Globe Newsmagazine, November 2020, Issue 3, Vol. 92

GL BE

the state of politics . VOLUME 92 . ISSUE 3 .

CLAYTON HIGH SCHOOL. CLAYTON, MO. NOVEMBER 2020.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! The Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. We receive no funding from the school district for printing. Each issue of the Globe costs approximately $2000 to print.

We are deeply grateful to our sponsors for their support of our publication. They make our work possible. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please email us at globe@claytonschools.net.

PANDEMIC PATRONS Mark and Krista Sucher Sultan Meghji Qinghong Wang Julie Taylor Matthew Bower Olivia Marcucci Anneliese Schaefer

Layla Guillen Tim Erlin Michael Reed

Erin Sucher-O-Grady James Zahniser Kimberly Carroll Peggy Guest

Laura Pierson David Lotsoff Jessica Millner

Siram Venugopalan Jannette Rusch Patrick and Chris Win

Ann Zahniser Katie and Mark Sandquist

Raihana Omri

Elizabeth Cuneo Eudora Olsen Dave Zahniser Chris Meisl Ying Ma

Mary Modzelewski

Matt Erlin Kathy and Jeff Wilkerson Radha Krishnaswamy Susana Erlin The Bruegenhemkes

Will Murphy Izzy Greenblatt Kelly Weygandt Marisa Johnson Rachel Zahniser Aimee and Matt Snelling Linda Piecynski

ISSUE SPONSORS ($2000 Level) Gail Workman

GOLDEN GREYHOUND SPONSORS ($200+ Level) DTLS Landscape Architecture Dale Avenue Pediatrics Windsor Madonna O Cotlar Dave Sine Woodworking

Melissa Clark Clayton Pilates Studio The Thompson Richardson Team St. Louis Suit Company Clayton All in Coalition

Van’t Hof Family Cobblestone Quality Shoe Repair The Retina Institute Yeung Realtors

WORLD TRAVELER SPONSORS ($100+ Level) The LaGesse Stanton Family The Sturmoski Family The Abburi Family Jane Cross Eugene Cross Bob and Betsy Cuneo The Stemmler Family Charlotte de Sauvage Nolting Sangeeta Khanna and Aseem Sharma Ann Sachar

The Chung Family Washington University Physicians Allergy & Immunology Clinics Mary and Dick Anthony Robin and Neil Snelling Maya Jerath and Sanjoy Baruah Venkatesh Narayan Gita Krishnaswamy Christy Hager DDS Angela and Troy Quinn

Chandrakant and Aruna Tailor Protzel’s Delicatessen Celsius Cyro-Therapy The Erlin Family Debbie and Andy Schwartz The Choo-Kang Family The Family of Lary Baker Go Inc. Kay Quinn Malone Geoffrey Espe

8 How Close Are We? Shane LaGesse investigates a possible timeline for arrival of a COVID vaccine

33 Politicization of Science

Disha Chatterjee examines the harmful implications of viewing evidence-based research through a partisan lens

44 In-Person Learning Charlie Miller and Max Keller explore the pros and cons of returning to in-person school

U.S. Presidential candidate supporters for Biden and Trump outside the Coral Ridge Mall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tuesday, November 3, 2020. (Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/TNS)

CONTENTS 3

GL BE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

STAFF

REPORTERS

Sofia Erlin and Shane LaGesse

Owen Austin-Babcock

Charlie Miller

CHIEF DIGITAL EDITOR

Graysha Benjamin

Kirby Miller

Stella Bishop

Isaac Millians

Jenna Bush

Ruby Nadin

Rachel Chung

Medha Narayan

Alexandra Cohen

Katherine Perrin

Cecilia Dupor

Abby Rosenfeld

Isabel Erdmann

Alex Slen

Maya Goldwasser

Samuel Smith

Isra Kayani

Leo Taghert

Tatum Ladner

Andrew Thompson

Enoch Lai

Sophia Thompson

SECTION EDITORS

Chloe Lin

Carola Vaqueiro Espinosa

Alex Hagemeister and Ruthie Pierson, NEWS

Sophia Lu

Estella Windsor

Emma Baum and Seraphina Corbo, FEATURE

Ella McAuley

Chloe Wolfe

Ivy Reed and Disha Chatterjee, OPINION

Samantha McDonough

Annie Xiao

Siddhi Narayan

CHIEF MANAGING EDITOR Angela Xiao

SENIOR MANAGING EDITORS Ella Cuneo Lulu Hawley Noor Jerath Kaitlyn Tran Yiyun Xu

Kaia MIlls-Lee and Cece Cohen, SPORTS Kate Freedman and Moriah Lotsoff, REVIEW Max Keller, PRO/CON

