Communicator: Volume 45 Edition 4 by The Communicator

THE COMMUNICATOR MAGAZINE. VOL. 45 EDITION 4, MARCH 2019

A New View

How school has affected Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mental health, and how that in turn affects his artwork. PAGE 14

About the Cover PHOTO BY iO SOUCY INSIDE AND BACK COVER ART BY MARCUX BROWN

On the cover, we feature high school senior Marcux Brown in the lobby of Rackham Theater in downtown Ann Arbor. During a fairly cold Sunday morning, Brown stood in the light of the rising sun before going to work at Starbucks. The inside cover features a negative film print of a car outside of Nagomi Sushi created by Brown. The back cover artwork is a contact sheet Brown created, which captures his friend from Rhode Island School of Design. Brown has been creating art since eighth grade and on page 14, he discusses how art has become a part of him and how he has experimented with mediums other than photography.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 06

RVIVE

Led by Ashi Kumar, Skyline senior, a group of high schoolers in Ann Arbor created a non-profit organization that sells pins to raise money to fight period poverty.

The Thinker

In his Philosophical Literature class, CHS teacher Robert Morgan tackles the tough questions, including the meaning of life and others that are similar.

Ending the Silence

The line between consent and lack thereof has been turned grey by the online world, leading to teens sending or receiving nude photos, which can have both emotional and legal impact.

45 24

Ann Arbor’s Underground Issue

For half a century, 1,4-Dioxane — a known carcinogen — has contaminated the water in and around Ann Arbor. But what are the effects?

Don’t Fly Solo at Free Solo

A journalist recounts her experience of seeing the movie “Free Solo” after originally being very skeptical.

Agree to Disagree

Two writers on the Communicator’s staff with opposing opinions on whether or not an artist can be separated from their art defend their viewpoints in individual, side-by-side articles.

March 2019

Letter from the Editors Dear Readers,

Your Editors,

ABIGAIL GAIES

AVA MILLMAN

WM. HENRY SCHIRMER

CAMRYN TIRICO

The Communicator Magazine

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Mazey Perry

WEB EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Three months into 2019, and there’s a lot going on. We’ve passed the post-holiday cheer of winter holidays and New Year’s, but haven’t quite reached the June relief many students feel at the end of the school year. We’ve had eight snow days, throwing our schedule way off track; the senior spork game began, with Elijah Shore and Miguel Clement on the warpath, collectively sporking upwards of 15 people already; CET’s musical “Disaster!” is in full swing, but running behind schedule due to the missed school; juniors are fervently preparing for the upcoming SAT in April; seniors are nervously awaiting their college acceptance letters, while simultaneously applying for scholarships to help pay for it; and just on March 5 a pipe burst in the Northwest stairwell, flooding classrooms and rendering the entrance, stairwell and elevator useless. With all of that on top of classes and individual issues, our minds are filled to the brim right now. Here at The Communicator, we used this as fuel to write. Featured in this edition are many articles covering important topics, including speaking out about being part of the LGBT community, the accessibility of feminine hygiene products, mental health, and artists and their connection to art. As we were looking for a common theme throughout this edition, we couldn’t find one. Honestly, this just proved to us that what we have here at Community is special: We are lucky enough to be able to write articles on topics that we are interested in without getting any backlash from administration. A great example from this edition is sophomore Geneve Thomas-Palmer’s article about unsolicited nude images, which is an important topic for students to understand from both a legal and emotional perspective. Our deans are very supportive of what we do, and try to help us in any way possible. This way, our editions contain at least one article for everyone. We think that the versatility is apparent, and we hope you notice it. As we begin planning our final two editions of the year — the very last one being Senior Edition — we’ve come to the realization that the end of the year is coming fast. As three seniors (and one junior), we’ve been looking forward to graduation for a very long time, and it’s almost here. This also comes with a plethora of emotions: sadness for exiting childhood, nerves for the amount of changes we will soon experience and excitement for what’s next. But first we need to get through March.

PRINT EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Abigail Gaies Ava Millman Wm. Henry Schirmer Camryn Tirico

Mira Simonton-Chao Gina Liu Paige Duff

BUSINESS MANAGERS Camille Konrad Ruby Taylor

MENTORS Lacey Cooper Sophia Rosewarne

MANAGING EDITOR

STAFF

Isabel Espinosa

Sophia Berry Miel Bogart Josh Boland Zoe Buhalis Benjamin Cooper Leah Dame Brenan Dionne Ethan Gibb-Randall Daniel Gutenberg Hope Hesseltine Benjamin Kessler J Kincaid-Beal Sarah Levin Chava Makman Levinson Sophia Nunez Mori Ono Nano Peroff Sophia Scarnecchia Andrea Schnell Zachary Schueler Elizabeth Shaieb Elijah Shore Lily Sickman-Garner Joseph Simon Meghana Tummala Morraina Tuzinsky Tai Tworek Nina van der Velde

SECTION EDITORS Evan Ash Elena Bernier Hannah Bernstein Jordan De Padova Atticus Dewey Dan Gutenberg Camille Konrad Zoe Lubetkin Joshua Martins-Caufield Mazey Perry Roxie Richner Andie Tappenden Geneve Thomas-Palmer Sacha Verlon Emma Winegarden Bella Yerkes

DESIGN EDITORS Ella Edelstein Isaac McKenna

VISUALS EDITORS Ebba Gurney iO Soucy

COPY EDITORS Madie Gracey Loey Jones-Perpich Charles Solomon

ADVISER Tracy Anderson

Follow Us on Social Media! @ communicatorchs @ communicatorchs @ communicatorchs Mission Statement: The Communicator is a student-

run publication and an open forum established in 1974 and created by students at Community High School. The staff of The Communicator seeks to recognize individuals, events, and ideas that are relevant to the community. The Communicator journalists are committed to working in a manner that is professional, unbiased, and thorough in order to effectively serve our readers. We strive to report accurately and will correct any significant error. If you believe such an error has been made, please contact us. Letters of any length should be submitted via e-mail or mail. They become the sole property of The Communicator and can be edited for length, clarity, or accuracy. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at The Communicator’s discretion. The Communicator also reserves the right to reject advertising due to space limitations or decision of the Editorial Board that content of the advertisement conflicts with the mission of the publication. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the journalism staff and not of Community High School or the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

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Modern Love: Kaili Brookes

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Community High School Poetry Slam

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Endtroducing

Double Denim Dame

Cammi Tirico, Print Editor-in-Chief March 2019

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THRIVE JUICERY

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thrive juicery

ON EAST STADIUM, ANN ARBOR’S FIRST COLD-PRESSED JUICERY MAKES FRESH, RAW JUICE IN-HOUSE. BY HANNAH BERNSTEIN

As Andy Mignery battled lung cancer a year ago, his family began to focus on their nutrition and how the food they consume impacts the body. They began making raw, cold- pressed juice. The process became tiring and used a lot of produce, but the juice was a great natural supplement to support Mignery’s health during treatment. Juicing was the easiest way for him to receive the needed vitamins and minerals efficiently.

“We are all fighting [cancer] one bottle at a time.” Andy and his wife Anna Mignery had the idea of opening a juicery in April of 2018, while Andy was in remission. “We just thought it was unusual with how healthy of a community [Ann Arbor] is, we didn’t have a juicery,” Anna said. “As you walk in and you see a neoteric display of cold pressed juices made at Thrive Juicery, and a remarkable menu full of fresh

smoothies and other healthy cuisine,” said customer Elinor Duck. While the idea was still in progress, the Mignerys did have one request on a special location. “Part of our thing, which is why I felt it was meant to be, is I said I would only do it if a spot opened in Trader Joe’s, and literally two weeks later they put up a ‘for rent’ sign with this space,” Anna said. The complex is quite busy and has a substantial amount of cars circulating through the area, with 300 cars of traffic in the parking lot every hour. People have even struggled to find parking, but have found ways around the issue. Thrive is located by the neighborhoods Arbor Hills and Burns Park, making it very convenient for people to stop by quickly or even walk to escape the busy traffic. Before deciding to open up Thrive, the Mignerys thought about buying a franchise and using their own concepts. “We didn’t like that there’s a lot of really important nutrition things that franchises cut corners on or do not offer,” Anna said. “We decided if we were going to do it, and in Ann Arbor with how helpful everybody is, we had to do it the right way.” Thrive Juicery opened on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2018. The Mignerys have already had requests to open new locations. Many suggestions ask for one on the West Side, but the store is already having trouble keeping up with production. Once they are able to scale up their original

location they would love to open a new location. The main goal of Thrive Juicery is providing convenient, superfood nutrition to incorporate in everyday life. “It’s pretty rewarding when you do a health concept,” Anna said. “We’ve had lots of people that have battled diseases, or lots of people that have been on medications, and they are able to reduce them or get off of them by changing their lifestyle and the way that they eat. So that feels very rewarding everyday to have people come in and really benefit from it.” One such customer was a young boy with cancer from California who was having surgery at Ann Arbor’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. At home, he had a specific juice recipe that he drank everyday. Thrive made it for him so he could have his juice while at Mott. “He came in and had his first bottle here with us and that kind of stuff is really rewarding and great that we can help those kind of situations, but it is sad there is so much cancer around this world it’s crazy,” Anna said. “We are fighting it one bottle at a time.” TOP LEFT: The entrance view shows off Thrive’s modern architecture. TOP RIGHT: Thrive’s menu features an avocado smoothie. BOTTOM LEFT: The avocado toast topped with tomato, basil and balsamic glaze. BOTTOM RIGHT: The case contains all of Thrive’s cold-press juices and shots.

March 2019

RVIVE 8

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ANN ARBOR HIGH SCHOOLERS COME TOGETHER TO FIGHT PERIOD POVERTY: ONE PIN AT A TIME. BY ROXIE RICHNER

Skyline senior Ashi Kumar has always been passionate about women’s rights and fighting against injustices. She has done work with elected officials in Michigan and organizations like the National Organization for Women. So when Kumar first learned about period poverty, she knew she needed to do something. Period poverty occurs when people who menstruate don’t have enough disposable income to purchase period products (pads, tampons, etc.). People suffering from period poverty often resort to using unhygienic methods to cope with their periods, such as using rags and other materials. Not only are period products costly — especially considering the “tampon tax” that implies period products aren’t a necessity — but they also can be hard to access. In America alone, 1 in 5 girls have missed school during their period due to lack of accessibility to period products, according to Always Confidence and Puberty Survey. People suffering from period poverty are also more likely to experience anxiety and depression.

“Gen Z doesn’t just need a seat at the table. We need to flip it entirely.” “I talked to women who have experienced period poverty first-hand, and I got to hear a lot of candid stories about it,” Kumar said. “That, in conjunction with reading articles to expand my knowledge of the issue, really prompted me to not just learn about it, but to take real action.” In October of 2018, Kumar founded Rvive, a youth-run non-profit that creates and sells buttons with all profits going towards buying sustainable menstrual products for various homeless shelters in the Ann Arbor area. Rvive is comprised of eight teen board members and many teen volunteers. The Rvive team makes buttons with progressive messaging and images, all of which feature the Rvive logo. Small businesses, campaigns and clubs can also customize buttons. Buttons cost one dollar each, and customized

buttons cost two dollars each. Through the sales of buttons and regular donations, Rvive has been able to expand and grow substantially, much faster than the team expected. They now ship buttons across the country and are hoping to expand the organization to serve areas outside of Michigan. In addition to selling buttons and donating the profits to fight period poverty, Rvive also creates awareness through social media and is scheduled to speak at several conferences and panels in the coming months. Rvive has helped to create conversation and awareness around period poverty and period equity across Ann Arbor. “It’s really important to be reading articles and listening to people’s stories — just being out of your comfort zone and realizing [period poverty] is an issue,” Kumar said. Kumar hopes that Rvive sparks conversation not only about period poverty but also about the power of youth activism. She hopes to inspire other young people to participate in social issues and politics, even though it can be hard to be taken seriously as the only young person in a room. When Rvive first started, they had to clarify often that Rvive wasn’t simply a club, but a registered 501c3 non-profit. Thanks to the grunt work that the team put in to legitimize the organization, they’re now able to show the community that this isn’t just a small initiative, but a much larger problem in need of large solutions — like Rvive. “Gen Z doesn’t just need a seat at the table,” Kumar said. “We need to flip it entirely.” From getting involved in local organizations to educating yourself on important issues, there are endless ways for young people to engage with the political world, according to Kumar. She believes it comes down to hard work, confidence and surrounding yourself with the right people. As Kumar looks around at her peers busily editing the Rvive website, creating pins with the pin-maker and talking through strategy, her smile beams with pride. “This non-profit would not be what it is without these amazing people,” Kumar said. To learn more about Rvive head to rvive.org.

