they utilized everything Ann Arbor has to offer. Between hill repeats in the Nichols Arboretum and four-minute mile pace intervals at the University of Michigan’s old track, they trained outdoors for weeks in the cold to run a subfour mile. But in no way does Kessler think living here makes running harder.

3:57.66 “My freshman self 3:57.66 3:57 7.66 3:57.66 would never believe 3:57 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 7.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3: 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66

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“I absolutely do not [feel disadvantaged running in Ann Arbor],” Kessler said. “It’s a little harder to run the [four-minute mile] pace in Michigan right now because it’s so cold, and you have to have a lot of layers on. But so many great runners have come out of Ann Arbor.”

After weeks of preparation, Kessler made it to Fayetteville. As the only 17-year-old and only high schooler in the race, he was understandably nervous. The night before, to ease his nerves, Kessler played Minecraft with his friends, talking and having fun online before the big event.

Then, it was race day.

“Right before the race, I was really nervous,” Kessler said. “But it all went away. Once the gun went off, I was totally clear-minded, poised and present.”

Kessler quickly found himself in last place, but the 200 meter track had a clock every 100 meters, and as long as he saw a zero or a five on the clock, he knew he

from fifth up to third, Kessler read his final time on the clock: 3:57.66. Finishing right behind his mentor, Willis, he completed his season-long goal in early February. He was so focused on just going sub-four that he had no idea that he beat Drew Hunter’s record from 2016 by a margin of 0.15 seconds until someone told him.

Kessler’s historic time makes him the fastest high school miler indoors, the third fastest American high school miler in history, the first 17-year-old to ever break four minutes indoors and the second youngest American high schooler to run sub-four. However, he feels he hasn’t reached his full potential just yet.

“It’s cool to surpass all those people, but somebody’s going to break the record in the future,” Kessler said. “So I’m not too attached to the time.

I’m proud that I ran it. But I feel it doesn’t define me as an athlete, and I think I can do better.”

was on pace. Remaining calm all the way at the back, he moved up little by little when he felt the pace start to slow.

Almost all of a sudden, he was on the penultimate lap. And things could’ve gone wrong when he inadvertently stepped outside of the track. But one of the unique advantages Kessler has from his climbing background is how to handle himself when things go wrong. He knew to not let a small mishap evolve into something larger, and he instead maintained his focus on getting through the last lap.

“I didn’t let that fluster me,” Kessler said. “I did it, and then I finished the race. Any thoughts about that will be for after the race. I put it in the back of my mind and focused on what I have to do. And that comes from climbing.”

Then, with about 300 meters to go, he knew it was time to make it happen. “[I was thinking] I have an opportunity to break four; let’s not waste it even though I’m uncomfortable,” Kessler said. “It’s only going to hurt for a little bit longer, and then it’s going to be awesome. So I grinded out the last little bit and came in with the time.”

After an extra strong 50-meter kick, moving him

Kessler committed to Northern Arizona University last September, but he has flown under the radar in the running world during his time in high school. He burst onto the running scene relatively late, and his name wasn’t widely known until Feb. 7. Now, after completing his goal to run under four minutes so early, he’s laid out future aspirations — maintaining a focus on what’s in front of him and trying not to get lost in the abstract.

“The end goal is to be a professional runner and make an Olympic team and hopefully bring home some medals,” Kessler said. “Right now, that’s all in the distant future. I’m just trying to focus on what I can control on the day-to-day and not getting my head in the clouds too much with all the hype.”

Kessler’s goals are set for far in advance, but it’s worth noting how quickly he’s improving. For context, most sub-four high school milers run around 4:20 their freshman year. And six months before his race, Kessler’s fastest mile was exactly 4:20. He’s breaking records no one thought he would. And just like his state meet a year prior, he had one thought immediately after the race in Fayetteville: I can go faster.

:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:57.66 66 I would break 3:57.66 3:57.66 3:5 3:57.66 four minutes 3:57.66 3:57.66 66 3:57.66 in high school.” 3:57.66 3:

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Through the Window: an Introduction to Adaptation Photography by Mia Goldstein, Ailish Kilbride, Ella Rosewarne, Grace Wang and Cate Weiser

Green is symbolic of change. And the CHS community has undoubtedly experienced change in this past year.

As the Covid-19 pandemic discontinued in-person learning for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year — and eventually causing a continuation of remote learning for the majority of the next — CHS students have had to adjust to the situation at hand.

And with this, we present the Adaptation Edition.

In an entire magazine devoted to the theme, it has become an ambitious capture of CHS students and community members and their change throughout the past year. Through The Communicator journalists’ tireless reporting, it is evident how change has percolated into many aspects of our community. From athletics, to CHS clubs like Mock Trial and CET, to food, to music, to education and to everyday lives, change has become the most familiar aspect of our lives over the past year.

To introduce this extensive theme, we introduce “Through the Window.” This collection of small feature articles focuses on different CHS students. Not only do we get to physically look through their windows and into their lives, but we get to look into how their lives have changed with the pandemic. We hope you enjoy the dedicated reporting in the Adaption Edition and learn a little more about the CHS community.

March 2021 | 17

18 | The Communicator Magazine

GRACE ning of the pandemic, her schedule is not as time consuming as before the lockdown last year. To acclimate to the challenges of online school and an increased workload, Bradley has taken to making lists to complete the tasks her senior year has welcomed.

“It is so much easier if I plan things out — just like small things,” Bradley said. “I’m going to eat breakfast at eight o’clock, then go for a walk and then go to classes — just tiny things. If I plan it, I feel more accomplished, and it helps me get through my day.”

List making has become a coping mechanism for Bradley, allowing her to adjust to the changes online school has brought. This new set of organizational skills, however, is not the only lesson she has learned during the past year that she will carry with her in life.

Bradley has realized the importance of sticking to her morals. After hearing of her cousin’s travels during the pandemic, Bradley was frustrated with this irresponsibility. But instead of judging her cousin, she was able to assert what she believed was right and stuck to it.

“It doesn’t matter what other people are doing,” Bradley said. “You just have to do what you think is right. I think that’s something to really take, although it’s really hard — especially in this time when you want to be doing other things.”

Despite the academic burnout she was experiencing before the pandemic ensued, Bradley is ready to go back to in-person school. She had initially thought about taking a gap year to replenish her motivation, but now she is heavily anticipating going to college next year. And Bradley will be bringing the changes and lessons she discovered during the pandemic with her.

BRADLEY

Grace Bradley was feeling burnt out.

It was the second semester of her junior year at CHS, and all of her time was consumed with school work, extracurriculars and feelings of exhaustion. She wouldn’t get home until late at night, ultimately facing hours of homework that carried her further into the night.

But when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the state into a lockdown and months-long school closures, Bradley was confronted by an unexpected change.

“I was just skipping school,” Bradley said. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to go,” and I was trying to catch up. Then [it was] completely different. I didn’t know how to handle myself at first because there was nothing to do.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, Bradley was faced with a hump. At first, she followed suit with the statewide lockdown and sudden shift in lifestyle; she had nothing to do and found herself meandering through her house. But after adjusting to the new copious amounts of time she had on her hands, Bradley finally got over her hump: she learned how to be bored.

“I taught myself how to be bored and just be fine with that,” Bradley said. “I could spend days doing nothing, and I wouldn’t be going crazy. I was fine to just sit and let my mind wander. I think that’s a really good skill because we can get so caught up in our lives doing all these things. At some point you need to be able to have moments where you aren’t doing anything.”

Out of this complacency with her boredom, Bradley’s motivation increased. While she was able to sit for hours and be okay with boredom, she was also able to conjure more energy to start tasks or projects. Now, Bradley must shift this motivation towards school. Although she has less free time compared to the begin-

Feature | March 2021 | 19

OLIVER LETE-STRAKA

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For Oliver Lete-Straka, not much has happened since last March. Amidst the pandemic, he has been fortunate to be in a situation that has allowed him to be relatively unscathed from the hardships that have ensued.

But the small activities he has become accustomed to since the state-issued lockdown last spring are of little significance compared to his normal routine.

One of these activities, though, has proven to be formative for Lete-Straka: he has taken to tinkering with small drones. His first introduction to this hobby was through a YouTube video, which led to listening to First-Person View (FPV) drone podcasts before bed at night. Lete-Straka’s new affinity for drones has ushered in a new potential future in aerospace engineering.

“It felt good to have mini projects to keep my mind engaged instead of watching a movie all day or just staring at my phone all day,” Lete-Straka said.

Exploring his craftsmanship in drones became therapeutic — and served him with a sense of accomplishment. Before occupying his time constructively, though, he was consuming a lot of junk food and sleeping for long periods when the initial shift into a lockdown began. To savor what Lete-Straka thought was a two week vacation from school, he spent time with his family playing Mario Kart or working out in the living room. As the lockdown lengthened, his relationships began to change.

“My relationships with people that I was close to became a lot closer,” Lete-Straka said. “People that I was friends with but didn’t really see outside of school, [we] really grew apart. I haven’t seen a lot of the regular people, regular faces I would see, which is sad. I’m scared I won’t have a connection when I get back to school with them. But the regular people I would hang out with — like my main three friends, my girlfriend, my family, my house — I feel like we all grew, or I grew a lot closer to all of them.”

Even though Lete-Straka’s life has been put on hold in order to adhere to the pandemic guidelines, he has still been able to find activities to occupy his time. His affinity for drones, as well as his new-found patience and resourcefulness will be lessons and activities he will carry with him.

The long lunchroom tables paired with little round seats, where whole friend groups gathered, used to be a constant in Molly Hamalainen’s life. This was a time she felt close and connected to her friends. There were only a select few that Hamalainen would hang out with outside of school, but once the pandemic hit, the number of people she stayed in contact with decreased immensely.

“I didn’t realize how much our friendship was at stake because we weren’t hanging out outside of school,” Hamalainen said. “We are super distant now, and I consider them my friends, but I feel like some of them might not consider me their friends just because I haven’t spoken to them.”

Hamalainen limited the number of friends that she was hanging out with and also realized who was truly there for her. She has a group of close friends that have put time and effort into their relationship, and they also happen to be geographically convenient for them to get together.

Although Hamalainen has found a tight-knit group of friends, she no longer has all of her friends from school and extracurricular activities like sports and musical theater. Hamalainen has enough to deal with starting as a freshman at CHS and staying on track in school, so she has not rejoined her extracurriculars. All her friendships have become distant — similar to the relationships with her old school friends.

“I’ve always been sort of anxious and an introvert,” Hamalainen said. “So my alone time was precious to me, but I was still able to enjoy going out. However, during the pandemic, especially over the summer, I just decided that it’s safer if I stay inside. But then that led me to realize how much better I feel inside when I’m not constantly hanging out with people.”

But the time alone has really allowed Hamalainen to grow. She understands now that she can thrive apart from her friends. Throughout the school day, Hamalainen can get very overwhelmed, and she has gained an understanding of her body and how to control her emotions.

“I’ve been way better at knowing when I need to do certain things,” Hamalainen said. “If I’m in school and getting really anxious or really upset, then I can just go and sit down and put out my yoga mat and do yoga, or just meditate. I just think I know myself more because I’ve spent so much time by myself.”

MOLLY HAMALAINEN

Feature | March 2021 | 21

REAGAN

As we come up on the 300 day marker of the global pandemic, reflecting back on the growth and change over the past 11 months is hard. From trying to remember what the first day in isolation looked like, to recalling the dark gloomy days of April, is something most don’t want to revisit. Although reflection can sometimes be hard it is important to go back and remember the good, bad and ugly days.

Reagan Masek, a freshman at CHS, has changed over the past 300 days for the better through discovering deeper self-care and learning the power of her own voice.

“I have become a lot more aware of everything happening in the world, especially the kinds of things that people are going through,” Masek said. “I participated in a couple of Black Lives Matter protests over the summer with my sister, and that really changed my perspective on a lot of things. If it wasn’t for the pan-

demic, I don’t think I would have become as aware of all the things we as young people are going through.”

Masek says that caring for herself is more important to her mental health than most realize. She also tells us that the pandemic has taught her to realize what things she wants to invest more energy in and what things that she wants to worry less about.

“I think being alone all the time has given me more time to think and take care of myself,” Masek said. “It has made me realize that self-care is so important, and it has helped me better myself in ways that I wouldn’t have come to if it weren’t for the global shut down. I now have limits on my phone that only allow me to be on it for the second part of the day. This habit has helped strengthen relationships with my family and friends. Creating new habits for myself has helped me more than ever through these past 300 days.”

MASEK 22 | The Communicator Magazine

EMMY

Emmy Wernimont, now a CHS freshman, was sitting in her living room with her mom on March 12, 2020 when she first heard AAPS would officially be closing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Fearing this, Wernimont, an eighth grader attending Slauson Middle School at the time, had gone to her school earlier that day to pick up all her stuff. As she let the news sink in, Wernimont went for a long walk.

“I was sort of in shock,” Wernimont said. “I realized it was sort of a big deal but I had no idea that it was going to last this long. I thought we’d be back by April at the latest.”

In the fall, Wernimont began to play sports socially distanced. She did conditioning outside with the Pioneer high school basketball team.

“It was nice because it was something scheduled at a time where you had to be somewhere and do something,” Wernimont said. “It was also nice to get to see other people in-person.”

Wernimont is disappointed about missing out on the end of her eighth grade year at Slauson Middle School, as well as her freshman year at CHS. “I want to know what it’s like to go into high school,” Wernimont said. “I have been in CHS only once. I want to be able to see the school and get to know it.”

It’s been difficult for Wernimont to make friends through the online school format.

“I go to CHS and a lot of my friends from middle school don’t go here, so I don’t know a ton of people anyways,” Wernimont said. “There’s no lunchtime or passing time where I can have conversations with people and actually get to know them.”

Wernimont is hoping to get back in the classroom to finish off her freshman year.

“It’s exciting that we might be going back,” she said.

“I’m a little bit worried about Covid-19. But I think if there are precautions, we stay distant and everyone keeps their masks on, it will be fine.”

WERNIMONT

Feature | March 2021 | 23

For Ava Hartung, CHS junior, the past 12 months have been a momentous time of self growth and realization.

In the past, Hartung believes she came across as brash and overly impulsive to her peers and friends.

Whether it was engaging in heated debates in the classroom or her outspoken personality, she was always prepared to speak her mind, never really considering how others could perceive her. She responded swiftly to any comments that could undermine her ideas, and the counter was usually hasty and to the point.

“I was really passionate, but almost too much and not always about the right things,” Hartung said. “When somebody said something that I didn’t understand, I wanted to debate it with them, and I really took it to a personal level.”

Her strong opinions and occasional outbursts secluded her from her classmates and didn’t always paint the most approachable version of herself. But underneath this facade, Hartung is a soft, goofy and loving person.

She generally considers her lifestyle as slow paced; she spends her free time drawing and playing guitar.

Time out of in-person school has offered her a new outlook on her past habits. With more time on her hands, she has had the opportunity to reflect on her actions and has taken steps to re-frame her outlook and bearings.

“I’ve been forced to sit back and go slower, given that all interactions are now online and I have more time to think about what I am going to say,” Hartung said.

Because all students are now forced to unmute themselves on Zoom when they want to contribute to a discussion, Hartung has found that she has more time to rehearse what she wants to say publicly. This limits any chance of thoughts slipping out before she can take them back.

“I am really trying to be more receptive,” Hartung said. “I am learning to pick my moments.”

AVA HARTUNG

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MARCY MCCORMICK

While the past 12 months have been a tumultuous ride of uncertainty and Covid-19 restrictions, Marcy McCormick has found herself grappling with new teaching styles after 18 years of in-person learning, exploring all of Washtenaw County’s nature reserves and watching her sons start kindergarten in a way she never imagined.

One year ago, McCormick was preparing her FOS III class for their infectious disease unit. She did not suspect that her lesson plans and the annual watch party for the movie “Contagion” would be put to a halt due to the start of a global pandemic. Fortunately for McCormick, she was well adept in the multifaceted nature of infectious diseases and was equipped for understanding the science behind what was unfolding.

As she made the shift to virtual learning around March, she found herself and her family seizing all opportunities to get outside to try and maintain a sense of normalcy and routine.

“We were able to, as a family, still go on a few trips,” McCormick said. “We went to a cabin up north and down to Hocking Hills, Ohio.”

Ensuing her restful and family-oriented summer, there was still a looming sense of anxiety over online teaching as September approached. One of her biggest

concerns regarded how she would adjust her project based curriculum to something accessible for students at home. It took about a month for her to get settled into a style of teaching that was fitting for her and her students.

“It’s challenging to have motivation to be excited about teaching when you’re not getting that [in-person] response from a student,” McCormick said. “I am trying to figure out the needs, and respect the needs, of students, while also trying to engage and create a sense of classroom unity and connectedness. [This] is something that I’m struggling with.”

In addition to starting her own class online, McCormick’s twin boys were also starting school virtually.

The initial excitement and bittersweet moments of sending her kids off on their first day of school and seeing them active in a classroom was something she was hoping to experience.

Although McCormick has dealt with and overcome the feelings of disappointment in moving her classroom online and missing out on benchmark experiences with her sons, she has also relished in and made the most out of the summer months. She is looking forward to a time where things will return back to normal and remains hopeful.

Feature | March 2021 | 25

BENTLEY RYAN Despite the pressures of the pandemic, CHS junior Ryan Bentley has been finding ways to remain close with his friends and family.

Bentley has started a bi-weekly game night with his family. He says that playing cards and board games with them has brought them close, and he now feels more connected with them than ever before. Bentley also goes with his family on weekend trips, which he feels has strengthened their bond even further.

However, Bentley sometimes finds himself needing relief from his family. For this, he often goes to his basement. Bentley has set up his exercise equipment and school computer there, so it’s where he spends most of his time. He says that besides his parents occasionally coming down, that is a space that he has mostly to himself.

When the weather is nice and Covid-19 cases are low, Bentley also likes to spend his time outside with a few of his friends. He has even managed to make a few new friends. Bentley feels somewhat lucky to have met them at the time that he did. Otherwise he feels it would have been hard to find people to talk to throughout the quarantine. He says that it has been nearly impossible to form relationships with people through 26 | The Communicator Magazine

online school.

“I think if we went back to school, some of my teachers wouldn’t know who I am,” Bentley said. “I haven’t seen anyone in online school who I really felt like I could be friends with.”

Technology has been helping him to stay in contact with some of his friends. When they deem it unsafe to hang out in-person, they remain in contact through a group chat on Snapchat. In addition, Bentley says that, when quarantine started, gaming helped him stay in contact with some of his friends, but he felt he had to stop when the school year began.

“After the beginning of quarantine, I was on my Xbox way too much,” Bentley said. “I knew that if I continued to do that, my grades would drop, so three days before school started, I decided not to touch it again.”

Bentley also believes that this quarantine has had some positive effects on him and his family.

“I think I’ve become less self-conscious, which has helped me make friends,” Bentley said. “I think I learned to appreciate my family more because I’m spending more time with them, which I didn’t really do before.”

Last March, CHS junior Mia Wood was desperate for a break — a break from school and a break from social expectations, where she could retreat to her room to recuperate. When Covid-19 closed Michigan schools on March 13, 2020, her wish, in a way, was granted.

Over the quarantine period, Wood took an in-depth look at herself and learned about who she really was -- from hobbies she loves to how to share her opinions.

While Wood has always had an interest in painting and sketching, she used the past six months to expand on her skills. She learned how to work with a variety of paints, and spent hours sketching things outside around her house. Her passion inspired her to take a painting and color theory class offered at CHS this past semester, which she came out of with five completed paintings.

A common subject for Wood’s art are the plants that fill her bedroom. She has so many that her mother has gone so far as to ban her from purchasing any more.

She spent time learning about how to take care of them, and what makes them different. Wood now has

over 20 plants in her room and throughout her house.

Wood believes that the biggest thing she discovered about herself was her fear to share her opinions. One day, Wood saw a comment on an Instagram infographic that felt wrong to her.

“Something they said didn’t sit right with me, and I wanted to share why it didn’t sit right with me,” Wood said.

She pushed herself to respond to the comment, and explained to them why it made her uncomfortable. The breakthrough moment pushed her to read more articles and books, which exposed her to a wider range of opinions and voices. Eventually, she let go of the fear she felt when she wanted to speak out.

“Voicing your different opinion is important, because you can learn from each other and educate each other on those opinions,” Wood said. “It’s what makes us all different.”

MIA WOOD Feature | March 2021 | 27

SAGE IWASHYNA

Sage Iwashyna entered quarantine thinking he’d love the alone time. But after five months of isolating and following social distancing guidelines, he realized how much he hated it.

“A lot of introverted people were initially like, ‘We get to stay inside and not see anyone,’” Iwashyna said.

“But now, I would kill to be able to go to a park and just be around people.”

Iwashyna wouldn’t characterize himself as an extrovert, but perhaps an outgoing introvert. As someone who generally sticks to his own and is pretty low-key, he found that the time spent alone had him craving for more human interaction. Little conversations and small exchanges that once went unnoticed, like high fives and waves in the hallways, became something that he truly misses.

Over the summer, his days were consumed with Netflix and picking up forgotten hobbies like knitting. Time seemed to run together and daily tasks like waking up and eating became monotonous and one of 28 | The Communicator Magazine

the same. On the good days, book in hand, Iwashyna would take his dogs to the Arb to sit by the river and read.

After being laid off from his job as a busser for Zingerman’s in late August, he started working as a barista for Sweetwaters. His new job helped with his need for human interaction through trivial conversations with customers.

As a second semester senior, Iwashyna has done some serious reflecting these past 12 months. “I have learned how much I need to be within a functioning society,” Iwashyna said.

He has taken what he’s gathered about himself and is starting to implement it into his life now. He is opening up more to strangers, working on being fully in the moment and not passively going through life without appreciating the little things. When the world becomes safe again, Iwashyna cannot wait to hug his friends.

“What I’ve taken away from all of this is how much humans need each other,” Iwashyna said.

JOSH MOSS When the Covid-19 pandemic initiated the first state-wide lockdown and the district-wide closure of school, Josh Moss was ecstatic. He was burnt out, watching his interest in his classes slowly dwindle until the point where he only looked forward to one.

Moss was in desperate need of a break.

Even music, a large part of his life, was an area Moss was struggling with. Although CHS jazz band teacher Jack Wagner is able to balance the dichotomy between a competitive environment and creation, Moss still felt stress while playing his instruments.

“Piano has always been the greatest love of mine because there’s never been any stress attached to it,” Moss said. “I would just play lessons, perform whatever concert there was, but it was incredibly low stress. Meanwhile, saxophone, while I was ‘good’ at it, it was never a love of mine because there’s always push. There’s always this competition that you have to have.”

The break from school due to the increasing threat of the pandemic gave Moss the opportunity to rekindle his love for just playing: no stress, no competition, just playing for himself. He was able to look past the patterns of stress he immersed himself in, taking his “blinders” off to listen and feel the music from a new perspective.

“It’s more liberating because you are able to listen more deep-

ly,” Moss said. “It’s no longer about someone else listening to your music, but it’s like, how do you hear your own music? And so that also takes away a lot of stress because the only person you’re playing for in those moments is you. There’s no one else in the room, there’s nothing you’re preparing for; it’s literally just you.”

In the time he wasn’t practicing the piano or saxophone, Moss relished in the time he had to himself. However, around May, he started to crave the social interaction he was missing from being alone. He had “an itch that you can’t scratch for social communication” beyond the small circle he grew close to during his months in lockdown. From conversing with the same people for an extended period of time, in conjunction with growing older and maturing, Moss was able to see the nuances of conversations or political topics. The repeated discussion he had allowed him to recognize the intelligence he is surrounded by, seeing the new perspectives others may have. These conversations are like points to a much larger pointillism painting, as he described it.

Although the past year started with intense burn-out, Moss’s revitalized love for music and nuanced understanding of complex issues have guided him through the pandemic. And when it is over, he plans to take these lessons and apply them to the obstacles yet to come.

Feature | March 2021 | 29

March 13, 2020 was the last time CHS students were together in the building.

Now, after almost a year has past since our last few lessons of in-person learning, CHS students reflect on their last day before lockdown.

“Don’t worry guys, my friend is a health director in Ohio, and she says we’ve already peaked in cases.

School won’t be canceled, you can rest assured.”

Those were some of the last words my math teacher said to my class on March 12, 2020.

At the time, the U.S. had less than 2,000 Covid-19 cases, and the disease’s classification barely fit into what is considered a pandemic. The very next day, coincidentally Friday the 13th — a day commonly associated with bad luck — schools across the nation would shut down. In Michigan, two weeks, plus a third for Spring Break, would be allotted to slowing the spread. Little did we know what would really happen.

As of writing this on Feb. 20, 2021, it is currently day 344 of “15 days to slow the spread,” but I still recall the feeling of jubilation at getting two extra weeks of Spring Break on day one. Of course, I don’t remember all the specifics, such as where I was when I heard the news, what I was doing and what my immediate reaction was; at the time, I didn’t feel it was necessary to take note; it was just a few weeks off, nothing important.

I do remember, however, rushing across the street after school and stop30 | The Communicator Magazine

ping in Sweetwaters Cafe to discuss with my friends what we planned to do during break. Our plans seemed to sound similar — take a break from school to catch up on some sleep, play video games or enjoy the free time. Ironically enough, I felt grateful for the Covid-19 pandemic because who doesn’t like time off?

After I collected all my belongings from my locker and made sure I wasn’t forgetting anything for my three-week break, I decided to head to the public library. Since everything would be shut down for a few weeks, I thought that grabbing some books and movies to tide me over wouldn’t hurt.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with that idea, and I saw many CHS students doing the same. It was nice to get to talk with friends some more, but if I had known that would be the last time I’d see them in-person in 2020, I definitely would have spent more time hanging out. Unfortunately, nobody knew that three weeks would turn into two months, then eight and now almost a year.

Looking back on March 13, 2020 now, I realize that I overlooked everything I had and that something as negligible as seeing friends and teachers in-person would mean so much to me now in 2021. I assume that afternoon, when I got home, I watched some Netflix and took a nap, oblivious of what was to come. Of course, I resent lockdown and everything I’ve lost as a result of it — social interaction, a normal freshman year, trips around the country and the world. But deep down, I can appreciate what happened for the safety of those I know and love, but more importantly, to put into perspective how quickly and drastically things can change and that we should never take something seemingly ordinary or trivial for granted.

BY SANTIAGO FIORI

Photography by Tracy Anderson The seats at the tables in Courtney Kiley’s CHS science classroom remain empty and untouched since March of 2020. When instruction was conducted in-person, Kiley’s classroom was home to the Ecology Club, the Kiley Forum and various different science classes.

It was the morning of March 11, and CHS junior Ana Morgan was elbow-deep in a bucket of soap when a text notification went out saying that the whole school district would be shut down for three weeks, starting in two days.