COPY EDITORS

PHOTO EDITOR Eli Millner

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Vivian Chen and Margy Mooney

Natalie Ashrafzadeh

Haley Lewis

PAGE EDITORS

Cecilia Baer

Amy Ma

Audrey Deutsch

Sophie Matiszik

Davia Goette

Deborah Park

Maci Klaus

Maya Richter

Monica Klein

Emma Stipanovich

Avery Kleinhenz

Kendall Turner

Lily Kleinhenz

Anna Walsh

Whitney Le

Esther Wang

Luka Bassnett

Ana Mitreva

Isabella Bamnolker

Sofia Mutis

Chloe Creighton

Rachel Liang

Sahi Gokaraju

Naveed Naemi

Max Hagemeister

Emma Raine

Sasha Keller

Sophie Srenco

Daphne Kraushaar

Sophie Yoshino

Angela Wirthlin

Professional Affiliations: Journalism STL, Missouri Interscholastic, Press Association, Missouri Journalism Education Association, Journalism Education Association, National Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association Please visit chsglobe.com for our editorial policy, mission statement, and ethics code. You can contact us at chsglobe@claytonschools.net with comments, story ideas or letters to the editor.

from the editor

Dear Clayton Board of Education, there is still time to make the right decision.

There are so many unanswered questions.

Some the school district cannot answer, but many we can answer. We have until Nov. 2nd to make the right choice. We, the Globe editorial leadership team, ask the administration this: is it truly in our community’s best interest to return to school, or is it just to please some people?

Some of the main symptoms of COVID-19 - cough, fatigue, headaches and sore throats can be easily mistaken for allergies or a cold, making it difficult for someone to tell whether or not they are experiencing symptoms… especially high school students who are consumed with stress and busy lives. While there may be a symptom check to fill out before our classes, students may be tempted to ignore their sore throat or their headache in order to attend their important quiz.

“I know corona is a much bigger deal, but I remember my freshman year I got super sick and my parents still wanted me to go to school for three days in order to avoid getting behind,” said junior Willa Melander, “Later, I found out I had the flu. It’s not just our consciousness of symptoms, but some parents might not even let the kids stay home if they are behind… or we may not let ourselves.”

In addition to overlooking symptoms, it is important to recognize just how many people we will be coming in contact with when we return to school.

“You can not have human beings crisscrossing the school, criss-crossing the community, criss-crossing the campus, interacting with each other in ways that are not predictable, or measurable, and contact trace at the same time,” said one Clayton High School

teacher. For our article, we interviewed multiple teachers who agreed to speak to us on the condition of anonymity.

Students may also not be aware of the requirements for safety coming back to school.

We have not received any information about how we will safely travel through the halls or use the restroom throughout the day. What are the guidelines for students? What are the consequences for not following the guidelines?

Our inboxes are constantly flooded with emails regarding school, and it is very likely that students are missing important information.

If we, the students, do not pay close attention to guidelines set by the district, the cases will continue to spread.

We have also just established our online school routines. We have completed virtual learning for the first quarter, and we will continue for part of the second quarter.

Interrupting the rhythm we’ve only just settled into may cause even more stress and confusion for the CHS community.

“I think you’ll have some students who are benefited by returning to school. At the same time, I think you’ll have other students that the additional disruption will be a detriment to them,” said another CHS teacher. “I think at this point we have gotten into a little bit of a routine with learning online. You know, in the middle of a semester, of a quarter, it is a little disruptive for the students and for the staff.”

A significant reason for the push for inperson learning is the idea that students will have higher quality and more instructional time. But there is no guarantee that that will be the case. Teachers would need to be teaching students in the classroom and through Zoom, meaning they would need to be attentive to two different groups of people. High quality

learning can only be considered high quality if that quality is maintained for every student.

“I can tell you that ten days ago when this plan was presented to us as teachers, albeit across Zoom, the level of anxiety and fear and anger was palpable,” said a CHS teacher. “I would imagine that if adults come back into a classroom space with the students, a lot of that anxiety is going to follow into the room with them. Then to ask them to do their job at a very high level given that emotional state [is] certainly not fair.”

Clayton administrators have been known to treat teachers well and be there to support them throughout their careers. But, many CHS teachers have lost family members and loved ones during the course of the pandemic -- the level of anxiety is high.

“Why as a teacher am I expected to make, really, a sacrifice in respect to interacting with my family, for higher quality instructional minutes that you cannot empirically demonstrate that actually exist in the first place?” said a CHS teacher.