March 2019

Life After Community: Steve Hall

STEVE HALL’S COAST TO COAST JOURNEY: FROM COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT TO LOCAL RESTAURATEUR AT SPENCER ON LIBERTY STREET. BY SOPHIA ROSEWARNE AND BELLA YERKES

“I want good food, I want to try something new, I want something different,” said Steven Hall about the attitudes of Spencer regulars. The restaurant consists of a constantly changing menu, locally sourced food and an equal work share. Steven Hall graduated from Community High School in 2005. He was drawn to the jazz program at CHS and dual enrolled there from Pioneer for his first three semesters of high school. Once Hall got in full time, he still spent about half his time away from the school. He took philosophy and English classes at the University of Michigan and was involved in non-profit work with the Neutral Zone and University Musical Society. CHS’s sense of community strongly impacted Hall. Knowing everybody and avoiding cliques in school was important. Hall could see kids in college who were afraid to branch out and have different opinions. Community helped him feel secure with himself and his views; it prepared him to share them and feel comfortable disagreeing with people. Hall attended Brown University, where he created his own major. It was essentially a Performing Arts Management degree and though he admits that it was not very practical, he remembers it being fun. After college, Hall worked at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis and the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. While working in a cheese shop, Hall met his wife, Abby Olitzky. Olitzky, who had a dream to open a restaurant, worked up the block and sparked Hall’s interest in food. They moved to 10

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Michigan, thinking the Ann Arbor or Detroit restaurant scene was more attainable for them than San Francisco’s. “I don’t want to mop any other floor unless it’s mine,” Hall said. Hall and Olitzky were first interested in opening a lunch spot with take home dinners, prepared foods, in-house pickling and cured meats. But soon after opening, Spencer transitioned into the thriving local spot Ann Arbor townies know it to be. A spence is similar to a pantry, and a spencer is someone who runs it. The name Spencer aligned better with their original idea of the restaurant: a lunch counter and a spot you could grab take-home dinners and basic groceries, such as a loaf of bread or a few eggs. Olitzky and Hall, both of whom have experience working in a kitchen, noticed unfairness in the restaurant business. The people working in the kitchen and the dishwashers are paid by the hour, and generally not very well, while the servers can make hundreds of dollars in a night. Olitzky and Hall wanted everybody at Spencer to share the responsibilities — and the tips. At Spencer, employees begin working in their strong area while also learning the basics in other areas. “If you’re a server, you’re also going to know how to do light prep work, like chopping herbs, peeling garlic or slicing bread,” Hall said. “They won’t be on the back line firing steak, but everybody does know how to do everything.” The process of opening the restaurant was

unpredictable. “Whatever someone estimates something is going to cost, you can double it,” Hall said. “However long somebody says it’s gonna take to get a permit, you can triple it. Whatever somebody says on their resume that they know how to do, you can just disregard all of that: they don’t know how to do anything” The first two weeks of business were busy and chaotic at Spencer. The rush of support from their friends overwhelmed the place at first, but after the rush died down there was a lull before people in town had heard of Spencer. Spencer has a constantly changing menu of locally-sourced food. Olitzky comes up with pages of ideas, while Hall determines what is practical, depending on food availability and cost. Almost all of the food they serve comes from local Michigan farms. “The produce is constantly changing, so we’re constantly forced to come up with new ideas, think creatively and think on the fly,” Hall said. “There’ll be some dishes that come on for three weeks and they’ll be some dishes that come on for a day.” The constantly changing menu and quality food continues to bring customers back. Hall estimated that half of the diners are regulars. “It’s great being your own boss, getting to make your own decisions and knowing that you’re actually building something,” Hall said about owning a restaurant. “You get to see the same regulars and the same community around you.”

TOP: A dish from Spencerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s menu made with lamb sugo, pappardelle, gremolata and pecornio. MIDDLE: Steve Hall and Abby Olitzky work on the menu while sitting at the bar. Maegan Pierson sets up wines. BOTTOM: A dish from Spencerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s constantly changing menu. This dish was made with Japanese sweet potato, pomegranate, yogurt, ginger and shiso. PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAT CARTY BUSWELL

March 2019

A Worthy Sacrifice WILL ELLSWORTH, A JUNIOR AT GREENHILLS, REFLECTS ON HIS EXPERIENCE IN SCOUTS BSA AS A MEMBER OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY. BY WM. HENRY SCHIRMER

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“If you are an employee and you have an employer who is anti-gay, would you want to come out to that person? I decided, no.”

Will Ellsworth teaches a session on teen motivation to National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) participates 2018 in Kalamazoo, Mich.. Ellsworth has worked for two NYLT programs since 2017, one based in Kalamazoo and the other based in St. Louis. “I am the only liberal on the entire staff. I know this because we talk about politics, it’s something that often comes up,” Ellsworth said. PHOTOS COURTESY OF WILL ELLSWORTH

Alone at the end of a dock, Will Ellsworth peered out over the Straits of Mackinac. Stars were scattered across a purple sky; the light from the lighthouse swirled around as waves crashed upon the shore. The sounds of ships echoed from way off into the depths of the great lake. The Mackinac Bridge stretched out before him. He watched as cars drove across without any realization that they were being watched. It was here, in this moment, that Ellsworth knew scouting was worth it. Ellsworth joined Boy Scouts when he was in first grade and has been an active member for over a decade; both his grandfather and father before him were also Eagle Scouts. Ellsworth received his Eagle Scout Oct. 10, 2017, after completing his Eagle Project. The project was Haunts for Hunger, a charity haunted house, where patrons brought food donations in place of an entrance fee. “It’s no small feat,” Ellsworth said, in regard to becoming an Eagle Scout. “And it has been considered to be America’s premier award that a youth can receive.” Around the same time Ellsworth received his Eagle Scout title, the program announced that starting in January of the following year, all programs would be co-ed and girls would be able to earn the title of Eagle Scout. “This is groundbreaking,” Ellsworth said. “Now girls can work toward this honor, which is known around the world as this symbol of ‘American greatness.’” Boy Scouts, now called Scouts BSA, is not known as the most inclusive group of people. It has been especially uninviting toward girls and members of the LGBT community — a community which Ellsworth associates himself with. “When I was in fifth grade I learned that you could not be a gay scout or a gay adult leader in scouts,” Ellsworth said. For a long time, no one knew that this was actually a policy. Ellsworth remembers hearing about a case where a scout was kicked out right before receiving his Eagle Scout. This sparked outrage and started a review process in order to make scouts more inclusive. Following this, Boy Scouts removed its ban on gay scouts and, a year later, the ban on gay adult leaders. “The Scouts have lagged behind what is socially accepted in America,” Ellsworth said. The integration of girls into Scouts meant that there would be boy dens and girl dens, along with boy troops and girl troops. “I think scouting nationally is moving in greater directions,” Ellsworth said. “As someone who is part of the LGBT community, I believe [being a scout] has been a very similar experience to someone who is straight. I’ve gained the same leadership experiences, the same outdoor experiences; everything that someone who is straight would experience in Scouts.” Despite this, he believes there are some things that he faces that would not be experienced by people who are straight. It is important to note that Ellsworth’s troop is based in Ann Arbor and therefore tends to follow the political tread of the city. In addition, his troop is part of an organization called Scouts for Equality, created to protest the ban on gay scouts. The organization also allows troops to sign up to be an inclusive troop, like Ellsworth’s troop has done. March 2019

“I’ve had to hide my identity, because that’s something I felt like I needed to do in order to maintain the respect of some of my peers, that’s an issue.” The program is still active today. However, Ellsworth scouting experience is not just based in Ann Arbor: He works on two National Youth Leadership Trainings (NYLT), one in Kalamazoo and one in St. Louis. “For the Kalamazoo one, I am the only liberal on the entire staff,” Ellsworth said. With this in mind, Ellsworth made the decision to hide his sexual identity. “I’ve faced a lot of people who have speculated that I am gay,” Ellsworth said. “I’ve made the decision to hide that part of my identity.” There are other members of Ellsworth’s leadership staff who are LGBT and are comfortable coming out to others. “There was a troop guide last year who was gay and very open about it,” Ellsworth said. “My assistant senior patrol leader was gender non-conforming.” “My experience is that although political views are different in a lot of places, for these kids, there is a Scout oath and law that guides all of us,” Ellsworth said. “What the Scout oath and law teaches someone is to be kind, to be friendly, to be helpful, courteous, brave and accept everyone regardless of their differences.” Diversity training is taught as part of Scouts. “[Scouts is] definitely not where it needs to be,” Ellsworth said. “And there is definitely [a long way to go]. The fact that I’ve had to hide my identity, because that’s something I felt like I needed to do to maintain the respect of some of my peers, that’s an issue.” The level of stigma surrounding the LGBT community depends on where you go and what aspect of Scouts you are involved with. For Ellsworth, the most stigma he faces is at the leadership program in St. Louis because there are people with quite conservative views from the South. “I have to be a little more on my toes when I am at scouts then I would be at school or with my friends,” Ellsworth said. “I definitely hear a lot more anti-gay joking at Scouts. A lot of that ‘locker room talk’ can be really hurtful if you don’t go in with the mindset that these kids don’t really know what they are saying.” This can be difficult for Ellsworth to hear, but it also helps him distinguish who he would be able to have more liberal conversations around. With this in mind, calling someone a derogatory word because of their sexuality could get you kicked out of 14

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scouting. In their youth protection training, Scouts BSA states that harassing somebody based on sexual orientation or gender identity can get you kicked out of Scouts. An offending scout could also have their Eagle Scout revoked. In 2017, Ellsworth’s first year staffing the St. Louis Course, he worked alone as a patrol mentor. Kids in his patrol started making a joke that he and one of his male mentees had a ‘thing’ together. “That kind of speculation is something I think anyone in a leadership position could face,” Ellsworth said. “It has been a lot of me denying those things, ignoring those things, or just outright saying, ‘this is not something we are going to talk about.’” These issues can be difficult for Ellsworth to deal with, but he has made the decision that the benefits of Scouts far outweigh the stigma he faces. “I can sacrifice that for all of the other stuff that I get to do and learn and experience in Scouts,” Ellsworth said. Ellsworth only came out to a very select group of friends in the NYLT course. “There were people on my NYLT course who had a very high suspicion that I did not deny,” Ellsworth said. “I did [come out] to very close friends, people who I have been working with for a few years who have gotten to know me beyond the work level.” The reason he didn’t come out was fear of losing the respect of his peers and superiors. “In a leadership position, you have to gain the trust of your followers and your team,” Ellsworth said. He believed that he could lose the trust of certain individuals if he were to come out. “If you’re an employee and you have an employer who is anti-gay, would you want to come out to that person? I decided, no.” In the end, Ellsworth believes that his sexuality shouldn’t be something that matters. “I would perform the same way if I was gay or straight,” Ellsworth said. “At the same time, how people look at me could be affected. It could be beneficial, but it could also be a negative thing depending on the person.” With all that being said, Scouting has been a very positive aspect of Ellsworth life. “Scouting has changed my life is so many ways,” Ellsworth said. “Yes — an organization that used to not let gay people in while I was a part of it has changed my life in a positive way.”

The Thinker

ROBERT MORGAN TAKES ON THE MEANING OF LIFE BY MORI ONO

For Robert Morgan, the distractions of life, whether it be work or playing games, make the meaning of life feel remote. The everyday routine breeds monotonous and automatic thought. With a long walk or drive, however, the rush of repetitive days slow, and the time to think arises in its place. What feels like life-or-death in the moment is revealed to be a momentary blip in the greater context of one’s life. “[The best thinking is] good at contextualizing the things you do, when you don’t have any choice but to confront the reality of your thoughts,” Morgan said. “It’s so easy to get caught up in the immediacy of what you’re doing and the importance of everything you’re doing, but I think there’s a lot more to life, and it’s important to stop and think about that and reflect on that.” One of many perspectives on the meaning of life is essentialism— the belief that everything is given meaning before it is created. Morgan sees the meaning of life as less definitive and more open to interpretation. “A lot of people think not having a purpose in life is sad, but I don’t think it is,” Morgan said. “I think it’s actually a very liberating fact because you get to decide what that meaning is.” Even with the choice of deciding the meaning of life, Morgan finds it difficult to always act on such meaning. “It’s very, very tough when society makes such a compelling argument mainly in a monetary form of, ‘You should do this because this is what we’re paying you to do,’” Morgan said. As a high schooler, Morgan traveled extensively and lived with a host family in Osaka, Japan. While their lifestyle was not radically different from his own, the small differences between their lives made the things he had taken for granted, like showering in the morning, stood out. It gave him the opportunity to think about what his own life was. When a counselor encouraged him to take whatever classes he wanted his freshman year in college, Morgan chose a philosophy class. It was not the first time he had grappled with many of life’s toughest questions, but it brought a fresh way of looking at them. “I’d never really studied those questions be-

GRAPHIC BY MORI ONO

Robert Morgan imitates the pose of The Thinker, the famous sculpture by Auguste Rodin. A statue of a man lost in thought, The Thinker became associated with philosophy. “The best thinking gets done when you’re very bored,” Morgan said.

fore,” Morgan said. “Part of taking up a philosophy class was the cool experience of like, ‘Here’s what this person has said!’ and getting a lot of different perspectives and coming to more informed decisions about what the world might be.” Morgan feels that typical high school thinking or discourse does not lend itself to a very thoughtful and balanced way of looking at the deeper questions. “I think it’s easy to look at people and think, ‘All these people are boring, and I’m smart and I know things, and everyone else is just annoying or they don’t understand things like I do,’” Morgan said. “It’s important to recognize and be empathetic and know your tiny skull-shaped kingdom, to quote David Foster Wallace.” Morgan wanted to communicate the experience of examining a variety of different philosophical perspectives he had in college to high school students. This inspired his Philosophical Literature class at Community High School, which created a space for students to explore difficult questions. One such question

is what to get out of life. Ultimately, what Morgan wants out of life is something he believes is what many people want — to be remembered. “I think life is just raging against the cold nothingness of everything else, and really, as humans, our best trait as a species is that we can pass on something from one generation to the next,” Morgan said. “I think literally the best thing you can do as a person is to leave some sort of lesson or story for those in the future who can learn from your story and hopefully inch just a bit closer to whatever the next step is.” The lesson Morgan would want to leave behind for the future ties closely to his perspective on the meaning of life, that ultimately, people are free. “I think people forget that sometimes you feel so locked into a choice or an option but that’s not true,” Morgan said. “It’s like you can work towards whatever you want and with sufficient hard work there really is quite a lot you can do. But it is the hard work part that we often forget.” March 2019

A New View

HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR MARCUX BROWN SHARES HIS STORY ON HOW ART HAS BECOME A PILLAR IN HIS LIFE. BY iO SOUCY

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY iO SOUCY

‘‘

Even though I’m not constantly manifesting something and I don’t have paint on my walls doesn’t mean I’m not passionate.