Morgan watched as her FOS III classmates pulled out their phones, and questions began to spread throughout the room. They had just begun the long awaited project of making their own soap, and, though a completely unprecedented sequence of events was about to unfold, Morgan’s immediate thought was, “What will happen to the soap if we are not in class on Monday to finish it?

Two days later, what should have been the end to a busy tech week and the opening night of CET’s 2020 production of “The Tempest” turned into her last normal day in school and with friends. In class on March 13, 2020, the uncertainty among teachers and students was evident.

“When I went to my classes, I felt like none of my teachers knew quite how to

comprehend what was going to happen,” Morgan said. “They were all just kind of quiet.”

She recalls eating bagels in Forum, balancing textbooks on her head in World History and singing happy birthday to Moe in Precalculus. After the school day ended, Morgan met up with friends from CET. They got takeout from No Thai and watched “Friday the 13th” together. One of her clearest memories from this day was buying jelly candies called Jubes from the Asian market on the way home and eating them with seven of her closest friends.

“We all ate out of this bowl of Jubes, and it was just so gross now that I think about it, but we were laughing over it,” Morgan said.

The eight of them planned to sleep over,

but Covid-19 concerns resulted in an early night.

“I ended up not being able to sleep over because my parents were nervous,” Morgan said. “They came to pick me up, and that was the last time I hung out with all of [my friends].”

Since March 13, 2020, Morgan has replayed these events over and over in her head. The last day of in-person school was such a monumental moment, but at the time it was impossible to comprehend the gravity of the situation.

“I honestly thought we were going to go back [to normal] because I thought we would have it under control in two weeks,” Morgan said. “I was very wrong, but I think that’s what everyone thought.”

BY MAGGIE WOLF

Feature | March 2021 | 31

March 13 was a joyful day at the time; I thought it was no big deal.

The night before I saw that many of my friends’ schools were closing and was hoping that it would happen to my school. I went to school after hearing about the new virus that was spreading. I drew comparisons to Ebola and believed it would not affect me, but I was incorrect. I sat in school, listening to the new Lil Uzi Vert deluxe album, seeing the plan for what was happening as we shut down the school year As the day went on, my friends and I all thought it would be a nice two week break from school; all the teachers were telling us that we would be back. I remember going to history and talking about how we are entering an important time in history, but I

did not think that it was going to be a big event in my life, or in the grand scheme of things.

Slowly, the news rolled in about the virus spreading, and hearing about the first case in Ann Arbor was scary to me. I felt like it was so close to me and that life wasn’t going to be the same. Going to Meijer down the street, which used to be a fun thing to do, became something I wouldn’t even think about doing. Masks became a big part of my style. I’m always matching masks with my outfit and now I can’t imagine going out without one. March 13, 2020 just proved that life can change in the blink of an eye.

BY SAM CAO

32 | The Communicator Magazine

Photography by Tracy Anderson Chloe Root’s room is still adorned with the same decorations that welcomed students during in-person learning: various posters, pictures of forum members and Mock Trial schedules. Before the pandemic, the room was, among other things, home to the Root Forum, Mock Trial and Government, History and Gender Studies classes.

March 13 is a day that I will never forget.

It was a turning point in my life that would change the way I spent my days for the year to come. A new world was approaching, and no one knew it was coming. On March 11, 2020 the school district announced that students would be getting an extra two weeks off of school to slow the spread of Covid-19. Most kids were just happy to get more time off, not thinking anything of it. I remember heading to the YMCA with my friends after school on our last day of school just like any other day, and we were all treating it like a normal afternoon — not one of the last moments we would spend with each other for the next year.

Going to classes that day was a strange feeling. Each teacher had slightly different thoughts on what was to come. Some thought less of it, while others had more bizarre takes on the situation — or at least what seemed bizarre at the time. All I cared about was having time off of school, but some teachers had told me to remember

this day. Some of my teachers told us that it would be a day for the history books.

March 13, 2020, to me, is a day that teaches about the values of normalcy and to never take what you have for granted. I loved my life before this day and the pandemic, and if I knew it would all go away, I would have handled how I spent that last day very differently. I was only worried about making sure my extra two weeks would be spent having fun and resting, and less about the virus, what it was doing and where it was going. I think about all of the relationships I had: I had friends who I would see everyday, and I would treat our time spent together like nothing. But now it only feels strange to think about how I used to see them all the time. The fact that everything that was normal feels strange now shows how much we undervalue things that are truly special.

BY HENRY CONNOR

Photography by Tracy Anderson The third floor hallway is flooded by the daylight coming through the large windows. This hallway, usually crowded with students between classes, is home to many traditions. The Communicator distribution starts here, as well as many experiments, conversations, memories and meals.

Feature | March 2021 | 33

Clague Middle School’s hallways were filled with friends and classmates hugging each other and saying goodbyes.

The classes were very brief on March 13, 2020 — a half day. Students chaotically were in and out classrooms the whole day. Hannah Rubenstein and her yearbook classmates roamed the halls to take pictures of all grade levels.

Rubenstein was barely in class. She went to a few minutes of each class and hardly remembers which ones she went to. Rubenstein was taking pictures of people she had never even talked to before and was just trying to get coverage for the school’s yearbook. Communicating with her friends during the day was hard because she was constantly taking pictures.

Rubenstein wasn’t able to go to lunch with her friends and socialize. But being able to see all the grades really helped Rubenstein.

“I kind of used [taking pictures] as a distraction,” Rubenstein said. “I think it also helped me because I was able to see a lot of people, not only my friends, but other people in my grade and other grades and other classes, which helped me to see how other

people were dealing with everything that was going on. It made me realize like ‘I’m not alone in this. We’re all going through it.’”

One picture stood out to Rubenstein. She was in a French class and taking pictures of a group of three students. They told her to wait for one second and ran off to grab stuff. They came back with Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer and struck a pose.

Rubenstein didn’t think anything of it at the time until the quarantine became real and started to set in.

Rubenstein also snapped one last picture of the Clague Middle School as she rode away on the bus. In this moment, driving away from school, she realized that she might not be back before going to CHS. “I decided just to take a photo just to have a little picture of that last day,” Rubenstein said. “For my mind, rather than looking at it from other people’s view from like all the photos that I took for yearbook that day.

I wanted something for myself to remem-

ber.”

March 13, 2020 was Rubenstein’s start of quarantine and the last day of middle school. Rubenstein remembers her neighborhood friend asking if they would be able to hangout during the break, and Rubenstein did not know how to answer the question.

Rubenstein would describe the whole day at school as strange. Everything was so unpredictable throughout the day, and there were so many changes. The principal and teachers did not know what was going on, and neither did Rubenstein.

After a strange day at school, Rubenstein started her quarantine with a really chill night with her family. She helped her mom make dinner and sat quietly with her family with many unanswered questions to end the memorable day of March 13, 2020.

BY HANNAH BERNSTEIN

Photography by Tracy Anderson LEFT: A bag sits untouched and left behind under a table in one of the CHS art rooms. During the 2019-2020 school year, art teacher Steve Coron was preparing for the biennial Italy Trip that was supposed to take place during Spring Break. The trip was canceled.

Photography by Tracy Anderson RIGHT: One of the two CHS art rooms stands empty on the first floor. Usually, students are participating in discussion or creating art projects; there still remains a few pieces of student art work. Not only are these rooms home to various unique art classes, but to forums, like the Steve Coron Forum.

34 | The Communicator Magazine

In the afternoon of March 8, Elliot Bramson went to a Bernie Sanders rally in downtown Ann Arbor with his parents after a normal Sunday morning.

“I wasn’t worried about Covid at all that day; it still seemed like something that wasn’t that big of a deal in the U.S.,” Bramson said. “It didn’t feel real until we seriously talked about not going back [to school].”

Bramson remembers seeing Sanders from a distance, with hundreds of people gathering around the University of Michigan’s Diag to hear him speak. “We were super crowded and had a hard time finding parking,” Bramson said. “It’s crazy to think

[that], after that week, I would not feel safe in a crowd like that with no masks.”

Bramson recalls that March 8, 2020, specifically, was the last normal day for him.

“The rally was on a Sunday, and the next day, when we went to school, everything just seemed off,” Bramson said. “Teachers were preparing to go to online school, and the environment really changed.”

After having a virtual semester this year, Bramson thinks it would take getting used to adjust to a normal school environment.

“Last semester of ninth grade online school wasn’t fun, but now I think I would have a hard time going back,” Bramson said. “I am used to online classes now, and I like how Schoology keeps track of my assignments. If I went back in-person, it would be difficult for me to keep track of my work.”

BY ELLIOT BRAMSON

Feature | March 2021 | 35

On March 26, CHS sophomore Kevin Dutton stood in a giant crowd of people, all without masks, inside Little Caesars Arena.

Dutton was attending a Detroit Pistons game. He was with his parents and 89-year-old grandma.

“Obviously it was very crowded,” Dutton said. “Some of the first cases that came into Michigan were at that game, supposedly, because three of the Pistons players got Covid-19 after the game. And one of the cameramen got Covid-19 and died a few days later. It’s definitely crazy to think that I was with my grandma, who is obviously very high risk for Covid-19, and I was not nervous at all. If I would have done that any day after March 26, I probably would have been way more scared. I would not feel comfortable doing that.”

36 | The Communicator Magazine

Since that game, Dutton’s life has changed in so many ways. Things that he thinks of as normal now seemed crazy back then. For example, online school.

“I’m much more used to online school now,” Dutton said. “I remember thinking it was so weird in the spring, but now it’s just normal school.”

Dutton has also been able to adapt to the changes by improving his time management skills. He’s had more opportunities to plan out his day since he spends most of his time at home.

“I feel like I’ve gotten better at managing my time,” Dutton said. “Before Covid-19, I was used to having a lot of events planned

out for me. But without a lot of activities going on, I feel like I’ve gotten better at managing my day on my own time and doing the things I have to do.”

Although Dutton misses going to Piston’s games, he recognizes the importance of staying safe.

“As much as I miss going to events like this, I’d much rather stay safe and protect my grandma, who’s 90 now,” Dutton said.

BY KEVIN DUTTON

Photography by Tracy Anderson One table stands alone in the sunlight in the Crockett Library. Located on the second floor, the library is usually busy with students studying, completing assignments or reading.

Walking the hallways between classes on Friday, March 13, CHS student Avani Hoeffner-Shah felt like she was dreaming.

A few days before, a message had gone out to AAPS families saying that the entire school district would be closing for the next three weeks, and on this last day of in-person school, it seemed that nobody knew quite how to react. With so much uncertainty circulating among students and teachers, the whole experience felt surreal.

“I kind of had a feeling [before that day] that school was going to get canceled because they already shut down the after-school activities after the first cases were in Michigan, but it didn’t feel real,” Hoeffner-Shah said.

She recalls how preoccupied and distracted everyone seemed throughout the day.

“[Covid-19] was all anyone could talk about,” Hoeffner-Shah said.

In economics with Brett, the class discussed how a pandemic might affect the economy; in precalculus with Moe, students wondered what would happen if they had to learn math from home; and in Forum with Tracy, everyone played bingo to win a box of Clorox wipes. Hoeffner-Shah found herself wondering what would happen with her upcoming tests, her Skyline soccer tryouts and, most importantly, seeing her friends.

After the school day ended, she went out to lunch with her friend and friend’s mom at El Harissa Cafe.

“I remember her mom making us sanitize our hands and all the utensils and stuff at lunch,” Hoeffner-Shah said. “It was really weird because that was like the last time I went out to a restaurant or saw my friend for six months afterwards.”

Unaware of this fact, the two went back to her friend’s house, where they unknowingly spent their last normal moments of 2020 together.

“I knew, from the news about other places, that we would probably be gone longer than people originally said, but I had no idea it’d be a year,” Hoeffner-Shah said.

BY MAGGIE WOLF

Feature | March 2021 | 37

The First Days: A Twitter Timeline

38 | The Communicator Magazine

The story of last year’s school closures from the perspectives of CHS staff.

BY NOAH BERNSTEIN AND ELIOT KLUS

On Feb. 10, 2020, Communicator journalists Ben Cooper and Charles Solomon published our first mention of COVID-19 in an article titled “The 2019 coronavirus.”

Now, it’s all we write about.

We have been grappling with this pandemic for nearly a year. In this time, we have also experienced a financial crisis, the resurgence of a racial justice movement and even an armed insurrection at the US Capitol. This edition is about the ways our lives — and ourselves — have changed as a result.

During the week of March 9, 2020 — a week in which not much was clear except to wash your hands — the world around us changed dramatically. The March 13 stories elsewhere in the edition explain how we were feeling at this time. This is what we were reading.

Feature | March 2021 | 39

40 | The Communicator Magazine

Feature | March 2021 | 41

Remote learning has brought about unprecedented challenges this past year. For families with students in special education, these challenges have proven to be more extreme.

BY ELIOT KLUS AND TAI TWOREK

Distance learning has tested many Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) community members. And for Kate Wright, the challenges of the pandemic have been felt most heavily from her role as a mother of two young children — one of whom has Down syndrome.

As a current participant in a

this exhaustion. Fidishin says many parents of children with IEPs and 504s are concerned — and justly so. One of the biggest worries for parents is a significant pandemic regression — loss of learning — and especially slow recoupment. Fidishin offered an analogy.

“I couldn’t put on dress shoes right now if you paid me because I haven’t had to since March,” Fidishin said. “So when that day comes, I’m gonna have to practice getting in my heels again because I haven’t for months. That holds true for all of us. I just think for students with special needs, that gets a little bit exacerbated.”

Learning is only a fraction of what is lost for many of these students: schools provide vital services for many of them, and, during the pandemic, these services have been strained. Wright has experienced this strain with her son. Because of his specific disability, her son — like many students with IEPs and 504s — is given special provisions during the school day that are sometimes contingent on a face-to-face environment. Concerns about these lost services have been brought up multiple times in AAPAC advocacy meetings.

“For example, my son has a difficult time grasping pencils,” Wright said. “He gets occupational therapy. Most kids in second grade don’t get occupational therapy. So, that’s considered a service provision. And when we first sat down in March, there was a regular teacher, but not those other service providers. So it wasn’t clear that we were going to get occupational therapy, physical therapy or social work services, things like that. And those did not come in March; we missed three months of that.”

Important aspects of special education extend beyond service provisions offered in-person: simple faceto-face connection can be just as critical. Fidishin herself is feeling some of the pandemic’s unique, human difficulties. She is able to sympathize with students, navigating newfound difficulties interacting with people on a daily basis. “That intimate contact, that is as normal as everyday,” Fidishin said.

In the special education services provided by the

“THAT INTIMATE CONTACT, Ph.D. program, Wright realized the child care aspect of school would be lost with the shift to remote learning.

Her husband works full time, and, in order to make sure her son with Down syndrome was doing his work, Wright was faced with taking a leave of absence from the program. Luckily, her mom drove from Oregon to move in with Wright in order to help her children with school Wright’s child, however, has a more flexible situation than other young students — particularly those in special education. Many students do not have an adult with them during the day to assist them with their virtual schoolwork. As the co-chair for the Ann Arbor Parent Advisory Committee for special education (AAPAC), Wright knows her family is not alone in their struggles.

“I think any parent of a kid with a disability will tell you it can be exhausting,” Wright said. “And I think that part of the exhaustion comes from parents, or sort of the general society, not understanding what the issues are that people face.”

Dr. Marianne Fidishin, the executive director of AAPS’ Student Intervention and Support Services and one of Wright’s district collaborators, also recognizes 42 | The Communicator Magazine

THAT IS AAPS system, intimate contact is often provided by peer mentoring programs. Students of all abilities are able to interact with each other in these programs, as those in general education assume a mentorship role with their peers with disabilities.

Wright estimates that peer mentoring starts in AAPS in third or fourth grade.

Miles Gutmann, a senior at Pioneer High School (PHS), has participated in the school’s Peer Connections program for a few years. He initially started peer mentoring at Forsythe Middle School in seventh grade, perking his interest in the program.

These years proved to be foundational, providing Gutmann with many memorable experiences.

Most notably, he was able to recognize the impact he left on some of his peers, teaching them routines by example and through directions.

More recently, Gutmann has realized the impact peer mentoring has had on himself.

In middle school, he struggled with a sense of belonging. Gutmann was able to connect with his peers in special education, recognizing that many of them were isolated, too. By working with students throughout middle and high school that were experiencing similar feelings of loneliness, Gutmann was able to translate the coping mechanisms and strategies he learned from peer mentoring to his own life.

“I kind of had those same moments [of isolation], but I don’t necessarily [express them] publicly,” Gutmann said. “Eventually, Peer Connections and the way we were helping [our peers] de-escalate situations… helped me de-escalate situations for myself. Things that I was taught to help them were honestly just teaching me to help myself.”

Gutmann decided to continue his peer mentoring efforts in high school after one of his peers

at PHS in special education gave him a high-five in the hallway. The connections he created in the program, however, were entirely in an in-person setting. The PHS Peer Connections program is still offered virtually this year, but Gutmann is not currently enrolled. He has heard from his friends and teachers that are mentors of the challenges his old classmates are facing in online school.

“Peer Connections is a super meaningful thing because [the kids in special education] have this time to connect with kids they look up to,” Gutmann said.

“They have this time to spend with

AS NORMAL these cool people, but then that’s all taken away, and they’re at home all day, alone.”

On Jan. 13, AAPS superintendent Jeanice Swift emailed parents the district’s plan to offer the option of partial in-person learning later in the second semester. Students in special education will likely be some of the first to go back in the district’s staggered approach, with administrators hoping to help those who need it most. But as Fidishin notes, the students in dire need of returning to face-toface instruction are also those with the highest risk of contracting serious cases of Covid-19. Even with an end to isolation in sight, students and families in special education are still grappling with the challenges the school year has brought. “[They lost] that social connection that, for many kids, was the best part of school, and, for a lot of kids, the only motivating factor in school was to be there and see friends,” Wright said.

“And so when you don’t have that, who cares what the math lesson is?”

AS EVERYDAY.”

Feature | March 2021 | 43

Cameras Off CHS teachers reflect on their virtual classroom experiences

BY SCARLETT LONDON, ARISTA LUONG AND NATALIE MYCEK-CARD

As she gazes over a sea of gray squares on a Zoom call, Marcy McCormick, a science teacher at CHS, gets flashbacks to her first year of teaching.

“The anxiety of planning lessons and trying to engage students through a computer screen has been daunting,” McCormick said.

“One of the things that has kept me motivated, however, is seeing my students and interacting with them daily.”

McCormick tries to find any and every way to connect with her students. She asks them to turn on their cameras during class discussions and participate in the chat. She also uses Zoom’s “reactions” feature as a way to communicate.

“The problem has been that so many students choose to keep their videos off,” McCormick said. “Those small moments when I see a student smile or react to a silly joke, or show a look of wonder or perhaps confusion, and I can respond to it — those are moments I feel most connected to my students.”

Still, McCormick tries to limit the time she asks her students to turn their cameras on. She knows some people may have technical issues or are just uncomfortable seeing themselves on Zoom. After spending considerable class time scrolling through the chat, McCormick has come to realize the importance of body language as a

44 | The Communicator Magazine

form of communication.

“I’m not sure [how] to get more students to engage with their cameras on, but I know it’s an important part of fostering a sense of community and connectedness within the virtual classroom,” McCormick said.

CHS typically offers students with opportunities to connect with each other through multi-age classrooms, and with their surrounding communities through the Community Resource program and open campus policy. Right now, those opportunities are gone: no more Kerrytown for lunch, no more connecting with people from other grades, no more seeing friends in crowded hallways. For Steven Coron, it’s the students he misses most.

“I had to learn to use Schoology, which was a huge adaptation, but the big difference is the human contact,” Coron says. “If I could talk to my past self, I would say to not take the little things for granted – those things mean the most. Formulating, establishing and maintaining relationships with my students, as a teacher, is powerful.”

Coron, an art teacher, remembers the studio his students used to work in. He remembers the joy of seeing his students experimenting and working with their hands. Math teacher Maneesha Mankad agreed that the classroom itself is critical to a teacher’s sense of efficacy.

“I used to walk around and see students work,” Mankad said. “I can’t do that anymore because I can’t see students in any manner.”

Mankad spends an extraordinary amount of time at work nowadays. She has reworked each lesson, hoping her students can understand it in an online format.

“Everything takes double the time,” Mankad said. “I have never worked harder.”

Craig Levin, another math teacher at CHS, has noticed a dramatic decrease in the amount of feedback he gets from his students.

In a classroom, he sees students attempting problems, debating

answers and checking answer keys. These behaviors allow him to respond in helpful ways. Give-and-take feedback is what he believes is crucial for learning.

“We need to check in with each other often to make sure we are all talking about the same thing,” Levin said. “But this semester, I’m not sure if students are even looking at the problem, let alone trying to solve it.”

Laurel Landrum, a Spanish teacher at CHS, agrees.

“One of the things I miss most about being in the classroom is the comfort and community you feel after having been in a room with the same people solving problems, telling stories and generally getting to know each other,” Landrum said. “In a Zoom class with no cameras on, it’s near impossible.”

For Landrum, seeing a student’s face means knowing the student. When cameras are off, she can’t see who is confused, engaged, bored or focused. She can’t tell who is friends with whom.

“Worst of all, I can’t tell who gets my jokes,” Landrum said.

“Jokes don’t land on Zoom. It kills me.”

While teaching important lessons, Landrum wonders if she’s even being heard. She stares out into the gray-squared abyss, looking for any signs that her students are there. Hardest of all, Landrum isn’t even sure she would know her students on sight.

“Some of my students do all the necessary things,” Landrum said. “They show up for class, turn in work and participate, but I have no idea who they are. I would not be able to pick them out on the street, and I won’t have any idea they were my students when I see them in the halls. I hate it. It feels so impersonal. I can’t imagine students are loving it either, but it has just become the culture.

No one wants to be the first person to break the norm.”

Although Landrum describes teaching on Zoom as “soul-sucking,” she has ideas about easing some of the stress. She wants to distinguish short periods during class when everyone’s camera is on. She also encourages small actions by students who don’t usually participate. She asks them to type in the chat or send her a private message. Then, if a student is ready to take the next step, they can try unmuting and answering a question out loud.

“I really miss everyone talking over each other and sidetracking me with irrelevant questions,” Landrum said. “I am hoping I can make some new norms stick.”

Typically, CHS uses curriculum night, parent-teacher confer-

ences and other events to provide a way for teachers to connect with parents and address questions or concerns. Coron has realized that, nowadays, he might have some of the same questions as parents: How are the students doing? Are they understanding the material?

“We are teachers — we are supposed to have all the answers,” Coron said. “People think we do, but we don’t. We try to work really hard to be there for you.”

Over the past year, the Biden administration, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Governor’s office have been spreading messages touting the need for Americans to work together in order to overcome the challenges we face. Here at CHS, our teachers are demonstrating the same sentiments.

“Having reassurance that we are each looking out for each other and reaching out a helping hand is huge,” Mankad said. “That’s what’s come out of Covid.”

Coron agrees.

“You’re showing up for us, well, we show up for you,” Coron said.

Feature | March 2021 | 45

No Playground: Kindergarten Through a Screen How are kindergarten and first grade students learning online, and how have elementary school teachers adapted?

BY MAGGIE WOLF

Thomas Clarkson has always taught his students with humor and affection. As a first grade teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Clarkson believes that watching his students learn, laugh and grow was the reason why he decided to become a teacher in the first place. However, entering a year where he would teach a class of 20 six-year-olds entirely virtually, Clarkson didn’t know whether he would still be able to form the connections with his students that he valued so deeply.

“At first, I was worried that I was not going to be able to make a connection with the kids because I love kids so much, and I want to help them,” Clarkson said. “That was a big thing, but I have grown to love these kids online — even though I’ve never met them in person. I can sense their personalities and figure out who they are.

We joke around, and I still use my humor, which is not funny to adults, but to kids it’s funny.”

It has been a long road learning how best to teach students online, especially those who have had little to no experience learning in a classroom environment. Much of early elementary education involves social development. In addition to the curriculum, kids learn how to interact with their peers, how to behave in a school environment and how to pay attention for longer periods of time. Many of these skills are difficult to develop through online learning.

“There are a lot of things that kids have to learn how to navigate socially, like stealing a pencil, giving a dirty look, dilly-dallying in the hallway while putting their coats up,” Clarkson said. “Some kids will pee all over in the bathroom.”

These kinds of learning experiences may be lost or significantly altered when students are unable to attend school in-person. Other unique challenges — such as 46 | The Communicator Magazine

navigating and explaining technology to students, regulating parental involvement in school work and keeping students focused — have also arisen for early elementary teachers over the course of this school year. Diana Gatonez teaches kindergarten, and, in her experience, certain students struggle more than others with maintaining focus during class. One of her students in particular has had this issue.

“He’s the type of child that cannot be in front of a computer for a very long period of time, so the challenge is how to get that particular child to stay engaged,” Gatonez said. “At the same time, in this setting, how much can you expect from a little kindergartener?”

Students and teachers alike have been challenged in new ways over the course of the past few months. Back in September, teachers were confronted with the task of instructing their students and using unfamiliar platforms and policies, all while helping students adapt to these same changes.

“At the very beginning, it was horrific,” Clarkson said. “I lost a lot of sleep.”

However, support and collaboration between teachers, especially those of the same grade, have helped to address many of the initial concerns and challenges that emerged. According to Clarkson and Gatonez, as part of this collaboration, teachers of the same grade meet every week to share and develop lesson plans.

“We meet on Wednesdays, from one until three, and we talk about the curriculum, how to teach the curriculum and any kind of suggestions, helpful hints or strategies,” Clarkson said.

The plans developed in these meetings can then be molded to fit the level and needs of a teacher’s specific classroom.

This helps teachers share the work while still ensuring that students are learning at

the right level and pace.

“I follow the general lesson format, but then, to teach it to my kids, I completely take out a whole bunch of things that I personally don’t think are appropriate for my class,” Gatonez said. “For example, if the math lessons are a little too easy, we modify, and we make them a little harder for our students.”

After five months of implementing changes like these, not only has online teaching and learning improved, but there are even some unforeseen benefits.

“Some of the parents are becoming more aware of exactly what kids should know,” Clarkson said. “[Before this year], papers would come home in a folder, and parents would look at their [kids’] work and say, ‘Oh you did well in this,’ but they don’t know how much involvement the teacher had to get the kid to do that. They don’t know that I sat with the kid for 20 minutes one-on-one, trying to explain it, but now they can see that.”

Additionally, according to Gatonez, despite the many challenges of this year’s distanced learning, she can still see growth and development among her students.

“They’re soaking up the information,” Gatonez said. “We didn’t know how much they would learn by this time, but now they are [learning]. I’ve been impressed.”

It makes Gatonez happy to see her students growing and gaining confidence in their knowledge and interaction with their peers. She noted that many kids were timid in the beginning, but as they grew accustomed to the routines of virtual school, she was able to see them come out of their shells.

