The Communicator, Edition 3, v. 50

THE COMMUNICATOR MAGAZINE

VOL. 50, EDITION 3, MARCH 2023

About the Cover

BY MORGAN MCCLEASE AND ADDI HINESMAN

The cover for this edition is a photo taken by Addi Hinesman from the “Trash Fashion” article later on in the magazine. Modeling in the photos are Abbi Bachman and Fia Kacvinsky. They are wearing outfits made completely out of trash to symbolize the over consumption and wastefulness of fast fashion in our world. The theme of this edition is the future. The future is full of surprises, both good and bad depending on how we decide to move forward. This photo shows the futuristic reality of what could happen with all the waste we have in the world, but who knows? Maybe trash fashion will be the next big trend.

Dear Readers,

What does your future look like? Where do you picture yourself in thirty years? Do you know where you’ll be?

As high schoolers, the majority of our lives are in front of us. We have big choices to make: where to go to college, what to study, who to hang out with. This can be scary. One simple decision can feel like it will influence the rest of your life. Therefore, we have decided to dedicate this edition of “The Communicator” to the future, whatever it may hold.

This theme is vague on purpose; we wanted our journalists to dig deep and discover what they think about when it comes to the future, what they wanted to cover. We have articles considering how climate change will affect the Great Lakes, articles exploring the choice to have children, articles thinking about “trash fashion.” There is something for everyone, no matter what you believe your future will look like.

As we worked on the third edition of “The Communicator,” many changes were happening in the world around us. Politics are imploding, as Kevin McCarthy takes over as Speaker of the House and preparation for the 2024 election ramps up. The war in Ukraine is approaching its one-year anniversary. U.F.O.s are appearing across North America, with one shot down over Lake Huron. And, the week we sent this edition to print, there was a shooting at Michigan State University, less than an hour away from our school.

These facts are not random; they all have serious implications for the future of current high school students, who will inherit the disasters of the present. It can be difficult to consider our future when there are students not much older than us dying and our political system feels on the brink of destruction. However, the future is ever present, and we cannot ignore it. We hope you enjoy this edition of “The Communicator” but, more importantly, we hope it makes you think about how your actions influence the people around you and the future of the world.

Your Editors,

PRINT EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

ELLIOT BRAMSON

ISABELLA JACOB

RIA LOWENSCHUSS

SERENA O’BRIEN

ELLA ROSEWARNE

WEB EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

ADDI HINESMAN

RITA IONIDES

ANJALI KAKARLA

SCARLETT LONDON

SOCIAL MEDIA

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

SAM CAO

ARISTA LUONG

MORGAN MCCLEASE

ART DIRECTORS

ROSIE MELLOR

IVY PROCHASKA

RYAN THOMAS-PALMER

BEE WHALEN

SECTION EDITORS

RAFFI AVEDISSIAN

ABBI BACHMAN

LUCY CASSELL-KELLEY

HENRY CONNOR

KEVIN DUTTON

SAM GIBB-RANDALL

KURT HAUSMAN

AILISH KILBRIDE

EVAN OCHOA

LEWIS PERRY

SANA SCHADEN

RUTH SHIKANOV

CLAIRE STEIGELMAN

STAFF

MARISA ANDONI-SAVAS

MATTHEW CASTILHO

LYDIA COCCIOLONE

LYDIA DEBORD

LEILA DURRIE

NAVI FIELDS

ELLIE FIFE

CLARA FREETH

ELLA GLASS

AIDAN HSIA

VEDHA KAKARLA

BRIDGETTE KELLY

FINA KUTCHER

MAX LAWTON

CLAIRE LEWIS

LAUREN MACNEIL

ISABELLA MALDONADO

SOFI MARANDA

REAGAN MASEK

EDDIE MOBILIO BRECK

LUCIA PAGE SANDER

KAELA REDDING

HANNAH RUBENSTEIN

MAHIR SOOFI

BELLA STEVENS

NINA TINNEY

ANTHONY WANG

ADVISER

TRACY ANDERSON

Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Crown Finalist 2022; Gold Crown Finalist and Winner 2021-2022, 2020-2021 and 2019-2020

National Scholastic Press Association

Pacemaker Finalist and Winner 2022, Online Pacemaker 2021-2022, Pacemaker Finalist and Winner 2020 Pacemaker Finalist and Winner 2019

Michigan Interscholastic Press Association

Spartan Award Winner 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2007

The Communicator Policy

The Communicator is a 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

Elliot Bramson Isabella Jacob

Serena O’Brien Ella Rosewarne

Table of Contents

VOLUME 50, EDITION 3 | MARCH 2023

6

More Than Wins and Losses

Although CHS does not have any official sports teams, its first unofficial one was formed this year. “The Lads from Leeds” is a soccer team comprised of students.

BY ELLIOT BRAMSON

12

Reduce and Reuse in AAPS

AAPS’s district-wide environmental group met with sustainability director Emile Lauzanna to discuss resusable dishware options in cafeterias.

BY SERENA O’BRIEN

14

Celebrating Jones School

CHS has dedicated February to celebrate the history of Jones School and Black Ann Arbor through walking tours and public speakers.

BY NAVI FIELDS, NINA TINNEY AND ISABELLA JACOB

Photography by Danny Ging

Art by Ryan Thomas-Palmer

Opinion

Filling the Gaps

Like the rest of the country, AAPS is being plagued by staffing shortages. How is this issue being addressed?

BY SERENA O’BRIEN

The climate crisis defines many aspects of the lives of teenagers, including thoughts about the future and whether or not to have children.

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS AND RUTH SHIKANOV

The Future of Food

The food industry is expected to be hit hard by climate change. As temperatures change, our diets and eating habits will as well.

BY RUTH SHIKANOV

Two teachers share their parenting techniques, as well as what they’ve learned from being parents and how they hope to grow.

BY LYDIA DEBORD

A New Chapter for Brick and Mortar

For decades, Ann Arbor has had a thriving culture of local bookstores. Now, as online shopping increases, their future is not secure.

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

Two journalists consider the summers of their past and how they interact differently with summer in the present.

BY LUCY CASSELL-KELLEY AND RUTH SHIKANOV

Notebook: Shutter Island

An exploration into and reflection on the 2010 thriller “Shutter Island.”

BY KEVIN DUTTON

How Do We Define Art?

As AI increases in strength, it is becoming hard to tell what is AI art and what is created by humans.

BY KAELA REDDING

More than the Wins and Losses

CHS students have formed their own soccer team with one goal in mind: to have fun.

BY ELLIOT BRAMSON

The Lads from Leeds’ first soccer game was one of Margaret Alpern’s favorite memories from their season. A crowd of about 20 friends showed up to cheer the team on, with many of them joining the team on the sideline, and some even playing in the game.

“We were subbing every two minutes,” Alpern said. “When people started showing up, we put them in and it was fun to see everyone play.”

The Lads from Leeds is a team of CHS students who created their own recreational soccer team. They compete in Wide World Sports Center’s coed high school soccer league, which has seven other teams, most of which consist of ju-

niors and seniors. Many of the other teams are there to have fun — like the Lads — while a few others are travel or varsity soccer teams looking for extra competition. The talent imbalance in the league is why the Lads have a less-than-perfect 2-6 record.

For Alexander Marsh, this doesn’t matter, as long as they are having fun. The games are low-stress as there are no expectations from anyone on the team. This allows people of all skill levels to participate, which is one of the things Marsh enjoys most about the league. The team needs every player on the field in order to function, and Marsh likes that those other players are his friends.

“Every game, it seems like we find a way to have fun, even if we’re losing,” Marsh said.

Alpern, who plays travel soccer, enjoys the break from highstakes competition. She doesn’t need to be at her best for every game, and she feels that playing with her school friends makes the game more fun and allows for more chemistry with her team. As Alpern approaches the end of her senior year of high school, she hopes that playing for the Lads with her friends will be an experience that she won’t soon forget.

“I’m trying to make more memories with friends and I think [the Lads] is definitely a big part of that,” Alpern said.

Photography by Danny Ging Kevin Dutton rallies the team at halftime of the Lads’ game on Jan. 13, 2023. Dutton played soccer for six years, but switched to a different sport four years ago. “It felt good to be back on the pitch,” Dutton said. “It made me realize how much I’ve missed soccer.”

Community on Display: 8th Grade Orientation

CHS welcomes 8th grade students and family into its halls.

BY BRIDGETTE KELLY

Eighth grade students and their families sat down in the Craft Theater, ready to see a glimpse into life at CHS. There were four different eighth grade orientations this year, and their goal was to get as many eighth graders as possible to apply.

“It’s a chance for us to define who we are as a school and to widen CHS,” said Ryan Silvester, a history teacher who helped coordinate the orientation. “It’s one of the most important things that we do, because CHS is all built around a lottery.”

The guests were first met by teachers who talked about the different programs offered such as the Com munity Resource (CR) program and electives. This was followed by two MCs who talked about their own experiences at CHS, such as social life and academics.

Lucy Cassell-Kelley was one of the two MCs. She focused on sharing what the people at CHS mean to her, and the experiences that have been impactful.

“[The students and parents] were really receptive,” Cassell-Kelley said. “They wanted to hear what we had to say. They wanted to know more, so they asked a lot of questions. It was just a nice experience to give back to the school that I feel has given me so much.”

Next, a panel of student volunteers had two min utes to touch on a subject of their choice, such as the jazz band, “The Communicator,” CRs and a variety of clubs.

“There’s so much value in what [the incoming students and their families] can hear from current students, and that’s why I wanted to really include [student sharing], and have everyone hear from the students,” Silvester said.

After the presentations in the Craft Theater ended, the students and parents split into two groups, one going with the deans and counselors and the other going with the teachers, both getting more information, and then switching. The orientation finished off with a “mingling session” where 8th grade students and their parents could ask the student volunteers more questions, and walk around to tables set up for different subjects.

Overall, the orientations presented the rigor, responsibility, independence and leadership at CHS, and showed how students develop into responsible learners, and at times independent learners.

“The students totally stoled the show,” Silvester said. “People are here to see [the students] and to hear from [their] experiences, so it’s been really great to see.”

Photography by Stephanie Hadley Students share their experiences at Community High, including different areas they explored and opportunities they had. Staff also talk about their departments and what CHS has to offer incoming freshman.

Counselor’s Corner

BY LUCY CASSELL-KELLEY

As high school students look into the future — college decisions, internships and life changes — CHS counselors Brian Williams and Kelly Maveal urge students to consider the future happening in front of them: the here and now.

CHS students are encouraged to go out into the world before they graduate; resources such as the Community Resource Department, a program allowing students to create their own classes and take college courses, allow students to interact with the local community before getting their diploma. This unique opportunity gives students the chance to expand their horizons and understand their interests and options before leaving the safety of high school.

“I think the future can start right now by being engaged with your local world and your community,” Williams said. “Be it through some of the coursework here and Community Resources or volunteering or working, [students are] seeing what the real world is actually like. [They are] not waiting for the future to happen because it’s already happening.”

Ann Arbor is full of resources for students to discover their passions before pursuing a secondary education. The University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University all provide students with options for internships, classes and learning opportunities.

The uncertainty of the pandemic and the past few years

gave students and teachers a pause to reflect. Many staff and students used this breath to take a closer look at how success should be defined and the expectations of how the future should look.

Gap years have continued to gain popularity, as have paid internships and volunteer opportunities. While a four year college experience is still the norm, other paths have become more mainstream.

“For years there’s been a scripted path that [students are] supposed to take,” Williams said. “I think that over the last few years it’s broken down and exposed that that’s not necessarily the case. These days, I’m a little bit more excited for high school aged people.”

Since passing the halfway mark for the school year, the forum council body has been working towards our established initiatives. The middle school outreach committee outlined, filmed and edited a new “Why Community?” video, created a new slide deck for middle school presentations and rewrote the script provided to CHS Ambassadors. They went to middle schools to recruit students to CHS and organized a student panel as a part of the parent information sessions for parents of eighth graders.

The events committee is currently focused on securing resources for Comstock, CHS’s annual music festival, working closely with administration in an effort to organize a CHS spring fling and a secret surprise event! As we near springtime the event committee will devote 100% of its time to the organizing of Comstock as it is a full group effort.

The third project, with a new format for CHS forum council, is president elects. Elections for next year’s forum council president and vice president will take place in mid to late February. Once the new team is elected, they will work closely with the current presidents as well as sit in on all formal meetings. This is in an effort to streamline the election process and allow future administrations to hit the ground running with their initiatives at the start of the next school year.

We have been very lucky to have a motivated and brilliant group of forum representatives this year and we are excited for what the rest of the year holds!

CHS counselors Brian and Williams Kelly Maveal reflect on the expectations of high school students and how the future is changing for young people.

Photography by Lucy Cassell-Kelley Counselor Brian Williams pictured on the third floor, smiling in front of a mural. Williams hopes to encourage students to feel optimistic about the future.“There’s so many more exciting options and opportunities right now which hopefully can calm the nerves,” Williams said.

CET: Onto The Next

BY MARISA ANDONI-SAVAS

As Community Ensemble Theatre (CET) gears up for their upcoming show “Cabaret,” the cast and crew are excited to see this musical come to life. Mia Rubenstein, a member of the ensemble, can’t wait to show the play to the world.

“I think it’ll be fun to be on stage and to show a different side [of myself],” Rubenstein said “That’s why I love acting, because I don’t get to play myself as a character. I can play a whole new person.”

The original musical “Cabaret” is set in 1930s Berlin and features American novelist Cliff Bradshaw and cabaret singer Sally Bowles. When Sally gets fired from the Kit Kat Klub, the cabaret where she works, she finds a home with Cliff. As the Nazis begin

to take over Germany, the two fall in love and the atmosphere of the Kit Kat Klub and the lives of Sally and Cliff begin to change dramatically.

On Jan. 23, the cast and crew gathered for their first full cast rehearsal. Rubenstein loved the good vibes that the ensemble delivered — including the accents of Jacqueline Boynton, who plays Sally, and Tate Zeleznik, who plays the Emcee. She really enjoys the feeling of working in a group, which she gets in CET.

The next day, everybody met again for an intimacy workshop led by alumni Ana Morgan, who is spending the semester working with CET — creating another opportunity for the cast and crew to work together! Since “Cabaret” is a show rife with sensuality and controversial topics, Rubenstein appreciates learning how to communicate her feelings and boundaries.

“It was very interesting to see a way to express your feelings where no one’s judging you,” Rubenstein said. “It’s a very unique, but very helpful, way to make things go smoother during the rehearsal.”

Rubenstein hopes the audience realizes how difficult this show is and that it tells

a very important story. She feels that they should walk away not necessarily clapping and having a good time, but reflecting.

“I feel like the part with the Nazis will definitely be difficult because it’s not an easy topic to perform well,” Rubenstein said. “We truly don’t want the audience to clap after we do that.”

Rubenstein looks forward to getting the show going and having fun. Shows will be on March 9, 10, 11 and 12.

CET begins rehearsal for their next show, “Cabaret.”

Photography by Marisa Andoni-Savas. Rubenstein is at a dialect rehearsal. The cast of “Cabaret” attended workshops to understand the show and time period better. “I’m super excited to see how this all plays out,” Rubenstein said.

Controversy Surrounding New AP African American Studies Course

The College Board’s new AP course framework came under fire after it was leaked earlier this year.

BY SCARLETT LONDON

On Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month, the College Board released the official curriculum for a new AP course: African American Studies. Per their Wednesday announcement, to create the framework, the AP program partnered with “more than 300 professors of African American Studies from more than 200 colleges nationwide, including dozens of historically Black colleges and universities, along with dedicated high school teachers across the country.” The topics represent the issues and events that experts agreed were vital to the study and understanding of the history and culture of Black Americans.

After the course was first announced in August, an early draft was leaked to the Florida Review and National Review, where it quickly came under fire from conservatives.

“Education is about the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of ideology or the advancement of a political agenda,” tweeted

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in January. Led by DeSantis, the Florida Board of Education rejected the course, stating that it “lacks educational value.” The Board also openly challenged the College Board, inviting the body “to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content,” before the Florida Board of Education would “be willing to reopen the discussion.”

Twenty-eight thousand people, along with Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union, have already signed a petition demanding the Florida State Board of Education approve the course.

“It’s clear that Fl. Gov. DeSantis has been using Black students as political pawns in his quest to build power and conservative outrage, and the Florida State Board of Education (SBE) has long enabled him,” the petition states.

Following the backlash, the AP stripped

the proposed curriculum, purging it of much of the subject matter that had angered the governor. This purge included the removal of authors and scholars often associated with critical race theory, the queer experience and Black feminism. Discussion of the Black Lives Matter movement and other politically charged topics were also removed from the formal curriculum. Instead, these topics are offered on a list of options for a required research project, which “can be refined by local states and districts.”

Still, the revised curriculum framework thoroughly covers topics such as slavery, reconstruction, civil rights, redlining, discrimination and Afrofuturism. After the framework was released, Bryan Griffin, the press secretary for DeSantis, said that the state education department was currently reviewing it for “corrections and compliance with Florida law.”

Photography by Matt Johnson Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. After an early draft of the framework for the new AP African American Studies course was leaked, DeSantis and the Florida Board of Education rejected the course, stating that it “lacks educational value.”

Chinese Spy Balloon Captures the Attention of a Nation

What the week-long journey of a foreign spy vessel means for the future of U.S. global relations.

BY KURT HAUSMAN

On Feb. 4, the United States military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon just off the coast of South Carolina. The balloon, which had been traveling eastward since first entering American airspace over Alaska on Saturday, Jan. 28, was equipped with surveillance equipment including a collection pod and solar panels located on the metal truss.

“[The balloon is] traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a press briefing on Feb. 3. “[The balloon] does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”

Over the course of the next several days, the balloon made its way southward to the continental U.S., entering airspace above Montana and traveling across the states to where it was eventually removed from

the skies. This rather unexpected breach of American airspace was met with much controversy by the American people, as its story sprung into the national spotlight.

Many democrats were in support of President Biden’s decision to handle the situation in a safe manner that provoked no harm to any American lives, while also criticizing the Chinese.

“I strongly condemn [Chinese] President Xi’s brazen incursion into American airspace,” Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “And I commend President Biden’s leadership in taking down the Chinese balloon over water to ensure safety for all Americans. Now we can collect the equipment and analyze the technology used by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party].”

Many Republicans however, criticized POTUS’s action regarding the balloon,

raising questions about the delayed action.

“If it was worth shooting down, why was it permitted to drift across the continental U.S. first?” Representative Dan Bishop (R-NC) said. “Can [the balloon’s] mechanisms be recovered and examined?

While this rather small scale breach of our borders captured the public eye, it was only a metaphor for the ongoing controversy between the two nations. Disputes over territorial issues regarding the South China Sea, economic issues such the ongoing trade war between the two nations and human rights concerns such as the torturing of Uighur Muslims in China and the claiming of Taiwan have been only a few of the issues the two nations have had disputes over for the past few years.

The difference between this conflict and previous ones is that this “spy balloon” was here, in American airspace. While the setting of other conflicts has been far from American soil, by putting the issue in U.S. territory, the Chinese were able to capture the attention of U.S. citizens and learn how our nation would handle such a low-level threat. While this may amount to nothing more than the movement of a pawn is the U.S. and China’s cat-and-mouse game, it could be an indicator of what could be in store for the future of this global rivalry.

Photography courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Reduce and Reuse in AAPS

Is reusable dishware a feasible solution for waste in Ann Arbor Public Schools?

BY SERENA O’BRIEN

On Feb. 1, the Freeman Environmental Youth Council , made up of students motivated to promote sustainability and advocate for environmental education, met with Emile Lauzanna, the Executive Director of Environmental Sustainability, to discuss the feasibility of introducing reusable dishware to AAPS cafeterias.

Possible obstacles anticipated by the Freeman Environmental Youth Council included short lunch periods and students at some high schools eating lunch outside of the cafeteria.

“It’s a very structural situation that we’ve developed in the United States,” Lauzanna said. “School lunch is federally funded, highly regulated—it’s just got all of these parameters around it that [causes it to be] locked in place.”

The discussion included further obstacles, including square footage in kitchens across the district. In several schools, the

kitchens simply don’t have space for the commercial grade dishwashers and storage of dishware that would be essential–even if all other kitchen equipment was gutted.

This concern progressed to the most hindering obstacle: money. Retrofitting AAPS kitchens with the correct equipment would incur a huge upfront expense, requiring expensive equipment and even more expensive renovations and in some cases, building expansions. Operational costs would be equally immense, as new staff would need to be employed at every school to account for the hundreds of dishes that would need to be sanitized each day. Lauzanna estimates that these employment costs could accumulate to over two million dollars annually—even at the minimum living wage.

Ultimately, reusable dishware isn’t yet an economic possibility for AAPS, which operates with approximately $9,000 per stu-

dent per year; Greenhills, a private school that implements reusable dishware, has approximately $30,000 per student per year. Just because reusable dishware will have to be revisited further down the road doesn’t mean that AAPS isn’t hard at work to improve their sustainability practices. Lauzanna shares that the sustainability branch of AAPS is currently focusing their efforts on working to refine the recycling process and ensure clean and high quality recycling makes it to the city’s recycling facility without producing any excess waste, as well as experimenting with introducing composting to AAPS. In the coming school year, Lauzanna will be aiding in the direction of a composting pilot program at three AAPS elementary schools.

Photo courtesy of Coert Ambrosino Members of the Freeman Environmental Youth Council pictured with their adult liaison, Coert Ambrosino. The council is made up of high school students from four out of five Ann Arbor high schools.

The Overturing: PPAM Youth Advocates

BY ISABELLA JACOB

PPAM Youth Advocates, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, is an organization stemming from Planned Parenthood that focuses on empowering youth to fight for abortion rights. The group has students from all over Washtenaw County, including many CHS students.

Lila Fetter, a junior at CHS, holds the position of social media manager at PPAM. They have been a part of the organization throughout high school, but the job has gotten harder since the overturning of Roe

Fundraising February

This February, CHS will be taking part in a fundraising campaign for a permanent historical marker to recognize the history of Jones School and Black Ann Arbor.

BY ISABELLA JACOB

The Jones team planned this campaign and is composed of Janelle Johnson, Brian Williams, Cindy Haidu-Banks and Joslyn Hunscher-Young. This effort, referred to as Fundraising February, is a way to get the whole school involved in the fundraising while also spreading awareness of our local history.

Joslyn Hunscher-Young, a social studies teacher, thinks the goal is attainable. CHS was able to raise $70,000 for Food Gatherers in the fall, and knows the power forums have when they come together.

Since June of 2022, the Jones team has raised about $10,000. The type of historical marker they’re striving for is around $30,000, meaning the school is one third

V. Wade.

“A lot of the work we’re doing is supporting people who want to get abortions and thanking clinicians that provide abortions,” Fetter said. “Their job is getting harder and harder, especially since the rise of pro-lifers and protesting clinics that’s happening in the U.S.”

PPAM has been routinely writing thank you notes to abortion clinic providers as support. Other work that PPAM has been doing includes talking with politicians about how youth can get involved with advocacy.

In the upcoming weeks, PPAM will be hosting their “Palentine’s” event. Palentine’s, hosted around the weekend of Valentine’s Day, is when the group meets with a pro-choice elected politician that is supportive of Planned Parenthood.

In the future, PPAM hopes to focus on fundraising in the spring, specifically for the National Network of Abortion Funds.

“Now that we’re in a post-Roe world, giving money to Planned Parenthood is great but there’s only so much they can do in states where abortion is banned or extreme-

ly limited,” Fetter said. “It’s important to give that money to people who need it so they can access that fund to travel to another state to relieve that abortion.”

Fetter knows that at this point educating people about safe sex and how to get an abortion is the most important goal and wants to increase this with the help of PPAM’s goals and resources.

goal due to how hyperlocal it is and the role the CHS building used to have on the neighborhood it is located in.

“Especially for Black History Month, it’s really important to not just recognize the history but also [find] a way we can make that history permanent [and] public,” Hunscher-Young said. “So having everybody invested in some capacity is going to recognize the history of the school and the building.”

The organizing around the fundraising has also been done by the students. The student committee is called the Student Centennial Committee and they meet on Mondays during lunch.