Another point to consider is that we are heading back to school on Nov. 9, only about two weeks before Thanksgiving break. How many people are going to be visiting extended family members during this time? How many people will be traveling? How many people will be exposing themselves without even knowing it? Colleges all across the United States have decided to end their semester before Thanksgiving, sending students home right before Thanksgiving and not bringing them back until after the holidays. Why are we doing the opposite?

The facts must be taken into account.

Missouri is experiencing high positivity rates, meaning more and more people are testing positive everyday. As of Oct. 26, Missouri has averaged 1,869 new confirmed cases a day over the last week. We just had our 7-day positivity rate spike at 21.1% on Oct. 20. Of everyone tested in Missouri, 21.1% were COVID-19 positive, the highest rate so far in Missouri. At what point are the number of cases too high for us to return? We have more cases now than we did when we started in remote learning at the beginning of the school year.

Currently, students and teachers are struggling with a lack of information. How will the district ensure we stay safe? How will teachers continue to provide the best education possible if we have less instructional minutes?

“What is guiding the decision making process at this point? Is it data? Because if it’s data, why has MRH, Maplewood Richmond Heights called it for the year? Why has the Hazelwood District called it for the year? What other districts have called it for the year? Are we all looking at different data sets? Hard to believe,” said a CHS teacher.

Again, we have time to make the right choice.

We, the Globe editorial leadership team, ask the administration to please do so.

ella cuneo

SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR EDITOR’S LETTER 5

distanced high-fives The tennis players finished out their season despite the pandemic.

Senior Belle Gage (right) extends her racket to give a safe high-five to her teammate, Senior Anna Walsh.

Photo by Lucia Johnson

NEWS AND NOTES

RETURN TO LEARN It was announced that Clayton High School plans on returning to in person learning on Nov. 9. As this takes place, people are concerned that CHS is even thinking about returning to school. With cases on the rise, COVID-19 still rages across the country.

In the most recent update, it was announced that Clayton High School’s plan for return to learning split up the students through their last names.

Students with the first initial of their last name ranging from A-L, are scheduled to attend school from 8:10 in the morning to 11:25, and the students with last names M-Z, are supposed to attend school from 12:05 to 3:20 in the afternoon.

COVID CASES STILL ON THE RISE

PROTESTS IN THAILAND For the past few weeks, student protestors have been marching through the streets demanding a new constitution and an end to the authoritarian rule of the current monarchy, along with the resignation of the current Prime Minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha. Chanocha gained power in 2014 in a military coup. Bangkok continues to be flooded with protestors as unrest moves throughout the country despite the coronavirus pandemic.

On Oct. 27, the total number of cases of COVID-19 in Missouri passed 172,000 cases, and the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 passed 2,800; giving Missouri the case-fatality rate of 1.64%, which is a 0.95% decrease from the national average case-fatality rate of 2.59%. Although this rate has declined by 3.07% since the end of June, Missouri is still a long way away from being coronavirus free and is ranked 10th in the country for the highest rate of transmissions. Graph of daily new cases.

Data from NYT 10/1-11/2

WINTER AND COVID As winter approaches, many fear that the second wave of coronavirus is about to hit hard. Especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching, doctors fear that large gatherings and herds of people flocking to airports, bus stations, and other forms of public transportation will lead to massive surges of the virus all around the country. Doctors and scientists plan on seeing the country shutting down once again during the holiday season to try to combat the rapid spreading of COVID-19.

AMY CONEY BARRETT

ruthie pierson & alexandra hagemeister NEWS SECTION EDITORS NEWS 8

On Oct. 26, Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in to be the newest Supreme Court Justice. With her being sworn in a little over a month after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, controversy has surrounded President Trump’s lightning fast decision to place his own candidate in the Supreme Court. Through this action, the Supreme Court has shifted from a 5:4 Republican majority to a 6:3 Republican majority.

HOW CLOSE ARE WE?

Many Americans are hoping for a vaccine by 2021-- is that possible?

Audrey Kuehl, a study coordinator at the Clinical Research Institute of Southern Oregon, holds a dosage of the vaccine used for the trial. (Jim Craven/KHN/TNS)

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asks, herd immunity, social distancing. None of these potential virus killers or preventers are as popular in the eyes of the American people and political leaders as an end-all be-all COVID-19 vaccine.

Since the threat of the virus became evident and its effect on the globe began to take hold, a distributable and effective vaccine has become of utmost importance for the American government. The current White House administration initiated Operation Warp Speed on May 15 of 2020 in an effort to “produce and deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines� with initial doses by January of 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ website.