Marcux Alexander Brown has broad shoulders, nappy hair and Air Span Two shoes. He drinks Kombucha and coffee. He works at Starbucks and says that coffee calms his shaking hands. Brown doesn’t smile often, but when he does, it is usually at his own jokes. He has a gentle laugh that he keeps close to himself. He is tall and lanky, and he speaks with sarcasm about deep topics such as politics, the meaning of life and his social groups. Accompanying many of his unique characteristics, Brown is also a self-proclaimed artist. Brown, a Skyline and Community split-enrolled student, moved to Ann Arbor in 2017 from Arkansas. Before Arkansas, Brown lived in Chicago, where his art lead him to architectural photography. Now, his work takes on the issue of his transience, which has led to him not identifying any one place as home. In the summer of 2018, Brown found himself with the opportunity to go to yet another place: Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He was surrounded by other artists for six weeks. He met and collaborated with artists from across the world, with majors varying from oil painting to furniture design. He was able to discover that being productive and creative had a positive impact on his

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE WHITE TO HAVE DEPRESSION”

Brown had created a series of art pieces that were based around revolving stigmas with mental health. Inspired by William Taubin’s ad campaign for Levy’s Rye Bread, Brown wanted to convey the surrounding issues with mental health representation in communities of people of color. The series included the ideas that mental health variations such as depression and bipolar disorder are not just existing in white communities and in mainstream media. “I don’t want to be seen as an advocate of mental health,” Brown said. “Rather just a person with common sense. I’ve longingly admired the origin of this piece because I love the typography on it. It is very ironic with the formation of the caption and the color theme.”

mental health and attitude towards the world. “I talk about art, and I do art,” Brown said. “Even though I’m not constantly manifesting something and I don’t have paint on my walls doesn’t mean I’m not passionate. I was making art every two hours at RISD. I was making probably the best art of my life because it was more laid back.” During his time at RISD, Brown worked with mediums less familiar than his digital camera. He explored mediums such as charcoal and gouache and created pieces that hold meaning. Along with his personal projects, Brown was also able to collaborate on art projects with friends he made at RISD. The projects he remembers best and that were most fun were created right in their dorm

rooms. Brown believes people may not immediately see him as an artist. He believes that his art style and personality do not conform to the stereotypical artist. To Brown, being an artist means that you’re creating every day, you work with every color imaginable and you’re living in a studio apartment in New York. Being categorized as an artist would mean that you “made it.” Since Brown is still developing his artistic eye and doesn’t relate to many art niches, he prefers to be unlabeled. “I consider the stuff that I’m producing in the moment not at the level of other people that I want to associate myself with or at the level I want to be appreciated at,” Brown said. “The idea of me calling myself an artist right March 2019

now would be saying that I made it.” Steadily working through internalized doubt of accepting the title of being an artist, Brown is aware that he is continuously growing and learning about art. Being exposed to RISD students who embrace being artists has helped Brown expand his skills from photography and typography to many other mediums. With gouache-stained Dickies 874s, Brown persists in spaces where he is discouraged from being creative and in areas that are more STEM based. The largest area in Brown’s life that halts his creative process is school. Brown

has never felt comfortable in any high school he has attended, mainly due to the fact that he has never felt his art being valued. “Art is just as important as everything else I’m being forced to learn in school,” Brown said. After attending three different high schools in the last three years, Brown is ready to further his artistic future. He will be attending RISD in the fall of 2019 in hopes of studying furniture design, typography or marketing. Brown believes that attending a school catered to his interests in art will push him to

create more artwork. “If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability, even though money and attention span [could be] an issue,” Brown said. “I quit a job after three months because he wouldn’t let me listen to music while I was washing dishes. I’m always going to find a way to be able to do what I love.”

“LEAD”

Although mostly majoring in film photography and typography, Brown decided to play around with ink. At RISD, Brown was inspired by surrounding artists to expand his artistic discipline. Though not experienced in ink drawings, Brown created this piece with shapes thought to be representing clementine pieces, mushroom caps and general line work. “This was my first time doing a pen and ink drawing,” Brown said. “It kept spilling and was messy. I see a lot of drawings that are neat and delicate and I’m not that. I don’t really know how to do it and I manipulated my still lifes of bones and skeletons and marine life into a giant collage.”

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“DOUBLE EXPOSURE”

“FRIED CAR”

Double exposure is used by experienced photographers to expand the use and display of regular film photography. On accident, Brown created this photo by unknowingly exposing his film twice to two different subjects and thus creating a double exposed roll of film. This inspired Brown to explore the possibilities of nontraditional photography. “Originally, I was trying to take a photo but I didn’t realize my camera was messed up,” Brown said. “I winded the camera back but I didn’t realize the film wasn’t caught and was longer than I expected. I reeled it back and half of my photos on that reel were double exposed. It was film from school land I didn’t realize it was screwed up until I printed the photos.”

Printing film photography is a delicate process and is done in a precise manner. Having high contrast is a detail in photography that Brown admittedly prefers compared to regular exposure. “My current body of work is attempting to capture multiple points of views, more or less because of my constant displacement throughout my life, which is a mirror with my thought process,” Brown said. “I printed this photo negatively and I think that it turned out pretty nicely.”

“PORTRAIT 1”

Since primarily working in film photography for the past few years, Brown has been able to produce many clean photographs of buildings and his friends. During the film photography process, there is step that involves taking your clear negative strips of film and you print them all on one sheet so it is easy to see all of your photos at once. In this specific contact sheet, it features Brown’s friend, Monica H. He made during the summer program at RISD. “A contact sheet is foundational of my creative process,” Brown said. “I like to capture my [contact sheet] first because that means I’m able to get a feel of all of the photos. I like this contact sheet specifically because it reminds me of a good memory.”

March 2019

PHOTO COURTESY OF MYRA KLARMAN

Noah Hogan (left) plays his guitar at the Community High School end of the year jazz band blowout at the Ark in downtown Ann Arbor.

Pride and Joy BY JOSH BOLAND

NOAH HOGAN REFLECTS ON HIS JOURNEY TO BECOMING ONE OF COMMUNITY HIGH’S MOST PROMINENT JAZZ GUITARISTS. Noah Hogan arrived after more than 11 hours on the road. Hogan moved from North Carolina to Ann Arbor when he was 4 years old. His father found a teaching job at the University of Michigan, so he and his family moved to Ann Arbor so they could all live together. Hogan began his music lessons at the Ann Arbor Music Center a couple months after they arrived. “I listened to a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and he really made me want to play the guitar,” Hogan said. “I was initially too small to actually play the guitar, so I started on the ukulele until I grew enough to start playing the guitar. When I was six, I got a small Squier Stratocaster. I’ve been playing guitar ever since then.” Though Stevie Ray Vaughan was his original inspiration, there are many artists who have motivated Hogan to continue learning about the guitar. “Throughout the years, it’s shifted around from Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page and now Jazz guys like Pat Metheny and West Montgomery,” Hogan said. Hogan is currently a junior at CHS, and plays a variety of instruments and genres. He is in four different bands: the Left Lanes, the Community High Jazz band, Prophecy and Present Company. “I think that it’s definitely helpful and it’s help me grow as a musician by playing all 20

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these different genres,” he said. His family has provided everything for him, from buying him equipment to giving him rides to his performances. It hasn’t always been easy, but making room for what he wants to do is important. “The most difficult decision I had to make when it came to music was when I was coming into high school,” Hogan said. “I was in a band and I was about to be in high school and the Jazz program, so I had to decide how I wanted to use my time. I couldn’t play soccer and play music and do everything else that I wanted to do. So at the beginning of high school I ended up deciding to stop playing soccer and just focus on music.” He began playing Blues-Rock and it evolved more into Rock. In high school he began playing Jazz music. CHS Jazz teacher Jack Wagner has given Hogan countless opportunities to play with fellow musicians and give Hogan the tips to being a better learner in the music world. Hogan has gained many achievements for his talents. In 2018, his band the Left Lanes won the battle of the bands. Hogan was awarded a small scholarship to the Berklee Guitar Sessions in the summer of 2018, and awarded with a full tuition scholarship to the five week summer program in 2019. He takes great pride in gaining more opportu-

nities to play in performances. “I prefer to look at what comes after my achievements and the opportunities that come from them,” Hogan said. He has also received a chance to play at Top of the Park, a summer event in Ann Arbor where people can listen to music, eat food and enjoy the summer weather with their friends or family. This was important to Hogan because he was able to share his music at a popular event in his community. College is the next step in his musical career. Hogan is interested in studying music. He wants to continue to perform and possibly make an income from playing music. “One of the things I’ve been looking at when I’ve been looking at colleges now is how many performance opportunities they’re going to have in the city,” Hogan said. “In Boston, you’re going to have a ton of opportunities to play. If everything goes well that would be my primary income source during college, like a weekly or nightly gig.” Regardless of where his music will take him, Hogan is up for the challenge. “I think there’s a lot that you can do with a guitar and depending on how deep you want to go into each song, I think guitar can be considered more difficult.”

QUESTION ONE OF S E V E N T Y- E I G H T WITH COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

“Community High School, because it’s a great school; I love the teachers and connection with my peers.”

“Reading. I’m currently reading ‘Eat a Bowl of Tea.’ It’s a Chinese novel.”

-Sebastian Olivia “Being loved because I think being loved makes me feel cherished and free.” “My friends. It’s nice to have people to spend time with that you enjoy being with. It’s nice to have company.”

-Lucy Tobier

-Ruhi Kahanna

-Talia Briske

“Basketball, because it’s a way to release stress, have fun with your friends and exert energy.”

“My friends. Well, my friends but also music, because when I’m doing things without music it tends to be kind of boring, but then music just gives a beat to do everything else to.”

-Elijah Klein

-Ian Taylor

“When the weather’s really nice like in spring or summer that makes me really happy and just being around friends and people that I like hanging out with. When you’re happy there’s just this certain feeling that makes you feel lighter I guess. It just makes me want to smile more.” -Felicity Rosa-Davies

“The outdoors makes me happy. I like to be outdoors with my friends doing activities like skiing.” -Jacob Iwashyna

“Community is fantastic and makes me very happy, I love going to school and getting to see my friends and teachers.”

“Listening to music makes me happy, especially R&B because it puts me in a good mood.”

“I have to say music. It really gives me a sensation of just being and lets you just flow. I really like it; it’s like part of my soul.” -Simone Mahler

“I like to eat food, but also being with friends just makes me happy. They always bring out the best in me and make me enjoy life more.” -Minna Tremonti

-Noah Bernstein -Leah van der Velde

March 2019

Ending the

SILENCE

THE ONLINE WORLD HAS BLURRED THE LINES OF CONSENT EVEN FURTHER, ALLOWING TEENS TO SEND NUDE IMAGES OF THEMSELVES, AN ACT THAT CAN HAVE DEVASTATING EMOTIONAL IMPACTS AND IS CONSIDERED A FEDERAL CRIME. 22

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SHE BY GENEVE THOMAS-PALMER

was cold that autumn night in her bedroom when Abbey Varela* received a picture: a picture that would be followed by one like it every night for the next year. The rest of the house was asleep. Her parents were in their bed not 50 feet away; but to Varela they might as well have been in an entirely different world — unencumbered by the discomfort and shame Varela faced nightly. Starting the fall of Varela’s freshman year of high school, an Ann Arbor Public Schools student began sending her images of his genitals on a daily basis. When he shares nude photos with her, like the first time, it is usually late at night when she is alone in her bedroom. However, Varela occasionally opens up photos from him in public places — like once when she was in class, or at three o’clock on a Christmas afternoon — only to find a picture of his penis. At first, she was shocked. Soon, however, that feeling would be overtaken by a numbness. “I felt guilty for something that I wasn’t doing,” Varela said. “It wasn’t like I was asking him for this. It wasn’t like I was sending him nude pictures of myself. It was just me getting [his nudes]. Now, I’m just kind of used to it. I’ve become desensitized to it, but truthfully it is degrading. In school, he won’t even make eye contact with me or talk to me. It’s not like we have any real connection. I would never want to do anything with him. [He] doesn’t want to have a conversation with me. [He] only wants [nude] pictures of me.” Although she has gotten nude photos from the same person for over a year now, Varela has not yet told her parents or reported the harasser in any other way. She has not even blocked him. “[Blocking the guy who sends me nudes] would come with a lot of shame. He’s pretty popular, and he’d probably end up telling

his friends that I blocked him,” Varela said. “It would be turned on me. I don’t feel completely powerless, but it’s easier for me to blow it off like it’s nothing and not deal with it.” According to Jean Leverich — a therapist with a PhD in social work who specializes in trauma — receiving unsolicited nude photos can have a similar emotional effect as being sexually abused. “Sending [nude photos] to someone is a kind of sexual assault,” Leverich said. “It’s a violent act of aggression. It’s a boundary violation. It’s unsolicited, so it’s not consensual.” According to a study done by YouGov in October of 2017, 60 percent of women have been sent a photo of male genitalia that they did not ask for or want, 49 percent of whom described the photo as “gross,” and 24 percent of whom described it as “sad.” This study also discovered that only 11 percent of women have asked to be sent nude images, yet 27 percent of men admit to sharing photos of their genitals. Though consent is a relatively common topic of discussion among teenagers, many seem to struggle with applying it to sending someone unsolicited nude images of themselves. “It should be a basic human need to get consent, but it’s not treated like it is,” Varela said. “[It’s] just making sure that someone is comfortable with what you’re doing. With anything sexual — online or in person — consent should be mandatory.” According to Leverich, the feelings of shock, shame, and guilt Varela described are common symptoms of those who have undergone trauma. Another girl who has been sent nude photos, Madison Garrick*, says she feels what happened to her was traumatizing. When Garrick was in sixth grade, she downloaded an app called Kik that many of her friends used to interact with people online. Though her age was listed as a part of her profile, she still received many images of male genitalia from online users who she says could March 2019