“I have some [students] that are feeling very comfortable, and when I go and visit them [in their breakout rooms], they’re showing each other their favorite stuffed animals, and they’re giggling,” Gatonez

“I would love to see my students. They’re just such a fun group, and I really want to see them in person, but [people] need to think about how [going back in person] is really going to be.” said.

Most of her students love connecting with the other kids online, and Gatonez has developed strategies to keep her students engaged throughout the school day.

“I have puppets, and I dress up to keep their attention,” Gatonez said. “For science, I dressed up as a doctor, and I changed my accent, so they feel like it’s funny.”

She also teaches in 30-minute increments with breaks for asynchronous activities in between. This helps to minimize students’ attention span issues and limit their time spent in front of a screen.

Strategies like these have successfully helped teachers and students acclimate to a virtual school environment and routine. However, developing and executing these practices has been a long and arduous process for teachers. This fact, as well as the numerous social benefits of in-per-

son schooling for young elementary-aged children, have caused many to push for a return to the classroom. Clarkson and Gatonez have a slightly different view.

“I don’t think it’s right that we would go back before we can get a vaccination,” Clarkson said. “[People] don’t know all the stuff that goes on [in the classroom].”

He proceeded to explain that first grade children can be dirty, and it is hard to enforce boundaries with kids so young. Mandating mask-wearing and social distancing for 20 six-year-olds in one classroom would be very difficult for teachers. He also brought up the issue of lunchtime at school.

“The restaurants are closed because they’re supposed to be a source of contamination or exposure,” Clarkson said. “Well, if you can’t open a restaurant, why can you open your cafeteria? Isn’t that the same

thing? It seems like mixed messages.”

Gatonez voiced some of the same concerns, as well as the issues of having to establish brand new routines with kindergarteners and coordinate the combination of virtual and in-person teaching.

“We haven’t been informed on how things are going to go,” Gatonez said. “I do know some kids will only go two days, and some kids are going to go the other two days, but what am I going to do with the kids that are not there? Am I teaching them virtually?”

She went on to explain, “I would love to see my students. They’re just such a fun group, and I really want to see them in person, but [people] need to think about how [going back in person] is really going to be.”

Feature | March 2021 | 47

BEHIND

Ann Arbor Public Schools have continued to provide for students in spite of its virtual format.

BY NOAH BERNSTEIN, GRACE WANG AND AILISH KILBRIDE

In the hours after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the first two official Covid-19 cases and declared a state of emergency, the AAPS and CHS administrators planned a massive resource rollout. Now, nearly a year since, administrators and teachers alike have distributed, approximately, 16,650 laptops and iPads along with 850,000 meals to its nearly 18,000 students.

Kevin Davis, the community assistant at CHS, was pivotal in this effort. More specifically, Davis, formerly known for patrolling the halls of CHS and the restaurants in Kerrytown, assumed the role of delivering devices to students — a job which, according to him, was unlike any other he had taken before.

The process began last March for Davis.

Upon learning of the change to virtual learning, he first assessed the school’s technology reserves for students in need and in the Individualized Learning Center (ILC) students. Then, he contacted and personally delivered laptops and hotspots to families across the city, carrying up to 10 laptops with him at any given time.

In an effort to minimize unnecessary 48 | The Communicator Magazine

contact and potential transmission of Covid-19, Davis often left books and other school supplies on students’ porches.

The more valuable laptops and hotspots, though, Davis had to physically hand to students. This requirement created an increasingly familiar ethical dilemma with practical challenges for him.

For example, if Davis were to deliver supplies to a family — and they weren’t wearing masks — in accordance with school policy, he was not permitted to approach them. Thus, he found himself setting up computers and hotspots on students’ porches in an especially rainy Michigan spring. Additionally, prepping hotspots outside jeopardized the WiFi connection quality.

As the 2019-2020 school year came to a close, Davis became more engaged in the district-wide distribution efforts, which were to take place at the Balas Administration Building at the end of summer. Throughout the multi-week effort, AAPS served thousands of students and their families.

Simultaneously, Davis also orchestrated the school supplies pick-up at CHS; he

handed out a kit, complete with index cards, textbooks and colored pencils, to nearly all 530 students. In doing so, he was able to meet new students and see familiar faces, albeit through masks and social distancing.

“That was when it got really stressful,” Davis said with a laugh. “I just thought, ‘I don’t get paid enough for this.’”

In fulfilling this role, Davis navigated CHS classrooms filled with towers of books and hallways marked with dots to encourage proper social distancing.

“It’s a really eerie feeling being in the building with no students,” Davis said.

“But it’s hard enough doing so many Zoom meetings we do in a day, so it’s a welcome break. It’s great to see students showing up and saying hello.”

One of those students was CHS freshman Sadie Todd. A self-described “control freak,” Todd attributed her relentless note-keeping and resilience as the primary characteristics that allowed her to navigate her first semester as a high schooler and her book pick up.

“At first, I struggled with it” Todd said.

“I’m one of those people who tries not

THE SCENES

to ask for help because I know there are people who need more help than I do.”

However, Todd quickly had trouble with her internet. For instance, Todd’s entire family is often on Zoom while she attended school, which rendered the connection to her virtual classroom unstable. With her camera off, she sat waiting for the video and audio to catch up, and all the while, she knew she was missing out. She knew she was missing out on in-person education. She also knew she was missing out on invaluable social exchanges.

Todd has turned to her forum to substitute for this vacancy. In her first few months in the Mankad Forum, she found relief in laughing with her fellow forum members and getting to know one another.

With time to discuss the “dystopian, nightmarish” news cycle, but also stable

and comforting topics, Todd found a balance.

“I’ve been so angry about everything,” Todd said. “But [in forum] we actually have real conversations, like real people.”

Photography by Cate Weiser | ABOVE The CHS building is adorned with the “Blue Ribbon School of Excellence” banner. It stood empty after students and staff were informed that they would not be returning for the 2020-2021 school year. “After the beginning of the school year, I hit this wall where I was so sad,” Todd said. “I just wanted to go back to school and meet new people.”

Photography by Ailish Kilbride | RIGHT Nikolai Tang is handed his books from a southern window at CHS. Gretchen Eby, CHS secretary, was on the other side of the window. “We still have a lot of books to check out, but most of the students came and got the books that they needed,” Davis said.

Feature | March 2021 | 49

Covid-19

Can’t Keep Us Down Several members of the CHS Depression Awareness Group (DAG) reflect on how they are doing while in the midst of a pandemic.

BY MCKENNA DUMAN AND NOAH FULKERSON

50 | The Communicator Magazine

This year, the theme of Community High’s DAG campaign is “Covid can’t keep us down.” We asked three questions to members of the DAG team: how they were doing, what were things they do to keep them grounded and advice for people struggling.

The responses we got were mostly what we expected, but what surprised us was that no one said they were doing poorly. People mentioned bad days, but no one said that everything was consistently bad. We hope that some of the strategies mentioned can help other students and show them that they are not alone in the struggles they are facing.

The first question we asked was simple: How are you doing right now? Overall, students expressed they were feeling fairly positive.

“I am doing okay right now,” said Grace Thomas, a senior. “Some days are harder than others in terms of finding motivation and ways to keep myself busy. Online school has made me more mentally drained than in-person school, but it has been nice to start a new

How are you doing right now? semester with new classes to change up the routine a little bit.”

Sebastian Oliva, a junior at CHS, says that he has been feeling pretty good: “I’m doing well,” Oliva said.“I know during these times of uncertainty, many people are struggling with the separation of social interaction and the pressure school adds on top of everything, but I’ve been able to manage everything fairly well.”

“I’ve been doing okay recently,” said Eve Kaplan, a sophomore.

“Quarantine is a lot harder for me in the winter because I can’t go outside and meet up with friends as easily, but I have been able to focus on school and my family a lot more.”

The second question we asked was, “What are some things you’ve been doing to help you and your friends stay grounded during Covid?” The most common answer we got was organizing socially distanced or virtual gatherings with friends and family.

Lila Fetter, a freshman, expressed how important it has been to check in with her friends.

“I’ve been trying to keep myself busy with virtual and limited socially distant [and] masked activities,” Fetter said. “I’ve also been trying to connect with my friends often just to check in with them and have social interaction that had been lacking from all of our lives.”

Caroline Andrews, a junior, told us about how helpful having a schedule has been. “I’ve found that trying to keep a semi-organized schedule keeps me sane, but at the same time, I like to do something as often as possible that makes my life not feel the same every single day,” Andrews said. “I try to stay in contact and

see my friends safely as much as possible. I find that helps with my mental health a lot. Same with getting dressed every day, or doing my makeup every day. It just makes me feel more put together and motivated.”

Oliva has a few things that he likes to fit into his routine every day. “I have been working out, reading and playing chess,” Oliva said. “In the summer and fall, I would bike down to the Huron River and sit there and read, but, because it’s very cold now, I don’t do that as much. Instead, I just sit and read at home. I play chess not only because I enjoy it, but also because it’s a great way to stimulate my brain — especially since I’m cooped up at my desk all day.

Working out is something that has always been a part of my daily routine, but it is also another way I stimulate my mind and stay healthy.”

Finding ways to stay busy and organized seems to have helped a lot when it comes to staying motivated and grounded.

The last question we asked was, “Do you have any suggestions for people who are struggling right now?” A common answer was knowing that you are not alone, and we will get through this together. Sadie Barber, a freshman, shares her advice.

“On those bad days, some things that help me are meditating, crying or getting my emotions out another way, [like] saying positive affirmations to myself [and] making sure to eat, as well as showering, which can really help to give the mindset of a fresh start,” Barber said. “Another thing I try to keep in mind is that stress is not productive or necessary, and things will turn out okay.”

Essentially, you want to do something to take your mind off what’s going on in the outside world. A lot of DAG members also recommended reaching out to someone you know and trust, whether that be a professional, parent, grandparent, teacher or friend.

“If you are struggling right now, I would suggest reaching out to someone you trust,” Thomas said. “This could be a friend, a family member or anyone else you feel comfortable reaching out to. Whether it is texting, facetiming, talking on the phone or even hanging out in person [safely], it can be very beneficial to have someone to talk to about things that are going on for you,and to keep you company.”

All in all, we were happy to know that at least for some, things are going okay. With the stress of virtual learning and the pandemic, on top of just being high school students, these challenges make sense. We hope this article will help people figure out which coping strategies work for them and how they can successfully navigate these tough times.

“Another thing I try to keep in mind is that stress is not productive or necessary, and things will turn out okay.”

Feature | March 2021 | 51

THEJJUUNIOR R N I E I OR H T YEAR

Four CHS juniors weigh in on what they feel they need to do to prepare for college

BY GRACE WANG

Sebastian Oliva is planning for life at a top university. He wakes up around five in the morning to work on ACT prep and fills his days with academic work and clubs such as GIDAS, Diversity Council, Forum Council, Service Club, CHS Democrats and Peer to Peer. Additionally, Oliva works parttime, runs track for Pioneer High School (PHS) and is part of an organization called M.E.Z.O. Inc. that teaches financial literacy to teens. Serving his community and learning from others is important to him, but he also views these extracurriculars as part of the bigger picture.

“The reason I’m so involved in everything is because I want to stand out,” Oliva said.

“I want to become a neurosurgeon or something in the neuro[logy] field. The clubs that I’m in will prepare me for those classes.”

Oliva spent the end of last year working on his time management skills and getting used to online learning. He read self-help books such as “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill and “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrnes to become more organized and prepared for this school year.

“I take the responsibility of waking up early or going to sleep late so it doesn’t affect my mental health,” Oliva said. “I make the time to be able to do whatever I need to finish. [The] books are specific to the power of your mind and how every 52 | The Communicator Magazine

person attracts negativity [and] positivity to themselves, and if I do start to get stressed, I’ve learned to be able to calm down [and] come down to a state of peace.”

However, Oliva is not the only student striving for success. Eliot Klus is an editor on The Communicator, Secretary of Forum Council, Co-President of CHS Democrats, Secretary of Ann Arbor High School Democrats, Student Conductor for Acapella in Pioneer Choirs, in National Honor Society, Chief Social Justice Ambassador for the PHS Black Student Union and also participates in the Pioneer Theater Guild.

“I’m okay with potentially losing my 4.0 or [having] average standardized test scores,” Klus said. “I’m just going to make it up with the potency of my extracurriculars.”

The unpleasant aspects of some extracurricular activities can be outweighed by the positive effect they have on his college application. In one group he works in, Klus endures racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments from members.

However, to look his best on the Common App, Klus chose to hold on to his leadership role and sacrifice his mental well-being for

a stronger application. (Klus has now left the group for the previously mentioned reasons.)

“Unfortunately, I don’t want to think that way, but [I do],” Klus said.

Students must also make adequate time to focus on their grades along with managing their extracurricular activities.

Klus has found it more taxing to maintain his grades in the online format due to his involvement in clubs.

“If we weren’t doing everything virtually, I definitely wouldn’t be able to do all of it,” Klus said. “It’s kind of [a] positive because I am able to do a lot of really cool things; it’s also a negative because now I’m spread over all of them. I am really behind in my online chemistry class. I have like a 36 in that class right now. But that’s gonna be

G N I C N A L BA fine. I’ve just been putting it off because the other stuff has been more urgent.”

The little quality of life things, like candles and caffeine, help Klus through each day. Getting enough sleep and taking time to decompress are other aids in his stress management.

“I totally underestimated the amount of work that this year was going to be, whether it be Wednesday work, [or] how virtual school would work in general,” said Noah Bernstein, CHS junior and another Communicator journalist. “I can move around my schedule and go through and do it. But I do think even still, I’m much more stressed out than I think I’ve ever been.”

Bernstein focuses on activities that involve his passions, like English, politics and debate. The incentive of how something

will look on his college application is not as motivating as his desire to learn. However, balancing his interests along with his academic work can be challenging.

At the beginning of this school year, Bernstein would roll out of bed at 8:29 a.m., brushing his teeth while signing on to his first Zoom. The hours following each school day were filled with captaining the junior varsity baseball team and leading various clubs; the only time for homework came out of his sleep schedule.

As Bernstein became more acclimated to online education, his days became easier. He dropped programs that were only beneficial through the lens of college applications and adopted a principle of prioritizing activities that make him happy.

“When I would say yes to doing one club, I couldn’t focus on something else, or when I would say no to this, I could spend more time with my family, for example,” Bernstein said. “Which I think has let me really focus on the things that I like to do the most, and I can spend the most time on those now, and I feel less stressed about it and feel more productive.”

ACT

Felicity Rosa-Davies has also figured out how to manage her time this year.

Rosa-Davies is involved in two out-ofschool activities: Community Ensemble Theater (CET) and her job at a downtown restaurant.

“All my life, I’ve kind of worked more efficiently when I’m busy,” Rosa-Davies said. “The hardest balance is trying not to overbook yourself and be super stressed.

But if I’m not busy enough, I’m not going to get any work done. It forces me to do my work because I’m like, ‘I’m not gonna have time to do this later.’ I’ve just always kind of worked pretty well that way. And lately, I have been busier than I have been ever before.”

Busy — a common theme in the lives of CHS Juniors. Students are wary of this rigorous time in which they must balance extracurriculars, grades and teen life.

However, 2020 was a very different year.

Becoming a well-rounded young adult amidst the pandemic is just about as easy as it sounds. These students have no handbook for Harvard admission and no daily schedule or extracurricular that can guarantee a perfect future for them. But they have each found ways to deal with the stress and do what works for them.

Feature | March 2021 | 53

How Canadian Schools Adapted to the Pandemic

BY ZOE BUHALIS

For Naomi Garber, a teacher at Parkdale Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Ontario, adapting to virtual teaching was difficult: shifting curriculum online and learning to teach through video calls wasn’t an easy transition. In Ontario, Canada, the online learning schedule has looked very different than it does in Ann Arbor.

This fall, Ann Arbor Public Schools created a universal online schedule for high schools in Ann Arbor. The main difference between in-person learning and online was an asynchronous learning day on Wednesdays and a shift to block scheduling for all high schools. Essentially, very little changed from a scheduling standpoint.

Students had the ability to choose between hybrid online and in-person classes and fully online class, though as of yet that has made no difference as COVID-19 cases have been too high for school to resume inperson.

Canadian schools took a different approach. Similarly to the United States, educational responses were left up to each district individually. Parkdale Collegiate Institute (PCI), a high school in the Toronto School District, switched to a quadmester schedule as opposed to staying on their 54 | The Communicator Magazine

usual semester schedule.

At the end of last school year, PCI set up the system so that students wouldn’t be penalized for the challenges that come with online learning through the end of the 2019-2020 school year. This meant a student couldn’t receive a lower grade than what they had when the pandemic hit, they could only improve their grades. While this shift created challenges with student participation — as some students stopped showing up to class entirely — it helped protect students from losing credits.

The quadmester system splits the school year into four quarters. A normal academic year at PCI would have four classes a semester; with the quadmester system students take two classes a quadmester.

This lessens the number of classes a student is taking, making it easier to manage classwork.

The quadmester system isn’t perfect: condensing a class into half the months creates new problems. Naomi Garber is a 9-12 grade teacher at PCI, currently teaching 9th grade English.

“There’s a real problem with compacting,” Garber said. “I mean think about English and how much you usually have time to read something, and now it’s like read it, done. Absorb these ideas and move on. The pacing is very different. It’s hard.”

Garber is in her second quadmester of predominantly online teaching.

Quadmesters also produce a new challenge for teachers. With a normal schedule teachers would have three classes and one planning period, with quadmesters some teachers have to teach two classes with no planning time.

“Every single teacher I know who had two classes was exhausted; we just didn’t know how we did it,” Garber said.

PCI had a hybrid online/in person option and a fully online option. Garber opted to participate in the hybrid. While PCI is fully online now, and has been since winter break, they were briefly in-person during the fall.

For in-person learning, students were split into cohorts within their classes when they were in person. Each class had cohort A and cohort B. Cohort A students went in person for one class, and the next day cohort B students went into school. This

decreased the number of students in a classroom from 30 to 15, as cohort A was at school cohort B was doing asynchronous classwork at home. Meanwhile, the student’s second class met in the afternoon online, and the morning class switched with the afternoon every two days to create a four day cycle.

Teaching both online and in person was difficult, as some students who had chosen to come in person switched to online during the quadmester, which meant teachers would be teaching to a classroom of students and also to a computer with the online students in the classroom.

“It was weird for students in the class with other students on a computer and it was very complicated for teachers because we were already strained in terms of our technology,” Garber said.

Now PCI is fully online and each class meets every day, either in the morning or afternoon. They have kept their four day cycle to make it easier to switch back to hybrid when it becomes safe to do so.

Simone Racine, a senior at John F. Ross Vocational Institute in Guelph, Ontario, opted for the fully online option at her school. They used a slightly different schedule.

At PCI both classes met each day, either in the morning or the afternoon. At John Ross, they changed the schedule so each class met every other week. This means students and teachers only have to focus on one class at a time, but also means you take week long breaks from classes. This creates continuity issues in the class material.

“Moving back and forth is a little confusing, especially, if you’re taking two similar classes,” Racine said. “I knew someone who was doing two math classes at the same time, and it was different types of math at different levels. It made it really confusing.”

Garber and Racine agree that while condensing classes into half their usual time is difficult, it’s nice to not have to worry about a full normal class load.

“Compared to a regular school workload, it’s much easier,” Racine said.

“It’s much more intense, because we’re going through more material, but at the same time means it’s less work overall.”

Cohort A Class 1

Cohort B

Cohort A Class 2 Cohort B

The above graphics show a sample schedule for classes at PCI. The top graphic depicts a hybrid schedule with classes meeting in-person in the morning and online in the afternoon.

The bottom graphic shows a sample fully online schedule with both classes meeting online.

Feature | March 2021 | 55

The New Wave of Dining How restaurants across Ann Arbor have adapted to the changes made to in-person dining.

BY LEWIS PERRY

56 | The Communicator Magazine

Ann Arbor eateries continue to face numerous challenges throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to Governor Whitmer’s Nov. 18, 2020 order, indoor dining was not allowed in the state of Michigan to minimize the spread of this disease. While outdoor dining has been permitted, many restaurants are having difficulties attracting customers during a frigid Michigan winter.

In response to this problem, a handful of restaurants in the downtown area, like Vinology and Black Pearl, have put up clear tents outside their establishments. These tents provide customers with a warm and isolated place to enjoy their meal. Often, a two-hour time limit is set for how long one can spend in these tents to allow an easier flow of business. They are equipped with heaters and a 360-degree view to allow customers to enjoy their dining experience.

Jake Doyle, beverage director and co-

owner of Black Pearl, confirmed that the customer feedback about their outdoor tents has been outstanding. He has been more than pleased with their solid bookings and has noticed a significant increase in the restaurant’s sales.

“I feel like if we did not have [the tents], nobody would be sitting outside,” said Thomas Kamrad, general manager of Vinology, a restaurant located in downtown Ann Arbor.

Vinology has eight fully heated chalets to house customers eating outside. Once inside these chalets, guests are safely enclosed and have up to two hours to dine.

All of their customer feedback on these has been exceptional, evidenced by the fact that guests are reserving spots for the chalets up to a week in advance, according to Kamrad.

To look for a more casual dining experience, many are going to outdoor

Photography by Sela Gur-Arie A number of clear tents seen outside Black Pearl, located in downtown Ann Arbor. In order to adapt to the pandemic, many restaurants in Ann Arbor have implemented outdoor dining spaces to adhere to Covid-19 guidelines.

tables across the city to socialize or have a drink. This has proven to be effective as well and has been employed by restaurants in the Ann Arbor area like Sava’s, Connor O’Neal’s and Real Seafood Company.

Usually equipped with heat lamps, the tables are safely separated.

Following Governor Whitmer’s more recent Feb. 1 order, restaurants and bars in Michigan can now allow indoor dining with a limited 25% capacity. With Michigan having the 14th highest number of Covid-19 cases amongst U.S. states, Governor Whitmer’s orders have been relatively strict when it comes to opening restaurants. The closing of all restaurants and bars was initially called for on Nov. 18, 2020, when cases in Michigan were rising at a higher rate than ever before.

While the closings across the state did come with a cost, Michigan saw a swift flattening of the curve of cases within the

first month of the order implementation.

“I think when Covid cases have gone down, and a greater amount of people have been vaccinated, I will be comfortable [eating inside restaurants],” said Raffi Avedissian, a CHS sophomore.

Vinology and Black Pearl have seen solid business with their recent additions of dining in-restaurant. Their indoor sales are slightly lower than their outdoor seating, but nevertheless, there has been a solid number of customers. Reduced staffing proved not to be a problem for Vinology, even with indoor seating permitted.

“We ran with a shortened staff, which is nice because it allows us to bring on new staff,” said Ian Youngs, lead bartender at Vinology.

Some feel as though being cautious in daily life and limiting close encounters with others may be the best choice with the new, more transmissible strain of Covid-19.

Many people have secluded themselves to a “bubble” within the pandemic, only meeting with significant others or close friends at times. Concerns have been growing recently with the several Covid-19 outbreaks at the University of Michigan, along with restaurants allowing indoor seating now. A question that arises at this time is, “Should we really be opening up restaurants?”

“With that new variant of Covid coming out, I just see indoor dining as an unnecessary risk,” Avedissian said.

In Ann Arbor’s diverse food scene, it is no surprise that restaurants are doing everything they can to maintain popularity and keep business. While most Ann Arborites are staying home during this cold season, inventive and Covid-safe options to stay social are helping to keep spirits up and local restaurants afloat.

Feature | March 2021 | 57

Grit and Grind Although two high school athletes have had to navigate playing in the pandemic, their love for the game persists.

BY ANJALI KAKARLA

to wait it out a week to see if anything got better. But clearly, [the situation] didn’t get better, so we couldn’t start back up again.”

Through the rest of the school year, both O’Brien and Boynton grappled with the difficulties of virtual school and social isolation.

“I’m a social person, so not seeing those people every day and not doing the [sport] I love every day was draining for me,” O’Brien said. “I didn’t want to get up and do new things. I was just wishing for sports to come back.”

Although Covid-19 canceled most organized sports, athletes still had the opportunity to practice by themselves. For O’Brien, though, finding the motivation to practice was difficult.

“I was hurting;I just really wanted everything to be okay,” O’Brien said. “I felt

“

58 | The Communicator Magazine

Photo courtesy of Jillian Boynton Jillian Boynton prepares to take a shot in a game against Monroe High School. It was the first game she had played in almost a year. “I was so freaking excited,” Boynton said.

I needed to get outside — I needed to talk to people — and that really changed my mindset on a lot of things,” O’Brien said. “I’m a lot happier now.

“

Jillian Boynton was at basketball practice on March 13 when she heard the remainder of her season would be canceled, effective immediately.

“I just got so nervous that my season was canceled,” Boynton said.

Many athletes in Michigan received similar news that day as the novel coronavirus spread through the state and teams began canceling events.

Boynton, a sophomore at CHS, suddenly had a gaping hole in her life. She had been playing soccer and basketball for 10 years. “[Sports were] all I did besides school,” Boynton said. “I used to have practice every day.”

Ali O’Brien, a freshman at CHS, was in a similar situation. Sitting in her eighth grade English class, O’Brien discovered AAPS had decided to cancel school for the next two weeks. She immediately felt excited.

“The two weeks off were nice because we didn’t have to do work,” O’Brien said. “We could take a little bit of a break and sleep in.” But, O’Brien’s excitement turned to dismay when she learned schools weren’t the only places closing. Her basketball season would also be canceled.

“The day schools closed, we had basketball practice, and that practice was canceled,” O’Brien said. “They were going

like if I just stayed in a shell, everything would be okay, eventually.”

As some things began to open up again in the summer, O’Brien and Boynton received good news: the Skyline High School women’s basketball team would be offering a socially-distanced conditioning program to its players.

However, the decision to attend was not an easy one to make. Balancing the health of family members and themselves versus playing the sport they loved was a risky and complicated decision. In the end, both decided to attend.

“I really needed to go see people for my mental health,” O’Brien said. “I needed to go interact with people and to play sports.”

After the first conditioning session,

O’Brien felt much better.

“It was absolutely great to start interacting with people again,” O’Brien said. “I needed to get outside — I needed to talk to people — and that really changed my mindset on a lot of things. I’m a lot happier now.”

Eventually, it got too cold to participate in socially distanced conditioning outside.

So, the team decided to take a break before the start of the winter season, which they hoped would begin at the end of November.

But, as November came, the basketball season did not begin. AAPS had made the decision to postpone the season. This disappointment became a familiar feeling for many on the team as the date for kicking off the season got pushed further and further back.

Eventually, the season did start again.

Teams were approved to do no-contact practices on Jan. 20. Even so, some players, including Boynton, were not happy with the outcome and the district’s handling of the situation. Boynton wishes AAPS would have allowed sports to conduct contact practices earlier so she and her team would be more ready for their upcoming games.