Despite being a bipartisan issue, the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the creation of a potential vaccine was greatly influenced by the political climate, particularly the 2020 election. Rather than suggest and enforce the utilization of masks and social distancing, President Trump opted to rush forward with the production of a vaccine in time for November 3.

Now, with over 7.7 million COVID cases in the U.S. and over 210 thousands deaths, the Trump administration is in dire need of a working vaccine to help bolster re-election chances.

Currently, there are 44 individual vaccines

in clinical trials being conducted on humans.

92 more are under active investigation in preclinical testing. Of the 44 undergoing clinical trials, 5 are approved for early or limited use.

The vaccine trials are divided into three developmental stages, or phases as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

First, the potential vaccine is exposed to very small groups of people to produce results from a human trial. If it succeeds and is found to be safe, it enters phase two, where it is given to a larger group of people of varying age and physical health similar to those for whom the vaccine is intended. Finally, it enters phase three: a widespread clinical trial consisting of thousands of participants and is tested for efficacy and safety. Should a vaccine pass phase three of clinical trials, it must then be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before it can enter the market.

The two companies furthest along, Pfizer and Moderna, are hoping to gain approval from the FDA sometime in November of 2020.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both use mRNA technology. This type of vaccine uses a strand of messenger RNA (mRNA) which, when entered into the body, will cause your cells to begin producing certain proteins to be recognized as antigens produced by a COVID infection by your immune system.

This will cause your immune system to engage

a response similar to if you were infected by COVID, producing antibodies without the risk of spreading the actual virus.

This type of mRNA vaccine is also much faster to produce and test than other traditional vaccines, making it the optimal choice for a solution in such pressing conditions.

Both of the leading companies are conducting double-blind studies in an attempt to gather the most accurate data. In a double blind study, neither the researcher nor the participant is aware of whether they received the actual vaccine or a placebo (given at a 1:1 rate to participants) as to reduce bias on either side of the study.

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer is confident, given the data from the previous testing phase and the data being gathered from the current study that a vaccine could be ready for emergency distribution prior to election day, though this has been speculated to be very unlikely.

Moderna recently released a statement that it would not be until late November that they applied for approval from the FDA, the earliest being November 25.

However, the FDA recently released new guidance articulating how it will permit for COVID-19 vaccines to enter the market. These new, revised guidelines most notably add a 2-month followup duration to all phase 3 studies, which would effectively prevent a preelection vaccine approval. These new guidelines are intended not only to ensure the safety and effectiveness of any approved vaccine, but also to deter political influence from interfering with the testing process.

While many speculate a potential vaccine could be available to the general public by as early as late October 2020, others believe in a more conservative estimate of late January or February, if not later.

While a vaccine may seem like the final blow to end the Coronavirus pandemic, this may not be the case. The vaccines under development from Pfizer and Moderna are not guaranteed to prevent transmission of the virus 100% of the time. Rather, their purposes are to potentially prevent transmission and reduce the severity should someone contract it.

The distribution of a vaccine will likely not come as rapidly as many hope, and it may not remove the dangers of the virus completely.

Many scientists agree that the widespread use of masks and social distancing could be more effective than any potential vaccine. As we continue to live our lives in a COVID-present world, it is important to continue to wear masks in public settings and follow social distancing procedures.

shane lagesse

EDITOR IN CHIEF NEWS 9

MISSOURI COVID CASES With rising COVID case numbers in the nation and in Missouri the Clayton School District Returns to Learn.

Kristine Smoley, the wife of patient one, Bob Schlicht, tears up as she speaks about watching her husband battle COVID-19 and ARDS, at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota on Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. Smoley was the first caretaker to give consent for the experimental treatment that saved Schlicht’s life.

Alex Kormann/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

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s time has passed, schools and businesses are beginning to open up across the country, including in Missouri. However, with Missouri covid-19 cases continuing to be on the rise, the question of whether opening back up so quickly is safe remains.

In Missouri, many businesses are open again and an increasing number of people are going out. However, the numbers do not look so good. According to the New York Times, “At least 95 new coronavirus deaths and 1,890 new cases were reported in Missouri on October 17.

Over the past week, there have been an average of 1,779 cases per day, an increase of 24 percent from the average two weeks earlier.”

As shown by this data, the new cases in Missouri are continuing to rise, which means safety precautions must still be taken. In St. Louis County, the numbers are not exactly amazing either. Also according to the New

NEWS 10

York Times, there have been 1,469 new cases in the past 7 days in St. Louis County.

Despite these numbers, many schools within St. Louis County, especially private schools, returned to in-person learning at the beginning of the school year, while other districts, Clayton included, began the school year in a fully virtual option, with a tentative plan to return to in-person learning as the school year progressed.