‘‘ 60

“I felt guilty for something that I wasn’t doing. It wasn’t like I was asking him for this. It wasn’t like I was sending him nude pictures of myself. Now, I’m just kind of used to it. I’ve become desensitized to it, but truthfully it is degrading. [He] doesn’t want to have a conversation with me. [He] only wants [nude] pictures of me.” - Varela

percent of women have received a nude photo

have been anywhere from 15–40 years old. “[It was] scary,” Garrick said. “I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what was happening, I mean I was in sixth grade. I didn’t even know what sex was at that point. I was just a little 11 year old going on an app to make friends and I was bombarded with [nude photos]. I didn’t want them. I didn’t want to see them. I don’t know what was going through their minds. These guys knew how young I was. They knew that I was just a little kid that they were preying on.” For a long time, worrying about what the older boys harassing her were going to do next took up a lot of Garrick’s brain space, but after a while she blocked it out of her memory. According to Leverich, this amnesia is common for those who have experienced trauma. The prefrontal cortex — the front part of the brain that controls impulse, emotional reactions and personality — protects the rest of the brain by going “offline,” essentially removing the traumatic event from memory. However, the feelings associated with the memories remain, leaving the person with emotions they don’t understand because they don’t remember what happened to cause those emotions. “I think when people are sexually assaulted 24

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“[It was] scary. I didn’t know what was going on, I mean even know what sex was at that point. I was just a little 11 year old going on an app to make friends and I was bombarded with [nude photos]. I don’t know what was going through their minds. They knew that I was just a little kid that they were preying on.” - Garrick

— and I think sending unsolicited [nude photos] is a kind of sexual assault — they wonder why it’s happening to them,” Leverich said. “It’s very hard [for them] to understand what they’re supposed to do. When people have things that happen to them that are confusing, they want to forget it, and then they’re left with feelings of shame or guilt or just confusion wondering if they did something to ask for it and thinking it might be their fault somehow.” Garrick, being so young, blamed herself at the time. She felt she would be punished if she came forward about the harassment. “It was kind of traumatic,” Garrick said. “I felt like I was doing something wrong, like somehow I was bringing it onto myself. For a while, it caused me a lot of anxiety. I was nervous all the time. I didn’t know these people. I didn’t know what they were going to do. I blocked them, but I didn’t know if they were going to make another account, or try to find me, or something like that. I know that sounds exaggerated, but I was 11. I didn’t know any better.” Varela and Garrick have both received many unwanted nude photos, yet neither have confronted the boys who send them. Leverich

percent of women have asked for a nude photo

says that many who have faced trauma do not report the challenges they’ve undergone due to an overwhelming feeling of guilt. “When things are a secret, that’s a sign that something is abusive,” Leverich said. “It’s a sign that something is not right. Shame is a tool that people who abuse other people use to keep things secret. It’s manipulative if they’re making that person feel that they can’t tell other people what happened. A lot of people who have traumatic things happen to them internalize the shame. They feel like they did something wrong and are scared to speak out.” Though Varela does not think she ever will confront the boy who sends her nightly nudes, she says that she wishes he knew how disgusting his actions are. “[If I confronted him] I would just tell him I think what you’re doing is gross and it can make girls feel really bad about themselves,” Varela said. “I would let him know that what he’s doing is not okay, especially since he sends it to many girls and it’s illegal.” As a minor, sending someone photos of your genitals can be considered producing and distributing child pornography — a federal crime with a sentence of 15–30 years, and

“When things are a secret, that’s a sign that something is abusive. Shame is a tool that people who abuse other people use to keep things secret. A lot of people who have traumatic things happen to them internalize the shame. They feel like they did something wrong and are scared to speak out.” - Leverich

is the age of the youngest registered sex offender in Michigan

a fine of up to $100,000 for production and up to $50,000 for distribution. Most persons who are convicted of distributing or producing child pornography are required to register as a sex offender. Anyone can access personal information online about a registered sex offender their school, work, volunteer and home addresses;:any vehicles they possess; their age, height, gender and weight; their mugshots and their offenses. Being a registered sex offender also comes with restrictions. You must regularly check in with law enforcement. If you move to another state, you must provide the local police force with a notice of relocation within a short period of time. You cannot be within 500 feet of school property without the permission of the superintendent or school board. “It’s become so popular to [send nude photos as a minor], people forget what the legality of it is,” said Corey Mills, a Sergeant with the Ann Arbor Police Department. “It can be a felony and it can be a chargeable offense that can remain on someone’s record for the rest of their life. It can interfere with them getting a job. It can interfere with them getting into college. You don’t want to make such a serious

’’

“I felt like I was doing something wrong, like somehow I was bringing it onto myself. For a while, it caused me a lot of anxiety. I didn’t know these people. I didn’t know what they were going to do. I didn’t know if they were going to make another account, or try to find me, or something like that.” - Garrick

mistake as a teenager that’s going to affect you for the rest of your life.” Even though the people who have sent them nude images could face charges, Varela and Garrick as well as many girls who would otherwise report are afraid of the backlash they would face if they spoke up. They worry that if they tell someone about the harassment they have faced, they will be the ones who face the punishment. But, for Leverich, ending the silence is vital to stopping the distribution of unwanted nude photos that has become astonishingly prevalent among teenagers. She believes that speaking out is the best way to hold harassers accountable, and to educate them about the emotional turmoil their actions can cause and the legal implications of those actions. Although speaking out can benefit society as a whole, it can have devastating ramifications for the individuals who come forward. Being sent a nude photo from a minor even if you did not ask for it — can be considered possession of child pornography, which has similar legal consequences as distribution and production. If a teenager sends you an image of their genitals, you can face 15–30 years in prison, and be forced to register as a sex of-

people are added to the sex offender registry every day in Michigan fender. In Michigan, most people stay on the registry for their entire life. It’s possible to petition to be taken off the registry, but that requires a filing fee, and sometimes additional legal fees. These outdated laws allow the possibility of victims of sexual harassment to go to prison as a result of being victimized. Luckily, according to Mills, it is highly unlikely a prosecutor would charge the victim with possession of child pornography if they follow the right procedure: showing the image to their parents or another trusted adult. Mills, however, made it clear that if someone who has received an unsolicited nude photo forwards the image, they become culpable of distribution of child pornography, and warns those who have been sent naked images not to send it to anyone electronically for any reason. Varela has never told her parents what happens every night, only feet from the bed where they lie in the next room over, asleep with the rest of the house. She never intends to. Yet, she hopes that the boy who sends her nightly nudes knows that she will never make herself smaller by sending a naked photo back. *Names have been changed to protect anonymity.

March 2019

SINCE 1968, THE WATER UNDER ANN ARBOR AND SCIO TOWNSHIP HAS BEEN CONTAMINATED BY A KNOWN CARCINOGEN: 1,4-DIOXANE BY ETHAN GIBB-RANDALL

West Park, a site that recently tested with a high level of dioxane, at sunrise. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ETHAN GIBB-RANDALL

The Communicator Magazine

“When the wind blew the wrong way during Gelman’s spray irrigation dioxane remediation program, it would sometimes drop the dioxane laden water on employee cars. Gelman reportedly handed out car wash coupons to employees when this happened to keep the dioxane from eating through the car’s paint.”

From 1966 to 1986, the Gelman Life Sciences manufacturing facility — located just west of Ann Arbor near Dolph Park in Scio Township — contaminated the soils and groundwater at their property and the surrounding area. This is a result of dumping 1,4-Dioxane, a known carcinogen and solvent in the manufacturing process for the microporous filters that the factory produced with the rest of their less dangerous chemical waste. From 1966 to 1973, the company dumped all their process waste into seepage lagoons on their property. The plan for managing the chemicals from the manufacturing process would break down from biodegradation and the clean water would infiltrate the soil and return to the groundwater. They did this under state permits for the total chemical loading. They did not tell the state that the dioxane was in their effluent (liquid being discharged) for years. The other chemicals from manufacturing are thought to have broken down as, but the dioxane did not break down very effectively with the biodegradation. Once Gelman realized the dioxane remained, they changed their entire waste management system to a lined seepage pond. They allowed this to overflow when the seepage could not keep up with the influent. The system was switched to a drainage sewer, where they sent all the other chemicals besides dioxane. The Ann Arbor Wastewater Treatment Plant where the pipe led to could not process the toxicity and resilience of the dioxane. Gelman then took the leftover dioxane-contaminated water, did an aerobic treatment that partially purified, and sprayed the water all over the open fields on the property. “When the wind blew the wrong way during Gelman’s spray irrigation dioxane remediation program, it would sometimes drop the dioxane laden water on employee cars.” Roger Rayle said, “Gelman reportedly handed out car wash coupons to employees when this happened to keep the dioxane from eating through the car’s paint.” Another solution to the dioxane contamination that Gelman tried before the plume was discovered by the public involved putting the contaminated water into a deep well, which further contaminated the surrounding soil and groundwater. After the news broke, many experimental remediation methods were tested on the deep well. There are rumors of a field of buried drums in an eight-by-eight configuration used to test methods of remediation, but they have yet to be confirmed by any source. The first time that Roger Rayle heard about the dioxane plume was in 1993, when his neighbor invited him to a neighborhood meeting about it. Rayle worked in management consulting and software systems at that time. Within months of the first meeting, Rayle was helping to fight against Gelman, who was trying to give residents of the area $10,000 to install monitoring wells on their property, as part of a plan to release high levels of partially treated water into Honey Creek. The neighborhood campaign went around with a

petition and talked to the residents of the area. “All property owners, except DTE and Conrail, agreed that what Gelman was doing was wrong, and signed the petition,” Rayle said. Their campaign successfully prevented Gelman from putting in the wells. In 1995, Rayle helped start the Scio Residents for Safe Water (SRSW). SRSW now has a website with extensive research, data, graphics and news updates regarding the plume (srsw.org). The news of the plume was published in 1984. Shortly after, the Michigan State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) contacted Gelman regarding the contamination. The DNR at the time was responsible for recreation management as well as all environmental regulatory functions for the State of Michigan. In 1995, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was created to handle future environmental regulatory function and the DNR was left with the role of recreation management. After the DNR contacted Gelman in 1984, Gelman sued the state for listing them as the second worst polluter in the state. The main purpose of that lawsuit was to avoid a lawsuit from the state or the City of Ann Arbor. Since then, Gelman has hired defense lawyers, and a lawsuit is currently filed against them by the City of Ann Arbor and the Huron River Watershed Council, in which the DEQ is heavily involved. Not many details are available because the case is still ongoing. In the early 1995, when Republicans took over the state government, the legal limit for dioxane in soil and water was raised to 77 parts per billion (ppb). In 2000, It was raised again to 85 ppb. It was finally tightened in 2016 to 7.2 pb, but that limit has not been applied to the Gelman Site. Some of the contaminated areas currently have over 900 ppb, which is an extremely high level which makes exposure highly dangerous. When the Allen Creek was tested under West Park for 1,4 Dioxane, it measured at around 30 ppb. The underground plume now stretches all the way to West Park, 2.3 miles from the original site of the contamination, coming steadily towards Community High School, and more importantly, the Huron River and Barton Pond, through an offshoot of the plume in the Evergreen area. Barton Pond is the body of water blocked off by Barton Dam that provides the city with 80 percent of its drinking water. The dioxane may not affect the wildlife in and around the river, but the major problem at hand is the drinking water supply in the pond, because dioxane is difficult and expensive to remove from water. “The best thing that people that want to help can do is pay attention to what is happening with the plume.” Rayle said, talking about community involvement with the case. People cannot do much until the case is out of court, so staying up to date is the best method. The plume is within a half mile of Community High School, and under many of the students homes, so it should be a goal of many members of the community to ensure that Ann Arbor’s hidden contamination is managed before it is too late. March 2019

The Beginning of

A LEGACY

THE TRUE PIONEERS OF ANN ARBOR HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY WERE A SMALL GROUP OF BOYS THAT LIVED TO BE ON THE ICE. BY AVA MILLMAN

Eight-year-old Howdy Holmes threw the door open as his mother slowed the car down on Baldwin Avenue adjacent to Burns Park Elementary School. On his way out, he reached back and grabbed his hockey equipment, two ham sandwiches and a thermos of hot chocolate. The crisp December air struck his face as his boots hit the snow in full stride. Holmes ran toward the frosted tennis courts that had been converted into two side-by-side ice rinks for the winter. Holmes laced up his skates and stood at the end of the line, hoping he would be chosen by one of the two older ‘captains’ for the day’s 10-hour match. The year was 1955, and every Saturday from Thanksgiving until the ice melted, dozens of boys from across Ann Arbor would gather at the east end of Burns Park at 7 a.m. to play hockey. These humble pick-up games 28

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may not seem momentous — at the time they did not even seem like much to the players — but it was from these modest beginnings that the rich tradition of high school hockey in Ann Arbor was born. From the moment that the final school bell rang until the boys were called home for dinner, there was always a game being played. When boys like Holmes would go to Burns Park, it was not just to play hockey; they wanted to impress the “ringleaders.” For Holmes, this group consisted of the class of boys three grades ahead of him that spent every waking moment on the ice at Burns Park. Frequented names included Jim Baird, Douglas Hayes, Nick Boys, Mark Gilson and Dave Newton. “We would choose teams and then play for about an hour or so,” Hayes said. “Then we would break up and individually just mess around. We would work on our skills, and

then maybe half an hour later we would choose up again and play.” Over the countless hours that this group of players spent on the ice together, they learned how each other thought. They could anticipate where their teammates were going to be, and the game became second nature. By the time they got to fifth grade, the boys were eligible to play their first season of organized hockey in the Ann Arbor Hockey League. The league was based out of the University of Michigan Colosseum, formerly home to the Michigan Wolverine hockey team. “When I would have been 10, in 1954, there were about six 12-and-under teams playing,” said Paul Diamond, a player from the class below Baird, Hayes and Boys. The teams consisted of 14 to 15 boys who played about 20 games each season.