“[The Student Centennial Committee]

are the ones that are really spearheading this club,” Hunscher-Young said. “[They want] to keep the momentum [and to] keep learning about things.”

The committee is very invested in sharing the history of Jones School and Black Ann Arbor. They plan to spend the month spreading information, like the humans of Jones and oral history pieces.

Hunscher-Young knows that addressing the building’s history is vital in moving forward.

“In Ann Arbor, with increasing housing prices and a whole lot of other things that have happened to the Black community, from what I’ve heard from elders , who either went to Jones or that used to be in this neighborhood, they feel hurt,” Hunscher-Young said.

“Recognizing how that history has allowed us to create the space that we’re in today and being able to use that knowledge is super important.”

Roe V. Wade has had a national impact though we often forget about how it affects our community on a local level.

Photo courtesy of Lila Fetter Members of PPAM Youth Advocates pictured at a protest after the Supreme Court leak of the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The organization is made up of high school students from around Washtenaw County.

Celebrating Jones School

CHS celebrates the history of Jones School through Lunch and Learns, walking tours and school events.

BY NAVI FIELDS, NINA TINNEY AND ISABELLA JACOB

Throughout the month, the Student Centennial Committee has organized a variety of events to honor Jones School. Most prevalent being a series of “Lunch and Learns”and a Local Black History Tour for Ann Arbor Steam first graders. This was led by Joslyn Hun scher-Young’s “History of Racism and Resistance” class.

Deborah Meadows, program chair, speaks about her work with the African American Historical & Cultural Museum. She has been working towards making CHS more informed on its own history. “[Lunch & Learns] are so important because a lot of this history isn’t in the books. This is the work that we need to do to connect with the students and people again, to help them feel connected to our [history].”

Joslyn Hunscher-Young, CHS teacher, introduces her students leading the Ann Arbor Steam walking tour. “Ann Arbor Steam is doing a project to teach their students the history of their school,” Hunscher-Young explained. “To launch their project, they wanted to go on the walking tour and learn about Jones School.”

Adam Treib, CHS stu dent, is stationed at the Sec ond Baptist Church (now Alaina’s Children Center) for the Ann Arbor Steam walking tour. Treib found it interesting to see how the first graders react ed to the history. “One kid in my group had gone to Alaina’s Children Center for preschool,” Treib said. “However, he never knew about the Second Baptist Church. I think that is is really important for kids to learn local history, it gives them perspec tive.”

Dean Marci has been especially pleased with everything going on this year. After attending one of the first “Lunch and Learns” with Carol Gibson as well as being able to speak to Jones alumni at a meet and greet she was awestruck by everything she had learned. “This idea of listening and working together, I just love it,” Dean Marci said.

Lunar New Year, a notoriously boisterous celebration in East Asia, has once again come and gone quietly at CHS. This momentous event is rooted in centuries of history and centered around ushering in a new year of good fortune. Asian American students and staff share their unique traditions and the importance of holding on to them, as well as their hopes for the future.

BY ARISTA LUONG AND SOFI MARANDA

Only 3% of CHS’s student body is Asian American. The lack of cultural community for Asian American students within CHS can be isolating, especially on a significant holiday such as the Lunar New Year.

Parades filling the streets, decorations covering every surface and the smell of freshly made food wafting from every window are the social norm in East Asia. The same cannot be said for suburban America.

“You could see that extreme dichotomy growing up, where inside your home, it’s family and festivity, and as soon as you step outside, it’s a normal day for most Americans,” said Luciana Qu, a CHS math teacher who grew up in Ann Arbor.

It is believed that Lunar New Year originated during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC), but the exact

date is unknown. According to a legend created during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC), Nian, a mythical beast, consumed livestock, crops and people, terrorizing villages. The citizens’ solution was to leave food on their doorsteps for him as an offering. It was discovered by a wise old man that Nian was afraid of the color red and loud noises, so people began hanging red lanterns and scrolls, and cracking bamboo, scaring Nian away for good. This marked a new beginning for the village, and thus, the new year. The Lunar New Year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice occurs, which is usually between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20.

“[Lunar New Year is] a big, important event for people of my culture and being able to be a part of

that and see what it’s like, and [be a part of] different traditions is really interesting,” Oliver Maranda said. Traditional foods include whole fish for prosperity, dumplings and spring rolls for wealth, sticky rice balls for togetherness and long noodles for longevity and happiness.

Dragon Dances are performed by several dancers holding poles attached to a giant dragon, which are raised and lowered to mimic movement. This ritual is believed to scare away evil spirits and attract good fortune. Another common element of Lunar New Year is red envelopes

which contain money and are given to children by older family members.

“Traditions are what make up a lot of our culture and our connections and things that help us to connect with other people,” said Joslyn Hunscher-Young, a history teacher.

Several Asian American students and staff at CHS were asked how they celebrate and view Lunar New Year and the importance of holding on to tradition and culture.

How has your celebration of Lunar New Year changed since quarantine?

This year, we exchanged gifts of some sort, we had our cousin’s family come over and then we ate a big meal together. But before the pandemic, I used to go to Chinese school, and they had this event every year where each grade would perform something special. After the performances, there’d be traditional Chinese games and food. There were always those shows where the people are holding the dragon head with a pole and people dance with it. The younger kids, third or fourth graders, would do a dance or sing a song. But now, there’s the pandemic, so they don’t do it anymore. What I miss the most is being able to actually see the different kinds of cultural stuff you do, because there were a lot of pre-pandemic activities, where you could see calligraphy, and people would do it [in front of you].

How has your celebration of Lunar New Year changed since quarantine?

For me, a lot has changed. My dad, who was Chinese American, passed away in April 2020. So that meant some shifts and changes, since he had done a lot of the New Year’s celebrations. But we still celebrate. We just had a meal with my mom and made some of the additions that my dad used to make. So we still have a big meal with way too much food and spend time with family. Those things are the same but different with the loss of my dad and different things are starting to come back this year. The one thing on Chinese New Year was, in order for us to get our red envelopes, we did have to say gong hei fat choi (happy new year in Cantonese), and so we still have to do that, and my husband still has to do that during the celebrations as well, and my kids still have to do that. What hopes do you have for the new year?

I’m hopeful that things turn out okay, and that people take the time to cherish those around them and to really connect in, and figure out,

I thought it was really cool. Now, I think it’s a lot less social in a sense, and it’s more family [oriented].

Why do you think it’s important to hold on to these traditions?

This culture is one of the only cultures I really do celebrate. In America, [there’s] Thanksgiving, Christmas, those kinds of holidays. But our family doesn’t really value them as much as Chinese [holidays] because they immigrated here from China. So I think if I don’t keep and hold on to [my traditions], I won’t really have a culture to celebrate and enjoy.

How would you explain Lunar New Year and its significance to someone who hasn’t heard of it? Honoring your ancestors is one big part of it, and wishing luck for the next new year. People think that it’s kind of weird, some of the things we eat, or maybe some of the plays that are put on. [To them] I’d say, first give it a try and see if you like it.

and value, and spend time with the people that are important to them. I hope, especially within the Asian American community, that people are able to hold each other close and figure out ways to continue to make our society a better place than it is. What new traditions are you creating?

This year, I also decided to share a tradition with my forum. On the Tuesday after New Year’s, I brought in a bunch of dumpling filling and dumpling wrappers. We had a dumpling-making party in forum and just made a bunch of dumplings that they could then take home and cook. It was mildly entertaining to watch people that had never made a dumpling before attempt to do it for their first time, but they all grew a lot and made really solid-looking dumplings by the end. I think that that’s something that I want to try and continue as well, because I think it’s an important way to share the culture and some model for students how they can bring it in share something about themselves too, and build those connections in forum. Plus, dumplings are delicious.

Wilson Zheng, 9th

Joslyn Hunscher-Young, Staff

How do you view Lunar New Year as an Asian American?

Lunar New Year is the biggest celebration for a lot of East Asians, and it’s difficult to not have the type of celebrations that we typically see in Asia, with the dancing lions and the firecrackers. You don’t really see the impact as a culture or as a societal norm for Lunar New Year [in the U.S.]. In China, you don’t have to create this event. Whereas here, especially in places that don’t have a massive Asian American population, you have to create that at home, which is very secluded. Growing up, my parents tried really, really hard to make a celebration. But you could see that extreme dichotomy growing up, where inside your home, it’s family and festivity, and as soon as you step outside, it’s a normal day for most Americans. It’s so encouraging to see that there are people who are still trying very hard to create that kind of pocket of tradition, just to feel like they’re part of a community. It’s the diaspora of Asian Americans and it’s powerful to see them trying to persevere through this pain and continuing the traditions that they’ve been used to for thousands of years.

Why do you think it’s important to hold on to these traditions?

I think that part of growing up as an Asian American is we look different from most people and what we look like isn’t typically considered as what Americans consider as American. The way that we perceive ourselves and the way people may have treated us growing up affects how we see ourselves and our identities. Holding onto these traditions I feel gives us a connection to not only our ancestors but also gives me something to relate to people who look like me, who celebrate these things with me. When you come here as an immigrant, you feel like you’re always the minority and that people don’t celebrate the same things that you do; It’s like you bring a lunch box full of Chinese food that your parents made and people are looking at you like, “What is that? Why does it smell so weird?” It’s kind of like that, but on a bigger scale. Right now, you have a celebration which means so much to millions, billions of people around the world. But it’s so unknown here in the Western Hemisphere.

Why do you think it’s important to hold on to these traditions?

I think it’s important to connect with different parts of your culture, especially when those parts of your culture [have] a lot of stigma and negative things happening to people like that, and just being who you are. [Lunar New Year is] a big, important event for people of my culture and being able to be a part of that and see what it’s like, and [be a part of] different traditions is really interesting. I don’t really practice that culture every day and it’s really interesting to see what it’s like, with different members of my family, and what people who are still in Korea—what they would do. I think it’s important to give each of these parts of myself the attention that they deserve, and take moments to just reset and explore different parts of my identity.

What does new year mean to you?

I [celebrate] all sorts of different New Years. [My family celebrates] three new years. We have the calendar new year, the Jewish new year, and then Lunar New Year, and it’s interesting because all of the symbolism and new starts, and sort of instead of being like, “I’ll do it next year,” you have more opportunities to just make a significant change, and just make a big difference in your life. I imagine I would have different connections with both of my grandparents on my mom’s side if they were still alive. They would practice different traditions like red envelopes, and a lot of bowing. And I think it’s sad that my sister [and I] won’t ever be able to share those experiences with them. I think it’s important to share these experiences with the family members that you still have.

Luciana Qu, Staff

Oliver Maranda, 10th

Amidst nationwide staffing shortages, teachers and administrators at Community High School and throughout the district work to meet teacher staffing needs.

BY SERENA O’BRIEN

A junior at Community High School (CHS) helped pick the math department’s newest addition from their grandparent’s living room. Out of a pool of seven applicants, Jesse Richmond was selected for the position.

Richmond served as a long-term substitute during the 2021-2022 school year, and has now taken a full-time position teaching math at CHS.

This applicant pool was markedly smaller than is typical, an indicator of the staffing shortages that are affecting school districts across the state, and across the nation.

Rebecca Westrate, the assistant dean for CHS, has been a key member of the hiring process for the school for six years, and has worked in the administrative field for 15. She sits on nearly all of the hiring panels, which are composed of a combination of staff and students to ensure a diversity of voices.

The staffing gaps tend to show in more specialized positions, like special education and world languages, whereas positions in Art and English still draw high numbers of applicants. The school recently hired for positions in both fields, receiving between 30 and 35 applications.

Marci Harris, who has served as the district curriculum coordinator for world languages K-12 in AAPS for ten years, has seen a drastically shrinking candidate

pool in her subject area. In her earlier days as a member of hiring committees, she recalls having between 30 and 40 applicants for a high school level Spanish teaching position. From there they could narrow down the pool by Michigan teaching certification, language certification, and experience. In recent years, the same positions have received a tiny fraction of those applicants.

“Now we’re lucky to get five applicants, and of those applicants we’re thrilled if there is even one that is certified and with the correct credentials to be hired,” Harris said. There are still two Spanish openings that the district has been hard-pressed to fill, including an elementary position at Mitchell that has impacted four other schools since the start of this school year. AAPS has the benefit of being a desirable school district for employment.

“Having worked in other districts, [in Ann Arbor] you are able to have a much broader pool of candidates,” Westrate said. During her past experience in the metro-Detroit area Westrate had much more difficulty hiring and retaining qualified candidates.

“There’s a lot to offer [in Ann Arbor],” Westrate said. “There are good schools here, good places to go, good things to do, good places to live.” Not all school districts are as fortunate.

“Most of the candidates that we get [in the language department] that we get are—I hate to say we’re stealing, but that’s what’s happening,” Harris said. “They’re applying to come to Ann Arbor and are leaving their districts, so then it becomes this domino effect where that district ends up short a teacher.”

According to a policy brief from Michigan State University’s (MSU) Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, the percentage of teachers leaving their districts has increased by nearly four percent from 2010-2011 to 2019-2020. This domino effect has a more severe impact on some school districts than others. The highest rates of teachers leaving their districts occurred in districts with the largest economically disadvantaged or Black student populations, climbing as high as 12%. In schools like Ann Arbor, with lower proportions of economically disadvantaged or Black students, these rates remain consistently lower than state averages.

“It’s a luxury here that a lot of our candidates have experience,” Westrate said. “A lot of districts can basically only hire folks with very little experience.” Although less experienced instructors can be great additions to teaching staff, veteran teachers tend to be more desirable in terms of employment. The same policy brief from MSU demonstrates that lower income districts with higher proportions of minority students also have significantly higher percentages of novice teachers—described as having less than three years of teaching experience, whereas higher income districts have substantially fewer low-experience teachers. But veteran teachers are getting harder and harder to come by for everyone. Some school districts, including AAPS, have resorted to hiring back previously retired teachers—who often hold their positions until a suitable replacement can be found.

“I see more retirees going back after nine months, or a year, and going to fill these jobs because there’s just no one else to take it,” Westrate said. “[These] folks just

have a heart for teaching, and they’re willing to come back and do that to get us through.”

Harris and the world language department have also been reaching out to retired former teachers, as well as to teachers from other districts in efforts to encourage them to relocate to Ann Arbor.

“We’re also reaching out to different organizations with people that we know are native speakers that might not have [certification],” Harris

said. “So we’re trying to encourage them to go back [to school], or even get emergency certification.” Districts have the option to acquire emergency certification for unqualified teaching candidates. Through a district-sponsored process, candidates can obtain a temporary certification from the state of Michigan allowing them to fill a position when they are truly unable to find a certified applicant.

However, this process isn’t always a viable one. “The state of Michigan has been putting up more and

“Now we’re lucky to get five applicants, and of those applicants we’re thrilled if there is even one that is certified and with the correct credentials to be hired,” Harris said.

more roadblocks to get qualified teachers,” Harris said. AAPS has had several teachers who came from private school backgrounds — where state certification isn’t a necessity — who were able to gain certification while teaching on an emergency basis.

“Their [emergency] teaching was almost like the student teaching process, where they [would] get the credits for doing it, and [then] they would just have to take a couple of classes,” Harris said. The process has become more convoluted, and in some departments is no longer allowed.

When there are no candidates, positions simply go unfilled. CHS has sometimes been forced to employ long-term substitutes to take the reins until a qualified candidate can be found. The school district was lucky to fill a vacated position during the 2021-2022 school year with Richmond, who had the qualifications to teach math, but not all schools are as lucky.

“Districts have had to do all sorts of things to get [vacancies] covered, whether it was emergency certification, or long term subs who aren’t certified at all just trying to follow provided lesson plans,” Westrate said. In extreme cases, classes cease to be offered, or are transitioned to an online setting, where a certified instructor goes a longer way.

A major indicator of AAPS’s staffing woes is in the school of education at the University of Michigan, with just 11 world language students in its teacher preparation program. In the past semester, there was only one student world language teacher in the entire district.

As of the 2022-2023 school year, the United States Department of Education’s Teacher Shortage Area’s report for Michigan lists math, art and music education, science, world languages, health and special education as experiencing critical shortages.

“There’s definitely a general feeling of doom and gloom around this, that no one will ever want to be a teacher,” Westrate said. “But I don’t believe that to be true.” Although she is optimistic that the staffing crisis can be addressed, she thinks that drastic action will need to be taken — entered around organizational and financial systems in schools.

“I think they will have to look at pay,” Westrate said. “They’re just going to have to be honest about that fact. It’s a job where you might cost yourself out.”

Nationwide teacher shortages reflect the same sentiment: something needs to change in order to both retain current teachers and usher in the new.

ART BY SERENA O’BRIEN

Staffing changes in Michigan mapped by school district. Compares number of full-time equivalency teaching positions in 2019 to number of full-time equivalency positions in 2021.

Using data from Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information: Staff Count for All Districts, All Teachers.

MICHIGAN STAFFING CHANGES 2019-2021

What Comes Next?

A look into how young adults choose their career paths.

BY LEWIS PERRY

It seemed like any other math course. In eighth grade, Alexander Marsh, chose to take Geometry in order to pursue his love for mathematics and advance his skills before he started high school. He instantly fell in love with the real-world application used throughout the course. Marsh was captivated with how geometry applied the numbers he was dealing with rather than doing traditional equations. He felt much more purpose within this genre of math compared to other classes he had taken.

“I grasped on to that [real-world application] and used it as motivation to get better at math and to apply myself more directly,” Marsh said.

As a kid, Marsh had a vast interest in basketball, specifically its analytical aspects. He would look at points, rebounds, player trends and predict players’ potential. Through this, Marsh developed his love for statistics. Once in high school, Marsh was able to evolve this interest for statistics into something he could pursue, rather than a simple hobby. Math teachers Maneesha Mankad and Ann Thomas played a big role in mentoring his journey.

“To have someone always ready and willing to help you is definitely necessary,” Marsh said. “I’ve struggled at times and wanted to quit, but having those people push you forward was extremely helpful.”

Marsh plans to major in statistical analysis when he gets to college and further pursue this interest. His path to choosing this career shows how details as small as love for sports can end up relating to complex math and data analysis.

For Lizzie Goldman, a senior at University of Michigan, her path to choosing a career started a little differently. Her father, an ex-attorney and law professor, would allow her to come into his lectures throughout her childhood starting at the age of six.

“I had these t-shirts I wore all the time that had famous Supreme Court cases on them, like Brown v. Board of Education,” Goldman said. “I was obsessed with them.”

Her dad would help her understand these important cases at a young age. It fascinated her. She loved hearing what her dad had to say and kept moving further and further along this path within law.

As Goldman went through middle school, high school and eventually college, she took numerous classes centered around law. Goldman would learn about different courts, judges and controversies in the American justice system.

“Every course I took that involved the legal field I found fascinating,” Goldman said. “I think [the classes] just validated the idea that I should go into law.”

After moving away for college, Goldman’s relationship with her father remained strong. However, his role within her life did change. Instead of her father being the main source to talk to when it came to law, it now became her professors. She branched out into different resource opportunities and ways to immerse herself further within the field of law, like interning for different attorneys and applying to law school.

Through the process of taking each new step further into this career path, Goldman solidified this choice as a long-term option. College proved to be the final piece of the puzzle in this process for her. She was able to take initiative and apply herself into new opportunities that would help her get to the level of expertise she was trying to reach.

When looking at the process of young adults choosing their careers in a bigger lens, independence proves to be the main turning point. When students finish high school, they generally will start looking for career opportunities that could work in their respective lives. Even if many of these choices don’t become long term options, the choices themselves are done by the person and they are able to dictate their own paths.

“If it’s not something that you actually enjoy or want to do, it’s not going to be something that’s obtainable for you,” Marsh said. “Even if it doesn’t seem like the most logical choice initially, branch out and try to find yourself because you can always change what you do.”

“To have someone always ready and willing to help you is definitely necessary,” Marsh said. “I’ve struggled at times and wanted to quit, but having those people push you forward was extremely helpful.”

The Future of Food

As the planet’s population increases and temperatures climb, climate change will transform our food industry.

BY RUTH SHIKANOV

‘Why would anyone not be vegan?’ Seven Steiner asked themself after an eye-opening conversation with their camp counselor about her choice to be vegan and the impact of a non vegan diet. They talked about the negative impacts of climate change and animal cruelty, as well as her positive feelings about not contributing to factory farming, given that the majority of carbon emissions are produced by animals and meat transportation. After their session at camp ended, Steiner knew what changes they wanted to make in their own life.

“When I got back from summer camp, it was pretty easy for me to make the switch [to veganism] because my parents used to be vegan,” Steiner said. “They helped me with things like figuring out how to get enough nutrients and protein.

To Steiner, being vegan requires a change of mindset — a set of choices that are dedicated to sustainability and taking action against animal cruelty. Steiner believes that there is a common misconception that every vegan is mad at those who don’t follow a plant-based diet.

“While I do think it would be beneficial for the planet and for people if more people went vegan, I’m not gonna get mad at people for the choices that they make with their own life,” Steiner said.

That being said, Steiner hopes that there will be a point in the future where people are more open minded to being vegan. And even if not everyone will adopt a vegan lifestyle, there will be no factory farming and livestock can be raised humanely, reducing animal cruelty and the damage to the environment

Since the start of the year, 38 million tons of meat have already been consumed on a global scale. This number is only going to increase. The United Nations estimates that the population in 2050 will be 9.7 billion people. And the estimated amount of meat to be consumed in 2050 will be 570 million tons. But what are the environmental costs of producing meat? Raising livestock makes up 11% of the United States’ total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — gases in the Earth’s atmosphere which trap heat. Cows emit methane, the second most abundant GHG after carbon

dioxide and makes up 20% percent of global emissions. Nitrous oxide —another GHG which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide— is a result from the installation of agricultural fertilizers, organic and synthetic. Additionally, the production of beef is the largest contributor to deforestation, as forests are destroyed to expand pasture land. On average, it takes 2,000 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef — a much larger footprint compared to other livestock. As shown above, our diets affect the world we live in, but there are ways to address this. For Jonathan Thomas-Palmer, CHS physics teacher, who has been vegan for three years, turning around his diet and lifestyle was out of concern for the Earth, but also for the benefits to his own health and appreciation for food.

“Cheese used to be something that I put on everything,” Thomas-Palmer said. “And I’ve realized that basically, I was just flavoring everything with cheese. I wasn’t actually tasting the food I was eating,” Thomas-Palmer said. Thomas-Palmer is not the only vegan in his family — in fact, his entire family is vegan. It was an abrupt switch to a plant-based diet: his wife was instrumental in that choice, doing the majority of the research behind why being vegan is better for the environment.

“It has to do with the amount of energy it takes to make non-vegan foods,” Thomas-Palmer said. “And that’s terrible for the planet.

Given that his whole family follows a plant-based diet, it is convenient both financially and organizationally, as his family only needs to create one meal which caters to everyone. But being vegan can be very difficult, which is especially evident when traveling.

“Everything has meat and dairy in it,” Thomas-Palmer said. “It is just amazing how many places we just can’t go [to] because they don’t have any options.”

But with experience, Thomas-Palmer has learned how to adapt and plan appropriately. When traveling, he and his wife have identified specific vegan restaurants and it has become a ritual which his family looks forward to. Thomas-Palmer admits that if you eat meat and

Photo by Ruth Shikanov Crop season is being impacted by climate change, according to Maureen Devlin. C3 plants, like wheat, have best thrived in cooler climates. “Wheat might actually grow better as things get a little bit warmer.”

dairy, these situations are easier because “that’s just the society we live in.”

To Thomas-Palmer, the future of veganism is complicated: he thinks that there is a stigma surrounding veganism and a meat dependent diet. That isn’t true, according to Thomas-Palmer.

“You can get the proteins you need from getting a wide variety of foods which are plant based,” Thomas-Palmer said. “There are a lot of meat alternatives now too.”

From his point of view, people are close-minded when it comes to a plant-based diet, which stems from tradition — food encompasses family and cultural traditions — and lack of knowledge about the benefits of veganism.

“[It is important to educate] people about the effects of their own diet and how the vegan diet will have a less [damaging] effect on [the planet],” Thomas-Palmer said.