“It’s not fair,” Boynton said. “I wish they would’ve tried other precautions so we could just play.”

On Feb. 11, the team was approved by AAPS for contact practices and games.

“We all got tested, and we were all negative, so we got to play,” Boynton said.

“I was so freaking excited.”

Feature | March 2021 | 59

The Religion Rift

Three students find their way to develop and distinguish their religious beliefs.

BY ELLA ROSEWARNE AND RIA LOWENSCHUSS

Anja Jacobson

60 | The Communicator Magazine

“I decided that that’s why the universe, or God, or whatever you want to call the higher power, put me here. To help others.”

Although she was baptized as a child and attended church throughout elementary school, Anja Jacobson, a CHS alumna, mostly grew up atheist. She went to church services with her family on Christmas and Easter, but religion was not a major part of Jacobson’s life until her freshman year of high school.

Jacobson now identifies as a Unitarian Universalist, a religion descended from both Judaism and Christianity. But it was a long journey for her to get there. Jacobson realized she believed in a higher power in middle school, but she struggled to find an organized religion that aligned with and supported her beliefs.

She spent middle and high school exploring different religions, such as Buddhism, and attending different churches around her. However, nothing stuck until Jacobson attended her friend’s credo, or coming of age ceremony, at the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor.

“I fell in love with the church and [its] beliefs and how open they were to everything, how accepting and loving everyone was,” Jacobson said.

The Unitarian Universalist church is dedicated to spiritual growth, as well as finding truth and meaning in life. It is known as a

liberal religion that accepts all and has no creed. The seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism focus on kindness and giving back to the community, which stood out to Jacobson.

Religion has been a battle for Jacobson throughout her life. When she was young, Jacobson’s extended family pressured her parents to raise her and her brother Christian, which caused tension and anger within her household. When Jacobson joined the Unitarian Universalist church, her father was ecstatic. “[My dad] appreciated that there was somewhere that he could go with me [where] he could still be in touch with religion,” Jacobson said.

However, her newfound spirituality was not met with the same reaction from the rest of her family members. Jacobson’s mother went to a Lutheran school with an unwelcoming and strict environment when she was young. This experience made her unwilling to raise her children in religious surroundings, and her brother was strictly atheist. On Sundays, it was just Jacobson — and sometimes her dad — at church. This created a divide within her family.

“One year, on Christmas, I made my whole family go to church with me for the

service, and my mom wasn’t taking it seriously, and neither was my brother,” Jacobson said. “It created a weird clash where I wanted them to take this Christmas service as seriously as I was, but they weren’t.”

Jacobson loves the community and culture she has found in her church, but still struggles with her spirituality. She finds it hard to deal with the uncertainty of religion and her beliefs.

“The thing is, we really don’t know anything,” Jacobson said. “There are so many religions that have basic ideas of how the universe works — about gods, about afterlife, about values — and we don’t know any of it [for sure].”

Religion is a giving and caring experience for Jacobson. A pillar of the Unitarian Universalist church is giving back to the community and supporting the people around you. Jacobson values spreading goodness around her; she is in school to become a nurse in order to help people every day.

Helping the people around her has allowed her to find value in herself, as well.

“I decided that that’s why the universe, or God, or whatever you want to call the higher power, put me here,” Jacobson said. “To help others.”

Feature | March 2021 | 61

Eva

Klayman

Growing up, Eva Klayman, a sophomore at Pioneer High School, spent her Saturdays and Mondays in Hebrew school at Temple Beth Emeth. Klayman is non-binary and uses the pronouns she/her and they/them.

They learned songs, memorized blessings and said prayers while giggling and whispering with their friends. Although she disliked being sent off to another school on the weekends, Klayman loved growing up in the temple and being close to her people.

“I still view Judaism with as much wonder and awe as I did when I was a kid,” Klayman said.

Judaism is an ethnic religion — a religion associated with a particular ethnic or cultural group. For Klayman, this makes being Jewish go deeper than attending temple and completing her b’nai mitzvah. Judaism is Klayman’s ethnicity and her ancestry. She considers it her number-one important identity, and, without it, they would consider themselves an entirely different person.

“I will never understand shying away from your Jewry,” Klayman said. “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to consider yourself Jewish if you were ethnically Jewish and born Jewish.”

As Klayman has grown older, she has begun to explore and appreciate other cultures and viewpoints, as well as recognize the flaws in Judaism. In a mesh of Judaism and other religious perspectives, Klayman is able to find the spiritual beliefs that speak to them. The internet has allowed Klayman to explore different viewpoints easily.

62 | The Communicator Magazine

“I’ve become more aware, as I age, of the structural flaws in any organized religion; they do exist in Jewish worship,” Klayman said.

Klayman is still exploring her beliefs on the existence of one true God. Although they know He loves them and is cheering them on, they cannot help wondering why He is not helping them along in life.

However, Klayman believes that God is out there and looking out for her, even if He is just spiritual energy hanging out in the universe.

“I do find myself referring to [God] a lot, because it’s comforting to have an idea of someone looking out for you and your people,” Klayman said.

Although Judaism is not perfect, it has helped Klayman feel accepted, especially as an LGBTQ person. Gender nonconformity and transgender people are both mentioned throughout the Torah, Judaism’s sacred text. Genesis Rabbah 8:1, written in 400 C.E., reads, “The first human being was created wholly female and wholly male at the same time.” The Mishnah, a collection of Jewish texts and law, describes eight different genders.

As a non-binary person, the history of gender nonconformity explored in the Torah and in Judaism is significant to Klayman. The historical acknowledgment and acceptance of more than two genders has helped Klayman grow into herself with the support of her religion and culture.

Overall, being Jewish allows Klayman

to view the world from a wider perspective. They have always viewed Judaism as something that opens her up to empathy.

Klayman feels like it connects her to something bigger: she has spent her childhood learning songs and blessings that millions of other Jewish people across the world learned as well.

“We’re going to be singing [these songs] in different places across the world forever,” Klayman said.

“I do find myself referring to [God] a lot, because it’s comforting to have an idea of someone looking out for you and your people.”

Katie

Over the past year, Katie Ristich, a sophomore at Pioneer High School, has become increasingly religious and involved in her church.

Ristich first went to a high school service at 2|42 Community Church after her mom’s friend recommended it. She is now a middle school group leader at 2|42.

“I went, and I just fell in love, and I dove deep into it,” Ristich said. “I started reading my Bible and listening to what they’re saying and realized there’s a real connection. I was so nervous [the first time I went]. But I walk in, and I get greeted by five people, and then I meet my small group leader, Jill, and she’s just so nice to me. I’m in disbelief. Then everyone in my group, the other teenage girls in ninth grade, they’re all so nice to me.”

Ristich has found a second family at church and in her small group.

“They are people who love you no matter what,” Ristich said. “And because a lot of people, especially in Ann Arbor, are not

Ristich

“I am enlightened; I’m thankful to wake up every day; I’m thankful for all the blessings God has given me and grateful for God.” Christian, it’s hard to have conversations like that. It’s a safe space. People tell all sorts of things, and usually everyone is crying by the end of the group.”

Ristich is the only Christian in her household, which has come with challenges.

“It gets tough, [reconciling] what the Bible says versus what [my family members] say,” Ristich said.“Usually, I let it roll off.

They used to be a negative influence [and] hated on me, saying church was stupid, but I think they’ve gotten used to it now.”

Ristich has struggled to form her own beliefs when they differ from her family and friends. By going to 2|42 and reading the Bible, Ristich has begun to solidify and develop her beliefs.

“When everyone in your life is telling you you’re wrong, reading the Bible every day [helped] me [and] answered every question I could have,” Ristich said. “God has shown me and Jesus has shown me who they are, and I love them.”

Ristich has made reading the Bible and

prayer books part of her daily routine; she reads around four chapters a night, which is around an hour of reading. To track her reading, she journals what she reads and feels and writes down verses that stand out to her.

“I’m growing to be my own person, and I’m following God’s plan,” Ristich said. “It’s made me a new person. It has taught me everything I know and taught me how to love others. It’s led me to be able to get past things. I am enlightened; I’m thankful to wake up every day; and I’m thankful for all the blessings God has given me and grateful for God.” Ristich sees herself being involved in the church, whether that is 2|42 or another, for the rest of her life. She hopes to be a group leader when she gets older.

“I don’t know what my life would be like without God now,” Ristich said. “I’m definitely thankful to have him in my life, and I think I’m gonna stick with him.”

Feature | March 2021 | 63

Living on Beyond Existence CHS junior Charles Eidelman shares what playing and composing music means to him.

BY SOPHIE FETTER

Charles Eidelman places his hands on the keys. He is in Figeac, France, and his fingers are touching a 200-year-old organ.

Behind him sits a congregation hundreds strong. The cathedral is quiet, and all eyes are on him. He takes a deep breath and begins to play.

Eidelman, a CHS junior, has given performances all over Europe. He has been to Germany, France, Sweden and Luxembourg. He has played in a cathedral built into the side of the French Alps and another with a resounding six-second echo.

Eidelman’s main instruments are the piano and pipe organ, though he also plays the clarinet. He’s been playing piano since age five and pipe organ since midway through middle school. Starting with the Suzuki method, Eidelman made his way through Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg, Bach, Chopin and Franck. The work was arduous, but it enhanced his sight-reading abilities. This skill was important for Eidelman given that pipe organ sheet music is written on three staffs, and his sight-reading needed to be lightning quick.

For his performances in Europe, Eidelman’s repertoire was intense. His program was about one and a half hours long and required half a year of preparation. Eidelman played the difficult works of Russian composer Rimsky Korsakov, such as “Scheherazade,” “Capriccio Espagnol’’ and “Mlada Suite.” Eidelman says he considered the experience to be like an internship. He wishes to explore music as a career path, and his European performances were building up his credentials.

“I never had much experience perform64 | The Communicator Magazine

ing multiple days in a row like that,” Eidelman said. “It was like a trial run to see if I truly enjoyed it and would want to do that in a consistent, rigorous manner [required for] an occupation. [As it] turns out, I do.”

Eidelman stayed motivated throughout his difficult performance schedule. “For me, the excitement and awareness of the tremendous privilege it was to be where I performed was enough to motivate me,” Eidelman said. “Also lots of Red Bull.”

However, things changed with the Covid-19 pandemic. Eidelman’s upcoming performances, college classes and camps were canceled. Online school gave Eidelman more time to practice on his piano at home. Despite this, Eidelman was struggling. In the past, Eidelman performed every single piece he learned, but that opportunity was no longer available. Recording and composition had an end goal as well, to be published, but those also required physical spaces. “[The quarantine] lowered my motivation to learn new repertoire,” Eidelman said. “[I felt like] there was no clear objective or reason to do so anymore.

As requested by the governor, Eastern Michigan University, where Eidelman played the organ, closed its campus, and Eidelman was unable to practice. To combat this, Eidelman went online and bought organ parts from a company in Minnesota.

The organ came in a jumble of keyboards, little screws, bits, buttons and a pedal board. Eidelman wired the parts together and connected them to his computer. It took him several days, but he had a playable organ to practice with at home.

Quarantine offered Eidelman other

unique opportunities. Given more time to compose, Eidelman wrote a collection of etudes that outline the first book of the Bible. Each etude embodies a story. “[Composing was] a way for me to better pay attention to the texts I was reading and dive in for detail,” Eidelman said. “[Composing] means imprinting my musical ideas in a manner that can not only be preserved, but so others can repeat it and impart their own expressive approach to executing it. By writing my music down, it can be replicated and performed by others.”

After graduating high school, Eidelman hopes to audition for the Curtis Institute of Music and the Peabody Conservatory. For now, he will continue to compose and improve his repertoire, despite the setbacks caused by the pandemic.

“Music to me means speaking without words, sharing without giving and living on beyond existence,” Eidelman said. “It is a way for me to contribute to the greater good of fine art and faith. I love music so much because it gives a voice to those who wouldn’t have one, and the true mastery of the skills needed to execute the actions necessary for excellence can only be developed by effort and determination alone.

Music is the direct manifestation of how much work someone is willing to put into their objectives, which is why I appreciate it so much.”

Photography by Michael Burkhardt Eidelman plays the pipe organ at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Westland, MI. Eidelman has played at numerous churches in Michigan and around the world.

Feature | March 2021 | 65

Going Against the Grain A CHS parent and alumna went against societal norms and found a way to redefine success for herself.

BY JENNA JARJOURA

In an apartment off of Division Street, Emma Greene woke up to another day of riding her motorcycle to her morning shift, cleaning laundry at Armen Cleaners, and her evening shift flipping burgers at Blimpy Burger. At 14, she moved out of her family’s two-bedroom townhouse on the southeast side of Ann Arbor to move in with her boyfriend that she lived with for all four years of high school.

When Greene decided to leave the house at 14, three different voices were speaking for and about her. The first was the group of parents that disapproved: “I cannot believe how irresponsible this is. She’s sleeping with this boy, she’s living in an apartment downtown and she’s not going into school every day.”

The second was the group of parents that was astonished: “I can’t believe she’s pulling this off. She’s safe and healthy; she goes home; she locks the door behind her; she learned how to cook; she does her own laundry; she pays her own bills and she knows how to balance a checkbook.”

And the third was Greene’s parents. When she left home, her parents contacted a truancy officer to urge her to come back home. The officer asked if Greene was using drugs, in danger or missing. Then, her parents took a step back, realizing they didn’t have an explanation for their request other than that it wasn’t “normal behavior” in their eyes.

“Your kid is different. Stop trying to shove your kid into a box. She’s thriving this way.”

Greene was doing her best to manage to live on her own while still attending school. Along with working two jobs since 13, she went to CHS part-time and did the rest of her studies through Clonlara — Ann Arbor’s homeschooling program — where she was able to create a curriculum and get it approved by the Board of Education.

From a very young age, Greene found that the way she perceived her life was different from her peers.

When her friends had dreams of becoming attorneys and school teachers, Greene had dreams of being a All photos courtesy of Emma Greene Greene leans on a car in the CHS parking lot. She was dual-enrolled at CHS and the homeschooling program, Clonlara. As more time went by and Greene had to provide for herself, even school burnt her out. “When I say [I was burnt out], I don't want it to sound negative,” Greene said. “Some of my best memories were going to CHS and Clonlara part-time, having a motorcycle at 16, working at a dry cleaner in the morning and balling burgers at night.”

66 | The Communicator Magazine

mother to many children.

“I had to figure out who I was, what I wanted and how to get it very quickly — Crash Course style,” Greene said. “But I think it was such a good experience for me. I don’t look back and say, ‘Oh, my God. It was so hard.’”

As Greene continued to take steps in the “right” direction, she began to ask herself what success is. She was raised by a strong feminist who was hard working. Because of her mother, Greene grew up defining success as working 60 hours a week while still going to school, but Greene also knew from a young age that this “success” was not what she wanted. She knew that she could find success through a new interpretation.

“Just like there are many forms of intelligence, there are many forms of success,” Greene said. “And the most important thing is to follow your heart and know that whatever you love to do, you will be successful if you want to be because you’re supposed to be.”

After high school, instead of going to college, Greene knew she wanted to be some form of an entrepreneur and ran with it. She took her GED at 19 — with ABOVE: At 20, Greene moved to Las Vegas with her son, Liam, and partner Steve. One reason she left Ann Arbor, Mich. was because her old classmates were graduating and going to college to do “big things.” “I remember coming back and thinking, ‘these people haven’t done anything,’” Greene said.

“There’s this hype about what everyone is going to do [after high school], and I was already better off than some of my peers.”

LEFT: Greene sits in a family-owned store that she worked at throughout high school; she grew very close to the owners and was treated like family. This was one of many jobs that she had in her young years. Her first job was at Cajun Joe’s, a small chicken joint that she worked at after school when she was 13.

BELOW: Greene performing at West Park in fifth grade. In her family, she was encouraged to participate in some form of the arts. She chose to dance and continued until she was 18.

“There are certain things you can do that broaden your worldview,” Greene said. “I chose dance, and I fell in love with it. It was another form of expression through an entire decade where it’s hard to express yourself verbally.”

no preparation — and passed with a high score on the first try. While she took her GED, she was living with her new partner, Steve, in addition to his college roommates. They lived off of pizza and crappy beer and wore flip-flops in the shower.

But then, at 19, Greene got pregnant — forcing a positive pivot in their lives.

Steve picked up double shifts to provide for she and Liam, the baby on the way, and they moved out of the cramped apartment and into a small studio apartment in Ypsilanti off of Huron Street.

“I just decided that, while my kids are little, I’m going to live less monetarily than my peers because I’m not giving that time with them away to a job or going back to school,” Greene said. “I knew how important that time was because I didn’t get it.”

Feature | March 2021 | 67

Greene lies with her first son, Liam, while pregnant with her daughter, Zara, at 23. For Greene, as a kid, she had a survival mindset and figured that it was okay for her to live uncomfortably — financially — if that meant she had time with her children. “But then I hit a threshold where I decided I didn’t want to live like that anymore because it was not fair to them,” Greene said. “I was going to be fine because I grew up with nothing, but that doesn’t mean that’s all they should know too.”

“

wrap my brain around the idea that people who suffer from things like addiction, suicidal ideation and eating disorders, there isn’t a group — religiously or racially — that is exempted. It immerses you in the human experience in ways you wouldn’t necessarily think of.”

Dr. Shadigian has created six guiding principles within the office so that anyone that walks in immediately feels safe and calm, knowing they’re in good hands. “I welcome you. I listen to you. I believe you. I protect your privacy. I am accountable to you. I respect ‘no.’”

Greene has always joked about her qualifications for jobs that she has had in the past; on a piece of paper, working at WomanSafeHealth is the fifth job that she’s been “underqualified” for.

But she has proven consistently over time through various jobs — such as a local recruiter, a high-level admin at UL or a massage therapist at Rub Ann Arbor — that she is passionate about her work and had a strong belief in the business model.

Just like how people believe in a higher power, source of energy, gut feeling or spirit, the Fire is what Greene has found power in. The Fire is what has pushed Greene to be who she is today. Greene describes the Fire as an intrinsic motivation that pushes her to do good things in life that she truly deserves; this mindset has pushed her to always stay driven and be confident in what she wants.

“I’m going to do what I need to elevate my quality of life and that of my children,” Greene said. “Nothing

“

Greene is a strong believer that women should not have to work through pregnancy if they don’t want to, so she decided to be there for the first steps, words, hardships and much more. It wasn’t until Liam was four years old that Greene decided it was time to start working again.

When Liam went to school, Greene enrolled in an excelled school for massage therapy in Dearborn, Mich..

She joined a local apprenticeship, made herself known through Main Street massage therapy and others and even moved to downtown Denver, Colo.’s 16th Street Mall where she worked at a well-known spa.

At 30, she set out to open Rub Ann Arbor on Main Street with three other business partners. She has always had a passion for massage therapy and was able to coown her own wellness center for nine years within Rub Ann Arbor.

Today, Greene manages WomanSafeHealth, an obstetrics and gynecology office that also specializes in clients who have trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, where she is the Woman Advocacy Program co-Director and manages the staff of six. Working alongside Dr. Elizabeth Shadigian, this job has challenged Greene’s perspective on the diverse group of women in the community.

“It takes everything you think you know about socioeconomics, mental health and wealth in general and turns it on its side,” Greene said. “It took me a while to

The world is crazy, yes, but guess what, it’s always been crazy and there’s beauty in that — it’s not something to be afraid of.

68 | The Communicator Magazine

is going to stop me — not a man, not myself, not selfdoubt. Nothing.”

Along with the Fire, Greene has also found that a lot of people get locked into the idea that there’s one way to do everything, and she broke that barrier which gave her a source of motivation.

“Life, in general, is like an enormous Rubik’s Cube,” Greene said. “It’s not solved by one university, one acceptance letter or one academic career.”

Greene has seen people, including herself, dream to have big things in the future as if they are far away.

But, she has continued to stay driven in what she wants and see things like success, happiness, stability, financial security and more as easily attainable.

“Everything is set up to make you feel overwhelmed,” Greene said. “It is as if the world is like an enormous oyster and that you need to be right up underneath your parents to figure everything out. The world is crazy, yes, but guess what? It’s always been crazy and there’s beauty in that — it’s not something to be afraid of.”

At 23, Greene’s life got even more “crazy” as she gave birth to her second child, Zara.

On the day of Zara’s birth, Greene arrived at the hospital and her husband, Steve, went to park the car.

During the time that he was gone, she sat in the waiting room and watched nurses dismissively pass by, avoiding direct eye contact and not asking if she needed anything.

“They had me summed up in two seconds,” Greene said. “Here’s this Black chick. She’s in here alone, she’s not married, she’s having a baby.” Once Steve returned, she was treated like a top priority because, now, she was Mrs. Kaleski.

She bawled her eyes out, filled with anger over the healthcare system — specifically upset with how women of color were being treated unfairly. Greene’s experience giving birth to Zara was what led her to say “somebody has to do something about this,” letting her

Fire take control.

Greene sacrificed, as well as gained, a lot through the path she decided to take when she was 14.

“Statistically, I shouldn’t have what I have,” Greene said. “I shouldn’t have the level of comfort that I have or the stability that I’ve created for myself.”

Through the years, as she decided to leave her house early on and move in with her boyfriend, start working two jobs at 13, have a baby at 19, open a business and stay driven through the hardest times, she stayed true to herself.

“You are the one who gets to live with whatever you decide to do,” Greene said. “I will be dead and gone and [my children will have to ask themselves], ‘Did I do what I was really passionate about, or did I do what I was supposed to do?’”

Greene continues to do what she wants to do and does not listen to what is “normal.” During the pandemic, she decided that it was time to move.

“Everyone said, ‘You’re going to sell your house in the middle of a pandemic as a single parent?’ And I said, ‘Ready kids? Everyone pile into the car we’re gonna go eat pizza in the park for an hour the day before lockdown so people can view our house,’” Greene said.

During the summer of 2020, Greene and her kids rented a house in downtown Ann Arbor while simultaneously looking for the perfect house during the pandemic with rubber gloves, masks and hand sanitizer everywhere. House number 54 was the winner. And even while looking for house number 54, she contracted Covid-19 with all the symptoms and had to postpone her house hunt for two weeks.

A historic home in downtown Wyandotte, Mich. left Greene at peace, and without even making it up the stairs, she called and made an offer on the house.

Today, with six children, Greene sets an example and teaches her children that they have the potential to accomplish what they want through their personalized paths and encourages them to go against the grain.

Steve (top left), Greene (center), Liam (bottom left) and Zara (right) smile in a family portrait. Liam and Zara, two of Greene’s six children, were raised in a non-traditional way. “There were no books to read about parenting except for one: ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting,’” Greene said. “But then they say, ‘This does not apply to you because you’re single and you’re broke.’ Nothing about how I had Liam and other children was traditional, or normal — whatever that is. It was completely different.”

Feature | March 2021 | 69

Expression + Identity in Isolation The Covid-19 pandemic forced youth across the world out of school and away from their peers. Being distanced from the pressures of daily life gave teenagers an opportunity to reflect on themselves and their identity.

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

Gender binary is defined by Oxford Languages as “a system of gender classification in which all people are categorized as being either male or female.” The gender binary is overwhelmingly present in the world of students. From men’s and women’s bathrooms to the male or female fill in bubbles on standardized tests, teenagers are forced to choose between two genders. The prevalence of binary gender identity within schools, a place where teenagers spend the majority of their time, is dangerous.

Gender nonconforming students are present in schools, although they are faced with pressures from their peers and the world around them. According to the Trevor Project, 25% of LGBTQ+ youth identify as gender nonconforming. These students, who identify outside of the gender binary, often face backlash in school, causing them to feel unsafe and uncomfortable in their identity. About 75% of gender nonconforming high schoolers felt unsafe at school because of their 70 | The Communicator Magazine

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Miles Durr, a senior at CHS who uses he/they pronouns, has been struggling with how to express his gender identity in school for years.

“At some point in eighth grade, I started to realize how uncomfortable [dressing masculinely] made me feel, and I wanted to exclude myself from leaning any particular way with gender expression altogether,” Durr said. “That has led to a large amount of social isolation, and I lacked a sense of belonging for a very long time.”

Anna Prince, a sophomore at Huron High School who uses she/they pronouns, has also found it difficult to align their gender identity with their appearance.

“I purposely avoided [clothes] shopping for a large part of my life,” Prince said.

Prince grew up going to a traditional church, where women were expected to embrace feminine style. She felt pressured to wear skirts and dresses to church and in her daily life, despite how uncomfortable these

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“I feel like [church] has always been my eternal keeper, like someone watching over me,” Prince said.

In March of 2020, teenagers were forced out of school due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This gave Prince and Durr time to reflect on their gender identity and expression. By existing outside of the pressures of daily life, they were able to truly figure out who they are.

“Lockdown has really helped me [discover my gender] because I’ve been able to sit with myself and figure it out,” Prince said.

A junior at CHS, Wade Knyal, who uses he/she/they pronouns, spent a lot of time reflecting on himself and his gender while isolated during lockdown. “[Being isolated has] given me a lot of time alone with my thoughts,” Knyal said.

Gender is a spectrum; it exists on a continuum, from man to woman, with space in between. There is room for all kinds of gender identities. Prince, a non-binary woman, considers gender to be complex and nuanced.

She believes that appearance and expression do not necessarily correspond with gender identity.

“I think something that a lot of people think when I say I’m not a woman is I have to be more masculine presenting, and I think for me, a non-binary woman is less appearance and more my own personal mindset and feelings towards myself,” Prince said.

Durr has always felt more feminine in his gender expression and performance. He does not think he should limit himself from feminine clothing just because he does not identify as a woman.

“I think that by showing I am comfortable being referred to with either male or gender neutral pronouns, it allows me to experience this state of being free, without any sort of constraint,” Durr said. “I am still an

evolving individual, so there’s always room to go in a different direction.”

Being in isolation and not dealing with pressures at school allows teenagers to explore how they want to present and express themselves and adapt their gender expression along with their identity. Gender nonconforming teenagers are able to try new appearances without worrying about the expectations and assumptions of the people around them.

Ameera Salman, a senior at CHS, realized over quarantine that she identifies with she/they pronouns. She has started experimenting with her gender expression by wearing baggier clothes and getting a new haircut.

“I had a lot of time to myself in isolation,” Salman said. “I’ve changed my image a lot, [and] I feel like I’m a different person.”

Knyal has also been trying out different ways to express himself. He started painting his nails and experimenting with makeup while in lockdown, and he has been paying more attention to his hair and skin. “[I’ve been] thinking more about my impact on folks when I see them in person and how I look to them,” Knyal said.

Lockdown has created an opportunity for many non-binary teenagers to reflect on themselves and get to know themselves better. Recognizing which pronouns reflect their identity best can help teenagers understand themselves and the world around them.