The Clayton School District has been making careful decisions based on guidance from the health department. The elementary schools in the Clayton School District have already transitioned back to in-person learning, and the district announced this weekend that middle and high school students will return to school on November 9.

Clayton Superintendent Dr. Sean Doherty sent an email to Clayton parents October 16, detailing the new plan. “Our current plan for

middle and high school brings students back November 9 in a blended learning model, with half of the students attending school in the morning and the other half attending school in the afternoon each day with a break in between sessions.

We will also maintain our Learning@Home option for students for the remainder of the semester,” Dohery wrote. However, this newest plan may not be the safest for Clayton at this time. This plan has raised concern among both students and teachers.

The new Return to Learn plan has put many students in a difficult position, especially seniors. “Although I’ve been missing school and the social interaction that comes with it, I am extremely concerned about going back to school right now,” said CHS senior Rosie Gaugush.

Students are forced to choose between ensuring the safety of themselves and their

families and having an enjoyable school year.

Some students have already chosen to continue learning at home even when the district returns in person.

“Since my grandmother and mom are immunocompromised, I have decided not to come back to school on November 9th. With the number of cases only increasing in St. Louis, going back to school would not be safe in my opinion,” senior Rucha Kelkar said.

Though this is a difficult decision, students like Kelkar are choosing to ensure the safety of their families during this time. “For the past seven months I have take social distancing, wearing masks, and quarantining very seriously. Going back to school will disrupt all the effort I have put in protecting my family’s health. For this reason, I am choosing to continue with online school. When a vaccine is created, I look forward to coming back to school,” said Kelkar.

The timeline for a vaccine is still quite unknown, however many families are waiting for a vaccine before they return their children to school. Safety must be of the utmost importance, however the impact online school has had on students is definitely present.

Not being able to interact with classmates

or teachers face to face has serious challenges, and ensuring the school year is both safe and enjoyable will be a struggle for the entire district.

“I’m excited to see everyone but I’m also just extremely curious about the safety measures and hoping we’re able to have a semi-enjoyable senior year,” said senior Madalyn Schroeder.

This school year has also presented an extremely difficult challenge for teachers.

With online school, they have had to adapt their teaching to fit the virtual plan, and now have to be prepared to change at the drop of a hat depending on what the district decides.

Teachers have had the nearly impossible job of attempting to teach in a semi-normal manner while talking to a computer that mostly shows black boxes with the names of students.

Despite these challenges, returning to in-person learning at this time raises concerns for many teachers.

“While I desperately look forward to the time when we can be back to in-person schooling, it just seems like the number of new cases of COVID-19 are currently heading in the wrong direction to start in-person school right now,” said CHS psychology teacher David Aiello.

Teachers and students have also adjusted to

online school, and returning to in-person would be another difficult decision.

“I feel that teachers, students, and to some degree families have established routines and procedures for doing school online, and to disrupt that with new technologies and procedures this late in the semester adds another layer of discomfort and adjustment to an already difficult situation,” said Aiello.

While students, teachers and families hope to return to in-person school as soon as possible, making the right decision regarding COVID-19 and the safety of the entire community is vital.

It is important that the district continue to carefully consider and monitor COVID cases and make the best decision for the health and safety of the community, and it is vital that students and parents continue to take the virus seriously and follow safety precautions and guidelines.

ruthie pierson

NEWS SECTION EDITOR

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NEWS 11

THE FUTURE OF STL BUSINESSES Local businesses gear up for the winter months as the pandemic rages on.

Brasserie by Niche is installing a heated tent to make it through the winter months while maintaining COVID safe practices (Alex Amo).

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riving down Forsyth, the right side of the street is dominated by restaurants with bustling outdoor spaces. Parking spots have been transformed into extra seating areas, tables are spaced six feet apart, cars parked outside restaurants for curbside orders.

Just a few months ago, none of these things existed. Parking spots were busily filled with cars, tables often pushed together, customers quickly running into restaurants to retrieve their takeout orders. In these unprecedented times, local businesses had to quickly make adjustments to keep business going while ensuring customer and employee safety.

Clayton business teacher, Justin Hildebrand says, “A lot of times you make decisions, and they’re stopgaps; they’re kind of a way to stop the bleeding [...] I think a lot of businesses have done that, and we’ll continue to see that happen especially if we’re still in some type of quarantine situation. I do think the winter months are going to cause some challenges with that. The businesses that were able to adapt back in March and April, have already kind of been through it and they can hopefully transition a lot easier. It’s the businesses that didn’t quite do that right off the bat, they might struggle a bit more.”