To mitigate climate change effects and ensure food security, food production and diets need to change, according to Maureen Devlin, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, has been studying different human diets and how certain environmental factors and preferences such as climate, physical activity, location and dietary differences can impact the nutrition of humans. When looking at the future of nutrition, there are three directions that the path of future nutrition will look like, according to Devlin.

Today, many of the foods we eat are ultra-processed foods, says Devlin. As defined by the National Institute of Health, ultra-processed foods are foods which were once whole foods but transformed into substances which undergo chemical modifications and have additives to have a longer shelf life in addition to being ready to consume and are highly profitable.

“Many [foods] have been processed much more [now] than has been true for most of our evolutionary history,” Devlin said.

Devlin claims that there is evidence and research which states that ultra-processed foods are not necessarily beneficial for us. She emphasizes, however, that it isn’t a matter of what foods are ‘good’ and ‘bad,’

but looking at the bigger picture.

“Overall, the percentage of the foods that most of us eat on a daily basis that have already been processed in some way compared to [those] that are in their original state has been increasing over time,” Devlin said.

The second idea that Devlin believes comes as no surprise is that climate change is — and will continue to — deeply impact food availability which will disproportionately affect those who already have the least access to food. This is based on models where data shows how climate change is making its mark on animals’ behavior patterns.

“So we’re already starting to see some of those hints that the way that plants and animals behave and

evolution of CO2 during photosynthesis. C4 plants best thrive in hotter and drier conditions, like near the equator. Wheat, on the other hand, is a C3 plant, a plant that converts CO2 into an organic compound by using its C3 carbon fixation pathway. These plants like cooler and wetter climates and as the Earth warms, C3 plants will suffer in those conditions. But CO2, the primary GHG emitted by human activity, helps plants grow, Devlin says.

“So you might think, is having more CO2 in the atmosphere a bad thing because plants will grow better?” Devlin said.

But this ‘benefit’ does not outweigh the much more negative impacts, such as prioritizing how much water is available to prevent droughts as well as the fact that pests prosper in warmer climates.

reproduce is changing,” Devlin said. Examples of this include fish and birds: climate change is forcibly displacing them as they migrate to places where there are conditions vital for them to survive, such as bodies of water with cooler temperatures or an earlier migration. Crops and their growing seasons are also being deeply affected as the temperature changes and there is an unnerving problem particularly near the equator. In Devlin’s opinion, warmer temperatures are considered a double-edged sword when it comes to crop production. Corn, as stated by Devlin, is a C4 plant which uses a specific photosynthesis mechanism to avoid photorespiration, the

Lastly, Devlin believes that there are interesting and innovative directions in the food industry, like insects, a protein eaten around the globe and different continents. Today, insects can come in different forms like high protein flours. Globally, animal agriculture emissions are rooted in the conversion of forests into croplands, creating animal feed and methane coming from cows and sheep — plant-based meats and tofu require no cropland necessary. A collaboration between the University of Oxford and a research group in Switzerland found that tofu emitted only two kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions whereas beef emitted 50 kilograms, producing 25 times more greenhouse gas emissions. A study done by researchers at Oxford and Rikkyo University found that insects use up to 50 to 90% less land and produce 1,000 to 2,700 GHG emissions per kilogram compared to livestock. And as stated in this study and by Devlin, insects are not a new food and in fact, insects can provide 10 to 35 grams of protein per 100 grams, compared to 17 to 20 grams of meat.

“People have always eaten insects and other primates, like chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, all eat insects,” Devlin said. “In certain societies, people sort of grossed out or disgusted by the idea of eating insects, but they’re a great source of protein.”

“[It is important to educate] people about the effects of their own diet and how the vegan diet will have a less [damaging] effect on [the planet].”

In the other direction, there are plant-based meats, such as the Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger, which use 72%-99% less water than meat, as stated by the Good Food Institute. But there are even lab-grown meats. The process of making lab grown meats involves taking a small amount of muscle tissue or cells of a living animal and then attempting to grow it in the lab. The idea behind these two options — plantbased meat and lab grown meat — is that it provides an alternative for those who want to eat something that looks and tastes like a burger, but doesn’t harm any animals and uses much less water. And while lab grown meats are currently not on the market, Devlin believes that the idea is to make these options less expensive as time goes on.

“Things like the Impossible Burger are still more expensive than beef, but they’re less expensive than they were originally,” Devlin said. “And they’re much more readily available than they were originally.”

But even if the costs go down and there are several different alternatives, not everyone will go on a plant based diet, reasons spanning from dietary preferences to nutritional needs.

“In general, when we try to force people to do something, it often doesn’t go well,” Devlin said. “If you think about things like when New York tried to tax sodas or [when] people proposed taxes on junk food, none of those have gone well. The voters have repealed them.” Additionally, Devlin states that several anthropologists have pointed out that present bias, one of the

psychological biases, is a contributing factor to why some people have fixed mindsets: humans are biased to focusing on the present moment rather than contemplating about their actions and its impact on the future.

“That is the reason that people don’t put money in their 401Ks, it’s the reason that people put off doing things,” Devlin said. “Even if we know intellectually that in a couple of decades, we may be sorry, it’s harder for us to change our behavior now.” And if people decide to take action and adopt a plant based diet, Devlin emphasizes that it’s crucial to be attentive and ensure that they’re eating a variety of different kinds of foods, especially for children, who need nutrients while they grow. While Devlin believes that there are several benefits to eating more plant based foods, she also believes that in our society, people want to make their own food choices and that is seen as a cultural value.

“We can try to encourage or discourage certain things,” Devlin said. “When I was a child, people were allowed to smoke indoors, in restaurants, on airplanes. And that meant everyone was exposed to that secondhand smoke.” Despite secondhand smoke being damaging to those who were exposed, Devlin states it is harder to implement that same expectation for dietary decisions as it is more difficult to make the argument that they affect others directly, as well as indirectly.

“On a societal level, certain foods are associated with a higher risk of cancer or a higher risk of oth-

er health problems,” Devlin said. “There might be sort of broader societal effects of eating those foods, but it’s less of that direct effect on the other individual that provided the rationale for taking smoking out of indoor spaces.”

To Devlin, maintaining the idea that everyone gets the right to choose what is best for them and their lifestyle is valuable, but being aware of all lifestyles that can greatly benefit one’s health and the planet’s condition is just as important.

Another aspect Devlin mentions is that people find it difficult to believe there is a problem if they are not actively watching it happen before their eyes which evokes changes in their habits.

“Public opinion might change more readily once people are actually seeing the effects for themselves,” Devlin said. “I think it’s really hard for many people to believe that there’s a problem that will happen in the future, if there’s no evidence of it right now. I think that that is a general problem — It’s not just about climate change. Humans, in general, want to see the evidence that something is a problem.”

Still, Devlin remains optimistic about the future. According to Devlin, there are societal efforts to be made, such as consuming less meat, diversifying our diets and learning how eating more plants is beneficial and can reduce the effects of climate change. She believes that forcing dietary changes will not help the climate crisis and encouraging people to be aware of the facts and research done can cause a big shift towards a greener society.

The Future of History

As a history teacher, Ryan Silvester has a unique view of the future. He believes we are always informed by the past and he teaches his students two things: history creates the future and there is no time like the present.

BY LYDIA COCCIOLONE

The past is history; the future is hard to think about; the present is now.

Cherished history teacher, Ryan Silvester, started his career at CHS in 2018 with the purest form of optimism. In the middle of a new U.S. presidency, Silvester saw a spark in society; an anticipated push for progress; a new hunger to make the world a better place. He wanted to be a part of that.

Silvester’s mindset hasn’t changed over the years. He understands his naivety in the beginning of his time teaching and now recognizes the barriers the human race faces when it comes to forward movement.

“It feels oxymoronic to say that a history class is for ward-looking,” Silvester said. “But so much of history helps us make the right decisions going forward. We need to make the right decisions now in order to make it to this world where we care about our climate, our environment, the earth, living here for a long period of time and in passing it on to [our] progeny.”

As an educator, Silvester has the ability to impact the generation of the future: his students. He encourages them to find their passion and use it to make a difference, no matter how small, because everyone is weaving the story together.

“Some people are [going to] be the Greta Thunbergs in the world and they’re [going to] do the heavy lifting,” Silvester said. “But that doesn’t work if she doesn’t have a following; that doesn’t work if people aren’t retweeting her messages, aren’t joining climate protests in Ann Arbor, aren’t pioneering new ways to experience the world.”

Silvester understands the uniqueness of Community and hopes for the people in the building to lean into the school’s quirkiness and the privilege of not feeling obligated to be locked into any subject. He believes this is the way to create independent learners and give students the opportunity to find their passions.

“[CHS] has this really unique ability to affect change on a local scale, that a lot of other buildings don’t,” Silvester said.

This year, Silvester takes pride in the reestablishment of CHS’s roots by resurfacing the “Hidden Histories” of the school. The mission statement of this building through Silvester’s eyes is “focusing on independent and experiential learning within our community.”

Silvester believes there is a beautiful energy flowing through our halls; it’s an energy of collaboration, dedication, friendship and education. Much of this is thanks to CHS not having what Silvester calls a “canned curriculum” like other schools. Teachers are not handed a

lesson plan; they build their own content and timeline with their own intentions to pass information from generation to generation.

Forums are the same way. Forums are based on the students, not their forum leader. Silvester hopes to go back to the connectedness of themed forums, and recognize how they will change over time. There were forums based on service, there were athletic forums and forums known for certain subjects. Silvester understands the aftermath of the virtual school year and its effect on the forum environment. He finds profound value within his own forum, and hopes to create deeper connections between his group of kids.

Working at CHS doesn’t feel like a job to Silvester and he loves coming to school everyday. Every year, he’s itching to get back to his students. Despite the much-needed rest, all he can think about is being back in the building with his students and other teachers.

Silvester seriously values his time at CHS. In his previous work, there wasn’t much camaraderie amongst the people he worked with; at CHS it’s different. He savors every moment he shares with his colleagues. From playing ping pong with Brian Williams, counselor, to being pranked by Courtney Kiley, science teacher, time after time, Silvester has found a place of harmony.

“My immediate future is here and loving being here and loving every second of every day,” Silvester said.

It’s difficult to think about the future when the present is so remarkable.

Looking Forward

Climate Changes impact on youths image of the future.

BY MATTHEW CASTILHO

Nadya Matish spends almost everyday thinking about what the world she lives in will look like in thirty years. Since she had access to the internet, Matish has been gathering information about climate change, reading headline after headline proclaiming the end of the world. She slowly found herself heading down a rabbit hole of bad news that felt never ending, and topics like biodiversity loss and effects on the developing world became increasingly difficult for her to cope with. Traveling down the rabbit hole helped Matish realize the severity of climate change and how it could affect the world. However, this realization came with a price — her head was constantly filled with negative thoughts about the future, both hers and the planet’s.

“What if the world is gone before [we reach 80 years old]?” Matish said.

For months, all Matish could think about was how doomed the earth was. She could feel these emotions seeping into her every thought.

As time went by, Matish’s feelings surrounding the climate crisis were starting to affect her relationships. She knew something needed to change. — she needed a break from thinking about climate change

Matish now believes that climate change ranks as one of the worst threats we face today when compared to current problems such as political polarization.

“If we’re divided along political or social views, we are still here and existing,” Matish said. “But if the world ends, then we can’t even have things to disagree about, because we won’t be around.”

For Najeh Matute-Martinez, climate change has become a source of outrage. Worries about food and water scarcity, diseases and social instability resulting from climate change have kept Matute-Martinez up at night.

“I can’t sleep when I really [take a] deep dive and start thinking about the consequences [of climate change] or go down the informational rabbit hole [of] real facts of what’s going on,” Matute-Martinez said.

Zoë Simmons has a sense of urgency and worry surrounding climate change. The severe depletion of resources brought by climate change is the most troubling aspect for Simmons because she can already see its effects.

“As we’ve seen in recent years, everything is getting more expensive and will continue to get more expensive,” Simmons said. “Places like California will start

seeing a severe migration of people who, at least, have the money and resources to relocate. Worldwide, we’ll see an increase in the number of viruses, food-related illnesses and severe weather.”

These observations were also shared by fellow classmates Hazel Derry and Madison Lee. For them, worries about the future are exacerbated because they can already see the effects. Increasing food insecurity, energy bills and wealth inequalities are all problems we face now, but they only show a sliver of what’s to come. Using a simple weekend outing, Derry and Lee show how increasing prices are contributing to worries about the future.

“When we used to go out, we normally spent around $10 to $20, but now we normally spend around $30 to $40,” Derry said. “Of course, there are many other factors, but climate change plays a big part. Everything is becoming more expensive and inaccessible. Honestly, if things are worsening now, I don’t want to imagine what they’ll be like in the future.”

As some CHS students struggle with effects of climate change, Gabriel Semrau suggested that remaining hopeful when it comes to climate change could help students cope with this difficult topic.

“[I think] there’s a general consensus within our generation that we tend to avoid sad topics because we’re just surrounded by sadness [all the time],” Semrau said.

Semrau acknowledges that we can’t make everything positive, but believes that changing our mindset from impending doom to taking a step back and seeing that there’s still hope would help young people engage with the problem rather than outright ignoring it.

Though a change in mindset would be beneficial, climate change stress does not simply go away. However, there’s hope for the future. From recent advances in renewable energy to an increased focus on sustainability, people have a new spark of hope.

“Honestly, I think that we’re past the point of no return in general, but I think there’s still a lot we can do to make [it] less catastrophic,” Simmons said.

The Future of Parenting

BY LYDIA DEBORD

Laurel Landrum and Courtney Kiley explore their relationships with their families.

Laurel Landrum

Though a mist of confusion covered it, family was always a matter close to Laurel Landrum’s heart.

In addition to her role as a Spanish teacher, Landrum is also a mother to two young girls. In raising her daughters, Landrum wants to promote confidence, happiness and kindness. But this is easier said than done. Landrum considers her daughters to be rather different from each other. Because of this, she thinks the strategies for raising each of them may differ.

One of her daughters has what Landrum describes as “the Landrum family value of kindness” covered. But this

Courtney Kiley

Courtney Kiley, a science teacher, had always planned on having kids, but her scenario still differs from her fantasies about it in her earlier life. Kiley’s initial wish was to have two boys. Her goal for said boys was to dress them in matching striped shirts.

Despite this notion, Kiley has two girls, Eliza and Hazel. “When I had my daughters I was like, ‘oh, I’ll just raise them to be awesome women,’” Kiley said. Although her outcome is different than expected, Kiley raises her daughters in the same manner she would with boys.

When raising Hazel and Eliza, Kiley focuses on resilience. Kiley acknowledges that this can be hard, but still has hope. “They can make choices in their lives to be the best people and contribute to society,” Kiley said.

Something Kiley found astounding about becoming a mother was the amount of adrenaline and worry she gained for her kids.

The feeling felt original and unlike any prior experience. Because of this unfamiliarity, Kiley felt disgusted by how much she loved her firstborn.

But, this feeling quickly wore off, as she realized she was simply overwhelmed with affection. “I’m never not going to worry about another organism for the rest of my life and I really wasn’t anticipating that,” Kiley said.

After giving birth to her oldest, Kiley remembers calling her father and gushing to him about how he didn’t warn her about how much she would care about her children. Before that moment, Kiley couldn’t even begin to comprehend an emotion that strong. “I just didn’t know that I was gonna feel that way towards something else,” Kiley said.

Kiley thinks her kids have impacted how she sees many things in her life–including her job. Since becoming a mother, Kiley thinks she understands her students more.

“Kids are kids, right?” Kiley said Kiley has discovered that now she sees her students’ flaws, not as an accusation or a fault, but a growing pain. Kiley believes she’s more open and understanding with her students since motherhood. She sees more that her students never have the goal of being bad or doing the wrong things.

She feels an added appreciation for not only her students, but their parents. Kiley’s connection has expanded to parents, and she feels as though in some ways, they are experiencing the same sort of thing. “[My daughters] are students at another school,” Kiley said. “So like, when I see my students, I think about them as other people’s kids.”

Through and through, Kiley’s daughters bring supreme amounts of joy to her life. “There are whole hard moments but in general, we just laugh.” Kiley said. Parenting is a journey for Kiley and she can’t wait to see what’s in store for her daughters and their generation.

“I’m never not going to worry about another organism for the rest of my life, and I really wasn’t anticipating that.”

Since the 19th century, Ann Arbor has been known as a book town. It started in 1886, when the town opened its first “reading room;” a place for people to find and read books for free in a comfortable setting. From the used bookstores scattered throughout the downtown area to the well-known local stores like Literati, Ann Arbor is a safe haven for readers of all kinds.

For decades, bookstores have thrived in Ann Arbor, with nine independent bookstores. However, these bookstores have fluctuated over the years — Wahr’s Bookstore, the longest lasting bookstore in Ann Arbor’s history, closed in the 1970s, and Borders Book Shop, the legendary chain born in Ann Arbor, was lost in 2011. As technology increases in strength and reach, many customers are turning to online shopping, including for books. Where does this leave Ann Arbor’s local bookstores?

When Mike and Hilary Gustafson heard that the Borders in downtown Ann Arbor had closed, they were aghast. They knew Ann Arbor’s downtown wouldn’t be the same without an independent bookstore, so they moved back to their hometown from where they were living in Brooklyn and began planning. Literati Bookstore opened two years later, in 2013. Mike Gustafson has noticed a difference in the amount of online shopping since they opened their doors; he recognizes the convenience of it, which appeals to him as well as to his customers. However, Gustafson knows that shopping at an independent bookstore is a completely different experience from online shopping.

“We pride ourselves on a different shopping experience — in-person, with real people, real books, real recommendations, and real customer service,” Gustafson said. “We are always affected by change and the Internet; at the same time, we just can’t compete or change how consumers buy their products. We can only focus on what we love doing, which is helping people find books they love.”

Gustafson believes that the independence of local bookstores sets them apart from other bookstores; they have the ability to choose what titles they stock and what else they sell. Local bookstores are unique in that each one is different, according to Gustafson.

“When you have something independent like [a local bookstore], customers can come and surprise themselves,” Gustafson said. “They can find voices and books they never would have found online, things that interest them that they didn’t even know would. Reading is a very special process, an insular and personal one, and I don’t think we should allow algorithms to determine what we read.”

Marci Harris, a CHS French teacher and an avid reader, also recognizes the individuality and specialness of independent bookstores; she recalls fond memories of date nights with her husband, where they would spend hours roaming the shelves of Borders downtown. There are also features of local bookstores that just aren’t present when shopping online or at a corporate bookstore.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RYAN THOMAS-PALMER

“My favorite thing about [Ann Arbor bookstores] are the staff favorites,” Harris said. “I used to always love when a staff would recommend a book and [I could read] what they thought about the books.”

Buying books can be an experience in and of itself, according to CHS senior Zoë Simmons, who has loved reading since she was young. Online shopping takes away from time spent out and about, meeting new people and picking out the perfect book.

“I feel like [online book buying] taking a lot of the experience out of book buying because you can just press a button and buy the book instead of roaming around the store for hours, listening to the music that the bookstore is playing and running your fingers through the books, figuring out which ones you want to read,” Simmons said.

A major component of the online bookselling game is Amazon, which both sells and publishes books. About ten percent of Amazon’s worldwide revenue comes from book sales, which corresponds to $28 billion. Amazon loses money when they sell books; books are priced much lower than the price they usually sell at. Amazon employs the same strategy for shipping — by not charging for shipping, more consumers buy from Amazon. This attracts more customers to their general platform, which is possible due to the monopoly they have over the bookselling industry. However, Gustafson does not see these slashed prices as truly being cheaper than independent bookstores. When Amazon sells books at a

loss, it takes money away from authors as well as local bookstores and it influences the kinds of books being published.

“I wish more people would ask the question: ‘Okay, so this is a cheap book. Why is it so cheap? What is the net effect of this?’’ Gustafson said.

Amazon and other online bookstores often have a much wider range of titles than independent bookstores, in addition to their cheap prices and convenience. This can be enough to convince even lovers of local bookstores to turn, in some ways, to Amazon. Harris switched to a Kindle eight years ago — she can take it anywhere, she can look up words when she doesn’t understand them and she can change the font size. There are many reasons for customers to lean on online shopping, and it is difficult for independent bookstores to compete. However, Gustafson has hope for the future of local bookstores. Throughout the years of Literati, Gustafson has noticed more and more members of the younger generation coming into the bookstore. This is evident in Simmons, who can spend hours in a bookstore and aims to read for five hours every week.

“I’m excited about the future because the younger generation seems to “get it;” they get the value of independent bookstores and independent retail, and they realize the inherent risks companies like Amazon can pose to communities,” Gustafson said. “Watching younger people come into the bookstore has been a wonderful thing to see.”

“I wish more people would ask the question: ‘Okay, so this is a cheap book. Why is it so cheap? What is the net effect of this?’’

The History of Community Ensemble Theatre (CET)

Seven CET alumni and one previous director share what CET used to be like when they participated in it.

BY HANNAH RUBENSTEIN AND BEE WHALEN

Years in CET: LOEY JONES-PERPICH: 2017-2020

CHLOE KURIHARA: 20172020

MALI CHAPPELL-LAKIN: 2018-2021

FELICITY ROSA-DAVIES: 2018-2022

ISAAC SCOBEY-THAL: 2011-2015

ANDREA SCHNELL: 20152019

LILY SICKMAN-GARNER: 2017-2021

QUINN STRASSEL: 20102021

What did you like about CET?

JONES-PERPICH: I loved CET because it was my home base for all four years of high school. When I started in Fiddler, I was a Skyline student, and I was looking for something to do in the winter. I looked forward t o it every single day and most of my closest friends were from there.

KURIHARA: I always liked the way that CET had something for everyone. You could be outgoing and extroverted or the quietest person in the room and still have something important to contribute to the group.

CHAPPELL-LAKIN: CET always felt like my second family. I was comfortable there, and I could always be myself. Doing something you love with the people you love is so special.

ROSA-DAVIES: Early on, I loved being on sets crew and feeling like I’d contributed something to the composition of the show in a very hands-on way. It was so cool to learn how to use a power-drill or what a socket wrench was, and to work with people who were as dedicated as I was. Later on, I loved being a leader. Stage managing was very well-suited for me both because I love to organize things and because I enjoy structuring and working with a team. Throughout all my time, I en-

joyed the sense of community and putting in my effort for something for all four years of high school.

SCOBEY-THAL: I liked how small and scrappy we were. We didn’t have the resources that Pioneer had, but our shows were just as good. We just had this little black box on the second floor and we had to turn it to a new world every show. That made our community strong. CET felt more intimate and close-knit than the shows I did at bigger schools.

SCHNELL: As someone coming into the Community knowing no one, CET provided me with friendly faces in the hall. I had people to talk to during class. I made a lot of friends through CET, some like-minded and some completely new people. Alongside the wonderful productions, it was such a closeknit community.

SICKMAN-GARNER: I loved how much of a community CET is. Everyone puts so much energy and effort into the work they’re doing,

and it’s always so cool to see it all come together for the performances. I think the fact that everyone volunteers their time and participates just because they’re passionate about what they’re doing is also amazing.

STRASSEL: CET was a place where I could create great art, push the boundaries, try out big ideas and have fun with an extraordinary group of people. It was a dream job .

What were CET’s values when you were involved?

JONES-PERPICH: CET was my biggest sense of community. I loved being able to show up every day and work together on something and feel like we all cared about what was going on. I felt that there was a strong sense of leadership and mentorship that created a beautiful community.

KURIHARA: When I was in CET, there was a big effort to make it a safe place for everyone. Whether this was through Quinn or through fellow students, I think a lot of peo-

Photo by Margie Morris CET cast concludes their performance with extended arms to the audience.

ple found security in being part of the group. A lot of us wanted to create a space where we could e1xpress ourselves without judgment.

CHAPPELL-LAKIN: There was a big emphasis on the idea that we were an ensemble. Every member of the cast and the crew was seen as incredibly important. Every show we did would not have been the same without every single person who was involved.

ROSA-DAVIES: CET’s goals were to work hard, respect others and communicate responsibly.