Although isolation has taken a toll on high schoolers — from the loss of social events to virtual schooling — maybe being alone has actually brought some good things along with the bad.

“I have this whole new identity that I feel like I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t spent so much time alone,” Salman said. “I am really excited to use everything that I’ve found out about myself to step out into a new world.”

Feature | March 2021 | 71

The Racial Pandemic How two Washtenaw County’s Black Lives Matter organizers addressed anti-Black racism amidst a pandemic.

BY TAI TWOREK

Demetrious Castelow Demetrious Castelow felt like he had to do it.

A few days prior, in early summer of 2020, he was in Detroit with his cousin and some friends. They were attending one of the city’s Black Lives Matter protests and were standing near the bridge leading to Canada, facing rows of police officers ahead of them. As Castelow’s cousin and an officer were starting to argue, the officer tackled his cousin. Castelow tried to help his cousin, but other officers were holding him back. His phone started to die, and Castelow couldn’t contact his cousin. And although he threw up from an overwhelming mix of emotions, Castelow didn’t know how to feel.

Still, he stayed in Detroit.

“Even though I knew something bad could happen, I felt like I needed to be there,” Castelow said.

When the protest ended, Castelow returned to Detroit a few days later to attend another. But before he returned, Castelow took a day off. He stayed off of social media and away from protests. His friends, however, reached out with encouraging texts and paragraphs, urging Castelow to get back out.

When he returned the second time, Castelow decided to start a live video on Instagram so his followers could see what was happening. He arrived with some friends a few minutes before the city’s implemented curfew and was met with a heavy police presence in riot gear.

The police started marching towards them, shooting tear gas and rubber bullets. Castelow and his friends ran away, and a police car turned down the same street to follow them. They ended up hiding from the police when the officers got out of the car to look for them.

“I wasn’t afraid; things don’t really scare me,” Castelow said. “I just do it. And that’s just what I did. I felt like it had to be done, so I went and did it. I wasn’t afraid. I went in knowing what can happen.”

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It wasn’t difficult for Castelow to muster up the bravery to return to Detroit, even after he had witnessed an incident of police brutality against his cousin and feared it could happen to himself. He knew he had to do it.

After witnessing the incident with his cousin in Detroit, he felt inspired to organize his own protest centered around teenagers. Although this was the first protest Castelow had ever spearheaded, he has dabbled in activism and had a prominent voice in the Black community. Before graduating from Skyline High School in 2020, he was the president of the Black Student Union during his senior year. As a club, they would host fundraisers, like selling popcorn after school to raise money for field trips. They would also provide their peers with a safe space to talk about the problems and struggles they faced in school.

“I felt like my age — our age, like high school and college people — our voices are the most important,” Castelow said. “And I feel like everything that’s going on affects us the most as well. So I wanted the protest to focus on younger people.”

On June 11, 2020, Castelow, along with his friend Maya Burch, held their protest in downtown Ann Arbor. The protest, Black Young Lives Matter, met outside of City Hall. Castelow determined the route he wanted to march along, brought a speaker to play music and provided demonstrators with masks. During

Photography by Tai Tworek Sha’Teina Grady-El leads a protest down Washtenaw Avenue from the Sheriff’s Office on May 29, 2020. The protest was in support of GradyEl in her husband after an incident of police brutality. “[Survivors Speak] believes that you have to sound the alarm,” Duckworth said.

“You have to put a voice to what you are going through in order to be made whole — in order to find healing.”

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“Whenever you see [police brutality], it angers you,” Castelow said. “And the anger is kind of like good anger. It makes you want to get up and do something.” the march, they stopped at the large rock on Washtenaw Avenue near the University of Michigan’s campus.

Castelow welcomed demonstrators to speak on the issue.

“Whenever you see [police brutality], it angers you,” Castelow said. “And the anger is kind of like good anger. It makes you want to get up and go do something about it.”

Castelow describes his experiences in Detroit as traumatizing. But despite this, he was fueled to keep attending protests, never becoming exhausted and even taking time off of work to go to demonstrations.

Castelow knew he had to do what he felt needed to be done.

Trische Duckworth Trische Duckworth is able to feel the love around her.

When protesting, surrounded by people, the love she feels outweighs the rage and anger. Duckworth feels this love whether leading a protest of 10 that was able to shut down Washtenaw Avenue or speaking out to just one person.

“You can’t cancel hatred with hatred,” Duckworth said. “You have to cancel hatred with love. That’s why we lead with love, we talk about love. Love doesn’t mean you don’t say what’s true. Because when you love someone, you tell them the truth.”

As the executive director and founder of Survivors Speak — an organization in Washtenaw County that works to provide a creative platform of change and healing for survivors of traumatic events — Duckworth has shared this love through the Black Lives Matter protests she organized throughout the summer of 2020. As Duckworth sees it, these protests have been a way for community members to come together, establishing a sense of camaraderie.

The first protest Duckworth organized was around 2014 in support of two brothers who were wrongly incarcerated. But her activism began to intensify in 2018 when she was watching the news and survivors of Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State athletic doctor, came forward to report the abuse they endured from

Photography by Tai Tworek A young protester holds one fist in the air as the other is clutching a sign that reads, “Cops Lie, People Die.” She is holding the sign at the protest Trische Duckworth helped organize on May 29, 2020.

“Everybody’s role is important,” Duckworth said. “A lot of people try to discount the role of a protest, but that is a piece of the puzzle.”

him. This event resonated with Duckworth. She, too, is a survivor of sexual assault. In February of 2018, she established Survivors Speak, providing survivors with forums in which they could express their experiences.

Once the Covid-19 pandemic started, Duckworth reformatted Survivors Speak to a virtual setting with socially distanced opportunities. She organized a Save our Seniors initiative, where, with the help of volunteers, Duckworth would buy groceries for senior citizens and drop them off at their houses. And while Survivors Speak focuses on a broad range of issues, Duckworth says the organization’s focus to rally around the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer was not a switch from one social issue to another.

Survivors Speak has always focused on all survivors — it’s just a matter of prioritization. “[Survivors Speak] believes that you have to sound the alarm,” Duckworth said. “You have to put a voice to what you are going through in order to be made whole — in order to find healing. That can be with the community, or it can be with any taboo topic or social injustice.”

At the end of May, Duckworth was outraged when she came across a video of police brutality against the Grady-Els, a couple in Washtenaw County. Although she didn’t know the Grady-Els personally, Duckworth was angered. She took to Facebook to spread the word and to encourage people to join her at the County Sheriff’s office to protest the injustice.

Throughout the summer, Survivors Speak continued to organize local protests — many of which centered around the Black Lives Matter movement. While organizing, Duckworth knew she had to focus on the intention of her protests in order to be effective. She never “marches without a mission.” She also makes sure to strategically choose the location and target audience, as well as identifying allies and stakeholders, such as those in legislative positions.

“Everybody’s role is important,” Duckworth said. “A lot of people try to discount the role of a protest, but that is a piece of the puzzle. We have to honor each piece. One isn’t greater than the other, but we can’t have one without the other. It takes all of these things to tear down this demon of white supremacy.”

Overall, Duckworth has had to do little to incentivize people to show their support, even in spite of the pandemic. People in the community, she feels, were compelled to fight against injustice. Still, as a precautionary measure at protests, Survivors Speak worked in conjunction with different medical affiliates, such as Southeastern Michigan Medics. Duckworth also made Feature | March 2021 | 75

Photography by Tai Tworek Chelsea and her son attend their second day of protests to show their solidarity with Sha’Teina Grady El and her family. Protests outside of the County Sheriff’s Office occurred for multiple days on behalf of the Grady-Els. “We fight each other and kill other, but we won’t stand up for a cause that’s bigger than us,” said Arreshonda Bullock, one of Grady El’s best friends. “You want your children to go through this? You want your children’s children to go through this? This is not okay.”

sure to provide protesters with hand sanitizer, gloves, water and snacks.

“We did what we could do, honoring that we were in a pandemic, but also honoring that we’re in a racial pandemic as well,” Duckworth said. “To us, one isn’t greater than the other. They’re both important.”

The Racial Pandemic As cases of Covid-19 surged, causing a global pandemic, another pandemic was already in place: Duckworth’s racial pandemic. In her idea of a racial pandemic, Black Americans have never been made whole; 76 | The Communicator Magazine

the nuances of racism have worked to disadvantage the community at large.

“The things that we see — police brutality and all these things that are going on with the criminal justice system — that is another symptom of the racial pandemic,” Duckworth said. “It crosses many barriers.

Back in October, [Survivors Speak] did the Getting Real About Race forum, where we highlighted these disparities in education, employment, housing, the healthcare system and the criminal justice system — not just one thing. But we call it a racial pandemic because it affects every area of people’s lives as a whole within our community.”

“The things that we see — police brutality and all these things that are going on with the criminal justice system — that is another symptom of the racial pandemic,” Duckworth said. “It crosses many barriers. Back in October, [Survivors Speak] did the Getting Real About Race Forum, where we highlighted these disparities in education, employment, housing, the healthcare system and the criminal justice system — not just one thing. But we call it a racial pandemic because it affects every area of people’s lives as a whole within our community.”

The factors that cause the racial pandemic are systemic. On May 29, 2020, at a protest for the Grady-Els that Duckworth had co-organized with Ethan Ketner, another local activist, Duckworth alluded to a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) analogy: “There’s no such thing as a bad apple. If the apple is bad, it’s because the tree is rotten to the core.” In Duckworth’s experience through harnessing the power in bringing people together, she worked to address the racial pandemic and the injustices at their core during the protests she organized over the summer. Her protests started with one family, but Duckworth’s cause eventually moved to a larger focus of racial equity.

And in the thick of the pandemic, both Castelow and Duckworth hosted well-attended protests. Castelow provided masks for those in attendance at his protest, but found the protesters to have masks and did not have to give any out. “I think, despite the pandemic, there was something greater that needed to be addressed,” Castelow said.

As Duckworth notes, many that are inspired to become involved in activism have the heart to demand and seek change — which is what she believes to be taking hold. The spirit of togetherness was prevalent at Duckworth’s protests: She witnessed many community members — allies from different racial and ethnic origins — coming together. And as her platform grew, Duckworth believes people’s hearts grew as well. “[There are] bigger issues than getting sick,” said Ketner on May 29, 2020, at the protest he and Duckworth organized for the Grady-Els. “I understand over 100,000 people have died at this point, but people are getting shot, people are getting murdered in the streets. We have to do something about it. This shit cannot continue.”

Throughout Washtenaw County and Southeastern Michigan, some groups and communities decid-

ed to address the racial pandemic and prevalence of anti-Black racism. For instance, Detroit’s chapter of Black Lives Matter spelled out a list of eight demands in their “Detroit Bill of Rights,” addressing concerns such as water quality and healthcare. Even some local high school sports teams decided to take a stance on the movement. In their mission statement, the Skyline High School crew team illustrated a commitment to antiracism through action items; these included partnerships with Peace Neighborhood Center, seeking out Black representation and initiating mentorship opportunities from Black alumni.

But despite the numerous protests throughout Washtenaw County and Southeastern Michigan over the summer of 2020, Duckworth believes that there are people trying to change the channel too quickly, jumping from issue to issue. To her, this is when people start to seek out some of the “low hanging fruit” when becoming politically mobilized. These may be issues that Duckworth feels are relatively attainable to be solidified into law, like immigration. But at the top of the tree sits racial equity and Black liberation — the end goals that are the most difficult to reach for.

“We don’t care,” Duckworth said. “We’re reaching for that fruit. And we’re bringing it down, and we’re understanding that we’re not going to allow the channel to be changed. We are going to stay focused on building racial equity here in America.”

Castelow and Duckworth are among many community members that have rallied in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Castelow, a young organizer that worked to incorporate the voices of his peers, and Duckworth, a seasoned activist accustomed to supporting all survivors, have taken part in working towards upending the racial pandemic. And, as Castelow said, because he felt like he needed to do it.

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TAKE A TRIP CHS teachers dream of future vacations after the pandemic.

BY GRACE WANG

Since the start of the pandemic, Matt Johnson, CHS English teacher, and his family have stayed at home.

Memories of towering Douglas firs, salty waves and delicious crab are getting Johnson through quarantine. Manzanita, Ore. is the first place he plans to go when Covid-19 is under control. Johnson and his wife lived in Oregon in their 20s; they spent so much time there that the coast now feels like a second home. As vaccines begin to roll out, Johnson is hoping to make the family trip in August.

“I don’t know how to describe it, except for it just sort of speaks to my soul,” Johnson said. “It’s incredibly green, and the weather’s not that warm, but I like that. It’s really good campfire weather.

The surfing, in particular, it’s what surfing culture should be in a lot of places, but isn’t. For somebody who’s old like me and kind of rusty, that’s perfect.”

The frigid Alaskan water that comes downstream to Oregon makes anyone who can muster enough courage to take a dip admirable.

After getting off the plane, Johnson’s first priority will be to get some crab, preferably fresh out of the ocean from a shack on the 78 | The Communicator Magazine

Photo courtesy of Matt Johnson Johnson and his daughter pose by a surfboard on the beach. The two-year-old and her father were spending time at his favorite beach in Oregon. “That was right before the first time she ever went ‘surfing.’ A.K.A., she sat on the board as I pushed her in the shallows,” Johnson said.

side of the road. Then, straight to surfing.

“Every summer until last summer, we always would get a house on the coast,” Johnson said. “We go to West Oswalt State Beach.

It’s the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen. It has this massive cove where there’s a beach, [and] there’s a waterfall on one side of it, and there’s just constantly dolphins and sea lions. It’s a really good surfing break. My wife and I both surf, and it’s kind of the hangout spot for the Oregon coast. ” From the shed in his backyard that he teaches in, Johnson uses these memories to get through the monotony of online school.

“We need a break as human beings, and I’m feeling that now,” Johnson said. “I’m feeling more rundown, and I think it’s because I didn’t get a proper break.”

Imagining his next vacation helps Johnson handle the tiring nature of life with no respite. This summer, he is excited to bring his one-year-old son for the first time and share the magic of his favorite place with his family.

LATER Ryan Silvester, history teacher at CHS, is also dreaming of taking a trip.

In his mind, Florida is synonymous with vacation. He dreams of sitting by the ocean, relaxing and soaking up the sun with a good history book.

“Ever since this pandemic started, I’ve had this nostalgia for road trips that my family used to go on,” Silvester said. “Just being in the car with people and listening to music.”

Specifically, Silvester wants to play the new Taylor Swift album and scream along with it, windows down. He misses the magical feeling of rolling down the highway with people he loves, blasting good music.

It has been four years since Silvester’s last road trip and almost two since his last vacation. After dealing with icy-cold Ann Arbor,

Photo courtesy of Ryan Silvester Ryan Silvester smiles on a trip to York, England. On a Saturday in July, he wandered the streets of the city, participating in all of the tourist attractions. “The streets were filled with people singing, dancing [and] shopping,” Silvester said. “It was really like something out of a movie. The city itself really limits the amount of cars that can travel through the main streets, so it was basically just a walking free-for-all.”

he is stuck on the idea of stepping into a warmer climate.

“That feeling you get when you go somewhere warm after being somewhere cold for so long, and you’re hit with that warmth that you haven’t felt in a couple of months,” Silvester said. “When that happens, I pause and just let it take me in. I get to smile.”

Silvester and his girlfriend had plans to visit her family this winter, but canceled them to keep himself and others safe.

“We all want to go places, and I’ve had so many plans canceled because of everything,” Silvester said. “It’s hard, and it’s stressful, but you know we’re being safe. Florida is not going anywhere anytime soon. So, we can hold on.”

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Michelle Yager, CHS’s newest math teacher, is missing sunny California.

Yager’s older sister lives outside of Los Angeles, and during normal times, Yager visits annually. She and her husband had plans to visit her sister for a day, then take a road trip up the West Coast to San Francisco. When the pandemic forced them to cancel, she did not stop dreaming about it.

“For me, San Diego means freedom and warmth,” Yager said.

Yager and her husband have a tradition when they visit: In-NOut Burger — a staple of West Coast fast food — is their first stop.

Cookies and cream milkshakes, the excitement of waiting in line and the smell of fries are just what she needs after getting off a flight.

“Knowing that there’s a milkshake in my future always gets me through,” Yager said.

After In-N-Out and visiting her sister, their next stop is a day trip to an outdoor shopping center. Her husband goes to the same golf shop every time, and they eat at the same restaurant where “everything tastes better.” Then they go for a scenic trip to the coast to see the cliffs and the seals.

“All these little highlights stick out in my mind that we try to recreate every time we’re there,” Yager said.

Like Silvester, she finds hope in the fact that one day, she will visit again.

“The restriction is kind of depressing, but knowing that we can go eventually is still keeping me hopeful,” Yager said. “It is nice to know that [San Diego] is still there; it’s not going anywhere. We want to go, but it is worth waiting, and it’ll mean more by waiting.”

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Photo courtesy of Michelle Yager ABOVE: Michelle Yager and her husband take a selfie at the Carlsbad Flower Fields. This photo is from their second to last trip to visit her sister. “We stopped [here] on our drive from seeing my sister and her family in Los Angeles,” Yager said.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Hechler RIGHT: Hechler celebrates in front of the Sydney Opera House in Australia. She took this trip as a part of her job as a travel agent. “For as long I can remember, I had stared at the globe, my fingers tracing tiny islands in the middle of the vast ocean, yearning to explore these distant islands and lands on the other side of the world,” Hechler said. “I never thought it would be feasible for me to actually visit, at least not until I was much older. And yet, there I was, at age 23, with one of my dreams actually coming true.”

Longing for somewhere farther than Florida, Sarah Hechler, history teacher at CHS, wants to travel internationally.

Hechler and her husband had a trip to Thailand planned and had begun to book it when the pandemic arose. They waited as things were up in the air, and when Covid-19 persisted, they were forced to cancel.

“It’s disappointing,” Hechler said. “I feel like the pandemic has thrown into sharp relief for people what their priorities are.”

Seeing the world is what Hechler wishes she could do right now.

She recently turned 31 and finally has the necessary resources to take a big trip. In her 20s, there were always reasons holding her back: school, work, money, a lack of vacation time. But now, after saving up for so long, she cannot go.

However, Hechler’s desire to learn and love for history are fueling her hope for travel. She has been learning some Thai recipes at home, but aims to take a cooking class when she goes. She is also excited about the incredible history of the kingdom of Siam.

She plans to visit the villages in northern Thailand to learn about the people living in that part of the country. Then, they will go to the southern beaches and islands where she and her husband can learn to scuba dive.

“I’ve never been to a place where I haven’t been able to understand at least a little bit of the language, or at least recognize the alphabet,” Hechler said. “And I would love to be able to be outside of my comfort zone a little bit more.”

The endlessly magnificent geography and culture of Thailand fill Hechler’s dreams. She imagines the first item on her agenda will be to ride in a tuk-tuk, a three-wheeled, motorized Thai taxi.

“Going around Bangkok or Chiang Mai in a tuk-tuk would be cool, a totally different form of transit than I’ve ever tried,” Hechler said. “I’m imagining being in a busy market area of Bangkok and the smells and sounds and colors. I’m very excited.”

Hechler spent part of her life working as a travel agent and still has friends in that field. She has heard how difficult things are in the industry at the moment and is hopeful that, with vaccine distribution underway, travel picks up again safely.

The desire to keep their children, themselves and others healthy has kept our teachers from vacationing recently. Daydreams of sunny destinations help them get through their days and give them hope for the future.

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Love to Ann Arbor CHS students share their favorite places in the Ann Arbor area.

BY DELIA BINETTI AND CATE WEISER

Photography by Delia Binetti

State Street When junior Alejandro Cantu was six years old, his parents took him to see an R-rated movie at the State Theater; this is the first memory he has of what became his favorite area in Ann Arbor.

The corner of State Street and East Liberty Street is what Cantu uses to mark the area. He grew up attending Top of the Park, classical concerts at Hill Auditorium and a countless number of movies at the State and Michigan Theaters.

“I’ve always looked at it as a very cultural square mile,” Cantu said.

For his freshman year, Cantu attended Skyline High School; he was admitted off of the CHS waiting list at 82 | The Communicator Magazine

the very end of that year, and he rushed to accept. He described the change from a closed campus to an open one as “liberating,” and it allowed him to spend more and more time at the corner of State and Liberty. Before Covid-19 brought an end to his sophomore year, he and his friends would gather there frequently.

“Urban Outfitters was kind of the spot to meet up,” Cantu said. “Sometimes we’d go to Chipotle, or kick it in Walgreens.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Cantu has only been able to drive through the area. Despite only being able to see the streets out of the window of the car, he said he has loved every moment of being there.

Greenview Park Luke Rogers’ home sits right in front of the Greenview Park located near Scio Church Road. Ever since he remembers, the park has been somewhere special to him.

“It’s somewhere that I’ve always been connected to,” Rogers said. “I’ve lived here my whole entire life. I definitely spend a lot of time back there.”

He uses the space for many recreational activities. “I walk my dogs, I go for runs or I go when I’m just kind of feeling bogged down with school,” Rogers said. “It’s just somewhere that helps clear my mind and reminds me of where I come from — it grounds me.”

Rogers finds himself going there about once a week.

In the past, it was a place he spent a majority of his time with his father.

“I’ve always been connected to the park directly through my dad,” Rogers said. “Ever since I was three or four, he has been the park steward when he retired.

He organized projects and kept it looking great. I would always go back there with him and help him organize projects for the field.”

After 18 years of living in Ann Arbor, Rogers is ready to head out for college. Although he might not be surrounded by the park every day, it will be somewhere special that he will always be able to come back to.

Photo courtesy of Luke Rogers

Photo courtesy of Grace Catchot

Domino Farms

Grace Catchot has a love for animals unlike any other. By driving down Huron River Drive, she makes her way to the parking lot of Domino Farms offices.

Although the winter season is not welcoming for the animals to stay outside, the farm is home to many different kinds: cows, donkeys and buffalo.

“I would go every time I needed to feel something, or if I felt lonely, I would just go hang out with the cows,” Catchot said.

Catchot usually finds herself with the animals about once a week. It has been a special place for her for a while now.

“My mom used to work in the offices, so I remember that from when I was a kid,” Catchot said. “I forgot

about it until I started going to appointments there.

More recently, with the pandemic pushing her to go outside, she knew she had to get out there for more than once a week. “I started making a tradition out of going there by myself and then also bringing only my closest friends,” Catchot said.

Catchot finds the drive just as beautiful as the destination, usually spending about half an hour with the animals once she gets there. At times, it will usually just be her up at the farm. But on occasion, Catchot will bring a couple of her close friends.

“My friends are like, ‘Oh my god can you bring me the cows?’” Catchot said. “‘I want to see the cows.’”

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Photo courtesy of Delaney Sperlbaum

Barton Nature Area Delaney Sperlbaum, a senior at CHS, has spent a majority of her summers in the Barton Nature Area.

While exploring it this past summer, Sperlbaum realized it was the perfect place to be with her friends in the era of Covid-19.

“It was a place where we could be outside and socially distance with each other and still have fun,” Sperlbaum said.

Specifically last summer, Sperlbaum made this location her go-to spot when spending time with her pod.

“We used to stay there all day — sometimes 12 hours,” Sperlbaum said. “We would move between the parking lot, train tracks and the rope swing.We never 84 | The Communicator Magazine

got tired of it.”

Growing up in Ann Arbor, Sperlbaum always knew about Barton, but it wasn’t until last year that she found herself going there so frequently.

With 2021 being her last year in Ann Arbor before Sperlbuam heads off to college, she is planning to spend another summer at the rope swing with her friends.

“I think it’ll still be really fun to go this summer just because of how much we went last year,” Sperlbaum said. “My friends and I can relive the memories we made there.”

Kellogg Eye Center

Photography by Delia Binetti

Senior Jenna Jarjoura found her favorite place in Ann Arbor at the start of her new relationship. She had been talking to her now-boyfriend via Snapchat for a few weeks, and winter break was coming up. Jarjoura decided to be up-front and asked if he was free over the break; he responded with not only an enthusiastic yes, but expressed the desire to plan the whole date.

When the day came, the pair picked up snacks and headed to “the perfect spot” he wanted to take her. After driving around for awhile, he admitted that he was having a hard time finding it, so he suggested they park and go for a walk.

They came upon a long road, and he suddenly stopped. Jarjoura asked what he was doing, and he pointed and told her “the perfect spot” was down there, but that they had to come back later so she could see it at night.

A few days later, Jarjoura was driving around with a friend. They drove to the long road and ventured down to see what the spot looked like. They drove into a culde-sac that looked out to the Kellogg Eye Center and its surrounding buildings. Through the trees, they could see all of the city lights.

They were awestruck. The view was expansive and beautiful, and Jarjoura’s friend gushed about how sweet it was that her boyfriend wanted to bring her there. Jarjoura’s reaction was slightly more delayed.

“I was surprised that someone would take the time and effort to bring me somewhere like that,” Jarjoura said. “I just thought, ‘Awww he wanted to do this for me?’”

Kuebler Langford Park Walden Jones-Perpich, a CHS junior, bought a new bike in the early spring of 2020. He spent the majority of his spring, summer and early fall riding his bike all over Ann Arbor and Chelsea. Jones-Perpich loved riding on wooded trails, but always struggled to find one he didn’t have to drive to — until he happened across one on a neighborhood ride.

At the end of July, Jones-Perpich biked through the entrance to Kuebler Langford Park and discovered the perfect area; he spent the day being led by his curiosity.

“There’s no trail map, so I just explored all of the area,” Jones-Perpich said. “I got to see where everything led, and it was just really cool.”

After that first day, Jones-Perpich went back to the spot three to four times a week, totaling in at over 20 times by the time it was too cold to ride. Jones-Perpich decided to share it with his friends, and they would spend hours biking there together.

His favorite part about the park is its uniqueness: Jones-Perpich described it as feeling different than any other trail he’s found.

“It’s so refreshing because it doesn’t feel like you’re in Ann Arbor all of the time,” Jones-Perpich said.

Photo courtesy of Walden Jones-Perpich Feature | March 2021 | 85

The past year has brought about unprecedented hardships.

But despite the onset of a pandemic, a resurgence in a social justice movement, an insurrection and a historic election, the “2020 mentality” is a scapegoat for the issues at hand. The inequality we have recently seen has always been there.

STAFF EDITORIAL Undoubtedly, 2020 brought unprecedented hardships. As we rang in the new decade over a year ago, it was almost impossible to imagine the full ramifications of the coronavirus and subsequent pandemic. But here we are at the beginning of January 2021, 356,005 deaths and 20,960,096 cases of Covid-19 later.

Often, the perils of the past 12 months have been blamed on the year alone. The 2020 mentality is the scapegoat for the perils and significant events of this past year: a pandemic, a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and a historic Presidential Election.