The creativity of local businesses will be tested once again with the onset of colder weather, as many will have to shift away from or modify outdoor models.

Brasserie by Niche in the Central West End has already started making changes to adjust for upcoming cold weather. Their most noticeable change is the addition of a heated tent to the patio seating area.

NEWS 12

Hostess Mikayla Phillips says, “During the summer, we were doing pretty well because we have so much space on our patio, and we’re still able to sit a ton of guests. During our staff meetings, we would brainstorm ideas of how we could keep some of our patio seating still going.

The heated tent came up; we’ve been talking about it for a few years, and we’ve decided to bite the bullet and go for it.”

They’ve also thrown around the idea of purchasing blankets for guests to use while sitting out on the patio. In the meantime, the Brasserie Instagram advises guests “wear a coat or bring a blanket if they plan to sit outside.”

Beyond necessary creativity, Phillips says, “Being together and trying to work on a method to keep the business alive while adapting to the changes has been one of the things that we’ve learned. [..] Holding each other accountable and making sure everyone’s doing alright can be stressful going through everything that’s changed, so we’re just trying to be more of a team.”

Phillips then speaks on the customer response, saying, “I think a lot of people really appreciate the efforts we’re taking. The heated tent is going over awesome. [...] All in all, everyone is really happy and receptive of everything that’s going on.”

“We’ve had almost a full house every night, and we appreciate that so much because you never know if people are going to be leery to being in a restaurant that doesn’t feel like what they’ve experienced in the past, but everyone’s been really sweet and happy that we’re open and doing our best.”

Back on Forsyth, if you continue past most of the restaurants, you’ll reach WashU’s West

campus parking garage. On the fifth floor on this seemingly mundane parking garage, you’ll find rows of stationary bikes, punching bags and boxing gloves, all next to stations of kettlebells and battle ropes. The scene depicts the new location for local gym, TruFusion.

From June 15, TruFusion has moved a majority of their classes to this open air garage, using different areas of the garage for different classes and installing sanitation stations.

However, with the onset of colder weather, this model needed obvious adaptations.

TruFusion has coined this process “winterizing”. For them, it’s mostly consisted of adding outdoor heaters, wind barrier curtains to prevent wind or rain from coming through, and high powered fans that circulate air.

Classes have also started shifting back inside, with people 6 feet apart and a plexiglass screen surrounding the sides and front of each person.

On the response of customers, General Manager Bethany Lang says, “Normally for heated fitness, summers are the slowest and least profitable months because it’s hot outside, and people don’t want to go inside to that. But, we kind of flipped that. Outside, we were thriving this summer. Right now with the weather cooling down and being outside, people don’t necessarily want to be out in the cold, so I was a little nervous, but people have been so supportive. [...] So many people have told me this is their happy place. They’re like I don’t care if I have to wear socks and snow boots and scarves I’m gonna come.”

With a winterized garage and the support of the community, TruFusion plans on having outdoor classes for the “long haul.” Lang says, “Since there is no vaccine and the cases keep going up, I think this is the new normal. We’ll be adding more indoor classes, but we’re gonna be out here through the winter and continuing outdoor classes all throughout winter and spring.”

Despite all these adaptions, the future of these businesses is still uncertain, depending largely on the consumer response.

Asked to give one piece of advice to consumers, Hildebrand said, “Shop local. [...]

It’s easier said than done. However, if there are local options that might cost you a little bit more, long term the way that it helps bolster our economy, it’s a small price to pay, literally.”

Ultimately, the fate of these businesses falls into consumers’ hands. It’s the working mom that comes to the gym in two layers of socks or the family that chooses to order from a local restaurant that will keep these staples of our community going.

annie xiao REPORTER

WASTE AND COVID-19

Take-out and single-use medical supplies like masks and gloves have contributed to a dramatic waste increase in 2020.

A material handler at the Columbia Material Recovery Facility removes mis-recycled plastic material.

[Don Shrubshell/Tribune File Photo]

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mid the devastating wildfires in the West, the surging cases of COVID-19, and the boisterous quarreling of politicians, another issue has arisen in recent months. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a collapse of waste management chains and resulted in a dramatic increase in waste and pollution. Recycling systems across the world have begun to break down because of budget strains, which means thousands of tons of extra plastic are being reallocated to incinerators, landfills, and the ocean. Although air quality has significantly improved overall as a result of decreased air and road travel, the oceans have experienced adverse effects.