Scobey-Thal: Everybody deserves their moment because everybody pitches in. Everybody has something to give. Come in and do your work and you will be a part of something bigger than yourself!

SCHNELL: I feel at the time CET wanted anyone and everyone to feel comfortable enough to participate. We were big on inclusivity and accessibility which theater doesn’t always condone. Quinn was huge on getting everyone who auditioned onstage. I also remember a real emphasis on working together as the ensemble, remembering that theater is a collaborative practice. Everyone needed to put in effort for the production to reach its fullest potential and we all needed to see each other doing that.

SICKMAN-GARNER: CET relied on trust. Putting a production together forces everyone involved to depend on each other, because each show has so many moving pieces that need to line up.

STRASSEL: We always valued the idea of working together as a team.

Every single member was equally valuable. We also valued the idea of pushing ourselves to do something great while supporting each other every step of the way.

What memories do you have of CET?

JONES-PERPICH: The warm ups that we would do before every show was the most incredible thing and that’s not something that has happened to me in theater after graduating high school. We would go up to the third floor before every show and warm for half an hour. That was a big way that traditions got passed down. We had traditions before I was in CET that I knew everything about because we were taught them in warm ups with chants and games in that room and I felt like it brought us all together and I think about that all the time because it’s so nostalgic for me.

KURIHARA: One of the things that I remember fondly is Quinn’s notes during tech week. Everyone was low on sleep, and he was always extremely stressed. He would sometimes give notes that consisted of one word, and no one would be able to figure out what he meant by it—not even him. It was a stressful time, but in those moments, we all laughed together.

CHAPPELL-LAKIN: I will never forget when we did “Disaster!” On opening night there was a series of things that went wrong including a thunderstorm, a tornado warning (that delayed the show) and bats flying around the school. Through all

and created a memory that I’m sure none of us will ever forget.

ROSA-DAVIES: Generally most of my funniest and best memories happened after hours, when I would be staying late with crew or Quinn working on something for the next day during tech week. All the memories mash together.

SCOBEY-THAL: Every time Quinn got frazzled it was pretty hilarious. I guess what comes up most of all is a rehearsal for Just Desserts my senior year, when I did an original sketch with one of my best friends, Milo Tucker-Meyer. We had sort of written it, but spent an afternoon with our cast just improvising and doing new bits and figuring out what it was. It felt like I was laughing harder with Milo and our cast than I had ever laughed before, just making these ridiculous suggestions and making up monologues about Yertle the Turtle. CET often felt like this — you were at the center of the theatrical universe & nothing could possibly be as funny.

SCHNELL: I don’t know if CET still does this but when the audience starts to enter the school and get to their seats in Craft, the actors go up to the third floor do warm ups and laugh, scream, and cry our hearts out, hyping each other up before going to places.

SICKMAN-GARNER: When we were doing “School of Rock,” Jasmine Lowenstein and I showed up to one of the performances wearing almost the exact same outfit. We were both wearing the show t-shirt, so it wasn’t actually that much of a coincidence, but we took a picture and I remember thinking it was fun-

STRASSEL: I will never forget the opening night of “Disaster!” Five minutes before the show started we went into a tornado lockdown and the entire cast, crew and audience had to shelter on the ground floor. It was crazy because the show was about disasters and we experienced the threat of a real-life one along with the stress and excitement of opening night.

Photo by Margie Morris

The crew for the 2018 fall show poses on the set of the production “Love and Information.”

Have you noticed CET changing over the years?

JONES-PERPICH: It seems like traditions have continued with Emily. Also I saw that someone in CET wrote a musical. That never happened when I was in high school, at least not as far as I knew.

KURIHARA: When I joined CET, I remember there being a larger divide between the cast and crew. There were sometimes bad feelings, with people experiencing a lack of appreciation or a condescending attitude from both sides. During the time I was in CET, this changed a lot. By the time I was a senior, lots of people did both cast and crew, and the student board was a good mix of the two. They weren’t as separate, and that was good for the group as a whole.

CHAPPELL-LAKIN: I only experienced CET while it was being run by Quinn Strassel and it was pretty consistent throughout the years. I have no idea what the program looks like now but I’ve heard nothing but good things.

ROSA-DAVIES: So much changed simply with Covid, and with the switch from Quinn to Emily. This change may easily have been in part due to me growing up and getting a change in perspective, and growing up through Covid in addition to the directorial switch. I can cer-

tainly speak first-hand to what has changed in the crew, but less so in an acting sense. When I first started CET, all the freshmen (myself included) feared the upperclassmen, and I thought they were so high above me. I think part of the system when I came in catered to that— upperclassmen were more likely to get lead roles and leadership positions, as Quinn was especially conscious of students proving their commitment and dedication and giving committed and talented students a good role before they graduated. I am not so sure that that style has changed since Emily has taken over, but I have noticed more underclassmen at large receiving better roles and leadership younger than when I was an underclassmen myself. Of course, everyone’s leadership style is different, whether Quinn or Emily, but CET is more than its director. Something that has never changed is that CET has always drawn in people who like to work as a team, who like to problem-solve, and who like to create something amazing together. I have met and worked and problem-solved along with some of the most amazing people during my time at CET. I was credited with a lot of success in various areas while at CET, but there were so many things that I didn't know that others helped me with, and sometimes

solved for me. This was particularly true while working on crew. Scobey-Thal: The shows have only gotten better. I remember coming back during college for the production of “Into the Woods” and saying to Quinn, "we never did anything like that." But I think that communal feeling is still the same. Schnell: I still follow some CET accounts on instagram and I love to see what shows you are doing and see that y'all are still having so much fun. Of course it'll never be the same over the generations but I'm relieved to see it's still goofy and weird over there and that makes me proud! I've heard things about Community High changing and I hope CET can keep the quirky reputation.

SICKMAN-GARNER: I think COVID has probably changed CET a lot. I graduated the spring before everything went back in person, so I don’t have a super clear idea of exactly how, but I do think it was harder to keep the community together and bond as a group when we could only meet virtually.

STRASSEL: One of the things that makes me most happy about Emily Wilson-Tobin leading the group is the continuity and the feeling that the camaraderie and positive support and artistic quality seem to be as great as ever. It still feels like home when I come to see CET shows.

Photo by Margie Morris The crew for the 2018 fall show poses on the set of the production “Love and Information.”

Isaac Scobey-Thal (pictured left) performing in “Spamalot” in the spring of 2015.

Sickman-Garner performing in “Inherit The Wind” in the spring of 2018.

Quinn Strassel on stage after the curtain call of “Into The Woods” in the fall of 2017. He is pictured holding his baby, Marion and his other two children; Sebastian and Luisa.

Felicity Rosa-Davies prepares for opening night “She Kills Monsters” in the fall of 2021. She was the Assistant Director for this production.

Andrea Schnell perform ing in “Disaster!” in the spring of 2019.

tion” in the fall of 2018.

Chloe Kurihara performs in “School of Rock” in the fall of 2019.

Loey Jones-Perpich performing in “The Tempest” in the spring of 2020. This show never happened due to the Covid-19 pandemic striking three days before opening night.

What’s Coming Up for Our Up and Coming Artists?

CHS musical artists share current projects and discuss their creative processes.

BY SANA SCHADEN & DANIEL GING

The concept began with their character, the punk angel—which would become the title for Evan Ochoa also known as GVMMY’s latest album.

“This angel has fallen to earth,” GVMMY said. “They’re experiencing all of these traumas and other things from the view of someone who is pure. It’s like this clash of emotions, feelings and experiences.

It’s real [because] that is how we all come into this world.”

GVMMY was then able to transform this storyline into a tracklist with cohesive tonality featuring a barrage of instrumentals and vocals. Throughout the production process, GVMMY learned ways to manipulate and tune their voice in a way that elevates the music. GVMMY advanced their production and mixing skills, creating a variety of experimental beats. However, the paramount factor of success for them was not technical — it was emotional.

“I wouldn’t have been able to make this album three years ago,” GVMMY said. “I even realized back then that to make an album with this depth, I needed to grow more as a person.” GVMMY allowed events and people from the past few years to shape this album.

“I tried to focus on not just my generation, but my experiences, my friends’ experiences, and the way they have impacted our lives,” GVMMY said. “I’m able to talk

about things with more clarity, depth than before. I see that with a lot of up and coming artists and I don’t want to make that mistake. I know there’s going to be an audience for my music and with that audience I can continue to be as experimental as I want to be with my style.”

Elias Kirschenmann, who is also known as BigPlanet, and Eliam Rosenberg’s past albums, such as ‘BigPlanet Express’ and ‘It’s a Small World but a BigPlanet’ had only featured nine songs, but their Valentine’s Day album, BigPlanet and Rosenberg created over 50 songs to only publish the best few allowing for perfection.

“I like to think I’m constantly improving,” BigPlanet said. “I definitely think [my Valentine’s album] could be my best work.”

Perfection isn’t the focus for the pair as much as experimentation is for this album. Building on BigPlanet’s normal trap and hip-hop genre of music, Rosenberg started drifting his beats towards more acoustic and

Photo by Daniel Ging GVMMY practices drums at the Neutral Zone. Their beats are featured on “murciélago”, a song from their latest album. “I wanted to go in the alternative rock direction with this song,” GVMMY said.

Photography by Jeevan Angelo R. Luna Galle-Callahan records vocals for his album, “LATENCY”. He spent most nights over the past few months creating music. “I wanted to like create something that I felt was like much more put together,” GalleCallahan said.

synth styles. Expanding his abilities made Rosenberg take music production, a pre-approved CR at the Neutral Zone, to gain experience from people interested in multiple genres.

“There’s somebody there who’s really into EDM music,” Rosenberg said. “[I want to] learn about that and implement it into what I like to make. [I want to] learn how to properly use a guitar and how to have an effect that sounds good on acoustic vocals.”

CHS senior Luka Galle-Callahan’s latest collection of songs began about a year ago, with a song he never planned to release; Galle-Callahan didn’t have any of the rights to the beat, as it was taken off the internet, and the song was mainly created for personal use. But when he shared his music with friends,

that song was one they noticed and encouraged him to release.

However, in the months following, Galle-Callahan fell into a funk and stopped creating music.

“About two months ago, I decided to start making music again,” Galle-Callahan said. “I wanted to create something that I felt was much more put together — an actual piece of art. I have been crunching it out every night and making more stuff each time.”

Galle-Callahan’s focus for this latest work was creating a storyline to share with the people around him. The track list consists of eight songs with a slower interlude in the middle to bridge the gap, giving listeners a pause before the beat picks up.

“The whole idea behind it is what you would see behind the curtains of a love story,” Galle-Callahan said. “It’s not necessarily focused on songs about someone, but I feel they’re much more personal; about me and the setting I’m in.”

Creating music in high school sets Galle-Callahan in a direction for a possible music career, whether that’s solo or in a team.

“I hate the thought of working a nine to five job in a cubicle,” Galle-Callahan said. “ It would drive me nuts and if I can make music and create all day, that would be the

best thing on the planet.”

Lila Fetter’s latest album, “Love Connection” draws from experiences surrounding different types of love, with a focus on their own love of creating music and the impact that plays in their life; this theme is particularly apparent in the album’s closing track ‘Bar not Bride’.

“That song is talking about my love for songwriting and how it’s stronger than any of the other loves in my life, like platonic or romantic,” Fetter said.

For Fetter, this passion will directly affect Fetter’s college path. Although their interests range from public health to psychology, finding a great songwriting program remains at the forefront of their decision. In the meantime, Fetter will keep releasing music and expanding her audience. Their album “Love Connection” is the first album Fetter has released under their own name, instead of a pseudonym to maintain privacy.

“My goal is to get at least one song to over 1000 streams,” Fetter said. “I want to do [this] as a career — that would be the dream. Being able to support myself doing music and going on tour is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve loved performing since I was little.”

Photo by Hannah Rubenstein Lila Fetter holds a poster with their album title: “Love Connection”. Fetter’s concept focused on different types of love. “my whole premise is different types of love whether it’s just silly puppy love or something deeper than that.,” Fetter said.

Photo by Luka Galle-Callahan Galle-Callahan’s album cover depicts a distorted portrait of them. He wanted to capture the album’s aesthetic. “I get to figure out a storyline that I get to tell people like it’s all on my control,” GalleCallahan said.

Photo by Daniel Ging Rosenberg and BigPlanet mix beats for their latest album. They were working during a Production CR through the Neutral Zone. “we’ve been experimenting with different sounds and stuff which I hope people enjoy,” Rosenberg said.

The Future of Community Ensemble Theatre

Emily Wilson-Tobin shares what she sees as the future of CET.

BY HANNAH RUBENSTEIN

Community Ensemble Theatre

(CET) is constantly thinking about the future.

One of the most prominent aspects that CET thinks when it comes to their future is their freshmen. The training of freshmen, for the most part, happens in crew. For “Cabaret”, freshmen Mallory Towers stepped in as Assistant Stage Manager and Paige Plavnick is training to become Student Tech Director.

CET director, Emily Wilson-Tobin, has noticed that due to the pandemic, some freshmen are entering CET, despite never having been in a theater setting before. “We don’t all come to [CET] speaking the same language anymore, so that’s one of the things I’ve had to remind myself of with the ninth graders as they’re starting to come through the program,” Wilson-Tobin said. “Sometimes we have to actually take a step back and really review some of the vocabulary and terminology in theater.”

Wilson-Tobin has also been thinking of other ways CET can change in the future, not just through the people but also through the theater itself.

CET uses the Craft Theater which is a black-box theater, meaning that it can be used in different ways. Wilson-Tobin has thought about if the audience were seated in a different area of the theater then what they normally do.

“I’d love to put the audience on the stage so they can look down at the action happening on the floor,” Wilson-Tobin said.

Wilson-Tobin has also thought about moving a specific show to a different theater not in the Craft, taking CET on the road or even going to festivals or competitions.

“I got a question the other day if we always have to do shows in the Craft or if we can go somewhere

else. I have never really thought about that before, but I think we aren’t necessarily tied to the Craft,” Wilson-Tobin said.

Five years from now, Wilson-Tobin believes that she will have a stronger understanding of what the crew is doing and how she can make sure they have all of the information they need to create a great performance. She thinks that maybe five years from now, shows will fit differently into the calendar as they do now.

Overall, in the future, Wilson-Tobin wants to take more risks.

“[The future] is a place for me to take artistic risks, because in a school program like CET there’s a community of people that support, are interested in and are adept at

taking risks,” Wilson-Tobin said.

Through CET as a whole, Wilson-Tobin believes that in the future they will continue to strive for excitement, an ongoing spirit of being inclusive and cast and crew taking the work seriously.

A glance into the near future of “Cabaret,” Wilson-Tobin is excited about the talented actors she saw at auditions, callbacks and the final cast list. She is looking forward to the audience being somewhat on stage during the show and actors having the chance to interact with them more.

No one knows what exactly will happen in the future of CET, but the thought of the future is persistently existent.

Sam Major, former CET stage manager, puts her earbuds in while preparing for the show.

Emily Wilson-Tobin and Sarah Hechler converse about the production of “She Kills Monsters” during the fall of 2021.

Felicity Rosa-Davies playing Fastrada in the production of “Pippin” in the spring of 2022.

Stage manager Stella Valentino during the production of “She Kills Monsters” in the fall of 2021.

King Charles and his army in the production of “Pippin” in the spring of 2022.

A Fork In the Road

BY AILISH KILBRIDE

An unexpected accident forced Sean Eldon, English teacher, to reevaluate his plans for his future, and helped him discover his passion for education and leadership

ART BY ROSIE MELLOR

“The trip changed my life,” Eldon said. “I had an incredible time. I felt totally at peace. In Alaska, I realized for the first time that I was good on my own. I didn’t need my friends to give my life value. I met some really cool people. And when I returned from that trip I felt like a new person.”

While in Alaska, he really found a true passion for leadership and educating. Although he had wanted to become an English teacher, before Alaska Eldon wasn’t sure if he truly had the capability to lead a group of people and educate them.

“[Leading the group] gave me a lot of confidence,” Eldon said. “I’d wanted to be a teacher before then, but I wasn’t really sure if I had what it took. Most of my desire to be a teacher came down to my love of literature and being in English classes. I loved reading and I loved writing.”

Before Alaska, Eldon struggled his first few months of college. He missed his friends; his missed his friends’ parents; he missed his own parents; he missed being

home. He began to skip class after staying on long-weekend trips too long, which was taking a toll on his grades. He wasn’t sure how to admit to someone how helpless he was.

“I didn’t know how to tell my parents, who were worried about me and really didn’t know what was wrong,” Eldon said. “Certainly at this time, it was much more rare for kids to say things like, ‘I’m depressed and I should see a therapist’, because in retrospect, I had all the symptoms of depression. I should have seen a therapist and maybe been medicated. And I don’t know [if] that would have fixed anything, but it might have prevented things from continuing to get worse.”

When Eldon returned back to college after the accident, he felt that he was able to be more present with each of the moments that were taking place. He started to reach out to people and started to feel okay with asking for help and admitting when he needed help. He felt a sense of turning down a new road.

OPINION

It’s hard not to notice the changes taking place around Ann Arbor. A microcosm of those changes can be seen right across the street from Community High School, where a one-story, family-owned restaurant is being replaced by a five-story apartment building...

Unsurprisingly, the apartments will be expensive, with projections showing that they are likely to cost more than $500,000 and as much as $1.5 million. On the one hand, this development makes sense; the building being replaced was small, and had a large parking lot attached to it. The new apartment building will be more efficient and will have some sustainability features, like electric vehicle parking and a vegetated roof. However, this ignores the fact that the building will cater exclusively to upper-middle class people, and will contribute to Ann Arbor’s rising housing prices.

In the last year, average home prices in Ann Arbor increased by 10.4% and the typical Ann Arbor home is now valued at $489,272. This increase continues the trend of the last five years, which has seen average home prices increase by more than $123,180, according to Zillow. As the city becomes more expensive, lower-income people will be driven out, and replaced by upper-middle class and wealthy inhabitants. This lack of economic diversity may damage the character and history of Ann Arbor, part of what makes the city such a desirable place to live.

Increasing housing prices have made Ann Arbor a more expensive city overall, a trend that is evident in the rising food prices and closure of local shops downtown. Ann Arbor has seen recent closures of many long-time small businesses, and an influx of corporate chains. Rent prices for buildings downtown have skyrocketed and that, combined with worker shortages and an increasing amount of online shopping, has all been too much for many businesses to withstand. Ann Arbor’s downtown seems to be moving away from the quirky small businesses that give the city its charm, to a collection of chain stores that can be found anywhere.

Development in Ann Arbor is an inevitability, considering the population growth the city is experiencing. The population has grown steadily upward, and was recorded at 123,851 in 2020, up nearly 10,000 people since the 2010 census. This growth has caused a high demand for housing and local government has made a concerted effort to reduce urban sprawl by encouraging high-density housing downtown. Apartment buildings are the most efficient kind of building, and some new developments have sustainability features such as electric vehicle charging, improved insulation, vegetated roofs and measures to reduce water and electricity consumption. In addition, apartments downtown give residents access to

public transit, which is the most efficient way for people to get around. All of this development shows that city planners are taking the climate crisis seriously, and are designing a future Ann Arbor that encourages residents to live downtown and get around by walking and using public transportation.

One obvious and frequent complaint about Ann Arbor’s new high-density housing is that all the buildings seem to look the same. This is made even worse when old buildings are torn down in historic neighborhoods to make room for new apartments. One of the last relics of a bygone era is the Firestone Auto Care shop that currently stands on the corner of Huron St. and Division St. The one-story building was built in 1929 and has operated as an auto shop for nearly 100 years, though it is now surrounded by high-rises. In 2019, a proposal to demolish the site and turn it into a nine-story hotel was submitted to the City Planning Commission. However, the auto shop is still in operation today. As we celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Jones School — the elementary school that operated in the building we now call Community High School — it’s important to remember that the history of the Kerrytown neighborhood can be erased much more easily if its historic buildings no longer stand.

Ann Arbor is not perfect now and was not perfect in the past. Gentrification has already occurred in much of the city, especially in the neighborhood that CHS is in. What once was a predominantly Black neighborhood became nearly all-white as housing prices increased back in the 1990s. Black-owned businesses in the neighborhood have long since closed their doors. Ann Arbor has been getting whiter and higher-end for decades and it’s important to realize that the lack of diversity we have now is not a new issue.

Ann Arbor’s future is sure to look different, but it’s safe to say that our city will keep developing to meet the demand for housing. The future Ann Arbor will likely have many good features, including new, efficient and accessible housing. But we have to make sure we have a city that works for all, not just the wealthy. When city planners consider a proposal for the next luxury apartment building, they should ask themselves who is being left out of the plan. Though a high-density downtown is undoubtedly better than a sprawling suburbia, we want an Ann Arbor that still has the history, diversity and charm that it has had in the past.

My Body is Not a Trend

The idea of a perfect body can change in the blink of an eye or the turn of an page. How can we fight against these expectations?

BY LYDIA DEBORD

It’s a poison. Some could even argue a curse. It seeps into everything, using the mirror, magazines and phones as its distributors. As much as we can try, running from it is pointless. We know it will always find us. It is a curated, artificial thing, beauty. But what even makes someone beautiful?

Clothes, shoes and earrings. These trivial things stitch in and out of the loop of trendiness. As women, this fact is simply a way of life. Sometimes trends die, letting others soar and prosper. However, this situation gets complicated when natural appearance becomes a factor in trendiness.

Ivy Ball sees the cracks in this logic. Ball feels as though these ideals aren’t reality, and pretending that it is creates issues.

“I think pretty is more of a personal thing,” Ball said. “[Bodycentric] trends make it feel like you’re not normal for not having [this particular look]. It makes you feel like you need to do that to be pretty or you need to fit that stereotype.”

Popping up on Instagram feeds everywhere is a new trend: buccal fat removal. Influencers document the process in which they have the fat in their cheeks surgically removed, all in hopes that they will achieve more sculpted and defined cheekbones. The new surgery has proven to be very harmful. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ website describes the procedure as an overused surgery with damaging effects.

“One in five patients asking for

the surgery really needs it,” the site reads.

It describes permanent displacement of the jaw this surgery causes. Even so, it is taking the internet by storm, implying this is what is now part of the “ideal body.” However, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen women’s bodies turned into a trend.

For centuries, women’s bodies have been objectified to the point where they’re seen as trivial accessories. These standards can be traced back to Ancient Greece, where plump and pale girls were considered the most beautiful. A short while later, in Ancient Egypt, the goal for women was to be slender and high waisted. Later on, in Italy, it’d fall into round stomachs and full hips. In the Victorian era, this molded into being “desirably” plump, but having a tiny waist. In the 1920s, it fell across the spectrum with skinny bodies and flat chests being the desired look. In the 1960s if you weren’t slim, you might as well forget about being considered pretty. Then, the 1980s brought with it supermodels. These supermodels advertised being buff, but not so much that it ruins your thin physique.

Kate Moss, an influential supermodel of the 1990s, encouraged women to starve themselves; anything it took to be “desirable.” Before anything else came a slim, bony figure, no matter how sick it made you feel or look.

“Nothing tastes as good as skinny

feels,” Moss famously said.

Julia Kaltwasser is one of the women models like Moss have negatively affected.

“When a lot of people think of pretty, they think of models, and models [often] push this skinny agenda,” Kaltwasser said.

For a while, curvy became the new standard. Then, thigh gaps and full breasts were in, to the point where people got surgeries to increase these traits.

And now it’s out. Now, being tiny with small cheekbones is the way a woman is seen to be attractive.

These trends are quite frankly impossible to keep up with. Just when you feel as though your body fits the mold, the standard changes. This is damaging for self-esteem, because anyone who doesn’t fit into these standards feels isolated and ugly.

Our bodies aren’t trends to be glamorized and thrown away. Our bodies are our spaces to grow and live. Their job is to guard and protect us. And they’ll be where they want to be. Our appearances are designed to be based on genetics and nurturing — not fleeting trends. We live in our bodies, and we should protect them. History has proven time and again that there is no such thing as a consistent perfect body. The idea of one is constantly growing and changing, and we simply must let it be. As long as you’re taking care of your body, it’s perfect, no matter what a prying magazine or article says.