This mentality allows us to blame the defining moments of 2020 on the year alone, making us hopeful that, with the ringing in of the new year, our problems 86 | The Communicator Magazine

will disappear. After months of stay-at-home executive orders, watching Covid-19 cases surge and protests erupt in the streets, the new year was highly anticipated after enduring the extreme.

But it is unfair to assert that the troubles we have experienced are caused by the date on the calendar. As the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1, the problems we have faced locally, nationally and internationally did not immediately dissipate. In fact, they are proving to withstand the test of time, forcing us to bring these hardships with us into 2021. While many Americans have been vaccinated for Covid-19, a variant of the virus is present and record-breaking cases and death counts are still recently burned into our consciousness.

There are still millions of other Americans to vaccinate, and although there is an end in sight, herd immunity for Covid-19 seems like a fantasy.

The legacy of the Black Lives Matter resurgence is still prevalent in the new year. On Jan. 5, the police officers who shot Jacob Blake, a Black man from Kenosha, Wisconsin, were released without charges. This verdict, consistent with many other instances of police brutality against Black Americans, is further proof of the deeply ingrained injustices within the system upon which our society operates. These disparaging inequities were not caused by 2020 — they have been prevalent since the founding of our country. And, as exhibited by Blake’s case, they have not disappeared in 2021.

More notoriously, the 2020 Presidential Election has emerged in the New Year. On Wed. Jan. 6, an insurrection was instigated by President Donald Trump at the Capitol. Trump’s most fierce supporters — a homogeneous group of people, flaunting their Make America Great Again paraphernalia and waving their “Trump 2020” flags — pledged allegiance to the President’s legacy. The “Stop the Steal” sentiments, accusing the results of the election to be illegitimate, were promoted by Trump and his supporters, thus propelling the 2020 election into the New Year. And for inciting this insurrection, Trump now faces his second impeachment hearings before the House of Representatives on Wed. Jan 13.

The three most defining events of the past year are not testaments to the 2020 mentality — instead, they negate it. The pandemic, the social movement and the election prove how embedded injustice is within our society.

The severity of the past year was caused by a widening of the cracks within our system — cracks caused by a country founded upon injustice and atrocity. During the pandemic, health disparities among Black and Brown communities in the U.S. became prevalent. As these communities contracted and died from Covid-19 at vastly higher rates than whites, the racism within the healthcare system and the social determinants of health — housing security and location, education, economic stability and social networks — were exposed.

Inequality underpins the other issues faced this past year. The oppression and subjugation of Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) was instigated at this country’s inception. And as 400 years of a strict social hierarchy ensued, this founding principle only com-

pounded. Police brutality against Black Americans is by no means a new phenomenon unique to 2020. The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement is exactly that — a resurgence. Black Americans and other marginalized communities must take to the streets to decry the injustices committed against them, as our system has continually excluded them throughout history.

The historic election underscored the weight of certain communities’ voices in our country. Politicians like Stacey Abrams worked diligently to register disenfranchised communities and encouraged first-time voters to make an appearance at the polls this past November. Her work, along with many of her colleagues’, is largely seen as the reason why Georgia voted blue.

This feat is considered especially groundbreaking when compared to the country’s lengthy history with disenfranchisement among communities of color, specifically for Black Americans. Your vote is your voice, and 159,690,457 voices were heard this past election, according to the United States Elections Project. But the voices that have proven to be the loudest are those denying the results of the election, carrying out an insurrection at the Nation’s Capitol. When compared to the long history of disenfranchisement, the emphasis placed on the voices of those that participated in the insurrection is painfully prevalent. These people were able to walk into the Capitol to denounce the results of the election, while many others voted for the first time.

The problems of 2020 were perpetuated by the unequal cracks in our society. These issues were always there, and it was inevitable that they would eventually erupt.

If we truly want 2021 to be different from 2020, we must work together as a country to address the issues that lie behind the cracks that have emerged. Although we have adapted to the pandemic and the challenges that have accompanied it, we should not have let this situation escalate to the point where we were able to acclimate ourselves. Our handling of the issues brought by 2020 has followed suit with the handling of other epidemics of injustices, as we wait for them to exponentiate to their ugliest forms until we take reactive measures.

2020 was a year of trial, testing us through our toughest moments. But the only way to move forward is to attack these problems at their core.

Opinion | March 2021| 87

It’s Time to End Beauty as Usual

How the skincare industry has plagued the self confidence and self assurance of adolescents everywhere.

BY MIA GOLDSTEIN

I remember the exact moment when I first became paranoid about my skin: I was 10 years old, and I felt a little bump on my face that — thinking back on — was not even a pimple. Just a tiny, skin colored bump that happened to appear on my forehead. I panicked and dug through my mom’s drawers to find her facial cleaners, moisturizers and acne medication. I used a cotton swab and astringent to vigorously scrub my face until it was red and dry. My face was left stinging and worse off than before.

During my freshman year, I was totally set on covering my acne with concealer and powder every day before school. Pimples that were once contained to my forehead in middle school began spreading to my chin and cheeks and around my nose, evolving into cystic acne that I couldn’t keep up with.

Maybe it was just the freshman jitters and the start of high school that made me reluctant to wake up carefree about my appearance.

Or maybe it was the presence of toxic social media expectations, flooding my Instagram feed with manufactured girls with flawless skin that prevented me from accepting my naturally textured skin.

I would wake up at 6:30 a.m., wash my face, dabble on moisturizer and pimple cream and get to work, meticulously placing a dot of concealer over each pimple. I was never totally confident that my work had been sufficient in hiding my pimples: I would tend to lower my gaze while walking through the hallways and limit the pictures I took of my entire face.

Over the years, I have seen my pediatrician countless times, had referrals to dermatologists and gotten facials from a spa — everything you could imagine and money could buy. Salicylic acid,

benzoyl peroxide, niacinamide. Pills, creams, topical ointments, cleaners. It never seemed to be enough. I couldn’t seem to keep up with the swells and dips of hormone levels of a typical adolescent.

All of the impulsive purchases and money I have thrown at products that claim to be the best is the surface to the hundreds of billions of dollars in the skin care and beauty industries. It seems as if I, along with many others, have fallen victim to the trap. In 2020, the demand for lotions, facial wipes and creams spurred the cosmetic sector and drove extreme market growth. According to Toptal Finance, the cosmetic industry was worth $523.43 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach a market value of $805.61 billion by 2023. The two industries work in congruence to prey on the fraught and insecure public: expose their problems, set expectations and show them what they need.

The beauty and skin care industry should be shamed for their brazen, inconsiderate dissemination of impossible beauty standards. They impose harmful standards like no cellulite, no stretch marks, small waist, big lips and clear skin, all which cultivate unrealistic expectations.

Flipping through magazines or the internet, we see so many unnatural and posed images out of context, leading us to assume that it is possible to look that way. This ultimately ensues to a panicked race of finding the next skin care line or beauty fad to lather on your face to minimize harsh lines and red blemishes. But once reality checks in, and you can finally cast the cleaners and creams aside, a new ad pops up. Just like that, we’re back to scrutinizing the natural, yet socially unacceptable, parts of our bodies.

The standards are even more oppressive for marginalized communities. There is already minuscule representation for people of color, and not seeing yourself in magazines or on billboards is an alienating factor. It’s simpler to surrender to the status-quo when you can’t see anyone who looks like you breaking the mold. Skin lighteners, hair straighteners and too pale of a foundation color is sometimes purchased without a second thought.

My obsession with skin care is a small problem in the wake of a huge, destructive society. While it is small in comparison, it undoubtedly has consumed much of my worries these past few years.

Being in a constant chase of visiting specialists and getting prescribed ointments became tiring, as I’m sure it has for millions of others.

I decided to make a change.

Learning to be comfortable in my skin and not expect myself to mimic the standards portrayed in the media was hard, but it is worth it. I now don’t need to rely on makeup to feel self-assured. I can look past the Photoshop and Facetune and see a real, tangible person who also might struggle with acne.

I am learning to be more cognizant of which brands are especially color inclusive and are good for the environment, while are also healthy for my skin. I am encouraging natural beauty — Black, Native American, Asian — to become more normalized and broadcasted in the media.

I have made a conscious choice to adjust my perception of impossible standards, learn to advocate for new ones and achieve a loving self-image.

Opinion | March 2021| 89

AN IKEA MANUAL OF MY

BRAIN

1.

Memory

Feelings

Sensation Balance

BY CY VEILLEUX

Sight

HR

I. Introduction I’m going to preface this by saying I am not a mood expert — quite far from it, in fact.

That’s one of the main reasons why I am choosing to write this.

Occasionally, I turn to writing as a therapeutic form to advance in my journey of bettering my mental health. Through therapy, I have been learning how my brain tends to do its job, or more importantly, how it doesn’t do its job.

The Covid-19 pandemic has opened up opportunities for self reflection and growth 90 | The Communicator Magazine

on a scale I’ve never witnessed for myself. I started 2020 with one therapist, eventually parting ways halfway through the summer because I had a job in Northern Michigan and things were going great: I slept in everyday, I spent the afternoon usually tanning or swimming and, in the evenings, I would go to work at a local restaurant as a host and busboy. Once returning home, online school and the college application process hit me like a brick — ten thousand bricks to be more exact. I was in a constant

panic attack for a few weeks straight, going to bed exhausted from the physical exertion of my crying episodes as they became a nightly routine.

I precariously got myself somewhat back on track with a mix of therapy and a daily 20mg Prozac capsule that I have now been utilizing for about three months.

My mental health has forced me to take on four out of the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining and depression; it was time for me to achieve acceptance.

II. Acceptance

Recently, I have gained the ability to dissect my brain without judgment, partially with the help of my lovely therapist, but also the slurry of Prozac in my liver.

I’ve been able to tap into my “wise mind” more often to think rationally while still being emotionally present to figure out what has been going on.

Turns out, my brain likes to see itself as this intricate machine, which I’ve built over time with this simple, yet confusing, IKEA instruction manual; the illustrations seem relatively simple, but it gets more complicated when you’re dealing with the real thing. The sleek, minimal diagrams that the Swedes have mastered are much like a collection of modern art paintings that might just be a single stroke of paint on a canvas, but the artist created that piece to comment on something deep, like the Post-WWI Pre-WWII society, German Bourgeoisie or something like that.

Fortunately, people have been thinking like this forever with concepts like horoscopes and chakras — the latter of which I’ve begun practicing. Unlike horoscopes, chakras negate fate as an option; I am in control, and I have to put in the work to change what I wish. I don’t believe I have these pieces within my body, but I use the idea as a vessel to comprehend how emotions result from certain situations.

I own a crystal for each chakra and keep different ones by my side when I try to focus all of my attention on the unique intentions I have set for each one. I might place my carnelian (Sacral

2.

2. Wise Mind Venn Diagram Being emotional and being reasonable are good things, but when it becomes out of balance, it can be bad. Having emotions take over during certain situations, or shifting to the emotional mind, can amplify emotions that tend to be ‘emotional,’ like anger or sadness. Shifting into the reasonable mind in certain situations can bar emotional presence, which is very important when dealing with other people and even yourself sometimes. Finding a balance and being in the realm of the wise mind can be beneficial for making rational decisions while considering the emotions of one’s self and others.

Chakra) in the crook of my laptop while I try to focus on my homework. Or, I might slip my citrine (Solar Plexus Chakra) into my sock when going on adventures with friends. Crystals also have a scientific aspect to them that can provide another reason to practice with them.

Crystals are categorized by their structure. All crystals are made up of one element or molecule repeated over and over again. Many of them take on their molecular shape as a whole, and that’s why crystals form in cubes, prisms and spires. This allows their molecules to vibrate cohesively and at a fast rate.

Most of the organic matter in the human body vibrates at a different rate.

At the same time, mental health affects physical health and causes the body to lower its vibration when depressed.

Some think that keeping crystals near can serve as a catalyst to lift the vibration of the human body.

I’d also like to acknowledge the westernization of chakras. Mistranslations and adaptations of original Sanskrit texts have evolved the western idea of chakra into an oversimplified system. In fact, there are many separate systems of chakras in all living things. Also, many

ROOT CHAKRA (MULADHARA)

SACRAL CHAKRA (SVADHISHTHANA)

SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA (MANPURA)

GROUNDING AND BALANCING

PLEASURE, CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

HAPPINESS AND IDENTITY

HEART CHAKRA (ANAHATA)

THROAT CHAKRA (VISHUDDHA)

THIRD EYE CHAKRA (AJNA)

CROWN CHAKRA (SAHASRARA)

LOVE AND PROTECTION OF SELF AND OTHERS

COMMUNICATION AND LISTENING

RATIONALIZATION AND REALIZATION OF REALITY

CONNECTION TO SPIRITUALITY

3.

Opinion | March 2021| 91

think chakras are supposed to be aligned when they are actually supposed to eventually be destroyed. I use this oversimplified version of it to begin with. Even the correlation between a crystal’s color and its chakra isn’t accurate, but it is a good way for me to compartmentalize the aspects of myself.

By taking these aspects and applying them to events in my daily life, I can implement the Body, Mind and Soul idea, which is found across all the major religions, and many people have developed this into an actual concept.

The three layers cohesively protect and project the layer within them. The Body protects the Mind and projects it by physical expression of the Mind (personality).

The Mind protects the Soul and projects it through memory, conscience, imagination

4.

and reason. And the Soul can be thought of as the core or truest form of one’s identity.

An event doesn’t break through each layer from the outside in, but it is filtered through our perception and then interpreted by the Soul, which then finally causes reactions from each layer casting outwards.

One of the things that can skew my perception is the anxiety and depression I’ve experienced. I can’t acutely predict how I will perceive and react to every single event, but I can either catch it in the moment or analyze it afterwards to prevent faults from happening in future events.

For a long time, I felt alone. I felt like I was doing these things to myself. But once I made the correlation between my emotions and science, I began to accept how I was feeling.

III. Construction

During my time up north, I slowly ate away at a book titled “The Book of Joy.” Curated by Douglas Abrams, the book is made up of a continuous, five day conversation between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “The Book of Joy” defines joy versus happiness, along with other emotions, through certain philosophies and science.

Surprisingly, much of what I’ve read has been void of religion. I sometimes find myself attracted to Buddhist teachings since much of the religion is focused on bettering your life for yourself rather than dealing with what comes your way because it was ‘meant to be.’ Many events in life are indeed uncontrollable — like natural disasters — but with lots of practice, your outlook on

MIND, BODY & SOUL 101

BODY M I ND

SOUL WILL

MORALS

SENSES

The Body, Mind and Soul diagram was fun to dive into for me. It allowed me to break down the way an experience moves through your body, and it can be applied to any experience as big as the passing of a loved one, or as small as stubbing your toe.

When taking stubbing a toe as an example, the process begins with the Body. The first filter is the senses of the Body. The main sense associated with this would be touch, like the pain in your toe.

Then the experience moves from the Body to the Mind, much like how this signal will physically be sent to the brain by the nervous system. The second filter — your morals — is where emotions come into play. It gets more complex when dealing with a completely emotional situation, but the simplicity of stubbing a toe causes this layer to be quite brief. The action causes the feelings of pain, discomfort and surprise.

Moving into the final layer of Soul. This is where personality steps in during the reaction. Some people might put on a display while some might hold it in.

This process then quickly reverses and that display is portrayed through the senses once again.

a. EXPERIENCE b. INTERPRETATION c. REACTION

92 | The Communicator Magazine

5.

ANTICIPATION J

5. The Eight... Seven... Core Emotions The seven emotions are anticipation, joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness and disgust. Once anger has been delineated into an emotion originating from fear, anger becomes secondary. Rarely in today’s society do we need to express pure anger. Now that it can be constituted as secondary, it can be practiced to diminish its appearances in quantity and intensity.

N

G

E

R

N D

A

A

R

S

A

E

SURPRISE any such event can be controlled.

Suffering is inevitable. In life, everyone suffers — whether greatly or minimally — in one way or another. Removing all suffering is impossible. Otherwise, life wouldn’t have value. Reducing your suffering, however, is possible.

I started practicing that once I read the chapter titled “Frustration and Anger: I Would Shout.” Within the chapter, both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu discuss the uselessness of anger.

Humans are thought to have eight main emotions: anticipation, joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust and anger. The Dalai Lama categorizes anger as a secondary emotion rather than a primary response.

He tells a story about a man who bangs his head while working on a car, and out of pure anger, he bangs his head repeatedly in frustration. He sees anger as a response where a human sulks in their suffering — and possibly makes it worse than it is.

The Dalai Lama also speaks on anger’s primary emotion: fear.

Fear activates the Fight or Flight re-

F

E

S

S

TRUST

DISGUST

O Y

sponse. Anger may be helpful when Fight is chosen, but not always; anger clouds the mind’s ability to be rational. Abrams speaks on the knowledge of neuropsychologist Daniel Siegel:“The prefrontal cortex, which is important for emotion regulation and moral judgment, loses its ability to control our emotional limbic system,” Abrams said.

I do still get angry sometimes, but with this information, I attempt to catch myself before I choose the choice of anger. And especially with myself, now I question and try to engineer the faults of my brain rather than becoming frustrated with the way it is. Spending energy to focus on something that isn’t in my favor has no value. Progression comes quicker and easier when anger is absent. With anger out of the picture, the puzzle of my mind is now a fun activity to work on.

Learning to not get frustrated with myself was one of the most important things I’ve learned. I am the way I am, and it will take time and practice to get where I want to be.

And I’ll probably never get exactly to where I want to be because it is an evolving pro-

cess, and that’s okay. Because the process is the most important part; without it, there would be no destination.

IV. Next Step

The brain has 100 billion neurons — a number so big it’s incomprehensible to humans.

Comparatively, this amount of information is like screwing in one screw into one table leg out of IKEA’s entire history of furniture.

In no way will I ever be done with this journey; I am far from perfect, but presently, I can say I am comfortable with being far from perfect.

This small repertoire of concepts that I have collected into this instruction manual serve to remind me of how to look at life. To some people, it might seem scary to look at the world like a massive anthill, but trying to find the order within its chaos is comforting to me. Acknowledging and addressing the kinks in the chain is important, but it is also important to acknowledge the fact that the chain is still connected.

Now, with all of what I’ve learned so far, I guess it’s time to flip to the next page.

Opinion | March 2021| 93

#Activism: Is our social media advocacy really as persuasive as we believe it to be?

Or is it purely performative?

BY DAN GUTENBERG, TAI TWOREK AND CATE WEISER

94 | The Communicator Magazine

We give away a part of ourselves when we sign up for social media. Within the boundaries our apps provide for us, we have become accustomed to presenting an embellished version of ourselves — our supposedly best, most refined selves.

Social media is the pinnacle of our generation. It is the genetic code for our age group. It has so often been criticized for the addictive qualities that have produced a chokehold on us. But although our generation has been criticized for succumbing to social media’s toxic traits, we are presented with a unique opportunity: activism. This is the outlier to the negative characteristics of our digital world. The change that we can elicit during our youth could start with a push of a button.

Even our own publication has worked tirelessly to use social media for good. Over this past summer, The Communicator has expanded social media into its own branch of our publication. It has given students an easy-access, safe way to connect to each other and stay updated on local and national news. Students have a new way to learn about their peers and communicate with them, which is something that has been almost entirely lost during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Not only are our feeds constantly flooded with selfies and sunset photos, but a good portion of the content we consume consists of activism or those trying to use social media for good. While this practice had a presence before the pandemic, it has undoubtedly erupted since last June.

With the re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, information regarding protests or antiracist action items were circulated over Instagram. And those of us that couldn’t take to the streets in protest stuck to reposting infographics on our Instagram pages. Often, these infographics and posts are summaries of theories or excerpts and quotes from academic dissertations. Since June, much of the information covered Black history, shared Black-owned businesses and services or advertised new words to include in our vernacular.

But in our social circles, these colorful and well-designed infographics serve a purpose greater than persuasion: they are

performative.

Undoubtedly, we live in an echo chamber. In classroom discourse, we are normally in agreement with our peers and teachers, repeating a lot of the same ideas that have already been established. Often, these conversations can take on a competitive nature: Which student has the most progressive perspective? Which student has mastered knowledge on the topic of discussion?

The competitive nature that has spawned from our in-person echo chambers is repeated over social media: it exists in our casual posts to edited selfies. It is inevitable to avoid subscribing to what we believe are our best selves, tapping into the parts that we gave away to social media. This mentality is unavoidable in social media activism.

When our friends and following start to repost the same infographics, it is easy to feel compelled to do the same — to follow the crowd. Those that recognize the allure of peer pressure and posting, though, may often create a “woke” competition: They participate in a race to see who can establish themselves as the most progressive ally, as the most socially conscious and as the best. Digital activism is often performative, stemming from the same competition we learned from our bubble and from a repeated use of social media.

Although, superficially, social media activism establishes a sense of solidarity, this allyship is faulty. In this performative nature, cancel culture and activism are translated to the same side of the coin. Out of fear of being canceled, our peers can be quick to repost a political infographic that many others are posting. There may be an underlying fear of being called out if they don’t proclaim their allegiance to social justice. Additionally, posts are examined under a microscope and people are scrutinized for every word and infographic, thus establishing a hierarchy of social justice posting. Those that determine which posts are activism or slacktivism — persuasive or performative — sit at the top, and at the bottom are those that follow suit with social media trends, reposting infographics because they have to or because they fear being “canceled.”

And despite navigating performative posts and cancel culture, our politically conscious content on social media exists in an echo chamber. Because we are, for the most part, in agreement with one another, our ideas and theories reverberate amongst one another. We repeatedly hear the same arguments and ideas in the classroom, and at the end of the day, when we log into our social media accounts, the echo chamber is extended: we see the same posts, infographics and captions circulating through our feed.

What we see in these constricted circles online determines our views on the world’s most pressing problems — especially as a generation that has been nurtured with the internet during our upbringing. But as users of Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, we have unknowingly been observing the world through separate, fixed lenses. And the many social and political divides in

This brings up the phenomenon of confirmation bias — the tendency to seek out, interpret, and recall new information as confirmation of existing beliefs. Often explained in terms of a Venn diagram, confirmation bias is when we only see the overlap between objective facts and the facts confirming our prior beliefs. So even when we are presented with all the facts and opinions on a new topic, we are innately biased to recall only the information that reassures what we already believed. We get so convinced on a certain stance that we reject opposing information and become even more confident that our beliefs are correct; and in an era where there is so much misinformation being spread online, it’s imperative we recognize our confirmation biases and stop ignoring information that challenges our beliefs.

This performance, along with cancel culture, can bring a sense of accomplishment, of moving the needle. But in reality, it’s surface-level.

The idea of what is “enough” activism has been misconstrued by social media. Real change cannot come from an Instagram post alone — it is merely a stepping stone on the path of deeper learning, deeper work and deeper dialogue.

We stray away from debates because we think there is no need to engage in debate.

And then, we stray away from plain conversation.

This is where our current political climate has left us, and it’s clearly exacerbated by social media. There is an unwillingness to have crucial dialogue. Instead, we share the latest infographics, outlining the same ideas that our followers likely already agree with. And falling into these online echo chambers eliminates the very aim of activism: change. Without real political debate, without any productive discourse, performative activism on social media gets us nowhere.

“The idea of what is ‘enough’ activism has been misconstrued by social media. Real change cannot come from an Instagram post alone — it is merely a stepping stone on the path of deeper learning, deeper work and deeper dialogue.” society that have become increasingly concerning can be credited to this factor.

These isolating aspects of social media can be the spawn sites of dangerous conspiracy theories, such as Parler’s contribution to QAnon’s following. The insurrection at the Capitol that occurred in January is a horrific example of this: rioters posted photos on Facebook and Instagram amidst the event, receiving encouragement through likes and comments from their followers.

Former President Trump used Twitter to further encourage the rioters, telling them “We love you,” and “You are very special.”

By following accounts that hold our same beliefs, we, as a result, are met with a constant influx of photos, videos, posts, stories and infographics reinforcing our opinions.

Opinion | March 2021| 95

Rising from the Sun If it weren’t for the pandemic, I wouldn’t be me.

BY SEBASTIAN OLIVA

Art by Sebastian Oliva

I always veered away from class discussions. Embedded in a classroom lecture, I would wander in my own head, lost in my own thoughts. Daydreaming anomalous scenarios, the noisy class suddenly disappeared as if someone had just muffled my ears.

Sitting there, in a plastic chair, I was clueless about what the teacher was saying.

It wasn’t because I didn’t appreciate my teachers’ efforts, but because I knew I could learn it when I got home. Once that clock hit 2:45 p.m., I was ready to go. Shoving 96 | The Communicator Magazine

papers and pencils into my backpack; jumping up as if it were my first day of school; peering at familiar faces; reassuring friendships with simple handshakes. Who knew it could all end so quickly.

I don’t think anyone truly considered that a pandemic could bring our normalized society to an end. Who reckoned we’d all be sitting at home, perched over a little cubic screen that took all sense of humanity away. The feeling of being unhurried and not having to wake up, rushing your pants and shirt on, hurrying to grab something to

fill your stomach: how is it all gone?

During the early days of February 2020, I felt like the typical sophomore. Friends were my priority, and my social life was just getting started: friends began to get their driving licenses; we could stay out later and could enjoy our new freedom.

Sophomore year is truly the bridge between being a teen and an adult, and I was trying to find my way. I was still prioritizing my friendships, or what I thought were my essential friendships.

Friends I spoke to every day, that I thought

I had built a keen relation with, all came to a halt on March 13, 2020. When March 18 came around, I started working with my mom and cleaning because I had nothing else to do. Friendships came to a halt, and my mom wanted me to open my eyes and learn what reality surely was.

Being a track athlete, my training sessions were typically three hours long and quite strenuous. When I run a 200 meter dash, or when I work with my mother at night, cleaning five offices with her after she comes home from her other job, there was no time to stop, like my track practices.

When April came around, and things began to really settle down, I had a lot more time to myself. During that time, I realized I wanted to be the person I used to be. I realized the friends I had in February all went our separate ways. What was important was getting back to the person I used to be.

The changes came: waking up at 5 a.m. every morning to run or study, even if I didn’t want to or not. Or reading books that sparked my delight towards becoming a neurosurgeon, an hour or two a day, “The Remembered Present” by Gerald M. Edilemen, and “The Nature of Blood ‘’ by Caryl Phillips. I realized I’ve always had the goal to go to Harvard University, but I lost sight of how to get to the goal.

Finally, after all this time, I had a pause, and I realized “this is how I need to get there.” I finally remembered it’s not by chance that I’m going to get there.

I have completely focused on really studying what I’m passionate about.

Because I truly have a goal of becoming a neurosurgeon and do have the goal

to provide for my mother and those in need. I’m endeavored to do something great in the world, and I’m fascinated by the brain and love learning about “the theory of consciousness,” “the complexity of memory” and “how does sensory transduction work” — especially because it is so fundamental to human cognition.

These big questions are parts of our lives, but we have no concept of understanding.