In March, state lockdowns triggered a wave of panic-buying, particularly of products such as toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, surgical masks, gloves, and other one-time use materials. Masks and gloves are two of the biggest contributors to the increase in waste in recent months, with approximately 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves being used globally each month. Also, the closure of thousands of schools, restaurants, businesses, and hotels has left many farmers with an enormous excess of perishable food which they have been forced to destroy and dispose of, and many grocery stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have switched to a non-reusable

“

MANY CITIES HAVE COLLECTED TWICE AS MUCH STYROFOAM AS USUAL...THE USAGE OF PLASTIC IN 2020 IS EXPECTED TO BE 30% MORE THAN IN 2019.

bag and container policy.

For restaurants still in business, many only offer outside seating, curbside pickup, and delivery. While many are eager to support their favorite eateries and local businesses, there has been a surge in plastic and styrofoam waste from single-use bags and containers.

As the economy took a hit, consumers turned to more affordable products rather than the environmentally-friendly ones. Prior to COVID-19, cities in America were already facing problems with the amount of styrofoam floating around in their landfills. Styrofoam is composed of a plastic called Polystyrene, which is very light and made up mostly of air. However, the airiness of the plastic is the cause of the problem. Styrofoam can hold its form due to the sheer amount of air in it. As a result, styrofoam does not break down unless exposed to extremely high temperatures with a specialized incinerator, leaving behind a little water and carbon. However, if destroyed with a normal fire as they often are, the styrofoam will leave behind pollutants. In Maryland, foam containers for takeaway were banned earlier this year. In Seattle, styrofoam has already been banned since 2008. As people stay at home, the amount of takeaway and cooking they do have drastically increased. Home DIY’s and the increase in online shopping also means an

FEATURE 13

increase in packaging, which is often made of styrofoam. According to Bruce Davidson, an overseer of Brockton, Ontario’s styrofoam recycling program, many cities have collected twice as much styrofoam as usual, with numbers going up as high as 1,000 styrofoam containers a week.

Landfills are not the only places that have been affected by the overflow of plastics. The ocean has been suffering as well. About eight million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year and with little change happening there is expected to be a larger weight of plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. This, however, was before COVID-19, and with the increased amount of takeout and other factors, the usage of plastic in 2020 is expected to be 30% more than in 2019 according to an article from ACS Publications, “COVID-19 Pandemic Repercussions on the Use and Management of Plastics”. With the number of face masks and

gloves in the billions each month, the amount of plastic soon to be in the ocean has shot up.

But this is not the only problem. Due to the oil collapse earlier this year, the price of plastic lowered making plastic cheaper than ever.

As oils are used to make plastics, the price to make plastic has drastically dropped. Pushing aside the more expensive alternative plastics, for the cheaper newly created virgin plastic.

Around the world recycling systems are being strained leading to more of the plastic to end up in landfills. Often mismanaged, the waste and plastics in the landfills end up spilling out into the environment and eventually the ocean. The virus has increased the lack of care towards the waste system leading to an abundance of waste and plastic due to the pandemic in the ocean.

Still, there are several ways that waste can be reduced from restaurants, businesses, and homes. For those looking to be more environmentally-friendly while shopping,

groceries and other items can be bagged using reusable bags and containers that customers bring with them in their cars. This would significantly reduce the number of paper and plastic bags used, as most people usually leave the store with at least four to five bags.

Single-use masks are also usually made from polypropylene, so it is also advisable to wear a cloth mask to reduce waste. One way for restaurants to reduce their plastic waste is to ask customers ordering take-out if they would like plastic utensils with their order. This is not only beneficial for their environment, as it also helps restaurants to save money during the pandemic. People can also shop at farmers’ markets to reduce packaging waste and to support their local community. There is certainly hope for the future when it comes to reducing waste, and as large businesses and companies can not always be relied upon to go green, change must start within homes.

Debris gathers in a catch basin on the U.S. side of the border in San Ysidro, California.

[Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS]

seraphina corbo & iris park

FEATURE SECTION EDITOR & REPORTER

FEATURE 14

PANDEMIC APPLICATIONS STATESMAN, PHOTOGRAPHER

Two seniors recount their experience applying for college during the coronavirus pandemic.

O

ctober is a relatively mellow time of the year for most students, but for seniors, it is certainly the most stressful. College essays, the ACT, the SAT, interviews, tours, teacher recommendations… seniors are flooded with so many responsibilities and decisions. College application season is already stressful enough, but add a pandemic on top of that, and you have a whole other list of complications to deal with. CHS seniors Sofia Erlin and Siddhi Narayan discuss what the process has been like for them.

“The college application process has been super stressful because everything is online, and it’s hard to get everything in order. For example, ACT has been falling apart. My account has an error, so I contacted them a month ago and they still haven’t fixed it, and I need to send my scores,” said Erlin.