Democracy Tumbling Down

After witnessing the insurrection on Jan. 6, what is being done to prevent future election

BY BRIDGETTE KELLY

violence?

If you search up “the future of U.S. democracy” on any search engine, it’s hard to find something positive. Most headlines read, “Our democracy is in crisis” or “Democracy will cease to exist.” With what I see on the news and social media, these statements aren’t hard for me to believe.

In 2016, when Donald Trump was elected president, I remember walking into my fifth grade classroom the next morning to groans and complaints from my classmates, which I joined in on. Most of their parents, including mine, were shocked that Trump had won the election. I couldn’t understand how Trump had won, because most of the people I was surrounded by and the news outlets I watched continuously spoke negatively about Trump. We accepted these results and moved on.

Fast forward four years and a violent mob is storming the capital, yelling to hang the vice president. Somehow, Trump was able to gain so much support and spread so many lies that people were actually willing to kill for him. I remember coming home on Jan. 6, 2021 to the news already turned on. I saw thousands of people surrounding the capital and couldn’t even imagine how that had happened. More and more videos of violence emerged. I couldn’t stop thinking about how these people that were crushing cops in doors and looking to harm politicians were under the impression that they

were protecting the country, though what they were fighting for was completely fabricated.

Chloe Root, U.S. Government teacher, feels that there definitely could be another insurrection, and if faith isn’t restored in our voting systems, something on an even larger scale could happen.

“The scariest thing about [the insurrection] was just how much [Trump] was able to get away with,” Root said. “[The insurrection] has just basically made it clear to people how many of our social norms are just social norms, they’re not actually laws or rules that you can be punished for.”

In response to the insurrection of 2021, the federal government formed the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack to prevent attempted coups and uncover the truth about what really happened when the Capitol was stormed. Even after months of questioning and trials, the man who incited a riot to overturn the 2020 election and our democracy, has not only gotten away with no consequences, but in fact could win office again in 2024. The committee is making it clear to the public that claims of election fraud were lies, presenting countless pieces of evidence debunking the claims with videos and recordings of top United States officials saying they did not find any voter fraud, but without punishments for those that incited the insurrection, I don’t feel that future election violence can be prevented. Root doesn’t think the committee is making

ART BY ROSIE MELLOR

a major impact because not many people are choosing to watch. However, she still thinks that it is presenting important information that could change minds.

“What was really powerful about the Jan. 6 hearings was that there were people who were involved in the insurrection talking about how they operated based on misinformation spread by the former president,” Root said. “If [people who deny the results of the 2020 election]] are paying attention and are willing to actually listen, then I think they would be convinced by people who are in their same shoes.”

Even after the insurrection, in which their lives were put in danger, eight senators and 139 house members, all Republicans, voted to overturn the 2020 election results. Though the 14th Amendment states that Congress members can’t hold office if they have engaged in an insurrection, the eight senators are still in office along with 118 of the house members. How can we protect future elections if our government is still full of people who tried to overturn democracy? I also wonder how many of these senators and house members truly believed Trump had won the election, and how many just want Trump to remain president.

“I think that’s terrifying,” Root said. “If [the Republican party] was being responsible, they would kick them out of the party, sanction them or give some formal statement at least [saying] that that’s not okay, but because we have the system that we have, [the senators who voted to overturn the election results] are reelected.”

Another factor that heavily influenced the insurrection and could determine how the next election is accepted is social media. It helped spread lies about the election to thousands of people, amplified conspiracy theories, and allowed groups to plan their attack on the capital. I feel social media platforms should have taken earlier notice to the threats of violence and incitements of violence, by silencing accounts before more and more people fell into the lies. Root feels that people spewing untrue inflammatory things on social media was the

linchpin in the spreading of misinformation, and they should have been removed.

“I was really disappointed that most social media companies didn’t intervene,” Root said. “And when they did intervene, it was too late.”

The main social media app I use is TikTok. Occasionally, conspiracy theory videos end up on my For You Page. A For You Page is an endless void of videos TikTok recommends to you from your past activity and can take you down a rabbit hole quickly. The people making conspiracy theory videos can be extremely convincing, as they exaggerate any minuscule evidence they can find. Sometimes I have to catch myself from falling for them and it doesn’t help when you open the comment section to find hundreds of comments from users, adding on and agreeing with the video. This scares me, because if someone comes up with an untrue theory, at the press of a button, they can find a group of people that agree with them. The more people that agree, the more believable it seems. This is how I imagine so many people came to believe that the election was “stolen.”

Having Trump removed from many social media platforms is a start to combating another insurrection, but I feel that social media will continue to be a forest fire for untrue statements that could cause future election violence if social media platforms don’t take more responsibility for their users.

Overall, I feel concerned for future elections. With essentially no punishments for government officials who aided an insurrection, and social media still providing an easy way for misinformation to be spread, how will we protect against election violence or elections being overturned?

Restoring faith in the election system is a critical first step to preventing election violence. This seems like a daunting task, because so many were led to believe countless false incidents of voter fraud, but I believe that if we are able to prevent lies from being spread during the 2024 presidential election, people could return back to the time when elections were trusted.

Into the Deep End

The turn of the century brought new technology and advancements in artificial intelligence. Deepfakes, a new form of generative programming model, advance everyday, and potential societal impact continues to grow.

BY LUCY CASSELL-KELLEY AND SOFI MARANDA

A video of Mark Zuckerberg pops up on an Instagram feed; Zuckerberg speaks freely, sharing his ideas and the ‘truth’ about privacy on Facebook. “One man, with total control of billions of people’s stolen data, all their secrets, their lives, their futures,” Zuckerberg says, referring to himself. Except it’s not actually Zuckerberg. In fact, the person on the screen doesn’t even exist. Zuckerberg never spoke about Facebook’s far reach in this way, never filmed or released this video.

Deepfake technology continues to progress, each day getting more and more advanced.

In 2012, deep learning, a type of neural network that simulates the human brain’s ability to comprehend and essentially learn from data, switched from analysis to

content generation. Instead of just viewing and classifying images, computers were able to create and manipulate media. After 2012, Generative Adaptive Networks, GAN, continued to become more complex and powerful.

“Starting from GAN work, there’s more and more development now, more and more innovations, so the generated image can become more high-quality and more diverse,” said Dr. Xiaoming Liu, a professor at MSU and pioneer in deepfake identification and management.

“For example, in the beginning of the GAN network, GAN typically generated very small, not very high quality images. It could only generate human faces. More recently, [models] generate not just faces but also objects. The content becomes

more complicated, yet, with the innovation of different GAN models, the quality also becomes higher.”

When quality becomes higher, it becomes more difficult to tell if an image is real or fake. As deepfake images continue to become clearer and more accurate, the more compelling, and therefore, dangerous a deepfake becomes.

This is problematic in several different circumstances. Political content is already polarized and intense online; fake news seeps into personalized ads and is spewed in comment section battles. We have seen the impact unchecked dissemination of fake news online has had in the real world, including spurring the Jan. 6th insurrection in 2021 after former president Trump spent months shouting from roof-

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SERENA O’BRIEN

tops and on Twitter accounts that the 2020 election had been stolen. As deepfakes enter these fraught grounds, more believable and more convincing, concern grows.

Hyper-realistic deepfakes have the potential to be used in political environments. Computer-generated videos of political figures like Trump and Biden have already circulated social media platforms. Watching a deepfake Trump in a “Breaking Bad” scene may be amusing, but this kind of content has the potential to have a very real societal impact.

“Imagine, two weeks before the presidential election, some misinformation about the candidate is being spread out on Facebook… a lot of people see it,” Liu said. “So people may not have the ability to tell whether it’s real or fake, or it’s much too close to the election date. There’s no time to explain those things.”

Misinformation shared by a computer-generated — but very realistic — political candidate, without time for the real person to remedy or clear out a controversy, could very well skew an election if people believe it. And deepfakes are getting to be that good.

Deepfakes also cause concern in regards to content related to personal privacy. Images and videos can be manipulated to create inappropriate or false content. Pornography and other explicit media can be generated easily with rapidly progressing deepfake technology, which can be used to tarnish a reputation or livelihood. This technology can create and manipulate any human face, into any scenario — that includes your face.

“So anything with political, national security, and personal privacy — those should be top areas to somehow regulate,” Liu said.

AI generative technology also continues to become more accessible. Deepfake technology is used as a learning tool and the basis for many entry level coding and artificial intelligence courses. Rita Ionides took an AI basics introduction course at the University of Michigan during her junior year of high school.

“It was essentially a first course in artificial intelligence,” Ionides said. “The prerequisites were very low. The barrier to entry was not high.

And I was just a high school junior who took the course for fun. If I wanted to, I could create some very convincing deepfakes.”

In the class, Ionides learned how to create photo and audio deepfakes through the open source programming package TensorFlow, a software library for artificial intelligence. Assignments included manipulating speech to create new audio and creating new images.

“Ultimately, I think the takeaway is that these skills are not hard and deepfakes are everywhere because anyone can make them,” Ionides said.

If anyone can learn to build a convincing deepfake, the possibilities in creation are endless. Unfortunately, this includes content with potentially dangerous or harmful societal impact. The accessibility of deepfake creation makes regulation all the more important.

Deepfakes are largely unregulated on an international scale. Two hurdles complicate deepfake regulation: adaptability of legislation and corporate influence. Deepfake technology is rapidly changing and adapting; as one new deepfake GAN model appears and is classified, a different, more complex model takes its place. The US government system is not set up to adapt to new technology; change is slow and requires a concerted effort to update legislation. Due to the fast paced technological growth, legislation regulating deepfakes would have to be constantly updated. Deepfakes are most prevalent on social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. In order to impose regulation on deepfakes, the US government would need to legislate these corporate giants. “[The government would have to have] big talks with those big tech companies, and try to arrive [at] some consensus to say what is allowed, what is not allowed, and [how] can we have regulation,” Liu said.

These “big tech” companies have heavy influence in Washington DC. On top of pre-existing laws and regulations, deepfake regulation becomes a long and difficult process. Monitoring the interwebs for deepfake material is no small task, and can take a toll environmentally.

“Imagine the volume of how many photos, let’s say, Facebook or Google receive every single minute,” Liu said.

Running every photo through a model to check its legitimacy takes immense energy.

“If you can improve the efficiency of your model of your binary classification by 10%, it can save a lot of energy,” Liu said. Not only would better screening models reduce the danger deepfakes pose, they would also reduce the impact on the Earth.

More recently, AI generation has advanced to text and literary production. ChatGTP — a new, very popular virtual assistant — can write essays, answer questions and produce any style or format of writing. The development of literary generation is just as concerning as video and audio AI. The existence of this style of deepfake technology questions academic integrity and legitimacy in all academic institutions and fields; AI generated text can not be traced or checked for authenticity.

Deepfakes continue to advance incredibly quickly in all avenues: text, audio, digital and visual. The more advanced the technology, the more dire the societal consequences.

Unchecked, deepfakes show no sign of slowing their progression, continuing to impact technology and society. Solutions and preventative measures need to develop alongside them — falling behind could prove disastrous. Preventative measures must be taken as this technology continues to develop; governments and national corporations must come together and fund a plan to create long lasting and comprehensive code to identify and flag AI generated content on all media platforms.

Losing this race could compromise personal and national security. You may think deepfakes could never affect you, but as you scroll through TikTok or Instagram, do you ask yourself if each video is real? Who created it and who is it benefiting?

“[The deepfake creators are] playing with the limits of technology and civilization. They’re seeing what it can do and what makes it tick,” Ionides said. “What happens when that’s unleashed on the rest of us?”

Unbound Acceleration

As the country’s math achievement gap grows, public schools are questioning where accelerated math programs fit in. But we need them now more than ever.

BY RITA IONIDES

When I was in sixth grade in 2016, my grade was the most advanced class my middle school had ever seen. When sixth graders were distributed across math classes, a whole class of us— almost a fifth of our grade— went to Algebra I, a class traditionally taken by incoming ninth graders. Some even went to Geometry, the class after that. Teachers shook their heads and wondered at the newest generation: what was happening with these kids? Now, I’m a senior, and my little sister is entering middle school. In her sixth grade class, almost half the kids start in Algebra I. The trend, even within so little a difference as six years, is staggering, and it’s not stopping.

This is because around 2016, right when my sixth grade class was shocking teachers, a shift began taking place in Ann Arbor elementary schools. Fifth graders, instead of a traditional math class, now had the option of learning accelerated math through a virtual service called ALEKS, working on their own with only the occasional proctored exam. If they so chose — and many did — they could steam through three years’ worth of middle school math classes in months: now, they would never enter a middle school math classroom, instead go-

school nearby. These kids circumvented the most com mon objection that educational authorities like to cite about math acceleration in general and early algebra in particular. They were doing the opposite of parroting back what a teacher said without conceptual understanding: they were teaching themselves, understanding the curriculum at their own pace. That pace just happened to be faster than anyone could have anticipated.

Objectively, this is good. The new generation can learn — are learning — math faster and better than we ever did: what’s not to like about that? This is a generation who can learn anything as long as they can find it online, who will take AP Calculus BC and move on to college-level work before any group of kids before them, whose own children and younger siblings might take sixth grade geometry and learn AP Linear Algebra. Their futures are bright. But their light-speed acceleration is far from universal. And that’s where the problem starts.

PART 2: THE PROBLEM

We cannot ignore that as with many educational disparities, whether a child is an advanced math student is highly correlated with their background. While AAPS’s precocious ten-year-olds, often with educated parents and a large household income, plan out their ninthgrade calculus trajectories, math students— especially the youngest— as a whole across the country are falling further and further behind, stalled by ill-prepared teachers, ineffective curriculum and years of math on Zoom. Within the country, Black and Hispanic students are underrepresented in top-scoring schools and advanced math programs, as are female students, and the disparity only grows as students get older. Even before the pandemic, our math achievements and scores as a country were dismal, nowhere even approaching the standards of

PART I: BABY’S FIRST DERIVATIVES

Photography by Serena O’Brien Statistics problems are written in chalk across a blackboard, blurring across the images. Math classes are becoming more and more advanced. “If we don’t close our achievement gap from the bottom, the system will fall apart.”

other ‘developed’ countries (and a good fraction of ‘developing’ ones, at that); now, the gap is wider than ever. The top is growing ever-higher, as our middle schoolers are showing us; the bottom is sinking just as quickly from kids being failed by the same system.

Why am I writing about the kids at the top, then? They’re not generally the ones that education legislators and experts are worrying about, after all. They’re not the reason why U.S. math is an international disgrace. But it is programs made for them, and the kids who will become them, who are in danger of becoming the casualties as we try to make math education equally accessible to all.

The math gap can be closed. Why we’re not getting it done is an entirely different question, one of national security priorities and standard of living and educational funding. I’m not writing about any of those; I’m writing about the future of math education as it stands. So here’s my claim: if we don’t close our achievement gap from the bottom, the system will fall apart.

PART 3: WHAT WE CAN(‘T) DO ABOUT IT

Let’s go back to our population of AAPS fifth graders, diligently teaching themselves and each other algebra from the beanbags and alphabet carpet squares of their elementary school libraries. Yes, many of them have the privilege of educated parents who will pay their college tuition and encourage math learning at home. The key, though, is that it’s not all of them, and it doesn’t have to be.

We’ve established that there is a real and dire learning gap in math education. Where schools start getting it wrong is when they pin the inequality on the kids who are doing well. Aside from the moral — how anyone looks at a group of ten-year-olds and thinks “how dare they be doing better than their peers” instead of “how

can we help the kids who aren’t reaching this standard” is beyond me — trying to stop accelerated math programs in public schools is actively increasing this gap.

You could take the No-Child-Left-Behind approach and teach to the bottom of the class. You could make sure nobody learns anything, treat everyone with perfect equality, and call it equity. But it will never work, because you will be harming the exact demographics who you are so sure you are helping. Public school advanced math programs present an accessibility to learning that no other institution in this country can match; it is a particularly brutal kind of collective punishment to take away accessibility for everybody when the people with privilege never needed that access to succeed in the first place.

Preventing students from accelerating in public school math only means that students — the students who can pay — will find ways to accelerate that do not involve the public schools, leaving their less-privileged classmates to suffer the consequences. These kids are going to be withdrawn and sent to private schools where they can learn all the math their hearts desire. They’ll be sent to Mathnasium and study circles and private tutors. They’ll study from YouTube videos and Khan Academy and MIT OpenCourseWare, whether or not school boards and superintendents think it’s age-appropriate or equitable for them to learn. You can’t stop them. More kids will accelerate in math every year, whether or not the public school system survives to see it.

So that’s about the state of things. Our kids are getting better and better at math, and they’ll keep on doing it if we only let them. Some kids are struggling to keep up, and we should help them. Other kids want to learn math faster than their schools will teach it, and we should help them, too. Whether you like it or not, it’s the modern age: sixth-grade algebra is here to stay. It’s time for schools to adapt.

Everything’s on the Line

The Great Lakes’ future appears murky amidst a litany of human and ecological threats. What’s to come for the world’s largest surface source of liquid freshwater?

BY LUCIA PAGE SANDER AND CLARA FREETH

It was a Jamaican tour guide and his weathered glass-bottom boat that sparked the idea in Captain Jennifer Dowker that her childhood passion could become a bonafide career.

But the path to Dowker’s current success was rife with hardship; for months, she would lie awake at night researching business fundamentals, and by day Dowker crafted her business plan with her three sons as part of their homeschooling education. Her dream propelled her through a dark period in her life: a tumultuous divorce.

In the fall of 2018, an opportunity to actualize her passion project arose: The Northern Lakes Economic Alliance, a nonprofit whose mission is to create jobs in four northern Michigan counties, invited Cheboygan County-area entrepreneurs to pitch their business plans for a chance at nearly $20,000 in startup funds. Dowker, banking on a victory at the Shark Tank-esque competition, was devastated when she did not attain any investment dollars.

“When we lost, I cried for two days straight,” Dowker said. “I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life or my career because I didn’t have much money at all.”

But after those two days of uncertainty, Dowker got a life-changing phone call. It was a private investor who had been in the audience a few days prior. He told her he thought she had what it would take to run a business and asked how much money she would need to begin.

The next summer, Nautical North Glass Bottom Boat Tours opened its doors.

Now, although Captain Dowker has paid her private investor back in full and looks forward to work every day, running a water quality-reliant business isn’t always smooth sailing. For decades, the Great Lakes have been haunted by an intensifying host of ecological threats, putting countless coastal communities and careers at risk. We’ve seen a glimpse of the potential future in recent years, when water levels fluctuated beyond standard levels, causing extreme erosion to the point of homes collapsing into lakes.

Despite its fragile ecology, a huge swath of the American Midwest is among a grouping of regions described by environmentalists as “climate havens” – regions that, based on factors like latitude and surrounding bodies of water, are projected to avoid the worst effects of natural disasters going forward.

The theory of climate havens is paradoxical – in the process of a mass migration and its following population influx, the fragile states of these so-called sanctuaries will likely be thrown off-kilter.

In the event of a large-scale relocation, experts may have to decide how much growth areas will be able to accommodate.

“Some people would say we already have enough population here, and if we go higher, we’re going to put too much stress on the Great Lakes,” said Dave Dempsey, a Great Lakes conservation expert. “We’d be putting way more demand on our environment… we’ll need to think about the impact of growth and sprawl on rivers and streams and a lot of other things that I’m not sure we’re talking about enough right now.”

Dr. Gregory Dick, a University of Michigan (UM) professor of earth and environmental sciences, also expressed caution towards the effects of this phenomenon. He worries that climate migration will amplify existing environmental injustices; like contaminant and byproduct-heavy copper mining techniques that further pad corporations’ pockets and lower quality of life for historically marginalized and underrepresented groups

The way forward holds numerous logistical concerns as well, like how we can develop our drinking water infrastructure to support more people and how we can support the area’s nature in withstanding escalating pollutants. The environment could have a bit of leverage though; more residents translates to more tax revenue. If economic growth and development can be taken advantage of, funding can be funneled to restoration initiatives and more sustainable, equitable development.

In light of all these hurdles in getting people to water, the natural workaround would be getting Great Lakes water to faraway people. However, this isn’t logistically possible – no pipeline long enough would be financially feasible, nor would it be legal.

Currently, the Great Lakes Compact (GLC) prevents any water from being exported outside the Great Lakes Basin (the area of land that drains into the five lakes), not accounting for diversions that existed prior to the Compact’s initiation. The Compact took about a decade to finalize and required extraordinary bipartisan cooperation between the eight states that border the Great Lakes and the Canadian government. It’s withstood numerous grabs at exporting and diverting water domestically and internationally but has made a few select exceptions.

In 2008, two cities just about a mile outside the watershed, but within the county of Waukesha, Wisconsin, a county that straddles the basin’s topographical dividing line, requested use of Great Lakes Water. Their source of groundwater was becoming contaminated with naturally-occurring radium, prompting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to order officials to find another source of drinking water. Ultimately, the cities petitioned for and were granted access to Lake Michigan water, so long as they return treated wastewater to the basin and meet stringent requirements for conservation and efficiency.

“Waukesha was a victory,” said Jennifer McKay, a

Great Lakes policy expert and Michigan Environmental Council Board chair. “It was a logical, realistic solution that kept the Compact strong while providing a legal water supply to cities in Waukesha county, as long as it plays by the rules. Because of how regulated and technical the Waukesha exception is, I do not see the Compact being amended in any way moving forward.”

But while we in Michigan live encircled by an internationally coveted source of freshwater, the United States’ west has undergone a yo-yo-ing 20 years of drought, despite being responsible for a large percentage of US agriculture. California, most remarkably, grows over 11% of the country’s produce, including many crops that can’t be grown as effectively in any of the other contiguous 47 states.

Although there is a loophole in the Compact that allows Great Lakes water to be shipped outside the basin in containers of 5.7 gallons or less, none has been transported with the explicit goal of mitigating drought and supporting agriculture in the west.

“If we could only use materials from Michigan [to make consumer goods], you wouldn’t have calculators, you would be doing your math on an old wooden abacus, your only jewelry would be copper, and you would only have iron tools,” said Jenna Munson, a UM professor of earth and environmental sciences. “That’s all we have here. That’s it, but we’re very used to saying ‘I don’t have this or that, can we trade? That’s how we’re able to have the society that we have. I don’t want Great Lakes water going anywhere, but there is a very valid argument to be made saying that for the United States’ food security, especially going forward, Great Lakes water is going to be very important.”

For the time being though, unless the Great Lakes Compact is overturned, the lake water will be used in the ways it has been since the Compact’s inception. According to McKay, this needs reevaluating.

While bottling does affect the areas surrounding the bottling site, it does not have a remarkable consequence on the wider Great Lakes or surrounding areas. Instead, thermoelectric cooling, agriculture, water supply and hydroelectric power production are more substantial

withdrawals from the system. There isn’t concern surrounding water levels dropping; in fact, they are projected to rise in the coming decades as a result of climate change. To be better prepared to monitor fluctuations, McKay suggests a reassessment of how water withdrawals are evaluated, along with a mapping of all groundwater resources in Michigan.

Another result of climate change on the minds of Great Lakes experts are Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). The blooms are caused by an influx of nutrients that occurs when fertilizer and livestock waste is washed into the water supply by runoff and rainfall.

While Great Lakes HABs were first identified on a large scale in Lake Erie — a 2014 bloom caused “do not drink” advisory in the city of Toledo, leaving residents without potable water for two consecutive days — they are now spreading to Lake Superior and inland lakes throughout Michigan. The phenomenon is catalyzed by a proliferation of zebra and quagga mussels that were introduced to the Great Lakes system via the St. Lawrence Seaway. The Seaway is a canal system that connected the Great Lakes – which had been isolated for nearly 10,000 years – to the Atlantic Ocean. The worldwide shipping vessels it permitted to travel throughout the Great Lakes

brought with them economic growth and numerous unfamiliar organisms. These organisms, not ecologically destined to fit into the Great Lakes food web, are called invasive species.