At the beginning of each season, a list of all the registered players was distributed to the volunteer coaches and teams were chosen draft style. This system split up the Burns Park players among the league. The Ann Arbor Hockey League offered both a 12 and under and a 14 and under division, but once players turned 15 and were in high school they were out of options. Many players moved on to other sports like wrestling or basketball, while some stayed with the Ann Arbor Hockey League as coaches. Players like Gilson and Baird went back to Burns Park for pickup games. Soon the boys realized that the pickup games alone were not enough, and they started looking for other hockey teams. At age 16, Baird, Hayes, Gilson and Boys, along with classmates Howard Lippert and Richie Kerr, traveled to Detroit to try out for an adult team called Hessenaur’s. They made the team and almost immediately became a known force throughout the adult league. The attention they gained through Hessenaur’s was welcomed, but what they really wanted was an Ann Arbor High School (AAHS) team. “We wished we had a high school hockey team,” Hayes said. “When I was a junior, a friend of mine was a senior named Tom Rowe. He and I decided that we were going to start a high school hockey team.” At this point, it was the middle of winter in 1960, and Rowe and Hayes created a list of three things necessary to start a hockey program: ice time, uniforms and funding. They approached the athletic director at AAHS, and he laughed saying, “We can’t spend any money on hockey because there is no money around.” After getting shut down by school administration, Hayes and Rowe had to come up with a creative solution. They contacted a younger player’s father, who was a known business owner in town. The businessman hoped that

his son would one day have a team to play on and, by something just short of a miracle, pledged $4,000 to Rowe and Hayes’s cause — in 2019 that calculates to about $30,000. Rowe and Hayes circled back to the Athletic Department after they had collected the funding, but were shut down again because there was no time. The following year, Hayes, Boys, Gilson, Baird and Newton continued the effort, determined to start a team before they graduated in the spring. They finally came to the conclusion that if their team was going to become a reality, they could not rely on the school for help. The remaining items on their list were uniforms and ice time. In 1961, The Colosseum was the only rink in town, and ice time was scarce. “We went down and talked to the coach at Michigan, whose name was Al Renfrew,” Hayes said. “He said, ‘Oh, that is great, I’d love to support Ann Arbor High School getting a hockey team. What can I do?’” Renfrew offered the boys Michigan’s jerseys from the previous year and helped them convince rink management to find a time for the boys to skate. For the third time, they went to speak with the Athletic Department at AAHS, and for the third time, they were turned down. The athletic director informed them that hockey was insignificant compared to sports like basketball or baseball, and that the school would not have enough interest to support the team. This rejection only charged their drive to start a team — they wanted to prove the school administration wrong. The five boys came up with a straightforward plan. They would play one exhibition game against the high school state champions from the season before, Catholic Central. Their goal was not only to beat Catholic Central but also to sell more tickets at a higher price than any of the other Ann Arbor High School sports. March 2019

“We sold tickets for $1 a piece, whereas the basketball team sold tickets for 25cents,” Baird said. “Because The Colosseum was where Michigan played it was not a small rink, there were probably around 800 seats, and we almost sold the place out.” Everything seemed to be coming together smoothly until the team found out that they would not be able to get the Michigan uniforms by the day of the game. Unsure of what to do next, they came together to consider their options. The boys had a random assortment of jersey and sock colors from playing in the Ann Arbor Hockey League. “We agreed that we would wear a blue jersey or sweatshirt of some sort, and our mothers ironed numbers onto the backs,” Hayes said. “Then, because of our mismatched socks, we decided to call ourselves The Rainbows.” The team was made of 11 skaters; two lines of forwards and two lines of defense, plus one goalie. “I remember sitting in the locker room before the game, and it just felt like any other game,” Baird said. “We didn’t care that we were playing against the state champions or that there were over 500 people out there, we were just ready to play like we had done countless times before.” From the time the puck dropped until the final buzzer, The Rainbows dominated the game and came out with a 5-2 win over Catholic Central. “We had played so much hockey together that we always knew where everyone else was and the game just flowed,” Hayes said. “We just kind of did whatever we wanted and from what I remember it was a pretty easy game.” Catholic Central went on to win the state championship again in March later that season, and 7 out of the 11 Rainbows went on to play collegiate-level hockey the following fall. During the 1961–1962 season, The Rainbows team was renewed. “You had to convince the other teams to play you in an exhibition game because the only teams that were out there were high school teams,” Dimond said. “They had their own league and because the class of ‘61’s team was so good everyone just assumed they would lose to us.” They were only able to schedule eight games that year, and they won just over half of them. Finally, the AAHS athletic department instated the first official team in the 1962-1963 season. “The coach was actually the cross country coach named Tim Ryan,” Holmes said of his first year on the AAHS team. In 1963, AAHS hired Art Armstrong to be a teacher and the new head coach. The team went on to win the state championships — in only its second year of existence. Thanks to the class of 1961, Ann Arbor Public Schools now has three boys programs and two girls programs providing an opportunity to play high school hockey to all of their students.

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IN MEMORY OF COL. MARK GILSON

In the summer of 2017, Col. Mark Gilson died at the age of 73 after a hard-fought battle with cancer. After graduating from AAHS, Gilson went on to play Division-1 hockey at Michigan Technological Institute for two years before returning back to Ann Arbor to get his degree from the University of Michigan. He then became a Medevac helicopter pilot in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, and finally was a pilot and flight instructor for the Air Force. In the weeks preceding his passing, Gilson was nominated for induction into the Ann Arbor Pioneer Hall of Honor. On Oct. 6, 2017, Col. Mark Gilson was inducted into the Hall of Honor. “His teammates from The Rainbows came to his induction and said, ‘we want to do something to memorialize him,’” said Ray Pittman, president of the Pioneer Fund for Excellence in Academics and Athletics. Together, The Rainbows came up with the idea to donate new jerseys to the Pioneer Men’s and Women’s hockey teams for the 2018-2019 season. Thanks to The Rainbows, every Pioneer hockey player sports a patch on their home and away jerseys embroidered, ‘Col. Gilson 1961,’ carrying out his legacy on and off the ice.

7 Ways That You Can Reduce Waste THE ZERO-WASTE INITIATIVE CAN BE INTIMIDATING. THESE 7 TIPS ARE EASY, SMALL CHANGES THAT CAN MOVE YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. BY ELENA BERNIER

Don’t throw away food.

Be mindful of what you buy.

Think before you throw away.

When you can’t finish all of your food at a restaurant, don’t let them throw it away! Ask for a take-out container (most take out containers are recyclable or even compostable.) Or better yet, bring your own tupperware if you know that you normally have leftovers.

Instead of impulse-buying a new makeup product or clothing item that you’ll only use a few times, think about what you really need and make thoughtful decisions of what to buy. You’ll end up consuming less, and getting your money’s worth.

When you’re about to throw something in the trash, double check to make sure it can’t be recycled or composted. Also, make sure you are only putting recyclable items in the recycling bins; if trash is found in a recycling bin, all of the contents will most likely be thrown in the trash. In addition, all non-animal food items can be composted.

Use reusable straws.

This is a very easy way to reduce your waste! You can buy metal straws anywhere from your local stores to Amazon. Also, Ecology Club here at CHS is also selling them! You can carry them around in your backpack and whip them out whenever your drink needs a straw.

Ditch the makeup wipes.

After a long day there is nothing more easy and convenient than reaching for a wipe to get all the dirt and makeup off. But, unfortunately, makeup wipes are a one-time-use product, which makes them extremely wasteful. They inevitably end up in landfills, where it can take them decades to break down. According to the FDA, wipes are made up of materials such as polyester, polypropylene, cotton, wood pulp and rayon fibers, none of which are biodegradable. Instead, you can buy reusable, washable makeup-removing pads and cloths. Another option is buying a good makeup removing cleanser. You can find these eco-friendly options anywhere from CVS to Sephora!

Be thrifty.

When shopping for clothes, hit up your local thrift store

Use travel mugs and water bottles.

If you know you’re going to be going to a coffee shop, bring along a reusable travel mug and politely ask the barista to put your drink in it. This is a common occurrence in coffee shops, and you might even get a discount! In addition, ditch the plastic water bottles and invest in a reusable one.

to avoid buying new products. By participating in a circular economy — where things are reused and recycled — you are reducing your waste. In addition, don’t throw out your old clothes — donate them! If they can’t be donated, you can recycle your clothes at your local county’s textile recycling center.

March 2019

Beyond The Textbook PHOTOGRAPHY BY iO SOUCY

RYAN SILVESTER BEGINS HIS TEACHING CAREER AT COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL. BY HOPE HESSELTINE AND SOPHIE NUNEZ

When Ryan Silvester was 15 years old, he realized that he wanted to be a teacher. He was sitting in Sarah Roldan’s AP U.S. history class at Huron High School. “[Roldan] just had a great passion for teaching and for the subject,” Silvester said. “It felt like every day we came to class, she was allowing us to share her passion of U.S. history.” When choosing his major, Silvester put away his passion for social studies, and decided to follow in his parents’ footsteps; he ended up majoring in math and science. “The idea of teaching and the love of history has always been there, but it wasn’t something that really came out until I had U.S. history and political science classes in college,” Silvester said. “That really piqued my interest overall.” Taking political science classes reminded him of his love for history, which then sparked his passion to become a teacher. “I think that’s a lesson for college and high school students: you can go in with one mindset and completely change it, and everything’s going to be okay,” Silvester said. Silvester began student teaching at Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology, located in Southfield, Mich. He was placed in a ninth grade economics class. Although he wasn’t fully prepared for this new experience, it ended up being a rewarding challenge. “On my big questionnaire that they used to match us to the location where we would be teaching, I marked multiple times ‘please don’t put me in an economics classroom,’ but I ended up being placed in one,” Silvester

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said. “Because of that experience, I learned so much more about how to be a teacher and how to fit in the shoes and empathize with the students that might not enjoy the subject matter.” Currently, Silvester is working his first full time job at Community High School, teaching both U.S. and world history. Getting into the groove of Community’s alternative style wasn’t an issue for Silvester. Nevertheless, picking up on the block-scheduling was daunting, but he soon learned to love the lon-

“It’s about connecting and seeing how everything fits into this grand narrative.” ger class periods. Block scheduling allowed him to spend more time with his students, and to dig into the material each day. “It’s the alternative way, but it really feels like it’s the right way for me to be teaching,” Silvester said. Compared to other teachers, Silvester has a unique style of teaching that focuses on looking at primary sources and truly understanding how history pieces itself together. “It’s much more than just learning all the facts, and knowing the names and dates,” Silvester said. “It’s about connecting and seeing how everything fits into this grand narrative.”

Silvester’s teaching style mimics that of his high school U.S. history teacher, Roldan, who originally ignited his love for history. She wrote his college letter of recommendation, and he is still asking her questions regarding his teaching to this day. “I began going in and observing what [Roldan] was doing with her class,” Silvester said. “[Another day], I had a question about one of the lessons I was teaching, so I sent her an email. She is still mentoring me, and because of her I am growing as a teacher.” Silvester is just beginning his second semester at Community, and has started to appreciate the differences between Community and a more traditional high school. “I love the fact that as a teacher, you are able to push the bounds of what the typical public school curriculum might look like,” Silvester said. “I love the ability to have freedom to go beyond the textbook and explore different materials.” Silvester’s first day was tense for both him and his students. Students who were originally placed in Chloe Root’s U.S. history classes were unknowingly switched to Silvester’s class. This caused confusion for some, but many quickly learned to accept the change and build relationships with their new teacher. “The students are my favorite part of Community: they’re pushing me in ways I didn’t expect to be pushed and they’re coming up with connections I didn’t even see,” Silvester said. “The students are the reason I’m here, that’s why I love teaching.”

DON’T FLY SOLO AT

BY LOEY JONES-PERPICH

I’m not really into thrillers — or movies in general. So when my family wanted to go see a movie one rainy night in Washington D.C., and they let my 14-year-old brother pick the film, I was nervous. I didn’t know how much blood and gore I would have to close my eyes for, or whether or not I would fall asleep in the middle of it. Was it even worth it for me to go? The answer was yes, without a doubt. My brother chose “Free Solo” — a National Geographic documentary about Alex Honnold, a professional rock climber who dreamed of climbing Yosemite’s El Capitan, possibly the most challenging wall on Earth, without a rope (free soloing, as they say). It was an utterly stunning depiction of Honnold’s life and livelihood. The filmmakers, all rock climbers themselves, filmed Honnold night and day, exploring his relationships, successes and failures. Even in the beginning of the film, I could see Honnold’s personality. Honnold always said what he was thinking; he didn’t try to cover up any thoughts or emotions. He had a largely positive voice for the story, but when his pessimism came through, I could feel it. I

laughed when he showed us how he cooked out of his van, where he primarily lived, and cried along with his girlfriend when she broke down in a moment of stress. Speaking of his girlfriend, Sanni McCandless appeared in the film at the beginning, giving the audience a sense of how other people felt about Honnold. We got to find out nearly everything about their relationship, from when they met — she gave him her number at one of his book readings — to when they moved in together. She showed us the side of him that we didn’t get to see when he was climbing: the sweet, silly and loving side. Without her, the movie would’ve been about focus and strength, which, while important, are not nearly as interesting as a movie about a strong, focused rock climber who is learning how to love. The film is set over a year, during which Honnold lived out of his van and climbed El Capitan a number of times, with a rope, of course. He also traveled; we watched as he free soloed a huge mountain in Morocco. We watched as he successfully climbed El Capitan with some of his friends, including

Tommy Caldwell, the first person to ever complete a free climb of El Capitan. We watched as he tried to climb part of it with McCandless and fell, minorly injuring his ankle. We watched as he set out one morning before sunrise to make an attempt at free soloing El Capitan and stopped not far up the mountain. What was an incredibly difficult mental and physical feat for Honnold was nerve-wracking for me, but when he finally set out to free solo El Capitan, I was so excited. During his entire journey up the wall, I desperately wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn’t tear them away. And (spoiler alert!) when he finally made it up that mountain, I was so relieved I couldn’t help but laugh. As the New York Times put it, “Alex Honnold’s Free Solo climb should be celebrated as one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever.” And I’ll leave it at that — even if you’re not a movie person, you should try to see this one. You’ll leave that theater ready to climb El Capitan.