Instead of being in a schoolroom, sitting in a plastic chair with 32 of my peers and going six hours a day, I’ve created my own school within the walls of my house, tailored to learn about what I hold dearest to me. At home, I teach myself distinctions I presume are vital to succeed for the life I have created and the life I chose. It’s an intentional choice. Every single morning I don’t always want to wake up.

It takes rigidity, self-discipline and commitment to put my feet on the floor and go run or study. When I show up and the metal bleachers are shiny silver, with the still snow. When I ride my bike to the track, I’m the only person there because there aren’t even cars out. But, I show up.

During these past times, ending the evenings at 10 p.m. with my mom, carrying the vacuum to the trunk and popping it in there, shutting the trunk and getting in the car and heading home. There isn’t another person I would want to end my days with.

A year ago, I would have never done that, but now, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I learned more about my mom, myself, what it means to work, what it means to live and what matters. You should take a look at your life and ask yourself if that’s the life you want to be living.

“As I continue building this life, I’m going to continue doing these things that make me feel whole and healthy — things that make me feel close to the people I love.”

Opinion | March 2021| 97

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Stevie Dumitrascu Chloe Durkee Kevin Dutton Kristin Dziczek Angela Eddins Alex Enrique Shakespeare Isabel Espinosa Isabel Espinosa Laura Fader Vanessa Farkas Sophie Fetter Katie Fife Santiago Fiori Nicole Frei Natalie Fulkerson Elissa Gaies Taylor Gaies Kristin Gapske Diane Garner Richard Garner Roberta Gatti Donna Gatzke Ethan Gibb-Randall Abigail Gillett Mia Goldstein Daniel Goldstein Benjamin Gonzalez Chris Good Jen Green Sara Gronewold David Guikema Sela Gur-Arie Dan, Maureen, Molly, & Ella Hamalainen Emma Hamstra Jennifer Hannibal

Mick Hanson Marci Harris Holly Heaviland Sarah Hechler Kian Hemati Carolyn Herrmann Mary and Steve Hewlett Addison Hinesman Ava Hiney Avani Hoeffner-Shah Ilene Hogan Johana Horvath Aidan Hsia Shaju Jacob Eric Jacobson Eric Jacobson Jenna Jarjoura Lisa Jeffries Grace Jensen Kathryn Jones Anabelle Jones Shannon Kahan Vamsi Kakarla Eve Kaplan Helen Kaplan Helen Kaplan Angela Keene Christine Kelley Jessica Kelly Serena Kessler Julie Ketai Ailish Kilbride Courtney Kiley Brett Kilgore Pam Kirchen Julia Kirschenmann

Max Klarman Max Klarman Nikki Klein Eliot Klus Wade Knyal Hans Kokx Ava Kosinski Courtney Kosnik Jacob Kosnik Sarai Koster-Stetson Sarai Koster-Stetson Ruth Kraut Christina Kuiper Leo Kupperman Patrick Lafferty Charlie Laman Ebie Lamb Laurel Landrum Nicolas Langdon Krystie Lee Krystie Linton Lauren London Meghan London Jenn Lowen Jasmine Lowenstein Arista Luong Alissa Maglothin Saxon Malchow Jennifer Mamer Miriam Manary Sofi Maranda Liz Marek Alexander Marsh Angela Martin-Schwarze Sascha Matish Vanessa Mayesky Patricia Mazzola Marcy McCormick Nikki McDonald Kristin McGuire Felix McKenna Isaac McKenna Zander McLane Amy McLoughlin Lisa Metler Alison Miller

SooJi Min-Maranda Rebekah Modrak Alexander Monte-Sano Jillian Moreno Anastasia Morgan Josh Moss Elaine Mouradian Peter Nelson Otto Nelson Eleanor Niman Kathy Norris Traci Novar Sophie Nunez Serena O’Brien Sebastian Oliva Mori Ono Aidan Osofisan Marion Palmer/Braak Pauline Park Gabriela Pashturro Stephanie Patterson Will Patterson Bonita Patterson Katelyn Payne Julie Perry Gillian Perry Tam Perry Robbin Pott Ivy Prochaska Nicolas Provenzola Brooke Rafko Evan Rago Doris Raney Thomas Reed Josie Reed Thomas Reed Cassie Rein Eric Reinhardt Elliot Rhodes Elizabeth Riggs Bethany Rivera Michelle Rober Karina Roberts Melissa Rogers Chloe Root Felicity Rosa-Davies

David Rosenfeld Ella Rosewarne Hannah Rubenstein Lila Ryan James Salisbury Ameera Salman Vashni Santee Eve Sarnecki Jeanne Sauter Lisa Sauve Susan Scalf Sophia Scarnecchia Preeti Schaden Beth Schetroma Helen Schmitter Jeri Schneider Micki Schueler Oliver Schutt Nina Schwartz Mira Schwarz Katie Scoville Robin Scully Logan Seiler Gene Senn Simon Shavit Maureen Sheahan Peter Sickman-Garner Griffin Siersma C.E. Sikkenga Erin Simmons Beth Simon Robin Skrbina Stephanie Smith Charles Solomon Carrie Sonen Ayla Soofi Lucian Sperling Lauren Sprauer Robbie Stapleton Claire Steigelman Elizabeth Stern Izzy Stevens Linda Stingl Kayla Stoler Ellen Stone Quinn Strassel

Levi Straszewski Kelly Stupple Sylvie Swerdlow Katie Sytniak Nancy Szabo Luda Talley Valerie Taylor Tae Terumoto Susan Thomas Grace Thomas Jonathan Thomas-Palmer Ava Tiedemann Cammi Tirico Mike & Deb Tirico Kanika Triggs Taisiya Tworek Joseph Tworek Stella Valentino Colleen van Lent Bethany Veilleux Linnea Verhey-Henke Nancy Vrooman Grace Wang Chloe Warren TJ Watson Macy Watson Noah Webb Bridget Weise Knyal Mary Weiser Meghan Wernimont Michelle & Cade Westerdale Melissa Bair Westhoven Leah White Jessika Whiteside John Williams Holly Wing Maggie Wolf Mia Wood Rose Wywrot Michelle Yager Yalcin Yanikoglu Risa Yesowitz Jason Zawacki Naomi Zikmund-Fisher Angela Ziolek

Please contact andersont@aaps.k12.mi.us if you would like to become a donor.

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March 2021 | 101

Best Memories of 2020

2020 was a hard year for all of us. Many of us haven’t traveled or seen our families for months. But in a challenging time, people worked to find the good.

BY ARISTA LUONG, SCARLETT LONDON AND MAGGIE WOLF

Alex Mercier “This was a moment before Covid when my mom said I could go hangout and take photos with my friends Mia and Lydie. I ended up walking downtown to meet up with them. It was a 20-30 minute walk. The air was a little bit chilly, and I just really enjoyed my own company, listening to music as I walked.

After we met up, I remember going into one of the art museums downtown to warm up. I love looking at art and just being able to enjoy time with my friends. Spending time in a museum was so regular at the time, but looking back on it, it’s something that I definitely took for granted.”

Sylva Das “Right before school started I went camping with my family and our family friends at the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was the first thing since the pandemic started that felt a little bit normal because it is a tradition that we do every year at the same place and usually even the same campsite. It was just so refreshing to not only be outside everyday, either swimming in Lake Michigan, going biking or climbing the dunes, but it was also comforting because it felt like a reminder that things were going to be okay and would get better.”

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Hannah Margolis “My whole family drove over 18 hours to go visit Boulder, Colorado — the college that my sister really wanted to go to. We hiked up mountains that were very slippery and icy. In the moment, it felt like the worst thing ever, but looking back, I wouldn’t have wished it to be any other way. We had no idea that we would fall in love with such a beautiful place and school like Boulder.”

Lucy Cassell-Kelley “My family has been pretty safe about Covid. We haven’t seen people without being tested or quarantining.

This meant that I spent a lot of the summer and fall outside with my friends.

One of my favorite memories was having an outdoor sleepover. Each of my two friends brought a tent. We set them up six feet apart and slept outside all night. It was really hard for all of us to not be able to see each other, but activities like these made my summer so much better and more memorable.”

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1,000 Words

BY KURT HAUSMAN

When Cullen Wellman moved back to Ann Arbor in 2017, he had barely just begun his photography journey. Now a sophomore at Pioneer High School, Wellman, who lived in New Zealand for six years, prior to moving back to Ann Arbor, has already had experiences that many teenage photographers could only dream of.

“I lived in New Zealand for about six years. I always thought that (the wildlife) was so cool there, and I wanted to remember it,” Wellman said “So I thought: If I just took photos, then it would be a lot easier to just remember all the things I experience.”

During Wellman’s first couple months back, he entered his first semester of seventh grade at Slauson Middle School, where he took his first photography class. He thought little of it at the time, but soon realized the benefits he would draw from this class. Wellman really discovered his love for photography in that class, and began to sharpen his editing as well as technical skills.

“I had a teacher in school who really enjoyed art, so he could easily talk to us about it for a long time and made the class a really good experience for me,” Wellman said.

That Christmas, he received his very first camera just in time for his family’s trip to Africa.

“My big thing that trip was I wanted to take photos,” Wellman said. “I think that’s something not a lot of people get to see in their lives and I will probably not be able to see again.”

On that trip, Wellman captured a picture that he considers to be one of his best to date.

“The picture was taken in Tanzania. We took a ride in a Jeep with our guide in the middle of nowhere,” Wellman said.

The photo is of two wildebeests clashing horns. Wellman recalled having to hastily fumble for his camera because he didn’t want to miss the event as they drove by. He remembered just being in awe as he captured that moment, and being incredibly thrilled to even have witnessed it.

“I was very fortunate to even get the chance to see something like that,” Wellman said. “It was a surreal experience and I’ll never forget it.”

Wellman says his photography has since died down to the less thrilling wildlife and nature here in Ann Arbor, but appreciates it nonetheless. He hopes to one day be able to make a career out of photography, but until then, he will just shoot for memories.

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W Photography by Ella Rosewarne Eli Hausman enjoys spending time outside and getting away from his computer. This winter, he spent a lot of time skiing at Mt. Brighton. “My favorite part of skiing has to be the nature aspect,” Hausman said.

“I love how some runs are through the woods and wilderness.”

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PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE

Eli

HAUSMAN

Senior at CHS shares the living person he admires the most, his most treasured possession and when and where he was happiest.

BY ELLA ROSEWARNE

W

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Perfect happiness to me is a day where I feel accomplished and have a plan set out involving getting outside with my friends. What is your greatest fear?

Not achieving goals. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? That I am not a “Do-er.” This year I plan to change that and move towards a lifestyle of productivity. What is the trait you most deplore in others? People associating themselves with things to make others accept them, more often than they like doing things that tell others about them. Which living person do you most admire?

That’s a hard question because there are so many inspirational people out there, but I’d say Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) because of the way she stands strong for what she believes in and does not put money before morals. What is your greatest extravagance? My A-COLDWALL X Converse ERX 260. What is your current state of mind? Excited.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Balance. On what occa-

sion do you lie? When I feel the truth will cause unnecessary issues. What do you most dislike about your appearance? My teeth. Which living person do you most despise? Other than Donald Trump, of course, Jason Day. What is the quality you most like in a man?

The best quality for my homies is loyalty.

What is the quality you most like in a woman? Unwavering confidence. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Homies, chillin’’, stupid (“that’s stupid sweet”), yeesh, nimrods. What or who is the greatest love of your life? Creating. When and where were you happiest? Around the campfire on Flower Mt., Alaska. Which talent would you most like to have? I wish I was a fast runner.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I wish I was a couple inches taller. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Being named the captain of the Pioneer Football team for our season opening game.

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

A tree in the Redwoods. Where would you most like to live? Northern California. What is your most treasured possession? My art. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Michigan versus Ohio State University in 2016. What is your favourite occupation? Any type of product design. What is your most marked characteristic?

My confidence. What do you most value in your friends? Loyalty, time, trust and spontaneity. Who are your favorite writers? Paulo Coelho. Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Tintin. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Giorgetto Giugiaro. Who are your heroes in real life? Denard Robinson, Tinker Hatfield,and Ronnie Fieg.

What are your favorite names? Enzo and Gweneth. What is it that you most dislike? Greed. What is your greatest regret? Not applying myself. How would you like to die? On a boat. What is your motto? “Sometimes, it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine.” -Alan Turing.

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Off The Fit...

Again

BY SOPHIE NUNEZ

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Ava Hiney (they/she), a sophomore at CHS, has changed a lot throughout quarantine. The past year has been a time for Hiney to grow and find herself.

Fashion is a huge part of Hiney’s life, so it is no surprise that with this growth came a change in style.

“I have felt more free to experiment with my hair and makeup and outfits since the pandemic started because I’m not constantly around people,” Hiney said.

“I’ve had my own time to grow my confidence. I found more of who I am.” This year, Hiney has been able to expand their wardrobe and experiment with different

clothing.

Hiney describes their style as ever-changing, depending on how she feels each day.

“I would say my style is all over the place,” Hiney said. “Sometimes I feel more feminine and sometimes I feel more masculine or just neutral.” Since Hiney has started expressing herself more accurately, she has grown her confidence and found self love.

“These past few months have given me time to become who I’ve always wanted to be,” Hiney said.

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January 2020

Pictured here is Hiney last year. She has begun to experiment with her hair since the pandemic started.

“I like to cut my hair, and over time it has just become shorter and shorter and then I wanted to dye it,” Hiney said. “I first started pink and I really liked it so I have just continued to dye it different colors.”

Their hair color has ranged from pink to purple to green and is currently bright orange.

“I was wearing this all black outfit one day, and I thought it would look so much cooler with orange hair, so I went ahead and dyed it orange,” Hiney said.

As Hiney adapts to change, their hair changes with them.

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In this recent photo, Hiney is wearing a green sweater paired with brown pants and black shoes. Her outfit is complimented with a leather jacket and a small black purse, along with a pair of sunglasses.

“The outfit I’m wearing in the pictures is definitely a combination of my favorite pieces,” Hiney said. Hiney’s favorite places to shop are Target, thrift stores and online.

They get their style inspiration from TikTok and clothes online.

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REWORKED

Tommy Simon

Tommy Simon stared at the two pairs of jeans in front of him: one black and one blue. The CHS sophomore has never been able to find jeans that fit his style, and these two pairs were no exception. Suddenly, an idea struck him. He ran to ask his mom if they had a sewing machine, which she promptly taught him how to use.

Three days later, Simon had one pair of jeans that he finally loved.

Simon deconstructed the two pairs and combined them into one. He sewed black pockets onto the blue jeans and swapped out pieces of the blue legs with black ones. As an added bonus, he altered them to fit him better.

When Simon wore the pants on a walk one day, he received a lot of unexpected compliments. He had been shocked at how well they had turned out, but he was expecting others to find them too out of the ordinary. He has always struggled to find pieces in the men’s section and was surprised to get compliments from the people who shop in it.

“I definitely think I have unusual tastes for a teenage boy,” Simon said. “I have to get what I can get, and just do what I need to do to make it what I want.”

Simon has dabbled in other clothing alterations as well. Once, he sun-bleached two sweatshirts in an effort to make them more muted. One was a dark gray color that he felt was ugly, and the other was a green hoodie he had thrifted. He clipped them onto a clothesline and rotated them every day until he was happy with the coloring.

Once Simon realized he could rework his clothes to be something he wanted to wear, his outlook on his style changed. He described it as freeing — he could finally wear things that were a true representation of him.

Photography by Ella Rosewarne Tommy Simon shows off his sun bleached sweatshirt. While Simon initially disliked the color, sun bleaching the garment changed it into something he loved. “I have to get what I can get, and just do what I need to do to make it what I want,” Simon said.

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Porter Malcolm

“Looking for trouble… and if I cannot find it, I will create it.” This text sits next to a painted bird on Porter Malcolm’s first up-cycled t-shirt. The Pioneer High School junior painted the meme on an old, dark-green shirt after laughing about it with his sister. The project took him around 20 hours to complete and launched Malcolm into a passion for reworking clothes.

Malcolm paints and embroiders on pieces, and the two go hand-in-hand. In a piece he created on a white t-shirt for a friend, he used embroidery to cover up the rough edges of the painting. He uses standard embroidery thread as well as acrylic paint.

His favorite piece was a pair of Vans slip-ons that he painted for a friend’s birthday. The shoes feature abstract drawings on a yellow background; beneath it are five layers of paint. They were the first shoes Malcolm had painted, and he disliked his initial paintings. After eight hours of work, he finally was happy with the results.

All of the clothes Malcolm repurposes are from thrift stores; he no longer purchases new clothes in order to avoid contributing to fast fashion. He tries to be mindful about the amount of clothing he thrifts, employing the age-old idea that less is more.

“Reworking clothes and painting on them has been a driving factor in helping me realize what can be done from a single piece,” Malcolm said. “If you have something that you’re like, ‘Oh, this doesn’t fit me anymore,’ you could donate it, or you could just rework it. Then you can keep that piece and have it as something new.”

He encourages everyone who is interested in altering their clothes to try it without limiting themselves. Use acrylic and repurposed materials to practice and old clothes for the real piece. Remember, if you mess up, you can always add a new layer of paint and start over.

Photography by Cate Weiser Porter Malcolm sports his first reworked piece ever. Malcolm was inspired by his sister; the pair constantly laughed at the pictured meme. “Reworking clothes and painting on them has been a driving factor in helping me realize what can be done from a single piece,” Malcolm said.

FASHION Constants | March 2021| 113

PLAYLIST OF CHANGE

BY MORI ONO

These are songs about change — often political or social — whether they advocate for it, describe it or warn about it. This playlist draws from a variety of genres, but the majority of them focus on the African American Civil Rights Movement and protests against the Vietnam War. In a new era of social upheaval, many of their lyrics are as pertinent as ever.

FEATURED: “The Times They Are A-Changin’”

by Bob Dylan

With their broad, yet pointed nature, the lyrics of this 1964 song are timeless. Part of the folk music revival, which included politically active musicians like Woody Gutherie, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan’s song is rich with metaphor. “The Times They Are A-Changin’” begins with a stanza imagining progress as a flood that one must accept or drown. The next verses, interspersed by a harmonica, first address critics and politicians who delay change, and then parents, to whom he says, “Your old road is rapidly agin’/Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand.” Though it has taken form as a protest song, the essence of “The Times They Are a-Changin’” is that of the inevitable need to accept change.

TRACK LIST

The Times They Are A-Changin’ Bob Dylan What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye

Man In The Mirror - Michael Jackson Fight the Power - Public Enemy

Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire

For What It’s Worth Buffalo Springfield

A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

Ohio - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Imagine - John Lennon

Street Fighting Man The Rolling Stones

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Gil Scott-Heron

Do You Hear the People Sing? Les Miserables

Blowin’ In The Wind - Bob Dylan

Won’t Get Fooled Again - The Who

Wind of Change - Scorpions

FEATURED

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron The song borrows its title from a popular slogan used by the Black Power Movement, and it harnesses the power of spoken word poetry backed with instruments. It critiques the contrast between the consumerism idolized by advertising and the triviality of TV shows with the very real protests of the time. Throughout, Scott-Heron — who organized protests at his college — references political figures, product slogans and celebrities as examples of what the revolution will not be before concluding with what it will be: “[putting] you in the driver’s seat” and “live.” Reflecting on the song, Scott-Heron stated that the beginning of the revolution would be something that could not be captured on film. “The first change that takes place is in your mind,” Scott-Heron said. In the decades since the song was written, the lyricism of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” and Scott-Heron’s other works have helped inspire the development of rap music.

“Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who One of the most influential rock bands ever, The Who, created this revolution-critical song as part of an unfinished rock opera. Released in 1971, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was written by guitarist Pete Townshend, who states that the song does not denounce revolution, but that it warns that revolution will have unexpected consequences. Stretching for eight and a half minutes in its full version, the song’s lyrics evoke the imagery of an uprising that has come and gone, with the only changes being the slogans and the signs. In addition to Keith Moon’s explosive drumming and Townshend’s power chords, the song prominently features the electronic organ filtered by an analog synthesizer.

Notably, this song was one of the first times the synthesizer took center stage. The song ends with an unforgettable scream from singer Roger Daltrey; the destruction of numerous instruments in spectacular live performances; and the lines, “Meet the new boss / same as the old boss.”

Indeed, nothing meaningful has changed.

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Media Reviews DRAMA

MCU

Wandavision

Bridgerton Written and Produced by Chris Van Dusen

BY DELIA BINETTI

Entering the new year, Netflix gifted its viewers with a TV series called “Bridgerton,” written by the famous Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes is also known for her work in “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How to Get Away with Murder.” But before the story made its way to the screens, fans were able to trace “Bridgerton” back to the books written by Julia Quinn. Within days, the show was ranked as number one in the 10 best shows Netflix had to offer. The show takes place in London in 1813.

Instantly, you are introduced to the main characters of the story by Lady Whistledown. If you have watched the show “Gossip Girl,” the plot of the story is to figure out who is behind the Gossip Girl facade and find a way to stop her. Lady Whistledown is the Gossip Girl of several centuries ago.

Throughout the show, she voices over what is happening and later goes out to publish the drama she has collected throughout the city in her news article.

She starts by introducing the Bridgerton family and the social ranking that they hold. Throughout London, the people know of the Bridgerton family as having the brightest and most beautiful children of the city. Of the several children, Daphne Bridgerton, who is played by Phoebe Dynevor, takes the lead role of the show.

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Directed By Matt Shakman

BY MORGAN MCCLEASE

During this time in society, marriage was the top priority for single daughters. In order to find a companion, high class families would take part in “the season,” a time in which families would participate in ballroom dances and occasions where the finest men would wait.

Throughout the show, we are not given the age of any character — the guess is up to the viewer to decide. Daphne is the first girl in the family who begins her conquest to find a husband. She envisions a life with a home, a loving husband and plenty of children. But for some, this is not always the case. Daphne’s brothers each have a different story of their own throughout the show, as well as Daphne’s younger sisters.

Eventually, the next main character is introduced: the well-known Duke of Hastings, played by Regé-Jean Page. The two find each other during one of the dances, which leads to a whole new story consisting of love, deception and trust. Something interesting about the show is that people of color are treated the same as the white characters. Some even hold higher places in society than others, which, because of racist norms that prevented Blacks from gaining wealth during this time period, would not have been possible.

Marvel Studios’ new show, “WandaVision,” now streaming on Disney+, has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans crazy for more. With five episodes out, the fans have been making up crazy conspiracies about what the meaning behind the show is about. There have been many twists and turns throughout the show set in Westview, New Jersey.

This sitcom follows Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) throughout their lives post “Avengers: Endgame.” They go through different decades, starting in the ‘50s, and so far have gone through the ‘80s. The show also brings back some familiar faces, like Kat Dennings picking up her role as Darcy Lewis, Randall Park picking up his role as Jimmy Whoo and Evan Peters coming to the show to play Peter Maximoff.

This show is nothing like Marvel has ever done before, but the fans are in awe with everything: the plot, the characters, the fashion and the script. This hit show is great to start if you love the MCU, or if you just need a little escape from reality. There is no answer when trying to compare this show to anything else. “Wandavision” is truly one of a kind.

HISTORY FANTASY

Chernobyl

Border

Directed by Johan Renck

Directed By Ali Abbasi

BY CY VEILLEUX

BY CY VEILLEUX

When the Chernobyl accident is brought up, not much might come to mind other than the basics: a nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine, under Soviet control, exploded and caused a massive amount of radiation to spread across the world. But now that it has been — for the most part — contained, many of the details are absent from our knowledge.

The HBO miniseries “Chernobyl” explores those widely unknown details. This dark, but historically accurate, show mainly follows the point of view of Valery Legasov, a nuclear scientist placed on the Chernobyl commission to contain the problem.

The series begins exactly two years after the explosion with Legosav, played by Jared Harris, recording a series of tapes and committing suicide. These tapes consisted of Legosav’s unfiltered opinion and recollection of the events that took place in 1986, which were received and published by fellow scientists after Legosav was cutoff from the public. These tapes were critical in the construction of this show, since much of the information was censored by the Soviet Union.

Legasov was paired up with vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers, Boris Scherbina. Legasov being a scientist and Scherbina being a politician, their relationship embodies the underlying theme of the show: the morals of science versus politics.

The Soviet Union promised the public that everything is okay while the scientists said otherwise. There was a dilemma to keep the public comfortably in a false sense of security, or to tell the truth and have them

be panicked.

Later on, Legasov and Scherbina are introduced to a fictional character named Ulana Khomyuk, whose story is compiled of many other stories to represent the scientists in the Soviet Union that were silenced. Khomyuk finds out about the catastrophe after an alarm goes off when she opens a window within her nuclear power plant located in Belarus. This is similar to how the world was informed about Chernobyl after a scientist named Cliff Robinson detected dangerous levels of radiation all the way in Sweden.

Together, this team of three learns to accept their differences and fight a common enemy: the lies of the Soviet Union in order to save face, which ended up costing many lives.

“Chernobyl,” like the real events, does get quite dark, especially regarding the devastating effects of the high levels of radiation the people of Pripyat encounter. But learning about it is also captivating. The disaster was eventually contained, but the process of containing the issue had many elements that go unknown. Coal miners refused to wear clothes; rovers were deployed since all other machinery would shut down due to the radiation; and armies of men scooped graphite and hunted the radioactive pets left behind.

“Chernobyl” is quite easy to get sucked into since the stranger-than-fiction events actually took place. It not only teaches you the untold truths of what happened in 1986, but maybe a thing or two about nuclear science as well.

If you are someone who is bored of a lot of movies lately and not fazed by the extreme and obscure, then “Border” might be something to add to your list.

The 2018 Swedish film “Border” is a story about the choice to live how you’re meant to, or the act of building a life of your own.

Its protagonist is Tina, a woman with several traits of prehistoric humans. She has a large brow and an incredible sense of smell, which allows her to excel at her job as an airport security officer. She also has an extreme connection with nature and loves to walk in the woods barefoot, interact with animals and swim in chilling waters. She keeps all of that to herself until she encounters Vore.

She finds Vore while she’s on the job and is intrigued by him because she can’t make out his smell. After an awkward security search and a short conversation, Tina becomes curious about her origins.

At the same time, a background plot line takes place about a child trafficking problem that the Swedish police attempt to deal with. This is where the film takes a turn from weird and heartfelt, to weird and disturbing. Vore becomes involved in between the lines of just and unjust, while Tina tries to do what’s right.

“Border” dominated the 2019 Guldbagge Awards and the 2018 European Film Awards. Despite the strange nature of this film, it is a traditional fairy tale story told untraditionally through incredible editing and intriguing special effects.

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Veronica Mars A Throwback to the 2000s

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

MYSTERY

The 2000s was a decade known for its trends — from low-rise jeans and choker necklaces, to rock music and rebellion.

“Veronica Mars,” created and directed by Rob Thomas, embodies the 2000s through all of its infamous fads, while adding on one important element: corruption.