The zebra and quagga mussels, for example, came in the ballast tanks of European ships. These mussels consume algae that is beneficial to the native ecosystem and spit out water dense with toxic cyanobacteria, a bacteria that often leads to HABs. Their lack of native predators is just one of the reasons they were able to spread throughout the Great Lakes so quickly.

There are many other invasive species that have been identified in the Great Lakes, including sea lamprey which, although being somewhat controlled now, devastated native fish populations when they first invaded. Without a place in the food web, invasive species such as sea lamprey have no natural predators, creating an easy opportunity to reproduce rapidly and beat endemic animals to food sources. Sea lamprey alone cost the federal government about $10 million annually to regu-

“I don’t want Great Lakes water going anywhere, but there is a very valid argument to be made saying that for the United States’ food security, especially going forward, Great Lakes water is going to be very important.”

“People are not going to go vacationing on oil-stained lakes. An oil spill from Line 5 would be a major assault on our economy.”

ART BY RYAN THOMAS-PALMER AND ROSIE MELLOR

late. That sum, though, hardly compares to the ultimate Great Lakes hazard.

Widely regarded as America’s most dangerous pipeline, Line 5 is a 645-mile long pipeline that ships petroleum and is owned by Enbridge, a Canadian company.

Beginning in Superior, Wisconsin and ending in Sarnia, a city in Ontario, Canada, the pipeline transports nearly 23 million gallons of nonrenewable oils per day. It runs through the Straits of Mackinac, parallel to the Mackinac bridge in one of Michigan’s tourism epicenters. Built in 1953, the piping is now 70 years old and has exceeded its intended lifespan by 20 years.

Experts’ consensus says that Line 5 is old and vulnerable. It’s a ticking time bomb, and it needs to be shut down. If the possibility of a rupture came to fruition, over $65 billion in Great Lakes reliant wages would be put in jeopardy, nearly 720 miles of Lakes Michigan and Huron’s shorelines would be polluted, and dozens of endangered species’ populations would be obliterated.

In 2010, a different Enbridge pipeline ruptured in Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River. Almost one million gallons of crude oil contaminated many miles of the river, along with its banks and wetlands. This catastrophe was just one of 173 reported “incidents” since 2002 – proof that Enbridge is historically negligent: proof that something’s got to give.

“There’s an existing pipeline that runs around the base of Lake Michigan from Minnesota all the way to Port Huron that could be used [instead of Line 5],” Dempsey said. “The long term answer [to the pipeline] though, is obviously to cut back on fossil fuels. That won’t happen overnight, but it can be done and we’re seeing it begin to happen. I think even Enbridge can see that over the next 20 years there’s going to be a huge drop in fossil fuel demand.”

Regardless of those two options, Enbridge’s proposed alternative is to bore a 20-foot-diameter tunnel under the Straits that would house a new pipeline. For the first five months of 2023, meetings will occur to discuss whether or not the underground tunnel is viable or necessary, though many state and private environmental protection groups’ assessments have revealed holes in Enbridge’s plans.

For Love Of Water (FLOW) is one of these groups. On their website, the organization says that there are,

“critical deficiencies in the project’s construction permit application [and] legal authorization … [due to] expected impacts to wetlands, bottomlands, and surface water, FLOW has deep concerns about the lack of public necessity for the project, which would worsen climate change and related impacts to the Great Lakes.”

Line 5 has few actual benefits for the state of Michigan and its residents: less than ten percent of what it ships is used by the state, while it threatens water supply, tourism and way of life for more than five million Michiganders.

“Everything is at stake [with Line 5], Captain Dowker said. “Literally everything’s tied into money, and my business is no different as far as money is concerned. Although my business is a labor of love, the Great Lakes mean more to me than my business. For example, we scuba-dive shipwrecks out in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and nobody can even get into the water if it’s being polluted in that type of a devastating way.”

Just like Captain Dowker’s tumultuous journey, the coming years for the Great Lakes will hold assorted obstacles. To provoke and accompany a sweeping revolution of industry, environmental professionals and everyday people alike will be called on increasingly to preserve the Lakes’ depths and shores through targeted ecological advocacy and the general curbing of climate change.

“Our economy is based on products that are manufactured with toxins that are not designed to be properly disposed of, among other issues,” Dempsey said. “Ultimately, producers ought to be required to change their methods instead of putting the burden on the consumer to choose what’s right for the environment. That’s the kind of environmental revolution we’re going to achieve by changing our entire economic paradigm, and that’s a really, really big shift.”

And while the need for change always brings uncertainty, it carries promise, too. Promise that conservation can be effective.

“For a number of years, we’ve seen on-the-ground progress in restoring and protecting the Great Lakes through a program that’s called the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI),” McKay said. “Despite that, the Great Lakes still face many urgent problems, so we can not take the vast resources of the Great Lakes for granted.”

“The Lakes contain an abundant amount of natural and cultural resources that are of vast ecological and economic value — we have fish, wildlife, breeding sites for international birds and coastal wetlands. There are also sacred indigenous lands and threatened endangered species in the area [that rely on the Lakes], so there’s a significant, significant amount that could be lost.”

High Speed Rail is America’s Future

Japan’s Shinkansen launched almost 60 years ago. The United States only has a couple of lines. The country should get on track to so the country can have clean and reliable regional transport.

BY CLAIRE STEIGELMAN

The wheels clanked as they rolled over the tracks. I adjusted in my seat, stretching out the sore spots from sleeping in the train seat the night before. I took advantage of the leg room significantly larger than a plane’s. We had just entered the state of Pennsylvania, riding next to Lake Erie. The 19 hour trip was only about half-way over, and the toilets in our coach were already a mess. We sat for what felt like an eternity on a bend in the track at Schenectady—before we even got to the station. By the time we reached New York City, it was already dark, and the train was about two hours late. It was a stark contrast between the speedy, clean and modern Intercity Express (ICE) we had ridden years before in Germany.

High speed rail is most ideal for regional distances where flying seems unnecessary but the trip is too long to make by car comfortably. Travel time via plane between Detroit and Chicago is about an hour and a half, not including travel time to the airport or security. The drive is about four and a half hours. The train seems like the perfect alternative. Trains can run faster than cars, and you don’t have to go through the rig-a-ma-roll at the airport. These high speed systems are widespread on other continents, but not in North America. The Amtrak Wolverine, which runs between Pontiac, MI and Chicago actually travels slower than a car. Taking this train between Detroit and Chicago takes about five hours, providing the train is not delayed. In the four and a half hours it takes to drive between Detroit and Chicago, a train in China can run the distance between Chicago and New York City. The Lake Shore Limited takes about 19 hours to traverse the route between Chicago and New York City.

The climate benefits from high speed rail can’t be ignored. Most high speed trains are electric. Electric trains powered by renewable energy have significantly less carbon emissions than oil-fueled cars and planes. High speed trains are about 12 times more efficient per passenger than airplanes, not to mention that a single train set can hold around 300 passengers compared to a regional airplane that holds around 100 or less.

Our train to New York City was about two hours late. Amtrak trains are notorious for being delayed. This is mostly due to the right of way on the tracks. Most Amtrak trains run on rails owned by freight companies

ART BY ROSIE MELLOR

whose trains get priority over passenger trains. These tracks couldn’t be upgraded to accommodate high speed rail without the freight companies’ permission. They probably wouldn’t want to have to go through the construction inconvenience unless they were to transition to high speed rail themselves. High speed freight isn’t unheard of, but uncommon. Freight tends to be heavy, which doesn’t lend itself to being moved at high speeds. Most freight companies in the U.S. are probably not going to make that change anytime soon.

High speed rail initiatives would have to purchase land and build their own infrastructure, an incredibly timely and expensive process. The Brightline in Florida, which upgraded existing track, already cost about 7.3 million dollars per mile. The trains would have to have their own track in order to reach the speeds they can in Europe and Asia. This isn’t just for convenience, it is also for safety. Ideally, high speed trains travel at about 200 miles an hour. Conventional trains run at anywhere from about 50 to 90 miles per hour. If a slower train can’t switch tracks fast enough to let the high speed trains pass, there could be backups or collisions. High speed rail tracks shouldn’t cross roads either. When a train crashes into a vehicle stuck on the tracks, the damage to the other vehicle can be extreme. Now imagine what would happen if a train going twice as fast were to hit that vehicle. This is an added expense because bridges, tunnels and viaducts would have to be built for new or existing tracks. This isn’t to say that all of the track these trains run on needs to be designated solely for them. High speed trains can use conventional track shared with regular trains in order to get to train stations within the cities it services. It’s only once they get out of town that they would transition to the high speed designated line to make traveling between the cities faster.

The U.S. government passed a one trillion dollar infrastructure bill in the fall of 2021, but Amtrak does not appear to plan to use much of the portion allotted to rail travel for high speed railways. Instead, they plan to open new lines operating at the same slower-than-car speed. The U.S. will most likely not get the high speed rail it should solely with the government’s help. The government already has to execute other important initiatives and pay for them. We need a group whose sole

focus would be to build and operate the railway in an efficient and ethical manner. There are private initiatives such as the Brightline in Florida, but full-privatization of all high speed networks may not be the way to go. The UK privatized its rail infrastructure in 1993, which led to chaos. Essentially, one private company owned the track, and then other companies would bid for rights to run their trains on that track. The companies running the trains would get a set number of years before they had to renew their contract for those rights. When the contract came up for renewal, someone else could outbid them, and then they would have to remove their trains. This doesn’t mean a private company can’t own both the track and trains, but having the government monitor operations in conjunction with the private company could help make sure passengers aren’t at the complete mercy of the railroad company. There would be more than one voice in ticket costs and services. Perhaps a railroad jointly owned by private investors and the government could work. The federal and state government would still be able to monitor the production, but the majority of the capital could come from private individuals or companies. These private entities would preferably be local to the area the railroad would service so that running the railroad well would be more important to them, in theory. Securing funding wouldn’t have to rely solely on politics.

The U.S. is about 60 years behind when it comes to high speed rail. The Shinkansen, Japan’s pioneer for the modern high speed train, first launched in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics. Amtrak launched the Acela Express, a high speed train between Boston and Washington D.C. in 2000, but hasn’t developed another high speed line since. Having regional systems that can operate at the same speeds as Asia and Europe would be beneficial to the U.S. High speed railroads in Europe and Asia have made a profit. Even if it fluctuates, it’s still possible. If the government can’t pay for the railroad, then the private sector should, and invite the government along to have checks and balances within the system to ensure that the railways can operate in an efficient manner. If that can happen, America will have a brighter future where the smog is just a thin or nonexistent wisp across the sky.

“In the four and a half hours it takes to drive between Detroit and Chicago, a train in China can run the distance between Chicago and New York City.”

BY ISABELLA MALDONADO

ART BY BEE WHALEN

As I grow more anxious for my future, my fear for what the world will be like for our daughters increases.

I had never thought about whether or not I would have children until I realized I might not have a choice.

As I stood in the middle of the Diag on May 13, 2022 holding up a sign saying, “I dream women will one day have the same rights as guns,” a woman came up to me.

She was around my mother’s age, but her words weren’t reminiscent of my mother’s. With a bitter look on her face, taunting words flowed out of her mouth as she shoved a sign protesting my choice toward me.

My heart dropped to my stomach and salty water coated my eyes. I had no clue what to do in a world that seemed like it was against me.

As I mature, it seems as though the mere possibility of having a daughter would be setting her up for a life of constant horror.

The future of our daughters is in danger. One in 6 women have been victims of attempted or completed rape, making me question bringing children into the world. Is it worth fearsome monsters lurking around the corners and outside our windows?

I don’t want to raise vulnerable girls in a nation where white men will speak for them, seizing complete control and power over their bodies and choices. States lacking in abortion protection laws won’t even protect the youngest of girls, no matter the circumstance.

One such case is when a 10-yearold rape victim had to travel from her home in Ohio to Indiana to get a medically necessary abortion, since, she and her doctor had been placed under severe scrutiny from Ohio’s government.

The fear of not being able to have a life saving procedure because the state she lives in does not permit it, is one I will not accept placing on daughters.

I wonder if when suffragettes were fighting for women’s right to vote, they ever thought that the vote would be used to strip away rights from other women.

If things continue the way they were a lot of women will make the choice not to have children in fear of the current political climate towards women continuing.

When bringing this topic to my classmates and peers, most of them

said they would not want children if the world was the same in the future as it is today.

“With Roe v. Wade being overturned, I think it leaves a lot of fear for our generation about the next generation, especially women, and young girls who might be scared and they don’t know what to do and they feel like the government and people in power aren’t on their side,” Lina Bailey said.

The real-world fear of high rates of crimes committed against women in the United States amplifies my fears for future generations of women. In this world, I would fear for my daughter’s safety in the simplest of everyday situations, such as going on a walk alone or parking next to the wrong car.

“I am scared for [women] to be out [in the world],” Sophia Alcumbrack said. “There are a lot of people in this world that are not good people.”

One of the most harmful phrases going around today is the term “pick-me girl.” A pick-me girl is one who seeks male validation by indirectly or directly insinuating that she is “not like the other girls,” according to Urban Dictionary. The phrase has turned into a derogatory term, prompting women to tear down other women and causing an increase in stereotypes of women.

Being a woman in this world is like being on a tightrope while being ripped apart at the seams; always too little or too much.

When men enjoy sports like football, no questions are raised of his interests. But when women like football it is seen as an obscure concept and is often met with responses that may sexualize her behavior, such as claiming she only watches for the players. These harmful stereotypes are not the kind of mindset I would want my daughter to go through the world holding.

Bailey recalls how these stereotypes have affected her from a young age. When telling her classmates her dreams of wanting to go to Harvard and become a doctor, she was met with incredulity and doubt steeped in misogynistic thinking.

“I don’t want future generations to have to face that,” Bailey said, “It’s really affected my generation and it’s affected my parents’ gener-

ation [and] my grandparents’ generation.”

Bailey hopes her future daughters will be encouraged by the people around her and grow up in an educational environment that not only wants them to survive, but excel.

“I really hope that [in the future] this stigma around things that women can or can’t do is broken down by them and things are very different growing up for them,” Alcumbrack said.

Not only are the harmful stereotypes of what being a woman means being spread in teen communities, but also on the internet with influencers being no help to raise awareness to these issues.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 40% of teens reported that images on social media had caused them to worry about body image.

This has been a weighing factor on Alcumbrack in her hopes for her future daughters.

”I had a lot of confidence issues [when] trying to put myself out there,” Alcumbrack said. “Being confident was really hard with people having a sense of an idea about what women should look like.”

While Gen Z has made strides towards a more equitable society for women, there are still major goals that need to be accomplished. There is no lack in the passing down of misogynistic behaviors from generation to generation.

“There’s a lot of slut shaming that happens that I’ve experienced and a lot of [other] girls have experienced in high school and I hope that stops,” Bailey said.

While there are always going to be outliers of the Gen Z agenda, Bailey finds that they are making more of an effort to eradicate the restriction of expression that women have had placed on them.

“I wish there would be [immense progress in sexism], but I don’t think [I can say that] in good conscience,” Bailey said. “I think it’s just too far gone.”

I not only hope for a world where our daughters can be safe in all ways, but live in a world where their existence isn’t valued any less than those of men.

To the future of our daughters — may your world be better than ours.

To Have or Not to Have

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS AND RUTH SHIKANOV

Throughout our adolescence, teenagers are expected to have a clear picture of our future. Adults, both those we know and those who are strangers to us, ask us questions: what do you want to be when you grow up? Where are you going to college? When will you have children? We have so much ahead of us; or at least, we are supposed to. Instead, we live in impending doom, skewing our view of our future. This leads to a big question: is it ethical to bring children into this world, where we are constantly scared for our future?

We know that Earth’s climate has changed throughout its history; this kind of change, however, is unprecedented. Paleoclimatic evidence — evidence found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs and sedimentary rock — has shown that the climate is warming 10 times faster than what is considered normal.

These issues feel like they are on a larger scale than our everyday lives; how can we worry about the climate when we have homework to turn in or colleges to apply to? But the increased warming of the planet can be attributed to humans, as our activity has produced carbon dioxide approximately 250 times faster than natural sources. If we stay on the trajectory we are on right now, our world will look vastly different in 30 years. Coastlines will rise, causing coastal properties to be enveloped by the ocean. We will see a decline of crop yields by 10% and we will face higher temperatures and more adverse weather.

For teenagers right now, our entire future feels like a question mark. This is especially true when we consider building a family; for many of us, it is as difficult to fathom bringing children into a dying world as it is to imagine not having children at all

Therefore, our generation is faced with a pressing question: is it ethical to have children? When choosing to have children, we consider many factors, including financial stability, adequate time and familial support. In addition, more than one in three Americans aged 18 to 29 believe climate change could be a top factor in deciding whether to have kids, according to a 2019 poll conducted by Business Insider. Adding climate change to the mix exacerbates the stress surrounding this decision, especially when finding the solution to this climate crisis rests on the shoulders of Gen Z.

perplexed and frustrated. There is not one definitive answer, but rather a series of reflections and complicated conversations, one after another.

“Something I’m thinking about is if my parents had known how things were going to go and then decided to have me anyway, would I forgive them for that?” Zikmund-Fisher said. “Knowing how things are going to go in the next couple of decades, would my kids forgive me for bringing them into the world?”

Our generation has been robbed of the choices those before us made without a second thought. We cannot simply ignore the consequences our decisions have; they are constantly on the top of our minds. This plays into the stress of choosing to have children.

“I feel like the choice to have kids or not is no longer easy. It’s never been easy from a ‘raising kids’ standpoint, but from a global standpoint, it’s really not anymore.” Zikmund-Fisher said. “I feel like that choice has been taken away from me.”

This is the case for Eve Zikmund-Fisher, who graduated from CHS in 2016. It was the alarming words, “If we don’t fix this by 2050…” that made Zikmund-Fisher realize the extremities of the climate crisis and its alarming effects. Growing more alert, Zikmund-Fisher no longer saw it as a situation that was getting worse and required attention, but as an emergency, needing urgent action or else the consequences would be too difficult to bear.

Having been in a relationship for over a year and a half, Zikmund-Fisher and their partner have gone in circles: kids or no kids? Zikmund-Fisher’s partner feels uncomfortable bringing in children of their own into the world, given the state it is in. This leaves Zikmund-Fisher

Despite the growing anxiety of Gen Z and the impending doom as 2050 grows closer, we know that the carbon emissions of individuals are not the main cause of climate change. Fossil fuels account for 75 percent of carbon emissions, which is mostly due to big corporations; 100 companies have been responsible for 71% of carbon emissions since 1998. ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest gas and oil companies, has known that fossil fuels contribute to climate change since 1956, when scientists employed by the company published a study proving it. But in 1996, at a speech to the Economic Club of Detroit, the CEO of ExxonMobil outright denied that human activity contributed to climate change, saying “Currently, the scientific evidence is

ART BY ROSIE MELLOR AND BEE WHALEN

As we grow up and begin to plan the rest of our lives, teenagers must grapple with the world we have been left. Is it ethical to have children when it feels like climate change is taking over?

“I feel like the choice to have kids or not is no longer easy. It’s never been easy from a ‘raising kids’ standpoint, but from a global standpoint, it’s really not anymore. I feel like that choice has been taken away from me.”

inconclusive as to whether human activities are having a significant effect on the global climate.”

Therefore, it is important for us to realize that not having children is not going to stop the climate crisis, nor will it prevent it in any way. Our main problem is not overpopulation or the choices of individual people. The root of climate change lies in corporations putting profits over humanity and not considering how their carbon emissions affect the population as a whole, and the planet itself. We must not let ourselves be distracted by the unfair blame put on us. So what can we do, to prevent the loss of the world as we know it while not sacrificing the potential families we will build?

Elizabeth Anderson, a Max Shaye professor of philosophy at University of Michigan, presents a new way to look at the ethics of having children, when the future of our world feels uncertain. She asks us to think about this question: what makes a good life?

“One can consider what contributions one’s child will be able to make to help society meet the challenges [of climate change], and that itself will be very meaningful,” Anderson said. “So [to answer] whether someone has a good life [means] to look at both sides of the equation: both what they experience from the environment but also what meaning they can get from contributing to improve the lives of the people around them.”

Choosing to have children should be personal; something that affects you and your family. But right now, the government expects the younger generations to shoulder the burden of what Gen X, baby boomers and those before them have caused — they have given up on climate change legislation, including adequately cutting carbon emissions.

We have been passed a catastrophe that could have been prevented decades ago, and could be lessened now if politicians and world leaders made it a priority. Instead, they are handing it over to us to deal with and making us feel guilty about individual choices, like our commute to school and whether to have children.

We believe that the issue is not whether or not to have children; instead, it is about how to raise these children thoughtfully and mindfully, especially given the world we live in today. We must center climate change education in order to prevent another generation that enables climate change “deniers.” We must continue to fight for our futures while living in the current moment, as well.

“I think what one should really do is talk about climate change [in order] to raise one’s children with that concern top of mind, and work together to think about what we can do to help society deal with this problem,” Anderson said.

Our generation should not be expected to give up our future because of the mistakes of those who came before us. Instead, we should continue to protest the way our planet is treated and to call out the reason why climate change occurred in the first place: certain people and places being treated as disposable. We will not ignore this problem. We will face it head-on, while also living our

own lives, with children or not, and our children will continue this fight as well.

“The chief ingredients of happiness don’t consist of having a tranquil and cooperative world, but rather in finding a meaningful place [in the world] and helping people to manage these challenges,” Anderson said. “[It is important to raise] one’s child with a view to how they can find a meaningful way to help everyone cope with the problems they face and to prevent worse things from happening.”

Our Summer

Reflecting on a three-month period of growth, insight and change.

BY LUCY CASSELL-KELLEY

The summer of 2022 was my summer of reinvention.

The itching started in the beginning of May. My bones had grown too big for my body; the chaffing started in June, the fresh heat rubbing up against my brain, begging me to expand. The water didn’t roll until July; the dry warmth pressing into my lungs until, finally, the waves broke over my head.

As the discomfort spread through me, my head ballooning out and my ribs contracting in, I let the summer take me into its gentle arms.

Summer poked and prodded, shredding the glamor I held, finding the holes in the facade I kept pulled up around myself.

Every morning, in the quiet calm, I set out. Legs pounding against concrete, feet hitting pavement, arms pushing against the wind; running towards the day.

The humidity kissed my cheeks and left me glowing. My skin

tanned and my hair lightened, my eyes sparkled with the joy of leading a life just for myself. The summer was quiet; juxtaposing the cluttered mess of constant sound I had grown accustomed to. Silence clouded around me, dulling my thoughts and taking hold of my hand.

I spent long afternoons curled on my porch chair, reading. I spent evenings outside, watching the fireflies flit about. On the hot, sticky afternoons I laid on the grass and whispered my secrets to the sky.

I felt the air around me, gulping in the life passing me.

That summer, I stole moments just for me. I let the world envelope me; laying in the water of Lake Michigan, giggling with the stars, finding peace in the ordinary.

One night, the sky was exceptionally beautiful and my heart was exceptionally heavy. The beach beckoned to me; my footprints left behind indents in the soft sand.

The water slid against my arms, my body cutting through the heavy waves. My eyes drifted upwards, tipping my head back into the water, my hair pooling out behind me. I was young and I was changing, and what a beautiful thing.

I didn’t leave the water for a long time. When I finally pulled myself from the lake, I felt the stars rest their eyes on me. remembering who I was. There was no future for me; just the present. There was no start, no end. There was no stress, no worry, nothing but me and the sun warming my skin.

I knew my summer of revelation would come to an end; I would look back and remember that I was just a girl and it was just a summer and really, biologically I am the same person looking towards the future. But for those three months, I was so much more than where I was going and who I was going to be.

BY RUTH SHIKANOV

As a kid, I loved summer. I would go to summer camp with sunscreen smeared all over my face and a backpack barely zipped up, as a large beach towel and swim goggles poked through. Typically, my family and I would have a trip in August and our vacations always meant good food, overpriced souvenirs and plenty of sightseeing. And always eager to play outside, I’d pry open our old and tricky backyard door and as it swung open, I would run towards the tree I had climbed over and over again.