- THE NEW YORK TIMES March 2019

Let’s Talk... HOW DAG IS WORKING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OUR SCHOOL AND WHY TALKING ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS TO BE A PART OF EVERY SCHOOL. STAFF EDITORIAL

Mental health is a subject that is often avoided during conversation. It can make people uncomfortable, emotional and even angry. Some believe that ignoring the topic of mental health altogether will make it go away, and therefore be less prevalent in their lives. However, we believe that speaking out about mental health and its various effects helps reduce the stigma. We, as a staff, believe that school administrators across the country need to follow in the footsteps of the Community High School administration and open up communications to increase awareness surrounding mental health. We are extremely lucky to attend a school that not only allows students to be open about their struggles with mental health but also encourages it. One opportunity for students to get involved in the mental health awareness effort is the program Depression Awareness Group (DAG). Currently in its tenth year, DAG’s mission is to provide resources and support to students who are struggling with different mental illnesses. CHS’s program is an adaptation of the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) program, which has been adopted by most high schools in Washtenaw County. P2P is a collaboration between the University of Michigan Depression Center and Ann Arbor Public Schools to help educate students on mental illness. P2P helps train students to be peer educators, students who can help provide resources and reduce stigma within their community. While other schools have P2P programs, the programs are not celebrated or advertised within the school in the same way that DAG is. This means that students may not be aware of the resources that P2P programs provide; stigma surrounding the issue may not be diminishing at the same rate as it is here at CHS. A major reason that DAG is integrated well into CHS is that faculty and students are committed to addressing the issues together. The leader of DAG is Robbie Stapleton, a health and personal fitness teacher who has taught at CHS for 30 years. Every year, she works with several CHS students and the UM Depression Center on a new campaign to reduce stigma and raise awareness about mental health around the building and surrounding community. 34

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Opinion

For this year’s campaign, DAG is gathering stories from several students and staff members who have been diagnosed with different mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety. The stories will be presented to forums in early April, followed by a question panel with each speaker. In addition to hanging several informative posters around the school, members of DAG will visit each forum with custom stickers and resource sheets for students and teachers to use for their benefit. The Communicator is also fortunate to be supported by our administration in our efforts to share stories about the effects of mental health on teenagers. Years ago, with different, stricter administration, a story about mental health was pulled from The Communicator due to its “unprofessional” content. We were not allowed to write about a disease of the brain, while stories about physical diseases were almost celebrated. Now, with our current administration, stories about how mental health has affected CHS students are supported and praised. As our magazine has grown, our stories surrounding mental health have also grown. With each journalist that speaks about their challenges with depression or anxiety, it opens up a safe space for other students to do the same. We believe the more we can do to create an environment where people feel comfortable talking about mental health, the more we can make conversations about mental health the norm. We want our magazine to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. Working together, The Communicator and DAG are starting conversations about mental illness across the school and community. If schools across the United States embraced the idea that in order to achieve positive mental health, we need to first address the problems we still have, then we would be one step closer to eliminating mental health stigma. It is also important to realize the progress we have made and the challenges we have overcome to get to the place we are at in regards to mental health. From here, we plan to continue our efforts to help reduce stigma against mental health in our school and surrounding community.

The Conflicting Policy of the Chief Executive of the United States BY MORI ONO

President Donald Trump’s opposition to climate change will inflame the refugee and immigration crisis he decries. Since Trump’s inauguration, his administration has ripped up environmental regulations — guaranteeing increases in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and automobile tailpipes — and defying global consensus by pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Through these actions, the Trump administration is directly feeding some of its greatest concerns. Even without a border wall, the Trump administration has taken drastic action against immigrants. In his first year as president, arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jumped by 30 percent, and the number of migrant children in detention shot up from 2,400 in May 2017 to 12,000 by September. A study by Stanford researchers assessed that climate-caused changes in crop yields are expected to cause 1.4 million to 6.7 million adult Mexicans to emigrate from the country by around the year 2080. Such migration will be widespread. A one degree increase in temperature is expected to cause a 1.9 percent increase in immigration to developed countries. The Trump administration shows little in-

terest in helping refugees. Next year, President Trump plans to limit the number of refugees the U.S. will resettle to only 30,000, an alltime low for the refugee program. Members of his staff, most notably Senior Advisor to the President Stephen Miller, want to slash it further. This will not stop the refugee crisis. In Europe, asylum applications may increase by 200 percent by the end of the century if humanity takes no major steps to stop climate change. But climate change refugees are not a distant concern. They may even be a present concern. One of the many stressors that eventually culminated in the Syrian Civil War may have been one of the area’s worst droughts, worsened by human-induced drying in the region. After the war began, the number of refugees arriving in the U.S. from Syria increased, reaching its peak of 15,479 in 2016, before plunging with the Trump administration to only 3,024. As the climate of the Middle East becomes ever hotter and drier, resource starvation will make similar conflicts more likely, creating more refugees and asylum seekers. The Trump administration can deny immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, but at the cost of its heart. It does nothing to solve the fact they have come to this country to escape

great struggles. Out of such struggles, climate change is emerging as one of the largest, one that the Trump administration is an active participant in its effects and its blatant denial. Clearly, the president does not even understand the basic concept of climate change. On its own, the Trump administration will make no change to its plan of throwing a wall around itself to block out the criticisms of other nations, with no way to see the encroaching storm, one that will annihilate any wall we build. The common citizen is to ensure issues are handled with real solutions. This means all of us must act, to make sure the storm is one we can survive. We must protest in earnest the disregard for those who come to the USA, and indifference to climate change. We must vote, to pick those who fight for a beneficial solution, and we must hold them accountable if they do not. And if our leadership is incapable of recognizing the issues, we fight against climate change directly, by conserving energy, by using efficient forms of transportation and by ensuring that those who escape the effects of climate change receive the support they need for a new beginning.

March 2019

The Communicator Magazine

Is There Something Wrong With Me?

SELF-IMAGE, CONFIDENCE AND COMPARISON: GROWING UP IN THE AGE OF TABLOID MEDIA. BY LOEY JONES-PERPICH

I waited in the self-checkout lane at the Kroger just eight blocks from my house; my mother stood next to me. My hair was wispy and blonde, my limbs long and lanky. As my mom double-checked her grocery list, I zeroed in on the tabloids sitting at my eye level in the black metal rack just a few feet away; they gleamed, just waiting to be read. I grabbed a copy of People Magazine with my thin, pale hand and flipped it open. A few pages in, I stopped turning; bright colors and a collage of photos caught my eye. “Best and worst beach bods!” the two-page spread screamed at me. Some photos showed women bending over or walking, highlighting every roll of skin, stretch mark and area with extra cellulite; some showed photoshopped images of hourglass-shaped, golden-skinned women emerging from the water flawlessly. My mind immediately went to my own body; I knew that when I sat down and leaned over, the skin and fat on my tummy rolled over. Was there something wrong with me? It was 2011: Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were together; Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise were splitting up; I was nine years old. As a young girl, I was fascinated with the idea of being influential and important. I had my mind made up on being a famous singer, so I looked up to people like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry as inspiration. Whenever I could, I gravitated towards reading tabloid magazines, such as People or Us Weekly. I thought that someday, I would be in them. But as I looked at these magazines and saw women scrutinized and blamed for every little thing, from body fat to a bad breakup, I knew that there were too many things wrong with me to ever be able to make it in that world. I was too thin — which I knew from constant remarks about the visibility of my rib cage and fingers wrapped around my wrists — but when I bent over, my stomach had rolls on it, and the tabloids told me that having those was wrong. Late elementary school to early middle school factored heavily into my future self-image. As the girls around me and I entered puberty, tabloid magazines remained our go-to quick reads. They were always easy to access: they sat just inches away from the counter at gas stations and grocery stores, they sat in stacks at the doctor’s office and they were added to Christmas stockings. Fashion and the gossip were the initial draws, but I always found myself stopping on pages that “ex-

posed” celebrities for having imperfect bodies. We continued to read these magazines and therefore became more familiar with body-shaming, but we thought it was normal. All of the celebrities were getting bodyshamed, so what could be the problem? It was not as if only one media source fed us that information; it was everywhere we looked. And it wasn’t just the body-shaming that we read about; the magazines reported every single detail of those celebrities’ lives. They pitted women against each other in “Who Wore it Best,” blamed breakups and divorces on the wives and published stories about female celebrities’ personal problems. To me, those famous women were the most perfect people in the world. So what was I? As I entered middle school and became more familiar with my personal imperfections, my confidence dropped off. I went from a size zero to a size four in a period of nine months; of course, my body was growing and changing because I was going through puberty, but the media always made it seem like women who didn’t fit into the tiniest sizes were ugly. I became much more reserved in what I wore to school, and I was soon too self-conscious to change my clothes in front of other people, including my own mother. I wasn’t alone. Authors of “The Confidence Code for Girls,” Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, recently confirmed in a survey of 1300 adolescent girls that it is not uncommon for girls to feel exactly like I did. They found that between the ages of eight and fourteen, young girls’ self-confidence plummets by 30 percent. The number of girls reporting pressure not to fail more than doubled between ages 12 and 13. These statistics, heartbreakingly, are no surprise to me because they perfectly represent my feelings at those ages. I attribute a large portion of my self-confidence problems to the tabloid media — I let my fascination for fame control the way I viewed my body, my personality and my relationships. Even though I haven’t cared to read a tabloid in a long time, the lessons I learned from them when I was nine years old have stayed with me. I have had to teach myself over and over again the things that I should have learned when I was little: my size does not determine my worth, my stretch marks do not define my beauty and my mistakes do not decide my life’s outcome.

March 2019

agree to SEPARATING THE ART FROM THE ARTIST. BY JORDAN DE PADOVA

The most acclaimed art is an expression of extreme emotions: anger, happiness, hate, love. These emotions translate into art, through which they are expressed, while hiding the ugly situations that bore them. The price a society pays for expressive and genuine art is coexistence with genuine artists, ones who make mistakes. Art is also an extremely influential, impactful and engaging aspect of the human experience. Most people have at least one song that is very significant to them. We don’t choose what songs impact us, they simply do. In other words, the automatic, primal response we have to music is not something that can be controlled or suppressed, it goes beyond morality or reasoning. When an artist is exposed for committing a crime or indefensible act there is a tendency to pair their act not only with their character, but also with their art, thus “canceling” both. The reason an artist and their work can and should be considered as separate entities is because there are general consensuses about moral values: an act can be objectively wrong. The beauty of art is its subjectivity, the way in which its meaning is different for every person who enjoys it. An artist should be held responsible for their actions and scrutinized accordingly, but an artists’ art exists independent from its creator. For this reason it is also unfair to criticize people who listen to and enjoy the music of artists who have committed heinous acts, as that would be asking someone to punish themselves by abstaining from listening to the music that they enjoy. Consumers should speak out, boycott concerts and expose artists who have committed crimes, but at the end of the day, as a consumer who did not partake in any of the artist’s acts, enjoying someone’s art doesn’t make you “just as bad” or “part of the problem.” Alternatively, these phrases help the artist by minimizing the gravity

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of the acts and grouping listeners in with criminals and wrongdoers. In the music industry especially, many cite the financial support listeners provide to artists when they listen. While buying merchandise and tickets are clearly ways in which a fan can go above and beyond to support an artist, it is unfair to compare that kind of financial support to the seven hundredths of a cent you contribute to an artist per stream on platforms like Youtube — to put that in perspective, you would need to listen to a song 1,400 times to contribute one dollar to an already multi-millionaire. This microscopic and ultimately inconsequential revenue source should not create a social expectation that people must stop listening to their favorite artist. The claim that listeners who enjoy good music from bad people are somehow supporting the artists actions is an oversimplified and unfair statement. However, there is one exception to this argument: Certain music or art can objectively and clearly be connected to the malicious acts of the creator. For this reason it is understandable that many are choosing to boycott the music of R. Kelly, who is facing 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse. The music itself reflects the actions for which he is being arrested and perhaps convicted. Ultimately, however, I believe as a consumer you should do everything you can to expose and punish an artist, everything short of encroaching on your own rights or punishing yourself. Listeners cannot choose what music they enjoy, and even less do they have control over the actions of their favorite artists. However disgusting an artist’s crime is, there are legal and social ways to punish them, it is not a listener’s responsibility to cease to enjoy their music. If a piece of art speaks to you, you have the right to enjoy it.

disagree YOU CAN’T TAKE THE ART OUT OF THE ARTIST, NOR SHOULD YOU. BY PAIGE DUFF

This idea of separating an artist from their art has gained traction as popular creators — R. Kelly, Iggy Pop and David Bowie being a few examples — have been exposed as abusers and/or predators over time. This is understandable; it’s often difficult to reconcile such widely-beloved and iconic personas with such disgusting action. It also can be hard to give up favorite songs and albums, especially when one considers the attachments we form with our music. This reluctance to do either stems from the concept of personal loss: the idea that one shouldn’t have to sacrifice their own enjoyment because of an artist’s actions. But there is no such thing as “separating” an artist from their art — here’s why. The ugly truth is that with every stream, play or purchase, money goes into the rights holders’ pockets. Now, it might not feel like your one click is paying an abuser’s bills, and alone, it isn’t. But multiply that one click by 22 million (just under the number of Chris Brown’s monthly Spotify listeners) and things start to add up. Whether you like it or not, when you listen to these artists, you play a part — however minuscule it may feel — in supporting them financially. Perhaps even more worrisome are the societal implications of listening. When you make the choice to tune into known domestic abusers’ art, you tune out the stories of those that have survived their abuse. Refusing to treat the abusers’ behavior as a deal-breaker sends a clear message. By “separating” the art from the artist, you treat the artists’ offenses as something that can be set aside. One common counter argument is that songs that specifically reference this kind of behavior are the problem, and others shouldn’t be painted with the same brush. Works like those even being a part of an artists’ discography should be enough to turn listeners off. But many songs that don’t allude to these abuses were still recorded in ca-

reer peaks, often near or at the times of abuse. This is the case with hits of Brown’s like ‘Forever,’ which peaked on the charts in 2008, one year prior to his being charged with assault of then-girlfriend, Rihanna. The same can be said for Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On,’ which peaked a year after lead singer Steven Tyler gained guardianship of and began traveling on tour with 14-year-old Julia Holcomb, whom he would later nauseatingly refer to as “Little Oral Annie.” While these songs may not be directly tied to these horrific acts through their lyrics, there is clearly no way to separate them from the events that surrounded their creation and respective climbs to the top. An argument can also be made that an artist’s experiences shape their work, and that artists exhibiting behavior like the instances mentioned above are simply the price we pay for genuine art. Indeed, it’s unacceptable to expect perfection from those in the public eye. But if we believe our artists should be allowed to grow from mistakes, and we don’t hold these figures accountable, how can we expect them to grow or change whatsoever? If we don’t force this growth, who or what will? It’s natural to seek separation; it’s almost inarguably the easier thing to do. And what one does or doesn’t listen to is certainly the consumer’s choice. But we must treat obeying that instinct for separation as a choice as well. When you give an abuser your listening ear, you choose to tell the world that abuse and predation don’t give you enough cause for pause. Is that what you want to say?