Kristen Bell stars as Veronica, a 17-yearold high school student in Neptune, California — a town rife with corruption that shows itself in seedy sheriffs, motorcycle gangs and rich executives. Veronica, an amateur private investigator, takes on a new case each episode, while working on the true mystery of the show: her best friend, Lilly Kane’s, murder.

With her quintessential wit and sarcastic humor, Bell plays a convincing outcast high schooler in a town ruled by the 1%. Whether she is using less than exemplary techniques — sneaking into the evidence locker at the sheriff’s precinct or planting bugs in houseplants — to solve a case or sticking up for the little guy, you will always find yourself rooting for Veronica. She is sassy and fun and sharply intelligent; when she has a hunch, you better err on the side of believing her. Veronica is rarely wrong, which makes the show that much more fun. Even when you are holding your breath, you know Veronica could reveal something that changes everything.

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core. Key details are revealed through sepia-toned flashbacks as Veronica discovers secret after secret, following the clues.

You will find yourself stuck watching, enthralled by Veronica and her resolve to figure everything out. However, there are moments within the show that take away from its charm, such as the blatant racism and homophobia displayed in most episodes.

Racial stereotypes are perpetuated throughout “Veronica Mars.” Pacific Coast Highway, a motorcycle gang that controls many of the streets of Neptune, is composed entirely of Mexican teenagers, who are called “ghetto” and constantly accused of stealing and selling drugs. The only main Black character is Wallace Fennel, Veronica Mars’s best friend. Wallace’s character plays into the Black best friend trope, in which the Black character exists only to further the white character’s story.

Veronica constantly uses Wallace to steal students’ permanent records from the main office — something that could get him expelled from school. Wallace jeopardizes his relationships in order to help Veronica, who asks him for favor after favor. Wallace’s main characteristic, besides being Veronica’s best friend, is that he is good at basketball, a blatant racial stereotype.

These characters, however, are multi-dimensional and critical elements of the show. Eli “Weevil” Navarro (played by

Francis Capra) — the leader of Pacific Coast Highway bikers — is shown as emotional and layered. He was in love with Lilly Kane and became an ally to Veronica, helping her solve the mystery of Lilly’s murder.

At the end of the second season, Eli is shown trying his hardest to graduate high school to make his grandmother proud. Eli provides an important perspective to the show; he is the leader of a biker gang, and he is a smart, self-sufficient person trying to survive in a town that favors the rich and the white.

Wallace is also not one-dimensional, despite the racial stereotypes surrounding his character. He was raised by a strong single mom and is truly a kind person. He cares about Veronica, and she cares about him.

Wallace has strong character development throughout the show, spending time discovering himself and what he wants to do with his life. He uses basketball to get a scholarship to college, proving his strength and showing his worth as a character.

With a wonderfully convincing performance by Amanda Seyfriend as the peppy and dramatic Lilly Kane and Enrico Colantoni’s wild acting as Keith Mars, “Veronica Mars” is a suspenseful teen drama that will leave you wanting more with each episode.

This show is truly a product of the 2000s: in the good ways, and the bad.

Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy Directed By Stanley Nelson Jr.

BY HENRY COLLINS-THOMPSON

“Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy” is a documentary on Netflix that was released in January of 2021. The documentary acts as an archive of the crack epidemic in America and contextualizes the pain felt within its cities throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The movie puts a focus on the shadowy and corrupt origins of the epidemic, as well as bringing attention to the response to the crack plague and how it systematically targeted people of color. The documentary is thoughtful and emotional and gives a good insight into the politics of the 1980s and 1990s.

The documentary begins by demonstrating the origin of cocaine and crack in the U.S. mainstream. Cocaine was an expensive and potent drug used almost exclusively by the wealthy, as it was rare, expensive and sought-after. Crack is a boiled down and essentialized form of cocaine that was cheap to make and sell. Crack gave someone the same potent high as cocaine, yet it was instant. The documentary covers the stories of the people who were able to get into the business of creating and selling crack, showing the lucrative nature of the business. Crack demand spread like wildfire through all of the U.S., specifically in predominantly Black neighborhoods in the major cities. These became the epicenters for purchasing crack, while hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars were

being traded for crack. The crack boom was described in the documentary as the “gold rush that hit the ‘hood.” Even white people from outside these neighborhoods, cities or counties would line up at the corners in their cars to purchase crack.

However, the rampant competition between different gangs attempting to corner the market would lead to unprecedented levels of violence that devastated many families. “Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy” covers a vast amount of people that had their family either killed or lost to crack.

Fixing the crack problem in these Black communities was an issue that should have been imperative for the police, yet due to the lax enforcement of the law, the problem continued. The selling of crack was also propagated through the lack of restrictions; police never made any arrests for drug-related crimes, nor did they ever attempt to stop the trading of crack between hands. The New York Police Department had been found to have had multiple police officers involved in spreading the crack problem. It was specifically against the interests of the police department to do their job and enforce the law until politics became involved.

The latter half of the documentary covers how the presidential administration of Ronald Reagan attempted to solve the

problem. During this presidency, there was attention given to the problem through the first lady, Nancy Reagan, who started the “Just Say No” campaign. The documentary aptly demonstrates the out of touch nature of the slogan, as one can not really give up on drugs willy nilly. The “Just Say No” campaign was more of a public relations stunt, rather than a solution to the crack problem. Another issue that also bogged down the “Just Say No” campaign was the fact that the same presidential administration had illegally sold arms to rebels in Nicaragua and funded their crack drug cartels.

In the final part of the documentary, the movie covers the creation of the “crack baby” phenomenon and how Black women were being targeted and arrested on suspicion of their babies being affected by crack use. Despite the fact that crack was a massive issue in white communities, law enforcement “cracked” down on crack usage in predominantly Black communities. The documentary does an excellent job at covering the discrimination felt by Black people targeted by the policies of the George H. W. Bush administration.

Before watching the documentary, I was not all too familiar with the drug war, Iran Contra, the crack epidemic or the policies used to combat the drug problem. This documentary gives excellent insight on these issues and is definitely worth a watch.

DOC.

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Sapphire An Album By Landon Cube

BY ZOE BUHALIS

ALT.

Released on Dec. 4, 2020, Landon Cube’s first album, “Sapphire,” is an upbeat, alternative, hip-hop infused soundtrack to coming of age.

With features from 24kGoldn, Ty Fontaine and Kid Bloom, the album is easy to listen to, has strong grooves and each song has its own unique sound.

While “Sapphire” is Cube’s debut album, he has been releasing singles since 2016, and “Sapphire” follows his EP “Orange,” which came out in 2019.

The third song on the album, “21,” starts with an electric guitar driving the upbeat song. In his lyrics, Cube focuses on how he’s changed and grown: “I’ve been going through changes/and I can’t wait to show you face to face.” “21” is a continuation of a series of songs including “17” and “19,” both released in 2019 and reference his

growth as a person as he gets older.

“Eighties,” which was released as a single in June, 2020, features 24kGolden, and, with a driving beat, it is a perfect dance song.

Cube sings of adolescence, new beginnings and the challenges of growing up. In the final track of the album, “Wishing and Hoping,” he laments uncertainty about the future: “Try to pray to god, but it can’t be fake/lookin’’ to the sky, but I got no faith.”

While the topics of his songs aren’t always feel-good or positive, the energy and sound of his music is enthusiastic and dreamy. He expertly blends his singing with speaking lyrics and rapping, easily integrating verses by other musicians, such as 24kGolden, with ease. Each song tells a story and keeps you wanting more.

OK

By Wallows ft. Remi Wolf & Solomonophonic

BY ABBI BACHMAN

In March 2020, Wallows released the single “OK” about getting up and trying to feel okay again. Now, they have made another version with Remi Wolf and Solomonophonic. While the original meaning of the song is about insecurities in a relationship, the main message is something even more relatable in this time where things seem to be going wrong. It can feel great to listen, sing along and know that other people are going through the same things. The song was already a great dance track, but this remix has added more of an almost synthetic sound. Wolf’s influence can be felt with some beats that are reminiscent of her music, along with her verse and back up vocals.

The Wallows and Wolf both sing, either by themselves or together, with her voice even singing some of the signature “okay”s in the background from the original song.

The song begins with a choir-like intro, with voices overlapping and singing “dum, dum” to welcome you into the song. Then, hidden under an uplifting beat, the lyrics 120 | The Communicator Magazine

are deep about communication in relationships.

The Wallows sing, “Don’t tell me nothing’s on your mind, if we’re honest it will all be fine.” After Dylan Minnette, The Wallows’ lead singer, sings the first verse and chorus, the choir-like segment begins again. Wolf sings the next verse before they duet and repeat the chorus twice. The first time they repeat the lyric, “Can we get up and try to feel okay again?” But the next time, Minnette sings while “okay” is said after every other line.

The voices slowly get more edited and high-pitched as the song goes on, and it ends on a singular “okay.” The speeding up of the music and vocals can represent the feeling of time running out to fix this relationship and how anxious the narrator is feeling. It can resound deeply for us with such an uncertain future due to Covid-19: the feeling of everything moving quickly and trying to figure out what to do. The song is more sped up than the original and is overall super fun and enjoyable.

ALT.

Nomophobia Remedies

Nomophobia /nō-mō-’fō-bēa/ noun: the fear of being without a mobile device, or beyond mobile phone contact

Now that you have some background information on why it’s so difficult to put your focus on something besides you phone, here are some things you can do to get over Nomophobia.

Grayscale Try putting your phone on grayscale, and you’ll notice that you’ll get bored surprisingly fast. Colors play a much bigger role in phone addiction than we realize.

Set aside a schedule

BY ZARA GREENE-KALESKI

Ever heard the term, “there aren’t enough hours in a day?” This term gets thrown around a lot, especially from the mouths of our generation. Is it really that there aren’t enough hours in a day? Or is it that we’re all addicted to our phones?

The truth is, most of our generation has to face the issue of nomophobia — the fear of being without a mobile device, or beyond mobile phone contact. A group of (CHS) students explained what their average screen time was. Their answers were eyeopening — ranging from a minimum of five hours and thirty minutes to a max of 16 hours a day.

According to a study done by The Common Sense Media, the average screen time for a typical teen in the U.S. is 7 hours and 22 minutes, not including time spent on education. Kids in the U.S. between the ages of eight and 12 spend an average of four hours and 44 minutes on some type of mobile device, also not including time spent on education. This isn’t just a prevalent issue within CHS — it’s a countrywide problem among young people.

Clearly, it’s not that there aren’t enough hours in a day; our issue is that we can’t get off our screens.

In the documentary, ”The Social Dilemma”, the producers of the film interviewed former head social media employees for platforms such as Pinterest, Facebook, Google and more. These employees got to see what happens behind the scenes of social media and what goes on to make it what it is today. Throughout the film, they talk about how social media developers intentionally design their platforms to be as addictive as possible. “[Our approach was], ‘Let’s figure out how

to get as much of this person’s attention as we possibly can,’” said Tim Kendall, former president of Pinterest. “‘How much time can we get you to spend? How much of your life can we get you to give to us?’”

“These technology products were not designed by child psychologists who are trying to protect and nurture children,” said Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. “They were just designed to make these algorithms that were really good at recommending the next video to you, or really good at getting you to take a photo with a filter on it.” This just proves that the only thing these tech industries are concerned about are their pockets.

“It’s not just that it’s controlling where they spend their attention,” Harris said.

“Social media starts to dig deeper and deeper down into the brain stem and take over kids’ sense of self-worth and identity.”

People in the tech industry do not have what’s best for us at heart. Originally, social media was meant to be a positive thing, but since it’s started, the creators’ motives have changed. Employees of the tech industry join in meetings where they discuss tactics to get as much of our attention as they can: from the number of times an app comes up with a new notification throughout the day, all the way to what colors are most hypnotic or eye-catching. Who’s to blame?

They aren’t just talking about strangers you’ve never met, they’re talking about students at your school and you as well. You’re not wrong for feeling like it’s next to impossible to get off your phone; the tech industry has designed technology to make you feel this way.

Writing a schedule at the beginning of your day and filling it with activities and tasks will help you hold yourself accountable and make you feel motivated to check things off of your schedule, rather than resort to your phone because you feel like there’s “nothing better to do.” Leaving your phone in a different room while you go through your daily agenda will also help prevent you from getting distracted by your phone and mindlessly reaching for it.

Don’t charge your phone next to your bed Many people in this generation have convinced themselves that scrolling through TikTok or Pinterest before bed will help them fall asleep faster, but unless you wear blue light glasses or have grayscale on, it actually will keep you awake longer, and you’re more likely to keep scrolling through your phone for hours. Charging your phone somewhere else could stop this bad habit because your phone would no longer be in arms reach.

Set timers Setting a timer on your phone for how long you will allow yourself to scroll through social media before starting your homework or starting your day will remind you how long you’ve been on your phone. It will also remind you that it’s time to move along with your day.

Turn off notifications Turning off notifications for distracting apps — and only keeping them on for apps that will keep you focused — helps you prioritize what’s most important. Sometimes, we end up clicking on one notification, and it can lead to an endless road of distractions.

Check your screen time Checking your screen time can be a good reality check. Oftentimes, we don’t even realize how much of our daily lives we dedicate to big social media corporations rather than ourselves.

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BOOK REVIEW

“Untamed” Written by Glennon Doyle

BY JENNA JARJOURA

Reflection sunk in as 2020 ended, and I was left with a year I could either fall into blindly or let my new organization habits arise. Being in my room regularly challenged me to get lost in my thoughts and be honest with myself about my numbness. A close friend of mine that moved to California this school year contacted me and asked if we could create a “book club” where we read the books we either said we would get around to or have heard about.

“Untamed” by Glennon Doyle set the bar high for the rest of the books on our list. The book begins with a story about a caged animal: a cheetah in the zoo, living for entertainment. Doyle compared herself to this caged animal that is finally free of the chains and blockades holding her back.

Filled with short anecdotes that connect altogether powerfully, “Untamed” is a memoir that can’t be read just once. Giving me the tough love that I didn’t think I needed, this book has changed my life for the better. For all ages, the book spoke in blunt terms, not shying away from the awkwardness, fear, embarrassment and despair. I read Doyle’s words and thought to myself, “I can do this.”

Doyle lives by her Knowing.

“I can know things down on this level that I can’t on the chaotic surface,” Doyle said. “Down here, when I pose a question about my life — in words or abstract images — I sense a nudge. The nudge guides me toward the next precise thing, and then when I silently acknowledge the nudge — it fills me. The Knowing feels like warm liquid filling my veins and solidifying just enough to make me feel steady, certain.”

These words changed my indecisive mind. I have all the answers to my life. I get lost in trying to find the answers to my life through others — continuously asking for the reassurance that I don’t need.

I have all the answers.

This theme of one’s Knowing pops up in the majority of Doyle’s chapters as she finally embraces the unconscious thoughts that aren’t always the best for the people around her, but they are the right answers for her life at that very moment. This book pushed me to remember that the only person I am going to spend the rest of my life with is me. If one continues to make decisions that are best for the people around them, the only one to blame will be themself.

In the beginning, the sole reason I picked up “Untamed” was because Doyle is married to Abby Wambach, someone who I looked up to as a soccer player. In this book, Wambach symbolized true and pure love, but she also symbolized that one thing that people shouldn’t have. Doyle was married to a man with three children and had to come to terms with the fact that her Knowing was telling her to leave her husband for Wambach.

Doyle struggled with the fact that she could either live her life for her children or live for her. My biggest takeaway from the story of Doyle and Wambach is to be brave. Be brave to get what you deeply deserve in all walks of life.

I would recommend “Untamed” not only to teenagers who want to get in touch with their feelings but to mothers who want to see their sons and daughters in a new light; grandparents that need advice on how to deal with the confusion of sexuality; girls who need the reassurance that they are not alone in their struggle to be “perfect”’ anyone fighting an addiction or sees no light at the end of the tunnel; and those that just need a new outlook on life.

BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls”

Quarantine Book Recommendations Originally published on April, 28, 2020, Sophie Fetter reminisces on some of her favorite books.

BY SOPHIE FETTER

I remember how excited I was. The buzz of walking into the massive Fox Theatre in Detroit. As we were scanning our tickets, we asked the woman if Mr. Sedaris did book signing before or after the show. She said, “Before,” and then, “Well there he is right now.” And there he was. Kilt-wearing and spectacled, he made his way over to the table. We were lucky enough to get the second spot in line. He asked for our names and drew a little owl in my book.

I love owls.

“How old are you?”

“17.”

“Ah,” he said. “Then you’re going to need one of these.” He reached into his bag and whipped out a tampon. It was a European one, so it was a small and foreign little compact bullet. He gave that to me along with a chocolate coin and a mini bottle of conditioner from his hotel room. The entire book-talk, I clutched the items, which I now keep in the right-hand drawer of my desk. I can proudly boast about my “David Sedaris Tampon, touched by the fingertips of Mr. David Sedaris himself.” Much of Sedaris’s writing has this similar whimsical, incidental charm.

Sedaris’ books explore childhood memories with humorous hindsight, various characters he’s come across, and the small, but amazing, aspects of life. His books follow no particular structure or consistency; each chapter is just a small segment of life told with humor and wit.

My favorite book of his and the one I got signed, “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls,” has absolutely nothing to do with diabetes or owls. I don’t even think the words are even written once.

Instead, the subject of Sedaris’ writings is oddities and eccentricities that cross his path. Sedaris has the capacity to turn anything into an analysis of the absurdity, strangeness and wondrousness of the world. It was Sedaris’ mentality of finding the humor and absurdity in the everyday that got me into journaling. Sedaris takes the reader back to what Norwegian philosophy writer Jostein Gaarder called “The Faculty of Wonder:” Constant awe and appreciation of the amazingness at even the smallest pieces of the world. I think this is something we need more of right now.

“Hyperbole and a Half” This has been one of my favorites for a long time now. “Hyperbole and a Half” is a witty, epigrammatic and humorous novel by blogger Allie Brosh. The book is a collection of short stories, each from Brosh’s life. The thing that stands out most about “Hyperbole and a Half” is its art style. The book is hilariously illustrated by just about the crudest, low-brow, Microsoft Studio Paint collection of pixelated drawings to have ever reached print. These illustrations are what really sets the book apart.

Each story is around twenty pages long, but overall contains only about five pages of text, making it a very short read. A majority of the book’s stories come from Brosh’s childhood, while a good portion of the others are about her two dogs. Reading about someone else’s dogs doesn’t sound like the most interesting thing in the world, but Brosh’s use of wit, sarcasm and cynicism makes them uproariously funny. The memoir isn’t all just inconsequential humor though. The book deals with serious issues like depression and suicide.

I’ve been picking this up every now and again since I was a kid, and each time, it offers a little something more. Overall, it’s a pleasant, dynamic and uproarious book, it is and definitely something to make you laugh while staying at home.

BOOK REVIEW

“Mannequin in a Pond with Frogs”

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ARTIST PROFILE

Felix McKenna One CHS sophomore talks about their interest in art, their practice and their inspiration.

BY LEVI STRASZEWSKI

Felix McKenna is a sophomore at CHS and has been an artist since they were young. Their artistic interest started when they began making watercolor paintings with their grandmother. However, their grandmother is not the only artist in their family.

“Everybody in my family is an artist,” McKenna said.

“My dad went to U of M [the University of Michigan] for art, and my mom is a singer. I’m a competitive person, so I sort of view it in a competitive way.”

McKenna says that, while they have many friends who are artists, they also have friends who are not. Despite this, McKenna likes to share their art with both their friends and family and has even been finding ways to share art with their teachers as well.

“I usually end up making every single one of my homework assignments for school an art assignment,” McKenna said. “Sometimes, I get quite overwhelmed because even though I do have a lot of free time, I don’t have as much as I think I do.”

However, despite sometimes feeling overwhelmed, McKenna sees these school assignments as a good opportunity to test their interest in pursuing art as a career.

“I want to go to school for art when I go to college,” McKenna said. “Also I want to be an animator or an illustrator as a job, so I would end up doing it all day

long and not always choosing what I draw. This has been a way to see whether that would be something I actually want to do with my life. I think I’m enjoying it.

I don’t like spending lots and lots of time on projects, but I like finishing projects, so that makes it worth it.”

McKenna said they get a lot of support from their family. However, they also feel like they get a lot of pressure from themself.

“I always see people that have a passion for what they’re doing,” McKenna said. “And I feel like my art is kind of the only thing I’ve got going for me, so it almost feels like something that I have to do. But I do really enjoy it nonetheless.”

McKenna has many inspirations that have kept them interested in art for so long. McKenna says that they get a lot of their inspiration from their art teachers, but also from various media they consume on their own.

“When I was in about third grade, I would go on the computer and Google, ‘How to draw a unicorn,’ [and] ‘How to draw people,’ and I would just copy down the how-to guides,” McKenna said. “Now, I think I sort of just get inspiration from the shows I watch and follow people on Instagram. There are lots of areas for me to improve in that I have gotten derailed from over the pandemic, but I am going to start to learn more at some point once I can take more in person classes.”

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art throb Felicity Rosa-Davies

“I wanted to use two photos that separately were very different from one another,” Rosa-Davies said. “The floral one of like the pink flowers with the ice was very serene and pretty and simple. And then, the photo of the girl in the tunnel was very ominous. You’re kind of wondering ‘What’s she doing there?’ So, there [are] these questions that I asked myself when I saw that photo and when I took it.

Bringing them together [created] a contrast, [and it is] really cool how they are countering each other in such an unexpected way.”

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art throb Mia Wood “Since quarantine started, I’ve been doing a lot more painting for myself,” Wood said. “This year, I signed up to take Painting and Color Theory. So I started doing painting for school and myself. It’s a creative outlet for me. This was my second portrait, and after this one, I fell in love with doing portraits. The assignment was to take two paintings we liked and mix them to create a different meaning. I figured out how the colors would work together and how they balance each other. [In] this piece, I mixed a surrealism style and a realistic style.”

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SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS 128 | The Communicator Magazine

WINTER: @CHSCOMMUNICATOR Constants | March 2021| 129

Treats at Home

BY AVA KOSINSKI AND ELEANOR NIMAN

FUDGY BROWNIES Ingredients: 1 ½ cups granulated sugar ¾ cup all purpose flour ⅔ cup cocoa powder, sifted ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted ½ cup dark chocolate chips ¾ teaspoons sea salt 2 large eggs ½ cup canola oil or olive oil 2 tablespoons water ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and get out an 8 by 8 baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, sugar, flour, chocolate chips and salt. Then, in a large bowl, whisk together the water, olive oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Slowly pour the dry mix into the large bowl and stir it until just combined.

Line the baking dish with parchment paper and pour in the batter. I used a spatula to smooth mine. Then, you’re going to bake it for 40-48 minutes. After cooling, cut and enjoy!

LEMON BARS Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. First, you will make the crust. Combine all the dry ingredients and then mix in the butter until evenly combined. Pour that crust into a parchment paper lined 9 by 13 inch pan and press it into the bottom until flat. Bake the crust for around 20 minutes. While the crust bakes, use a blender or food processor to combine the flour and lemon zest until even. Add the rest of the filling ingredients. Pour the lemon filling over the crust and then return the pan to the oven for about another 40 minutes of cooking.

After removing the pan from the oven, let it cool to tough, and the refrigerate until the bars are fully set. Cut the bars and dust with powdered sugar.

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Ingredients: Crust: 2 ½ cups flour ⅔ cups powdered sugar ½ tsp salt 12 tbsp butter Filling: ½ cup flour 3 tbsp lemon zest 3 cups sugar 8 eggs 1 cup lemon juice

SCONES Ingredients: 2 cups flour ½ cup sugar 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt ½ cup butter 1 cup heavy cream ¼ cup fruit of your choice

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Sift all of your dry ingredients together into a bowl and lightly mix them. Next, take your butter and cut it into small cubes and drop those cubes into the dry mixture. Take two forks and gently cut the butter into the dough. It is very important that the butter is added this way, as it gives the scones their flaky texture. Once the butter is well combined, add the heavy cream and mix until the texture is dough-like. Then, add any fruit you would like; I used raspberries.

Using your hands, flatten the dough into a square about a half-inch thick, then cut the circle of dough into smaller squares. Place the scones onto a baking sheet about an inch apart and bake until golden brown (about 25 minutes).

Ingredients: 2 ¼ cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup butter, softened ¾ cup granulated sugar ¾ cup packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 eggs 2 cups chocolate chips First, you’re going to preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Then, combine your flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Then beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Then, you’re going to slowly beat in the flour mixture.

Stir in the chocolate chips and scoop onto un-greased baking sheets.

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CRAVE

SHEPHERD’S PIE

BY SOPHIE FETTER

Shepherd’s pie is a hearty meat pie with toasted mashed potatoes for crust. The dish originated in the sheep country of Scotland and northern England, and it reflects the region’s aesthetic: It’s the perfect dinner for the frigid isolation of wintertime. The dish feeds multiple people and can be reheated easily.

The only downside to Shepherd’s Pie is that it requires a lot of beef. Out of all meats, beef has the highest environmental impact in carbon emissions, land use and water consumption. Delicious, environmentally-friendly and vegan substitutes for this are Beyond meat, Impossible Burgers, mushrooms, cauliflower and vegetable mix.

To make this dish, cook beef, onions and carrots in a skillet. Add corn, peas, thyme, a bit of flour and beef stock.

Make your own or get store bought mashed potatoes. Add filling to the pan and spread mashed potatoes on top.

A sprinkling of cheddar cheese is optional. Bake and enjoy!

For a full recipe (measurements and in-depth directions) visit The Communicator Online.

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Our Turn

Communicator staff members discuss health during the pandemic

BY TAI TWOREK

Charles Soloman “Trying to start to build a relationship through Zoom has been a really weird thing. When meeting new people, I think we all are reading body language. There’s some intangible thing I think you have when you’re sitting next to someone that you just don’t get when you’re seeing them two-dimensionally through the computer screen. For me, I try to base a lot of how I talk off of reading people’s reactions, and that too is different through Zoom, obviously.”

Mira Schwarz “I started to be more mindful of the areas around me and the people around me. [I am] more grateful. I’m lucky to have a healthy family right now. Things we didn’t really think much about before, if you didn’t have to, now suddenly, I think about everyday. If I’m going to see somebody, I have to think, ‘Is this someone who is at risk for giving me the virus?’ I think I’ve been more grateful and also just aware of my environment in a way that I don’t think will change for a while.”

Mori Ono I started taking up a couple of hobbies. Since I couldn’t go to any bubble tea stores, I started making my own. And then I was sort of interested in the whole throat singing thing, doing that, practicing and actually sort of getting it down pretty well. But I think a lot of my time has been taken up by studying for the AP exams that I took. I think even though it took up a lot of my time, I think it was good to have a big test to focus on. Especially during the pandemic, feeling bored is, I think, one of the biggest challenges you end up facing.”

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