Nestled comfortably between a couple branches, I would get lost in my imagination, listening to all the sounds of my backyard and beyond; my neighbor’s restless schnauzer; parties of birds flying overhead; the sound of water trickling slowly onto the pavement from our bright green garden hose.

But eventually, I grew out of summer camp, or rather it grew out of

me. Accepting it was my last year as a camper at 11 years-old, I felt the magic of summer slip away. But I trudged forward with the summer while it lasted, with daily trips to the pool and eating melting popsicles.

As much as I loved being outside and feeling the warm rays on my skin, something I never liked about summer was the humidity, especially during the night.

As the sun would set, I would lie in my bed with my sheets parallel to me — it was always too hot to actually sleep under them. Overheated and bored, I focused on the sounds of crickets and frogs which echoed in my room. Frustrated that their sounds kept me up, I tried to think of anything that would put me to sleep. I counted sheep and imagined what a perfect day would be. I even stole one of my mom’s old sleeping masks, but despised how the fabric felt on my face.

By now, the simple task of falling asleep was deemed impossible; I was still wide awake. Accepting defeat, I sat up and stared into the backyard. It was dark, but I could still see the pond, seeing the swarm of lightning bugs illuminate the water. Tilting my head up, I traced an outline of the large tree centered right in the center of the backyard with my eyes. The chirps of the crickets and croaks of the frogs grew even louder.

Suddenly, I felt sick. To be honest, I don’t really know what happened. But I remember feeling like there was a heavy weight on my chest and breathing became difficult. It felt like all the childlike innocence in me evaporated.

Realizing how a single moment can abruptly end series of good memories.

READERS

Staff members document short personal narratives around their ideas about the future.

ADDI HINESMAN

When I was six years old, I used to wish I could see the future. I would lay awake at night, talking with my younger brother in our bedroom, sharing our hopes and dreams of what our futures may hold. We had dreams of living together in London, plans of what our first jobs as teens would be. We had hope. So much hope.

When I was about 12 years old, I would tell myself I had it all figured out. I knew who I was, I had a plan and there was nothing that could change that. I would write out lists of potential careers and colleges in my journal. I was completely clueless of what the next year would hold for me.

Now I am 16 years old and I am not ready for the future. All the planning and dreaming I did as a kid has left me conflicted on what path is most right for me. I am not the same person I was when I was six or 12, but I still recognize those younger versions of myself in who I am today. And though I am not ready for the future, I do hope the future is ready for me. I hope my future will make my younger self proud.

CLAIRE LEWIS

As I grow up I’ve started to tiptoe around my future. I sip my tea with the expectation that it will burn my tongue, but I never wait for the steam to go away. I see myself as the carrier of the person I am going to be, never as the person I am right now.

My escape are the moments that have not yet begun, yet that uncertainty is always my demise. When I was younger I used to carry dinner discussions; “What was the best part of your day?” and “What are you looking forward to tomorrow?” As I’ve gotten older, the future is much more than the lunch I plan to pack for the next day or the celebration I’ve yet to have.

My idea of the future has turned into all the things I feel I will never accomplish. My past is already set: I can’t do all the things I forgot to, I can’t change mistakes and I can’t take back what I said. But the future is always the person I’ll never be. It’s the option to create more failure, be someone I don’t know or let myself be the person I already am. It’s the opportunity to grow into all the things I let myself despise. I’ve stopped asking questions; I look forward to blowing out the fire. My future has turned into survival of the now.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELLA ROSEWARNE

WRITE

ARISTA LUONG

Friday nights, Saturday mornings, afternoons and evenings and entire Sundays spent hunched over a desk. Colored events fitted edge to edge; scattered, deceivingly-empty white spaces spent flipping through flashcards in my car or frantically searching for my next caffeinated beverage.

I used my minutes like pocket change: digging through lint and old wrappers to pay the exact amount required, never wasting a precious cent.

Using every second of your time isn’t sustainable. I love working hard and I hate being bored: the perfect recipe for an overcrowded schedule and overwhelming workload, which caused me, an overachieving student, to overwork herself.

I have always had a clear vision of what I want my future to look like and I have always known that it would take many years of hard work and sacrifice to get there – and I am more than okay with that fact. However, in my efforts to give future-me her perfect life, I have often neglected present-me. I now have a glass jar on a shelf in my room, formerly containing some kind of sauce, that holds my pocket change – I save every cent for myself. I use my collected minutes to read books for fun, immerse myself in one of

SANDER

I don’t know what I’m going to be when I grow up, but I’m not worried about it. I get that question at least twice a week and answer with a new grand plan every time:

“I’d really enjoy doing wildlife photography and research all over the world, then writing about it for National Geographic.”

“Definitely something in the medical field… I’m really interested in pursuing immunology, or maybe genetics.”

“I think I’ll open a hotel where every room is different and we bake fresh bread every morning. I’d put a garden on the property too.”

My interests and desires are so diverse that I truly cannot predict where I’ll be in 10, 20, or 30 years, but I trust my instincts enough to know I’ll be doing something fulfilling, something active, and something where every day is different.

Our futures hold options we can’t comprehend today, and I’m truly looking forward to experiencing it all. To me, the future is possibility - nothing is promised, but nothing is out of the question.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Babylon

BY SAM GIBB-RANDALL

“Babylon,” directed by Damian Chazelle, stars Diego Calva, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt and Jovan Adepo. Its cinematographer is Linus Sandgren and it’s scored by Justin Hurwitz. Set in 1920s Los Angeles, “Babylon” tells the tale of the transition from the wild excess of Hollywood’s silent film era into a new era of sound and sophistication. The movie follows the stars that are born and die in the midst of the transition.

Babylon is a bold movie. It opens with a scene in which three guys attempt to transport an elephant up Hollywood Hills to a lavish and drug-fueled party, and it poops on them on the way. This character continues throughout. At its worst, one can respect it for its hilarity and sheer audacity: you’ll have a good time whether or not you like it. Brad Pitt is simultaneously hilarious and tragic, and Margot Robbie is mesmerizing. They each play actors drunk (literally and figuratively) on the highs of fame, without the self-esteem to realize it. The surprise star and heart of the movie is Diego Calva’s character, a Mexican aspiring director who is touchingly passionate about his dreams of making movies and is not a slave to fame and glamor. Calva gives a superlative-worthy performance, in which the viewer can see an unbridled love in his eyes that is inspiring for those that dream. It’s ever the more tragic because of it when external circumstances get in his way.

As we watch the rise and fall of the characters on screen, Hurwitz’s score guides us onward. The themes are carried throughout, yet we hear them differently each time. What was once uplifting eventually becomes lonesome and empty, but we cognitively realize it’s the same song continuing. This alludes to the fickle nature of fame and its parallels to the rising and falling that happens in our lives. Hurwitz’s music is nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Score.

Chazelle is now at the point in his career, having had established success with movies such as “Whiplash” and “La La Land,” that he can take big swings on projects like this one. It cost $80 million to make, and every cent is visible on screen. The sets are vast, sometimes to the

QUICK FACTS

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The script was originally inspired by the television series “Babylon Berlin,” released in 2017. The film would likely never have been made without the show existing first.

point of chaos, but they are shot intentionally and masterfully by Chazelle and Sandgren. It’s clearly a passion project for Chazelle and it’s cool to see him having the freedom to pursue such bold ideas in our finance-driven world.

2 3 4

Prior to the film’s release, it was announced that actor Tobey Maguire would play the role of Charlie Chaplin in the story. However, he plays the fictional off-putting mobster named James McKay instead.

“Babylon” was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Production Design, Best Costume Design and Best Original Score.

In “Babylon,” Margot Robbie stars as a fictional character named Nellie LaRoy. Her character is based on Clara Bow, a real-life American actress.

Available for purchase on streaming. “Babylon” was produced by Paramount Pictures and was released in the United States on Dec. 23, 2022.

When You Finish Saving the World

BY ELLA GLASS

The world referred to in the title of Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, “When You Finish Saving the World,” is claustrophobic. The 2022 film follows a mother and son, Evelyn and Ziggy Katz, as they try and fail to relate to each other through their self absorbed lives. Evelyn, the director of a domestic violence shelter, insists on sharing the classical music she loves, but her microscopic car can hardly fit much more than Evelyn herself. To Evelyn’s disappointment, Ziggy’s life revolves around his live-streaming presence, where he performs his original music alone for a global audience.

The lives of both Ziggy and Evelyn are uncomfortable and excruciating to watch. Evelyn, who seems to have only the best intentions, is edgy and controlling around

the shelter. As Ziggy superficially tries to “become political” to impress his classmates, Evelyn tries to replace him with the teenage son of a woman staying at the shelter. The most important subject the two disagree on in the film is arguably the music. Throughout the film, Evelyn’s classical music gets wilder and more erratic as she looks for someone to appreciate it with her. Meanwhile, Ziggy’s biggest song becomes a poem stolen from the girl he wants to impress. Watching the two argue over each other’s music choices as their arrogant behavior suffocates everyone else out of their separate worlds feels like being in on a prank that is about to be pulled on screen.

“When You Finish Saving the World” is an example of how not to live. In Evelyn and Ziggy’s exaggerated personalities, there are glimpses of honest desires to help save the world. However, the comedy of their extreme tone deafness makes it clear that they don’t know anything outside of each other. As you grit your teeth watching, you’re reminded that in order to save the world, you need to be in touch with it.

BY LYDIA DEBORD

Adolescence: the shaky period between youth and adulthood. Not yet sure of our place, we can find comfort in people and danger — at least that’s what Tracy Freeman did.

“Thirteen,” the cult-classic movie released in 2003, doesn’t feel dated or performative. Director Catherine Hardwicke based the film off of her own experiences with her thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, Nikki Reed. Reed also appears in the movie as Evie Zamora.

The story is based around a young girl named Tracy Freeland, who lives with her chaotic mother Mel and older brother Mason. Her father is out of the picture, and Mel has to do loads of work to provide for the family. Mel is also hinted at being a recovering addict throughout the film.

Tracy begins the story as a pigtailed girl, showing signs of depression that others are oblivious to. However, her character goes through an intense progression when

she begins hanging out with a popular girl named Evie Zamora. The girls begin shoplifting, smoking, having sex, sneaking out, drinking and doing hard drugs. As Tracy spends more time with Evie, her depression increasingly takes over. Tracy begins cutting and starving herself. As her condition gets more critical, the coloring of the movie shifts with her.

As Tracy begins spiraling downward, we see her lose lots of things that matter to her. Her academic success, relationship with Mel, and all of her old friends are a few examples of this. But she’s willing to sacrifice it all for Evie’s attention and approval, showing how addicting and codependent friendships at that age can be.

Riddled with imagery and hidden hints, Thirteen proves itself to be a powerful film. While watching this, I felt sadness and unease. But I don’t think that’s necessarily a negative aspect. This movie exists as a cautionary tale, a warning to both parents and teens. Along with this, I found the costumes and symbolism so intriguing, with factors that could be analyzed for hours. With its dire honesty and bluntness, the film has presented itself as a modern classic.

Trigger Warning: This review discusses eating disorders, self harm and substance abuse.

Available in theaters. “When You Finish Saving the World” was released in the United States on Jan. 20, 2023. It was produced by A24.

Notebook: Shutter Island

BY KEVIN DUTTON

“Shutter Island” is a 2010 psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the novel written by Dennis Lehanne in 2003. Set in 1954, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, who is sent to investigate the disappearance of a patient at a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Ashecliffe, the hospital, is located on an isolated island. Throughout the film, Daniels’ intentions of investigation become unclear, as do the purpose of Ashecliffe. What seemed to be a simple story of two U.S. Marshals searching for a patient drifts towards an unknown narrative. Daniels reveals to his partner—Chuck Aule, played by Mark Ruffalo— that he secretly took the mission to find Andrew Laeddius, the killer of his wife who was supposedly on the island. When Daniels learns there is no ferry he can take to leave the island, he starts to think he was set up in a trap. The doctors on the island seem to be hiding information from Daniels and mitigate the disappearance of their patient. These subtle hints throughout the movie lead viewers to question the secrets of Daniels and Ashecliffe. If Chuck Aule is a U.S. Marshal, why did the film emphasize his struggle to remove a gun from his holster? Why did the policemen on the island sit around and not search for the missing patient? Why did Aule disappear when Daniels needed him most? Why did some of the patients seem to be frightened of Daniels?

At the end of the movie, it is revealed that Teddy Daniels isn’t who we thought he was: he was a delusional

patient named Andrew Laeddius who’d been located at Ashecliffe for the last two years. Daniels developed schizophrenia as a result of his traumatic past: his World War Two experiences as a marshal and the murdering of his children by his wife. What Daniels and the audience had believed to be an investigation was actually an experiment conducted to help Daniels free himself of his manic delusions. Everyone on the island was playing a role to help Daniels cope with his dark past. The doctors believed that by completely submerging Daniels into his own fantasy, he would get a sense of reality and come to terms with his deep-rooted emotional trauma.

Throughout the movie, you are the detective to the film as Daniels is to the island. Every few minutes, an odd conversation or mysterious scene makes you reconsider what you think you know about Daniels and Ashecliffe. At times, I felt as if “Shutter Island” was meant to seem esoteric. I felt like the story was only meant to be understood by a select group of movie enthusiasts who made a deeper connection to a plot that went over my head. The revelation of Daniel’s situation made the story come full circle for me in a way I had never experienced before. Without seeing the ending for myself, I never would have predicted that Daniels was a patient indulged in his own fantasy. When I connected the dots and thought about all the mysterious events that didn’t make sense, I reached my own internal apotheosis that filled the last piece to a puzzle. It was a puzzle piece I

“Shutter Island” tells the story of a U.S. Marshal who investigates the disappearance of a patient at a psychiatric hospital. As the story progresses, the narrative takes peculiar turns into unexpected territories.

Spoiler warning: This review contains spoilers for “Shutter Island.”

never would have found on my own without finishing the movie. I felt as if a miracle antidote or holy grail was created to answer all of my initial confusions and questions about the story. It was the perfect twist of falling action to conclude every mystery of the plot.

Every significant character in “Shutter Island” has a role to portray that can’t be understood before Teddy Daniels’ reality is revealed. Each actor has an incredibly complicated task that you can only appreciate watching through a second time: the duality of a character playing a character. When you first watch the film, you see Ruffalo play the role of a U.S. Marshal who seems to have a couple secrets up his sleeve. When you rewatch the film, you watch Ruffalo play the role of a psychologist doing everything he can to help his patient of two years cope with his past. Instead of seeing patients and doctors, you see people doing their best to follow instructions and treat Daniels as a marshal.

The complexity of the perceived story told to the viewers is also embedded in the cinematography. In the opening scene of the movie, Daniels introduces himself to Aule on a ferry before arriving at the island. Because it is part of the opening scene, this conversation is easy to neglect or forget. But why would partnered U.S. marshals on an investigation only introduce themselves to each other after spending hours together on a ferry? Policemen tense up when Daniels walks close to them. When first watching, this seems to be because there is a secret on the island to be kept from the U.S. Marshals. But in reality, the policemen are scared of Daniels because they know him as a neurotic patient with a capacity for violence.

Throughout the entire film, fire and water are direct metaphors for Daniels’ life across disciplines. Water symbolizes reality. Whenever water is present, the film

points towards truth. Water is representative of reality because Daniels doesn’t take full responsibility for the death of his kids who were drowned. Fire symbolizes the fantasy Daniels lives in. Whenever fire is present, Daniels is hallucinating or deeply engaged in his false persona. Daniels tells himself his wife died in a fire, when in reality, he killed her.

As a first-time viewer, everything about this movie felt perfect: the cinematography, subtle imagery, eerie atmosphere, ominous music, astounding acting, constant change of events and the revelation of Daniels’ reality. Nothing could’ve drawn me away from my TV for the two hour and 16 minute film.

“Shutter Island” is one of my most memorable movie experiences of all time. I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys mind-bending twists, psychological thrillers or a good investigative story.

“Throughout the movie, you are the detective to the film as Daniels is to the island. Every few minutes, an odd conversation or mysterious scene makes you reconsider what you think you know about Daniels and Ashecliffe.”

Shutter Island was primarily filmed in Nahant, Massachusetts. Scenes in Ashecliffe were shot in the old Medfield State Hospital. Scenes from the World War Two flashbacks were filmed in Taunton’s Whittenton Mills Complex.

The Ghost in the Machine

BY RAFFI AVEDISSIAN AND HENRY CONNOR

From the surface of Mars to the Mountains of Mordor; from the volcanic inferno of Mt. Doom to World War Two’s Iwo Jima, Roger Kupelian has been integral in creating worlds for a variety of film, commercial, video game and streaming T.V. projects. Kupelian has been working in the independent film business since 1992, and the visual effects industry since 1997’s “Space Jam.” Kupelian currently freelances within the Hollywood VFX industry in a number of upcoming high-profile projects, while continuing in his personal creative endeavors and unique projects, including his own East of Byzantium Graphic Novel series.

Q: You’ve been working in the industry for quite some time. From your perspective, do you think the industry has changed since the beginning of your career? How do you think the industry has progressed and where do you think it is going?

A: Well, it’s always changing. The push has been towards more automation, almost from the very beginning. If they could have automated everything at the onset and just had live actors and everything else automated, they would have done it. I came in at a time when digital

media was on the rise with projects such as “Space Jam,” which was the first digital project that I worked on. Before that, I would work on set, do storyboards for different projects and work as an embedded journalist. I thought my career was going to take a completely different direction. I ended up getting the lucky break working at Cinesite, which is in Hollywood and is the visual effects house that was working on “Space Jam” at the time. So to answer your question, I came in at a time when there was a [digital] revolution. In the middle of the 1990s, you had films like “Space Jam,” “Contact,” “Starship Troopers” and eventually “Titanic.” All of these films pushed the boundary of visual effects in a way that they hadn’t been pushed before in the sense that they had way more visual effect shots than the average film at the time. Now we’ve got unreal artificial intelligence and it’s scary because a lot of people are going to lose their jobs. You could argue that that is what happened when digital tools came along and put a bunch of people out of work, people who could simply not adapt. Now, we’re sitting here, watching Netflix and we have no idea what was produced by humans and what was produced by artificial intelligence. Somewhere in there is the category of artists known as me and my friends. A lot of the younger

Roger Kupelian explores narrative and advancements in technology through his experience in the film industry.

Photo courtesy of Roger Kupelian. Roger Kupelian presents his work on his graphic novel “East of Byzantium” at a local high school. The novel was published in 2011 and is the first installment in a series.

concept artists are worried because AI can just generate all of these different conceptual pieces that look phenomenal. It’s fantastic and scary at the same time. But I came in during a revolution so can I complain? That’s the reason I’m here. If I didn’t come in at that time, if I came in as a storyboard artist who works in a workshop making miniatures for stop motion, I probably would still be someone’s apprentice right now. This progression allowed me to jump along with a lot of my generation. We took that extra step.

Q: There’s this interesting dichotomy of the creative human aspect and the rise in automation and technological aspects. Do you think, with this rise in technology, the creative process and that human side could be affected? Or do you think that there will always be a divide?

A: You intuitively, as a fellow human being, will notice the emptiness of something that a machine is spitting out. If it’s a human using a machine, that’s different, you can see the effect of a human brain and I think that’s it: it’s about the ghost in the machine. Why do we love the stories we love? Why do we read Dostoevsky and other impactful storytellers? Why do we get drawn to these stories? What’s in there that pulls us as human beings? And is that going to be missing from a machine that’s imitating that? I don’t know if people are gonna be able to see the difference; I hope they will. But if we are not able to see that, that says a lot about human beings and where we’re going and that’s really scary. At what point does reality stop being reality? At what point do you walk out that door and go “Am I really walking out the door? Is this part of the VR thing that I’m wearing? Wait a minute, am I even wearing a headset? What’s going on?” Are you going to think about the fact that maybe it’s not even a headset? Maybe it’s just something you plug into your head. At what point are people going to wake up? Or are we just going to go to sleep forever. Being sucked into that black hole, not even knowing that’s happening. Is this conversation really even our conversation? Are we really here or is this some script somebody wrote, a long time ago, some ancient civilization and we’re just acting it out?

Q: With the idea you touched on about AI and how VR experiences are similar to reality, do you think humans are going to go along with it or will there be a revolt? What do you think the future is in relation to that?

A: We’re going back to these fundamental questions of what the human soul truly is. Whatever it is, whatever you believe it is, you believe there’s a value to it. Whether it’s just the abstract consciousness that we have, it’s the fact that we can even talk about consciousness. We’re aware that we’re aware. Is the machine aware? Are human beings trying to escape? Are we trying to escape our own misery by creating these things hoping that somehow they’ll save us? Why do we even make movies? It’s all make believe to talk about a story that’s important to us. We explore meaning that takes us out of our present environment so that we escape for two and a half hours. Look at the experience of playing a video game versus going to see a film. A film is a story. It’s an effort of thousands of people. Someone had to build the car that took you to see that film. We can go down the list of the thousands of people responsible for you watching it. When you’re playing a video game, you’re sitting in your bedroom in your shorts, playing with people around the world, you don’t even know who these people are. It’s at that point where you’re determining the story yourself, but is it even really a story? It’s just one experience after another. You interact, but at that point you’re all in a make believe playground telling the story together. Someone was sitting there and saying, here’s the box you guys play in and here’s the creatures. Now you guys go ahead and decide what your dice rolls are. You work together.

“A lot of the younger concept artists are worried because AI can just generate all of these different conceptual pieces that look phenomenal. It’s fantastic and scary at the same time...”

Photo courtesy of Roger Kupelian Roger Kupelian speaks on his novel “East of Byzantium” during a presentation. The novel is inspired by the blood-filled history of the Pagans, Persians and Romans.

Out Loud.

Out Loud. Out Loud.

Three albums to hear now.

BY RAFFI AVEDISSIAN, SAM CAO AND HENRY CONNOR

“Let’s Start Here.” by Lil Yachty

Lil Yachty’s new genre-bending album “Let’s Start Here.” caught fans and listeners off guard when it was released on Jan. 27, 2023. The irregular, unique sounding vocal and production mix on the project is notably different from Lil Yachty’s previous albums. The psychedelic-rock album features songs drawing from many different genres, supported by some well-known artists including Mac DeMarco and MGMT. Pivoting away from his old persona, Yachty wanted to embrace a new sound of music for his fans, and has succeeded in doing so.

The album opens with the track “the BLACK seminole.,” which has a melody that feels like it’s coming straight from a Pink Floyd song and blends well with Yachty’s unique vocals. In the track, Yachty uses autotune to help portray his emotion. We see this happen again throughout the album on songs like “running out of time” and “drive ME crazy!” This raw emotion and confrontation of his own feelings can also be seen in songs without autotune, such as the track “:(failure(:,” in which Yachty simply talks about his own loneliness and struggles in his rise as an artist over a relatively simple melody, compared to others on the album.

The closing song “REACH THE SUNSHINE.” is everything you want for a finale to a project like this album. The slow build of the song turns into an epic and impactful burst of strings and keys that are backed by an eerie and heavy vocal performance from Yachty. It’s a beautiful closing track to the album and effectively depicts the effort Yachty and others put into the project.

The main question now is where should Yachty go from here, and how will this album influence and affect the future style of the rap scene? Regardless of whether you enjoy the sound, there’s no doubt Lil Yachty deserves credit for his dedication and vision on this project.

“LOUIS” by Kenny Beats

For the past decade, Kenneth Blume III, more commonly known as Kenny Beats, has made a name for himself throughout the music industry as a prolific songwriter and producer. Blume has collaborated with a wide array of artists in the past such as Thundercat, Anderson .Paak and Denzel Curry. Blume’s new album “LOUIS” marks his debut solo album, and serves as an important piece for the progression of instrumental hip-hop music.

“LOUIS,” at its core, is an ode to Blume’s father, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2021. Blume’s father was the sole inspiration for the album, resulting in “LOUIS” serving as a deeply personal way for Blume to navigate his feelings.

Blume’s strong collaborations aren’t missing on the album. British Rapper Slowthai appears on the smooth, guitar-filled “Family Tree.” Pop singer Remi Wolf appears on one of the album’s more notable singles, “Last Words.” Experimental hip-hop artist JPEGMafia appears on “Still,” accompanied by a soulful vocal sample in the instrumentation. Like Blume himself, this album shines when the collaborative aspects are at the forefront.