March 2019

crave

Crazy For Cookies

BY MAZEY PERRY

Thumbprint Cookies 25 min prep 13 min bake 18 cookies

BY LOEY JONES-PERPICH

ingredients ½ cup softened butter ¼ cup brown sugar 1 egg yolk ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup sifted flour ¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup crushed pecans

instructions Set oven to 375°

Mix together butter, brown sugar, egg yolk and vanilla until combined completely. Then mix in the flour and salt. Set aside the egg whites. Once the dough is mixed completely, roll the dough into 1 inch balls, and dip into slightly beaten egg whites. Then roll balls in crushed pecans until completely covered. Place the balls about 1 inch apart on a non-stick baking pan. Bake for five minutes. Remove from oven and quickly press thumb into the top of each cookie. Return to oven and bake for another eight minutes. Remove from over and let cool. Scoop fresh preserves into the thumb prints.

The Story of the Sweet The Thumbprint cookie recipe from the Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book was given to my mom from her mom who got it from her mom. My great grandma, Gertrude McGovern was a master baker, and baked almost every day of her life. Raising her family in Lebanon, Penn., McGovern baked for everyone in her life. My mom baked with her grandma and her mom from this cookbook, and now I get to bake with my mom from the same cookbook. I intend to pass this book and this recipe down to my children and keep the book in my family for as long as it lasts.

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Feature

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NINA VAN DER VELDE GRAPHIC BY MORI ONO

On The Go! BY SOPHIA BERRY

Greek Yogurt Add-ons: granola, fruit (dried or fresh), honey Greek yogurt is full of protein, calcium and potassium, all essential nutrients. The average price per cup is $1.34. Greek yogurt comes in many flavors, ranging from fruity to sweet (the original flavor is a bit sour).

Dried Fruit and Nuts While dried fruit isn’t as nutritious as its fresh counterpart, it can be stored for long periods of time and it’s easy to buy in bulk. It also offers lots of fiber and antioxidants. With the ability to dry whatever fruit you want, the options are endless. Pick your favorite fruits and nuts, mix them in a bag and you’re ready to go.

Rice Cakes Add-ons: peanut butter, almond butter, preserves (jams and jellies), fresh fruit Rice cakes are a light alternative as they have about half the calories of whole wheat bread. A serving contains no saturated or trans fats, which can be very harmful to the body even while consuming seemingly low quantities. Rice cakes can be bought in many different flavors, but the price remains low at an average of $2.24 per bag (about 14 cakes).

QUICK, EASY & HEALTHY For the average teenager, breakfast is often not a priority. A study from Kellogg found that only 36 percent of high school students eat breakfast every day. Without food in the morning, the brain and body don’t have fuel to make it through the rest of the day. Here are some options for the on-the-go high schooler that save time without sacrificing nutrition or a yummy breakfast.

Nutrition Bars There are many types of nutrition bars to fit your dietary needs. There are protein bars, which help you satisfy your appetite longer and gain mass, and organic bars, which provide energy as naturally as possible or activity bars. A popular brand is Clif Bars, which provide prolonged energy. Clif bars cost about $1.89 per bar but can be bought in boxes which gives you more bang for your buck.

March 2019

THE

The Cure

In Between Days BY ISAAC MCKENNA

Corinne Bailey Rae

There’s something about “In Between Days,” a single from The Cure’s 1985 album “The Head on the Door,” that just works. Injected with the perfect amount of poppiness, the song pulls from the often chaotic sounds of the band’s earlier releases to create a swirling soundscape. The melancholy lyrics, performed with Robert Smith’s unmistakable vocal tone, contrast the upbeat nature of the song. This album, with songs like “In Between Days” and “Close to Me,” is The Cure’s beautiful foray into Goth-tinged pop.

Put Your Records On

Catfish and the Bottlemen

Corinne Bailey Rae’s self-titled 2006 debut is dripping with effortless soul. The triple platinum record is worth a full listen, but if you’re short on time, “Put Your Records On” sums up its gentle strength. The anchoring acoustic guitar and the swirling instrumentation make for a song that transcends genre, and with Bailey Rae’s dynamic, piercing vocals never seem to miss a note. There are many special moments in the song that keep it feeling new, with expertly placed vocal harmonies and a perfect bridge, simultaneously a refreshing departure into a moodier vibe and a fitting change. This masterpiece ends with a climaxing dynamic break that leads into a final, cathartic chorus.

Welsh rock band Catfish and the Bottlemen’s crunchy guitar-driven second LP, “The Ride,” is filled with the same youthful energy of their first release. “Twice” is a testament to the songwriting of the band; the thumping bass, intense choruses and raw vocals of frontman Van McCann lead into a ripping guitar solo and satisfyingly sloweddown ending.

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A&E

Twice

Old Sea Brigade Hope

Ben Cramer, who performs as Old Sea Brigade, writes soft alternative folk and performs with a husky voice and an acoustic guitar. “Hope” is a slightly existential song about the importance of the ordinary, fitting with the tenderness of his debut.

For the rest of the playlist, go to: bit.ly/playlistmar2019

in season

You might be surprised by the variety and availability of fresh produce grown in the winter. Once found, here is a way to use them.

Ingredients: ¼ red cabbage 5 small radishes 2 large carrots 1-2 inch of ginger 3 garlic cloves, halved 2 cups white vinegar ⅔ cup water

1. Slice cabbage into strips of about ½ inch, and carrots and radishes into slices of about ¼ inch. 2. In a pot, combine water, vinegar, salt, sugar, ginger and garlic. Bring mixture to a boil then take off heat. 3. Place chopped vegetables into a large mason jar and carefully, pour the contents of the pot into the jar and seal. 4. Let sit in the refrigerator for about 12

1 tablespoon white sugar hours, then eat. Continue to store the jar in the fridge for about two weeks. 2 teaspoons salt 1 anise star, optional

“ the pigment of the cabbage is drawn staining the other vegetables”

BY ELLA EDELSTEIN

In the depths of winter, when the soil is invisible beneath snow cover, it can be hard to imagine that life exists under the frozen ground. But while Michigan winters aren’t conducive to growing much of the produce sold in supermarkets year-round, hoop houses — unheated structures usually made of arched piping and insulated with plastic sheeting — provide a warm, sheltered environment for crops to thrive. It is there where Michigan farmers grow and harvest vegetables during the colder months. Luckily, during these frigid days, inclined to stay inside by the stove, I have plenty of time to experiment with preparing seasonal veggies. Additionally, coming out of my first month of veganism, I’ve found that creativity is essential while cooking with dietary restrictions that can feel dull and limiting. These overnight pickles are anything but; after steeping overnight, the pigment of the cabbage is drawn out by the vinegar, staining the other vegetables magenta, except the carrots, which maintain their vibrant orange. I’ve found that ginger and garlic bring a flavor that is both savory and bright. I recommend eating them with a bowl of rice or just as a snack. I designed this recipe specifically so that all of the ingredients in this recipe can be bought locally. Cabbages, carrots and radishes should be easy to find; even Michigan-grown ginger can be found these months. I recommend storing the pickles in the fridge for no more than two to three weeks. They keep well, but have never lasted that long in my house.

March 2019

Books

Far From the Tree AUTHOR Robin Benway MAIN CHARACTERS Grace, Maya, Joaquin REVIEW BY Charles Solomon

Opening “Far from the Tree” by Robin Benway, I was not exactly sure what to expect. Seeing the story’s summary, I guessed it was some sort of heartwarming story about siblings finding each other. But “Far from the Tree” turned out not to be about a search for family. Instead, it was a story of adapting to changes in your life, and what family means. “Far from the Tree” tells the story of the three siblings: Joaquin, Grace and Maya. They were put up for adoption as babies, with Grace and Maya adopted by families living only miles apart. Joaquin is not adopted, but by the time of the story he is living with foster parents not far from Grace and Maya. The story begins with 16-year-old Grace, as she finally asks the question about her biological mother after Grace puts her own daughter up for adoption. Her parents put her in contact with Maya and Joaquin, and the three finally meet soon after. The siblings connect quickly, and begin meeting regularly to talk. But as they grow closer, 44

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each of them have their own issues they must grapple with. Maya’s family is falling apart: her parents are breaking up, her mother is dealing with alcoholism. Joaquin’s foster parents want to adopt him, but Joaquin refuses, as he tries to move beyond an unhappy past. Grace keeps pushing the idea they should find their birth mother — something the other two refuse to help with — and cannot bring herself to disclose the truth about her pregnancy and child. As the story winds on, things grow more and more tangled: Maya’s family splinters when her mother’s condition is discovered; Joaquin drives away his foster family even as they try and help him; and Grace’s secret becomes more and more difficult to reveal to her siblings. All three of them have to ask questions of themselves: How much do they share with their newfound siblings? How do these people fit in with their original families? And if they do go searching for their birth mother, are they prepared for what they might find? As a general rule, I avoid realistic fiction such as this. But this book in particular was amazing. All three main characters were exquisitely constructed, with very realistic motivations, feelings and conversations. Many of the scenes were beautiful in their detail and content. The story arc also worked well, with definite changes in each character and a well-timed climax. I did have a quibble or two with the novel. The main one was that I was never able to identify the setting in which the story takes place. We can tell from context that it’s somewhere suburban, but we never get an actual name for the location. That may have been intentional, but personally I found the lack of location somewhat distracting as I had to try and puzzle it out. “Far From the Tree” should appeal to a variety of readers. The beautifully paced story and vivid characters should be enjoyed by most people, especially fans of realistic fiction. Anyone who appreciates a good drama should also enjoy the many moments of upheaval and the frequent emotional dilemmas. Even if you don’t think you enjoy those genres, you should try this book. As a National Book Award Winner, “Far From the Tree” is an emotional and lovely read.

WHAT TO READ NEXT For more books featuring similar themes and ideas, look at these titles. If you enjoyed “Far From the Tree,” you might enjoy these books also!

AMERICAN STREET IBI ZOBOI A story about a girl trying to adapt to Detroit and her American cousins.

A THEORY OF RELATIVITY J. MITCHARD Two relatives fight over the custody of an orphaned family member.

SOLO Q. ALEXANDER, M. HESS Teenager Blade tries to escape the shadow of his father’s fame.

GEM & DIXIE SARA ZARR Gem tries to keep her bond with sister Dixie even as their father’s reappearance divides their family.

RUN ANN PATCHETT A single father struggles to hold his family together after an accident breaks the status quo.

A WINTER

From the sneakers on our feet to the necklaces around our necks, our style speaks words â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sometimes without us even knowing it.

MIX UP

BY MIRA SIMONTON-CHAO

March 2019

LEFT: Steiger poses with a classic slice of pepperoni pizza at Ann Arbor’s very own New York Pizza Depot (NYPD). BOTTOM: Steiger sits perched on the edge of an NYPD window showing off his full outfit: purple tee, Levi’s jeans, Reebok sneakers and fiery socks.

MAX STEIGER “I wear clothes that I think look nice. I want to look nice for myself more than [for] other people. I don’t put on clothing to make people look at me and be like, ‘dang, that’s a cool shirt.’ Style doesn’t really mean much to me. I don’t really plan out outfits. Socks are always really important to me. I think that socks are what make an outfit cool, because I think you can be wearing a really bland outfit that’s just dumb and have crazy cool socks. They just stand out. So socks are really important to me. I ideally would like to wear different colored pants than my shirt; I won’t wear a jean jacket with jeans — that kind of thing. I’ve got a lot of really cool socks, but I think my favorites are these blue socks with little orca whales all over them. I really love them. I got them like a year and a half ago. I honestly do most of my shopping online because I hate actually going to a store. It just takes too much time, and I know what size I am so it makes it easy. I feel like I don’t need to try a shirt on to know that it’ll look good on me. But I don’t have any specific brands that I like to wear. I wear a lot of Gap, and I like Gap. I like the brands Levi’s for jeans. Levi’s have the best jeans. They are comfortable, but they also look real nice and give that ‘true blue look’ I’m always looking for. I wear a lot of blue. I feel comfortable in blue. It’s kind of reassuring. I feel like blue goes with a lot of colors. If I slap on a pair of blue jeans, there’s only really one thing I could wear to make it not go together. I feel like it’s an easy color for me to wear. Everybody says that blue is their favorite color, but it’s not. That’s just basic. I like orange, but I would never wear orange because it looks bad on me.”

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A&E

LEFT: Bogun shows off a layered look utilizing a black turtleneck underneath a printed graphic tee. BOTTOM: Bogun leans against a window in the stairwell of the downtown University of Michigan Museum of Art, her wire frames perched on her nose.

LULU BOGUN “I felt like the [clothes I’m wearing today] show what style I would like to wear. They’re kind of expensive clothes, so I don’t wear them that often. I like streetwear but I also like sort of ‘posh’ stuff. The people that I know who wear streetwear just make it look really kind of nice. My brother, [Max], kind of got me into fashion. Anytime I pick out an outfit, I kind of think ‘What would Max wear?’ He has really good fashion, and that’s more of the streetwear side of [my style]. Posh is more [from] my cousin. She is really cool, and I kind of think the same thing of her. I really like my oversized ripped jeans, because I feel like you can dress them up or dress them down, and they really just look good with anything. I also really like my plain black mock-neck, because I can really wear it with anything. I really like versatile clothing.”

“My dad used to have good fashion — [He] doesn’t really anymore. Most of my clothing is thrifted I would say, or [from] one of my favorite stores, Today Clothing, which is downtown. They kind of just have my brother’s style clothes. [My brother and I] weren’t close until the last couple of years. Then he started getting really into fashion, and I realized, ‘Wow, he actually looks good. These are really nice clothes.’ He started making his own clothes, and I taught him how to sew. We would get each other clothes for holidays and stuff like that, and we’ll show each other brands that we find. [Style is] really just a way for someone to express themselves. And I express myself through my clothes, just not always at school. I’m too lazy for that. I used to basically wear just whatever clothes were popular, but I think I’m kind of getting away from that now and being more unique. I think for me, I just like to use style to express myself. But for my brother, he definitely wants to be a designer. So I’ll wear his clothes. I can be his walking advertisement.”

March 2019

Elinor Duck wakes up and searches through her closet contemplating her ouftit for the day, finally settling on a pair of black ripped jeans, black Doc Marten boots, and a Stussy sweatshirt, “It’s designer,” Duck said with a wink.

However, Duck hasn’t always been this fashionable. “Freshman year of high school I came in and I was like ‘Everyone just looks the same, what can I do?’” Duck said. She quickly developed her own style by following international fashion accounts on Instagram and picking up on trends she admired. “Social media has a huge impact, it can be bad, but at the same time I find a ton of outfit ideas. I get a lot of [clothes] by looking at Instagram and then going to their websites,” Duck said.

L R

“I just like to look different, I honestly dress for myself, no one else, and I think at Community I have the opportunity to show who I am,” Duck said. For this outfit she explored Vogue and Prada to pick out her peacoat, purchased from BB Dakota, as well as her white Doc Marten boots and classic jeans from Urban Outfitters.

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March 2019

HUMANS OF BY RUBY TAYLOR AND CAMMI TIRICO

SCHWARZ

‘22

TUMMALA

‘20

“I have been having more trouble with math this year than I ever have before, and I think it’s due to a lack of effort. I’m stressed about other things in my life like the SAT, keeping my GPA up — just usual junior year things. But I try to sort of keep my mind off of that kind of thing. I do so by playing video games and watching movies. A lot of people think video games are bad for you, but to me it’s just entertainment that gives you license to be creative and interactive. I also spend a lot of time playing basketball. I don’t play on a team or anything, but it’s nice to have a community of people who play together at the Rec Center. The lively atmosphere is super exciting, and it feels homely. Everyone is kind of like you in a way, although we’re all different. None of my close friends play basketball with me, so it’s good to balance that and my usual life and school.”

The Communicator Magazine

Constant

“I’ve always been passionate about volunteering, and I’ve done a lot of work with the ChadTough Foundation. I didn’t know who he was when he died, but I did my own little project at my school to raise money for the cause. I only raised $60, but it felt like a lot at the time. I wanted to do more, so I contacted the Michigan Storm Trooper and went around on football game days with him collecting money. Seeing how many kids were affected by cancer inspired me to do this, but sometimes it can be really sad. They have a run every year, and there was a girl who had cancer and rang the horn that Chad used to ring, and I found out that she passed away a few months later. You see her there ringing the horn, and it’s really sweet and then there’s the heartbreak of knowing that she had passed. This work makes me feel like I am having an impact; it makes me feel like I am putting myself out there and making a difference in the world.”

‘20

“I am a competitive fencer and have been for the past five years. It can be difficult sometimes. I have moved a few times and it is difficult to find new fencing clubs. Fencing is not the most popular sport, so it’s hard to find places that do it right. I got into fencing after I watched Star Wars. It is actually super common for people to try fencing after watching the movies. The fencing community is overall really small. It is rare that you meet other fencers outside of competitions, but there is another fencer here at Community, which is really cool. At fencing competitions, nobody discriminated against me [for being a women of color]. At times it can be disorienting being the only person of color. It seems that everyone else that fences is white and from a wealthy background and has been fencing forever. I find that at a lot of tournaments I am the only non-white person there. It is motivating. Being the only person of color at competitions makes me want to do better to prove that anyone can be good at it.”

MILLER

CLEMETSON

‘22

“I just applied to a business institute that I really want to get into, and I’ve been struggling to come to terms with the fact that they might not accept me. It’s kind of like a precursor for applying to college next year. I worked hard on my application for this program, but I’ll have to work so much harder applying to colleges. And it’s hard to think about how I’ll feel if I don’t get into the program, even though that won’t affect me too much in the long run, and then thinking about applying to college, that matters so much more. [Not getting in] would be a lost opportunity, but almost more importantly it would make me feel like I’m not good enough. I’m nervous about the whole college process, and this feels like a watered-down version of what’s to come, so whether I get in or I don’t, I’m going to try hard to have a good attitude and make the best of the situation.”

March 2019

MOST FINANCIAL COMPANIES FOCUS ON YOUR INCOME. WE FOCUS ON YOUR OUTCOME. Jeffrey Cohen, MBA, CLU®, CFP® Wealth Management Advisor (734) 323-7421 jeffrey-cohen.com

is proud to support

community high and all

RAINBOW ZEBRAS! New location at

221 W. Liberty St., Downtown Ann Arbor

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05-4012-1 © 2018 Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), a subsidiary of NM, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser and member FINRA (www.finra.org) and SIPC (www.sipc.org). Jeffrey Charles Cohen is an Insurance Agent(s) of NM. Jeffrey Charles Cohen is a Representative of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company®, (NMWMC) Milwaukee, WI (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), a subsidiary of NM and federal savings bank. All NMWMC products and services are offered only by properly credentialed Representatives who operate from agency offices of NMWMC. Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and CFP® (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.

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March 2019

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Thank you for making our magazine and website possible. STUDENT SPONSORS Ariella and Sergey Shikanov Judi Hoffman Henry Holcomb Gene Senn Corry Berkooz Miguel Clement Anne Heise Zack Schueler Kathy Scarnecchia Matthew Toschley Kelly Stupple Christine Kelley Leo Kupperman James Eddy Carlos Fiori Calvin Shaw Arlo Durgy Wolf Family FRIEND SPONSORS Ken Hornack Carolyn Herrmann Izzie Lenhardt Steve and Jennifer Bentley Troy and Stephanie Ramser Laura Fader Melissa Blair Alison Miller Rachel Kuiper Bethany Veilleux Linda Stingl Debbie Whelan Jennifer and Hershel Moss Danielle Mihalko Lisa Markman Nathan Morris Laurence Margolis Cynthia Gabriel Sue Ann Savas Christina DeGeorge and Cassandra Zrull Robert and Nancy Vrooman

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CHICAGO, IL — The Communicator meets at the Hyatt lobby in Chicago at the National High School Journalist Conference on Oct. 31–Nov. 3, hosted by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and the Journalism Education Association (JEA). They attended several breakout sessions to grow as journalists and photographers. The Communicator left Chicago with two awards: First Place Best in Show for both our magazine and our website.

March 2019

GETAWAY J A M A I C A 4 56

3 The Communicator Magazine

Constant

BY MEGHANA TUMMALA

1. DUNNS RIVER FALLS

3. KAYAKING

Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios is a popular waterfall meant to be climbed. Although at first it can look intimidating, the climb is actually fun and rewarding. It’s often called a natural phenomenon because of its ability to regenerate itself by the sediments flowing down the falls. In addition to that, Dunns River Falls contains a travertine — a type of limestone formed by mineral or hot springs — waterfall that empties into the sea, making it extremely unique.

The waters are so clear and beautiful that you cannot leave Jamaica without having experienced them. I personally really enjoyed kayaking and paddle boarding. I was close to the water and did something I was familiar with, having kayaked at Gallop and Argo. If you’re lucky you might be able to see some sea life: tropical fish, coral, or even sea turtles.

2. BLUE MOUNTAIN HIKE

At nearly 7,402 feet above sea level, Blue Mountain Peak is the tallest peak in Jamaica. The hike itself is around 3,287 feet and it’s not easy. In fact, the very beginning of the hike is called ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ or ‘Hell’s Ladder’ because of the steep and narrow climb. About a third up the mountain, there is a resting area called Portland Gap. Some continue to climb to the top while others go back down. Once you reach the top, the temperature drops and the clouds make it impossible to see past the edge of the mountain. However, on the way down, the view gets progressively better.

4. RICK’S CAFE

Probably one the most popular tourist destinations on the west coast near Negril, Jamaica, Rick’s Cafe is known for the amazing sunset views. The Cafe provides an opportunity to jump off a cliff into the sea. The jump is around 35 feet high and not as easy as you might think. 5. SEVEN MILE BEACH

This is a seven mile beach in Negril. It’s a relaxing walk with soft white sand and clear blue waters. The activities are endless: snorkeling, kayaking, boat rides, horseback rides and more, with refreshing drink and food stops along the way.

1 March 2019

1000 Words BY iO SOUCY

Community High senior Logan Gorman walks by the intersection of Catherine and Detroit street in search of a photography opportunity. He has an eye for minimalist settings, and he spots a metal garage door with a light centered above. Traveling with Aris Chalin, Gorman directs his friend to stand in front of the grey background, contrasting with his bright orange jacket. “Afterwards, in editing I boosted the orange a little bit more so it was more prominent,” Gorman said. “It had more of an accent to it and [it] was sort of a perfect opportune kind of moment.” As a self-proclaimed artist, Gorman has specific interests in music and music production and photography. Recently, he’s had more interest in playing his guitar opposed to shooting from his camera. Even so, Gorman has a passion for photography that he doesn’t want to forget. To continue his skills in photography, he is taking Steve Coron’s Advanced Photography class. When finding prompts to photograph, landscapes have never interested him as much as humans. Gorman has consistently preferred to take candid photos of people. When going out to capture, he usually brings someone along to be his subject. “I’m less into portraits than candid pictures of people living in a really genuine way,” Gorman said. “There is more of a connection to the subject if you see people just being themselves.” Community High Senior Logan Gorman walks by the intersection of Catherine and Detroit street in search of a photography opportunity. He has an eye for minimalist settings and spots a metal garage door with a light centered above. Traveling with Aris Chalin, Gorman directs his friend to stand in front of the grey background, contrasting with his bright orange jacket. “Afterwards in editing, I boosted the orange a little bit more and so it was more prominent,” Gorman said. “It had more of an accent to it and [it] was sort of a perfect opportune kind of moment.” As a self-proclaimed artist, Gorman has specific interests in music and music production and photography. Recently, he’s had more interest in playing his guitar opposed to shooting from his camera. Even so, Gorman has a passion for photography that he doesn’t want to forget. To continue his skills in photography, he is taking Steve Coron’s Advanced Photography class. When finding prompts to photograph, landscapes have never interested him as much as humans. Gorman has consistently preferred to take candid photos of people. When going out to capture, he usually brings someone along to be his subject. “I’m less into portraits than candid pictures of people living in a really genuine way,” Gorman said. “There is more of a connection to the subject if you see people just being themselves.”

The Communicator Magazine

Opinion

March 2019

Our Turn: On Love BY MAZEY PERRY

iO SOUCY

I am dating Yoshi Frometas-Canales. We have been dating since March 10, 2017. It has been kind of rocky, but right now it’s really good. He’s in California right now and will be until 2021, so we are working through that. We try to call everyday. There’s always a good morning and goodnight text, at least. We text each other whenever we see a dog and just to check in on each other. To me, love feels condescending. On one hand it’s amazing, it’s the best feeling I have ever felt, because I know that I have someone I can talk to and go to and kind of appreciate 24 hours a day. On the other hand, though, it’s hard I never know if I’m doing it right. Overall, I think it’s scary. You never know where it’s going to take you, but I’d like to think I’m doing it semi-okay.

For me I think of love as a process. I don’t believe in love at first sight. I think I fell in love very slowly; I was resistant because I never knew what to expect in a high school relationship, like is it going to last? Is it going to be a fling? But I think if you spend enough time with a person, there’s a moment where it just clicks and you realize that you really care and that caring just turns into love. It feels like comfort and safety, like you will always have someone to talk to and someone who’s there to love you. It’s this feeling in your chest, it gets warm when I see the person that I love.

EMMA WINEGARDEN

NANO PEROFF I wouldn’t say I have been in love but definitely strong feelings. My whole life, I’ve never been attached to a lot because I’ve moved a lot and my family has had some issues. I was always making new friends and having to forget old ones, so it’s hard for me to catch feelings for a person. It happens sometimes though, sometimes it’s unfortunate but sometimes it’s the best. That’s just how I feel about people though. Let’s talk about my dogs. I love my dogs so much. They’re always there for me. They might support me, they might not, I can’t tell. But let’s hope they do. They cuddle with me and keep me warm. I can’t imagine life without them, it just wouldn’t be the same. 60

The Communicator Magazine

Constant

ONETHING LAST Lydia Stevens

CHS SENIOR REFLECTS ON THE LAST THINGS SHE EXPERIENCED. What was the last movie that you watched? I don’t watch a lot of movies. It was probably “Black Panther” because we watched it as a school last week. It was good — I liked it a lot. What was the last book you read? The last book I read for fun was “Kafka On the Shore” by Haruki Murakami. The last book I read for school was either “The Great Gatsby” or “Fences.” When was the last time you were overwhelmed? Probably when I was trying to study for my calculus test while getting the rest of my homework done and also working all weekend. The other day at work, we got a rush of about 30 people and the kitchen was understaffed so it was really stressful. We handled it pretty well, but it made closing last a lot longer than it needed to. What was the last thing you did to help you de-stress? Usually reading will help me to de-stress, so whenever I’m stressed I read. I think it’s a pretty good habit to have. What was the last thing you did that scared you? My forum had to perform this weird rap for all of the incoming freshmen last week and I wasn’t really comfortable dancing on stage, especially in front of people I didn’t know. But it didn’t scare me as much as make me uncomfortable. What was the last thing you drew? I drew a bunch of different kinds of fish for a food web project in Ecology. I probably didn’t need to draw them all because I could’ve just printed out pictures, but I had already started so I needed to finish. It was kind of fun though.

ART BY MARCUX BROWN