Blume’s influences are clear and proudly displayed throughout the album. His approach to sampling draws on producers of the past who were essential to hip-hop and the progression of its instrumentation, such as J Dilla, DJ Shadow and Madlib. Blume has also cited musical inspirations such as Aphex Twin, Björk and D’Angelo.

Through the personal influences for the album and the persistence of the strong collaborations that have defined Kenny Beats’ career, “LOUIS” serves as a passion-filled outlier in the works of contemporary instrumental hip-hop. Hopefully it’s the beginning of a revitalization of a subgenre that hasn’t been prevalent in around 20 years.

“HEROES & VILLAINS” by Metro Boomin

With his new album “Heroes and Villains,” producer Metro Boomin has created an album featuring some of the greatest artists of our generation, without saying a single word. “Heroes & Villains” by Metro Boomin features masterful production consisting of stunning samples, hard-hitting 808 drums and velvety transitions. Each artist plays a different role over the 15 song collection, and Morgan Freeman provides spoken-word narration. The album is meant to be played front to back to fully appreciate the seamless-transitions between songs.

“Superhero,” featuring Future is one of the best songs on the album. The song starts with a beautiful transition from the first song on the album “On Time.” Metro starts the beat in the middle of “On Time,” allowing for Morgan Freeman to lay down his first line of the album. This is then followed by a sample from the show “The Boys,” which is a perfect lead-in for Future to enter the track. Future’s flow on the song is perfect for Metro’s production, resulting in one of his best songs to date.

After their many collaborations, 21 Savage and Metro Boomin reunited for a couple of songs on the album. Savage’s work on “Walk Em Down” is reminiscent of his work on their collaborative album “Savage Mode,” hard hitting lines combined with strong 808-drums. “Walk Em Down” cuts off roughly halfway through, where rapper Mustafa the Poet takes his verse to slow down the song, as well as introduce a piano melody. The duality of the song is a reflection of the album’s title, with 21 savage being the villain and Mustafa being the hero.

Overall, the album exemplifies Metro Boomin’s musical prowess by sending all 15 songs to the “Billboard Hot 100.” Every song leaves the listener with a catchy rhythm and fun experience.” Heroes & Villains” delivered as one of the best albums of 2022.

Books That Change Lives

When Dè Barney won a free book from the Ann Arbor District Library, they were in a reading slump. “The Messenger” helped get them out of it.

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

Every summer, the Ann Arbor District Library holds their “Summer Game,” a reading competition to encourage students to read throughout the summer. Students track their reading and earn prizes for their efforts, such as free books. When Dè Barney participated in the Summer Game the summer after their eighth grade year, they received one of these prizes: a book called “The Messenger” by Markus Zusak, which they promptly put on their bookshelf and didn’t look at again until junior year. When they finally picked up “The Messenger,” after not reading for a long time, it changed their entire perspective on life.

“The Messenger” follows Ed Kennedy, a taxi driver who doesn’t know where his life will lead him, until he accidentally foils a bank robbery and is launched into a mys-

tery. Ed receives a playing card, the Ace of Diamonds, with three names and corresponding times written on it. Ed is thrust into these three people’s lives when he realizes that they are all dealing with sadness or hardship and he is meant to help them.

Barney has found meaning in the story of Ed Kennedy and his socalled “mediocre life.” They believe the story gives perspective on how to enjoy the life you are living, instead of taking for granted what you have, and to realize your true potential by believing in yourself. More importantly, however, Barney found that “The Messenger” shows that everyone is dealing with hardship in their life, whether it is visible or not, and it is important to keep this in mind when interacting with people.

“[‘The Messenger’] made me want to talk to people more,” Bar-

ney said. “To just go out and do something good for the good of it.”

Reading “The Messenger” was a catalyst for Barney’s own life — it helped them get back into books, after having a period of time where reading didn’t feel compelling to them. Now, they read constantly.

“[‘The Messenger’] was so interesting that it made me want to read again,” Barney said.

Spending time reading helps Barney avoid getting sucked into their phone and the lure of social media. Instead of scrolling through Instagram at night, Barney sets aside time to fall into a book, helping them to both relax and learn from the characters in the stories.

Barney has noticed that the stories they read influence the way they see the people and situations around them. When they have already experienced something by reading about it, their reaction in real life is informed by the written word.

“Books affect a lot of my perspective on the world just because I read so often,” Barney said. “When I think a book has a good message or I feel like a character has grown, I try to implement that into my own life so I can grow in a similar way.”

Lines From Books That Speak to Us

Elle McCreadie

“It’s from ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott and it reads, ‘I’ve loved you ever since I’ve known you, Jo, couldn’t help it, you’ve been so good to me. I’ve tried to show it, but you wouldn’t let me. Now I’m going to make you hear, and give me an answer, for I can’t go on so any longer.’ I love this quote because it reminds me of when I first watched the movie, the [2019] version with Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet in it. I love reading it because it reminds me of how beautiful all the scenery is at that moment. And I remember just crying watching that part because there’s so much emotion that spilled out. And it’s one of those books where the ending doesn’t go how everyone would expect it to. And it’s just so heartbreaking. I haven’t had a moment like that myself, but I think it’s just like such a moving part of the book to read and so essential to the storyline. It’s written so beautifully.”

“‘I am both happy and sad at the same time, and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.’ It’s from ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower,’ [the book] represents how I feel a lot of the time. I’m not happy nor sad and I’m just trying to figure out how that can be. It definitely makes it hard sometimes because I can’t determine how I feel exactly and that just sucks. I have a lot of issues that kind of relate to [Charlie]. It makes me feel better because I’m able to be seen; he represents a lot of things that a lot of teenagers go through.”

“This is from ‘Emma’ [by] Jane Austen, ‘I certainly will not persuade myself to feel more than I do. I am quite enough in love. I should be sorry to be more.’ I just love that she’s so sure of herself. She’s so grounded in her life, and I love that she won’t take any other. That’s why I love the quote so much because she is just so confident in her own life, which is something I aspire to be.”

Izzy Kraft

Jacqueline Boynton

Luciana Qu

“My quote is from ‘East of Eden’ written by John Steinbeck and it says, ‘But the Hebrew word, the word “timshel” l — “Thou mayest” — that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open.’ I think that this quote talks about how a lot of times we make decisions thinking that we have to make them, but thou mayest literally is the best translation of this word “timshel,” which means that everything that you can do, you may do, you have the permission to do it, but nothing is forcing you to make the decisions that you want to make. I think that a lot of times we try to make decisions that talk about how we want to live up to certain expectations of others or those around us, those who love us, but at the end of the day, we’re living for ourselves, and what we do really just comes from the validation from within and what we feel like is necessary to move on with our lives.”

Jupiter Gergics

“‘To the stars who listen — and the dreams that are answered.’ [It’s from] ‘A Court of Mist and Fury’ by Sarah J. Maas. It’s something that I’ve known for a very long time. It always reminds me of a scene [that] makes me feel very [emotional] and I’ve always loved the appearance of the night sky. So whenever I see the night sky, this is what I think of and it makes me so incredibly happy because it reminds me of this book series that I like. I really like sharing [this book] that I care about with my friends and if I can lend these books out to them so that they can enjoy this series. I will

Sam Magee

“‘Like time, color, temperature. Love is one of those things that only humans experience. These things can rule over us or control us, but they allow us to live more fully. They’re precisely what makes us human.’ It’s from ‘If Cats Disappeared From the World’ by Genki Kawamura. This book has a lot of amazing quotes, like a lot of moments like this. That was just one where I felt like [it] really embodied the human experience because I feel like what makes us emotional or vulnerable is also what makes us us.”

How Do We Define Art?

Art can be defined in many different ways, but does art created by AI technology fit the definition?

BY KAELA REDDING

Our eyes have been glued to the film screens showing incredible possibilities of the future, like robots, for decades. Now, this fiction is becoming a reality. Although it is not technically a robot, artificial intelligence (AI) uses the same brain and concept as a robot, allowing it to have advanced capabilities. AI is a program that can collect data fast and is able to learn based on patterns in information. This is essentially a way to try to mimic human intelligence and it is becoming widely accessible with websites allowing users to use pre-programmed AI.

The most notable AI website is ChatGPT. One of the best artificial intelligence available to the public, ChatGPT writes essays on different subjects based on just a word or a

sentence. This has grown very popular, getting a lot of recognition on the Internet for being able to do complex things that it was believed only humans could do, such as writing papers, solving complex issues or even coding. However, AI technology goes even beyond words.

DALL-E, under the same company as ChatGPT, is an AI art generator and has the ability to produce any image according to the words or images the user inputs. It has ways to interpret the words, compare and contrast with other images, and then create a similar, but unique image. This poses challenges to artists, as it may take jobs away from real artists or even steal their work. If companies are trying to save money but still need art designs, they could eas-

ily use AI as a solution to not have to pay an artist. This can cut costs and save time as it takes just one to five minutes to create an image.

Maia Genisio, an artist who mainly specializes in digital art, found this type of AI while scrolling through social media. The new popular filter that turns a face into an anime-style character has been a widespread trend throughout social media. This is a clear example of AI art: it creates a new image in an anime style with similar facial features to the original image. The development of AI technology forces us to consider whether AI-generated art counts as art, but that first raises the question, what is art?

For Genisio, art is a way to put her feelings and thoughts into physical form. It’s how the ideas that float around in her head come to life. Felix McKenna, an artist who specializes in digital art, shares the sentiment that art is a form of expression that comes from humans. This connects to the definition of art by the Oxford Dictionary, which is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture.” Since art is defined as originating in the human mind, the work of AI can not be considered art.

Throughout history, we have seen many things change with the advancement of technology. This is evident even now, as we see the definition of art changing before our eyes. In the Renaissance Era, art that represented an event was more valuable than art based on creative thoughts, according to Dr. Robert Glass. Now, we value art that is emotional, instead of solely physical, which is seen in Geniso and Mckenna’s definitions of expressive art.

We are in the midst of a time where the intelligence of technology is increasing exponentially. This has clear implications for our society and culture, including how we think about art. For now, AI art cannot be considered equal to art created by humans, as it does carry the same emotional weight.

“Art is a reflection of the human mind and human emotions, so I don’t think AI can be [art],” Genisio said.

Art created by DALL-E. The prompt was “a wavy tree in a drawing form of fairy tale style.”

Art by Maia Genisio, titled “The Great Trees.” The opposite page features three original works by McKenna and Genisio. Adjacent to those illustrations are AI generated images that used a prompt based on the original work.

1 — O riginal

1 — AI Generated

2 — O riginal

1 — AI Generated

2 — AI Generated

2 — AI Generated

3 — AI Generated

3 — Original

3 — AI Generated

Art created by DALL-E 2. The prompt was “a drawing of a standing cat wearing clothes with shiny objects around it.”

Art created by DALL-E. The prompt was “a drawing of a girl getting crowned wearing a head jewelry, earrings and rings that are in gold with a red scarf.”

Art by Felix Mckenna, titled “Shiny Objects.”

Art by Maia Genisio, titled “Crowned.”

Art created by DALL-E 2. The prompt was “a drawing of a ginger girl on the beach, anime style”.

Art by Felix Mckenna, titled “Fish Girl on the Beach.”

Mary Margaret Hatch

A CHS artist rediscovers her love for art and explores new mediums

BY IVY PROCHASKA

It wasn’t until eighth grade that Mary Margaret Hatch made her first linoleum print: a realistic style self portrait. She quickly became obsessed. To this day, Hatch still adores this print. Since then, her artistic style has developed and she’s moved away from realism.

She’s always been in an art class. At her elementary and middle school, everyone learned how to knit, crochet, sew and even some woodworking. In middle school, she started doing larger projects, some taking up to four weeks.

“Art is a way that I de-stress, but it also makes me feel productive while doing something that I like to do,” Hatch said.

Hatch loves to explore multimedia art. Since recently taking a ceramics class, she has found a new love for three dimensional art and combining multimedia aspects. She doesn’t like having to find the proportions and perfect the fine details in two dimensional art such as drawings or paintings. She finds these forms of art to be a little too technical for her liking. With ceramics or printmaking, she can focus more on the shape and patterns.

Hatch believes ceramics and printmaking are also technical, but you’re not expected to make things look as realistic a lot of the time. She likes how she can do

more abstract images on linoleum prints.

Printmaking takes a lot of planning, though. It requires the artist to focus on what part they’re carving and what parts they want to be colored. This planning helps Hatch to decide what element she wants to stand out the most. One struggle she has with printmaking is sometimes having to simplify the design.

In the fall she made a print of Northfield township and then printed it onto card catalogs. She also tried something completely new with the same print: rolling this design onto slabs of clay with help from Beth Portincasa, her ceramics teacher. Printing onto clay gave Hatch a new way to present her art.

“It was a fun way to use that print,” Hatch said. “Prints can sometimes be a bit boring because they are usually only one color and oftentimes have a blank background, unless you do some sort of mixed media. But when it’s on clay, it makes it three dimensional, which is fun.”

Throughout her time as an artist, Hatch has learned that sometimes she needs to take a step back from her work and revisit it later in order to decide whether she should keep going or be done with a piece. Art has taught her to be okay with things not working out, which has helped minimize her perfectionism.

“I try to make things look how I imagined, but usually that’s not how they actually come out,” Hatch said. “It can be very hard, but sometimes they come out in a way which is honestly better.

Hatch wants to continue making prints, experimenting with ceramics and sewing, as her life progresses because they are things that bring her immense joy. She hopes that whatever her future career is, art can be an aspect of it.

“This piece is a linoleum block print of a map of Northfield Township in the 1800s and I printed it on card catalogs from the University of Michigan graduate library. My house was built in 1831 and we moved it from Northfield Township to where it is now, so the map includes where my house is originally from.”

BY MORGAN MCCLEASE AND ADDI HINESMAN

With the rise of Shein, Zaful, AliExpress and even more “respected” brands like Zara and H&M, fast fashion has become a consequential issue in our society.

Due to the constant cycle of micro trends floating around the internet, it’s hard for clothing companies to keep up. This results in the production of more factories and clothes that will eventually be thrown away.

“Fast fashion is a problem that will just keep piling up because the

more clothes that go into the landfill, the more fumes come from the factories and the more that’s going to affect the planet and the people,” said Abbi Bachman, a junior at CHS.

Through years of shopping online, Bachman has noticed that fast fashion websites tend to have a lot of bad quality clothing with a bad turnover rate. She finds it important that she educates herself on the topic of fast fashion with the goal of be-

coming a more conscious consumer.

“It’s contributing to almost everything bad with the world, because it’s contributing to climate change with the giant factories and then obviously, it contributes to waste because it’s filling the landfills with cheap clothing, and then the people in those factories are not being paid a living wage,” Bachman said.

Like Bachman, Fia Kacvinsky, another junior at CHS, believes that the rapid cycle of fast fashion is

“Fast fashion is a problem that will just keep piling up because the more clothes that go into the landfill, the more fumes come from the factories, and the more that’s going to affect the planet and the people.”

becoming a serious issue that needs to be addressed promptly.

“Fast fashion is such a rapid cycle, things come in and then out, people consume them, and once that trend is over, it’s immediately out with the outfit,” Kacvinsky said. “The profits and the financial encouragement that goes towards these companies are encouraging all of the exploitation of the workers and it’s a terrible cycle because you see the people who are benefiting from it: these one-percenters.”

The consequences of fast fashion have become terrible for many individuals. Both Bachman and Kacvinsky feel that a larger part of the issue is people’s ignorance towards it.

“It’s an effect that will keep increasing as time goes on because we haven’t figured out a fix for the damage that has already been done, which means we are left without a fix for what to do in the future if there continues to be no action,” Bachman said.

Kacvinsky feels that with the issue of fast fashion, even small changes can make a difference.

“I think it’s important for more people to understand the harm that fast fashion does,” Kacvinsky said. “The small price [you pay for] a pair of pants that you think are cute and trendy, pants that you will most likely throw away in a few months

[contributes so much harm,]” Kacvinsky said.

Though it can be hard to believe that one can make a significant difference as a single individual, Bachman and Kacvinsky think the opposite — that it is always important to contribute.

“While thrifting and vintage clothes are obviously a trend, I think it’s a good trend because people are learning to go find more unique pieces that have already been made and are reusing more resources, which are then not going into the landfills,” Bachman said.

Kacvinsky also believes that

thrifting is an excellent way to avoid contributing to fast fashion.

“Thrifting secondhand clothing is perfect because the people who bring their clothes to thrift shops are not throwing them away, and then people who shop at thrift stores aren’t giving money to this corrupt system,” Kacvinsky said. “Honestly, you can find amazing stuff when thrifting and it’s affordable, but most importantly it’s not doing harm.”

Bachman has come to realize that through her experiences of shopping online from fast fashion companies, she doesn’t usually find

herself enjoying wearing the clothes as much because of their poor quality, not fitting properly, or the item ending up not looking the way it did on the website.

“I try hard to not shop that way anymore, and when you’re shopping consciously you start to realize what websites contribute to fast fashion, and you begin to sort them out,” Bachman said.

The future of fast fashion is unknown, but Bachman and Kacvinsky both believe that with the education and effort of consumers around the world, the issue can be solved.

“You have many options, but continuing to shop from fast fashion stores is the worst one.”

Provenzola OWEN

Marcel Proust’s questionnaire features Owen Provenzola: his biggest fear, when he lies, where he wants to live and more.

BY ELLA ROSEWARNE AND KAELA REDDING

What is your idea of perfect happiness? I think perfect happiness is living stress free with the people you care about. What is your greatest fear? Dying. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I have hammer toes and I don’t dislike the way they look, I dislike the future joint pain. What is the trait you most deplore in others? I dislike when people are incredibly loud next to me. Which living person do you most admire? I admire my Dad or Peter Christian. What is your greatest extravagance? Gaming or Clothes. What is your current state of mind? Tranquil. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Faith. On what occasion do you lie? I lie when I could get in trouble. What do you most dislike about your appearance? My legs, I wish they had more muscle. Which living person do you most despise? Some random dude in Ohio. What is the quality you most like in a man? Being genuine and loyal. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Being genuine and loyal. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I swear too much. What or who is the greatest love of your life? My girlfriend or root beer. When and where were you happiest? Summer with my friends. Which talent would you most like to have? To be able to skateboard. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would change my height to be 5 11 or 6 ft. What do you consider your greatest

achievement? I learned how to do a backflip with my friend. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? A dragon, or a very big rhino. Where would you most like to live? I would love to live in Switzerland, Michigan, or rural Japan. What is your most treasured possession? I love my green hoodie. What is your favorite occupation? Being a gymnast. What is your most marked characteristic? Being mixed. What do you most value in your friends? I value that they’re genuine. Who are your favorite writers? Osamu Dazai, John Green. Who is your hero of fiction? Walt Jr.. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Julius Caesar. Who are your heroes in real life? My parents and Garrett Casto. What are your favorite names? I love the name Antonio, Emelia, and Vincent. What is it that you most dislike? I hate being bothered when I’m in a bad mood. What is your greatest regret? I wish I kept doing gymnastics because I really enjoyed it and was really good. How would you like to die? I would like to die very peacefully when I’m old or a crazy police chase. What is your motto? Open na noor.

Photography by Ella Rosewarne and Kaela Redding Owen Provenzola poses with inspiration from various Vogue models. Not pictured is the many other Vogue-esque poses on the front lawn.

Limonana

BY RUTH SHIKANOV

Limonana, or mintlemonade, is a colorful and refreshing combination of lemon and mint that can be found throughout the Middle East. Simply grab a blender and toss these simple ingredients to create the perfect beverage for warm weather.

Ingredients:

½ cup of sugar

1 ½ cups of water

1 cup of lemon juice, freshly squeezed from 4 to 5 large lemons

½ cup of mint leaves

Instructions:

1. In a blender, combine the lemon juice, mint, sugar and water, blending until fully liquid.

2. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving the liquid and discarding the solids.

3. Pour the liquid into cups and serve with mint and extra lemon, if desired.

What is CHS Listening To?

BY CLAIRE LEWIS, CLARA FREETH AND LUCIA PAGE SANDER

Julia Harrison: “Sidelines” by Phoebe Bridgers

Anna Tapley-Coll: “Gossip” by Måneskin (feat. Tom Morello)

Ivy Ball: “West Coast” by Lana Del Rey

Malcolm London: “The Stranger” by Billy Joel

Olivia Glynn: “The Moth” by Manchester Orchestra

Humans of Community

CHS staff and students reflect on the things they love.

BY LYDIA COCCIOLONE, ELLA GLASS AND IVY PROCHASKA

Ryan Silvester

“The hardest thing about being a teacher is that you lose students every four years. And it’s a great thing, because you get to see these people grow up and become wonderful young adults and send them off to do wonderful things in the world. But it’s hard. I’ve never run a forum without the seniors that I have. I think the best thing about Community are the students that have changed me in our fleeting time together. But man those years fly by and every class leaves me something else and something new and something wonderful that I can take with me every year.”

Sadie Barber

“My favorite thing about the summer has always been going to camp Al-Gon-Quian. I was a counselor in training last year and I really loved it, and I’m applying for junior staff which is the next step. It’s always been my dream to be a counselor since I started going to camp in fourth grade. I love the people and how everyone is expressing themselves and being silly all the time. All the stuff I love about life is always there, we could go to the beach whenever we want and everyone is nice to each other.”

Liz Stern

“If I am coming to school then I will actually think a little bit about my outfit and I will decide, do I need to be warm or cold? Then I can decide, do I want to wear pants or do I just want to wear leggings and then be super comfy with something over it? On the days off, it’s just whatever’s lying on the couch because I will wear the same thing over and over and over. I like having a little bit of color since my hair went gray. I used to wear a lot of brown, but brown doesn’t work for me anymore. It’s been a real switch for me, because I dyed my hair for a long time. Then during the pandemic, I was just like, ‘I’m not doing that anymore.’ Some of the things that I used to wear really don’t work anymore, so I’m still figuring it out.”

“The last CET show, “The Visit,” was a really big show. It was a lot to take on for everyone and I think we pulled off the show in a really, really interesting way. There’s a lot of characters, a lot of themes, a lot of everything. “Cabaret” is a very heavy show and I’m excited to see how we all talk about that and deal with that during the production. I love working with all of the people in CET; I love the people and the environment and everything about it. For theater in general, I love working with a script and being able to really dive into it. I just give everything I have to a script and just go for it.”

Gabe Semrau

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Our Turn

Addi Hinesman

“Recently, the future has been this big, scary, unavoidable thing that serves as a reminder that I don’t feel like I have it all figured out. And I understand that it’s okay that I don’t, but at the same time, I really wish I did. Something that makes me feel better when I am stressing about my future is that it doesn’t exist yet. The only thing that exists is this present mo ment. And I think that is so important to understand because if you are constantly rushing to keep up with the future, you are honestly wasting your time. But I guess what makes me ex cited about the future, when it gets here, is that I am excited to see who I become. This year, I have experienced a whole lot of growth and I have a really great feeling about the person I am becoming, which is something I have never really felt before.”

Isabella Jacob

“What excites me about the future is definitely the potential for change. Our generation is socially aware of so many systems of inequity and we’re passionate enough to do something about it. When I see the amount of activism in my peers it makes the future look a lot more bright.”

“Since I was little I have never really been excited about the future. It was always something that I found more scary than exciting. I’m more excited to see if I became the person that my younger self thought I would be. I remember I would film videos of myself making little ‘video diaries’ and I would always talk about the future; I had so many hopes and dreams for what it would be like. One I specifically remember is that I thought the world would be so clean and smell so fresh like a Febreeze commercial. The language would be like aliens and robots would be our friends. Clearly, I thought way out of the box. I also thought my character as a person would change, which of course it did since I was seven when I had these dreams. I thought I would look so different and my personality would be exactly like Alex Russo from ‘Wizards of Waverly Place.’ Young Morgan had a lot of dreams and ideas about the future and I am the most excited to see if she was right about anything.”

Morgan McClease