College interviews have also changed. While Zoom has allowed them to stay relatively similar, the questions asked by both the interviewer and interviewee have had to adapt to the current situation. In Erlin’s interview with the University of Washington, she asked about their COVID plan.

“It was interesting because they don’t allow students to defer admission, so that was something that was important to know, since if I were to attend and COVID was really bad and everything was online, I would have to go,” Erlin said.

According to College Reaction, a polling and analytics firm for students, usually around

1-2% of students decide to defer, but this year, around 4% plan on it. Many students decided to take a gap year because they would rather wait in order to have the full college experience. College is expensive, and to some, online classes are just not worth the

“

ACCORDING TO COLLEGE REACTION, A POLLING AND ANALYTICS FIRM USUALLY AROUND1-2% OF STUDENTS DECIDE TO DEFER, BUT THIS YEAR AROUND 4% PLAN ON IT. price. Deciding to defer and take a gap year is something else seniors will have to add to their ongoing list of decisions this year.

In Narayan’s interview, they talked about other recent events.

“My interviewer didn’t really ask me anything

about COVID-19, but she did ask me about any discrimination I have faced as a woman of color. She was a woman of color as well, and the school is a predominantly white school, so that may have had something to do with it. We then talked about race relations and how important it is to lift up those who are less privileged than you. I talked about how while I do face some level of oppression as a woman of color, it is not nearly as much as someone who is Black, and how important it is to amplify Black voices as much as we can. We talked about the BLM movement as well. I really enjoyed it,” said Narayan.

While online interviews aren’t much of a change from in-person ones, virtual college visits have been a whole new experience.

“It sucks that we aren’t able to visit campuses… It’s made choosing an action plan a little harder because there’s no way of fully getting a feel for the universities,” said Narayan.

CHS counselor, Carolyn Blair shared her thoughts on the matter.

“Students are stressed because they have not had the opportunity to walk on a campus visit and see how they feel. There’s always something to be said for just knowing that a campus is a good fit or not as soon as you walk on the campus. The seniors have been robbed of that opportunity,” said Blair.

Fortunately, every few weeks, juniors and seniors get an email from their college counselor about what colleges are holding virtual tours soon.

FEATURE 15

A student at-home setup for school.

DREAMSTINE, PHOTOGRAPHER,

“Virtual college tours are not ideal but they’re better than nothing. College’s pivoted to virtual meetings and online information sessions very quickly. Our platform Maia Learning and most other platforms, quickly came up with a venue through which colleges could reach students.

We still have colleges sign up to ‘visit’ CHS. Students log in to their Maia Learning account and sign up for the college visit. Once they sign up they are sent a link to the zoom meeting with that particular college. College fairs have also moved to a virtual format. I would not be surprised if some schools continue to make virtual high school visits as that’s much lighter on their travel budget. I sit on a lot of admissions advisory boards at various universities and they have continued to meet virtually to get advice on how to reach students during the pandemic. Colleges are just as worried about students applying and attending as students are about getting into the college they want to attend. This is certainly a unique year, but I’m pretty convinced it will change admissions in many ways,” said Blair.

Another step in the applications process that has been more challenging are teacher recommendations.

“It’s also hard with teacher recs because you can’t just walk by their classroom and ask how it’s going. You have to send a full email,” said Erlin.

These recommendations are crucial in applications, and losing the ability to ask in person makes for a more time consuming and awkward process.

Fortunately, all of these complications have been made easier by the CHS college counselors.

“We have App labs (application labs) twice a week (with both college counselors) and individual office hours once every week. This is a time where students can just drop in with questions about the application process or their specific applications. It’s actually a bit

FEATURE 16

“

STUDENTS ARE STRESSED BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO WALK ON A CAMPUS VISIT AND SEE HOW THEY FEEL THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR JUST KNOWING THAT A CAMPUS IS A GOOD FIT OR NOT AS SOON AS YOU WALK ON THE CAMPUS. THE SENIORS HAVE BEEN ROBBED OF THAT OPPORTUNITY. -CAROLYN BLAIR easier because we can share screens and show students exactly what they need to do. This format is really helpful because sometimes you don’t know what your questions are until you hear other student’s questions. But we also utilize breakout rooms when students need a more private conversation so we can go to a breakout room to discuss their questions. Ms Bell, the senior counselor, has also come to the meetings just to hang out with the seniors. It’s a little college party. We try to have some fun.

Today, we said we were gonna put together an App lab playlist so we can have some college application music,” said Blair.

Erlin also said, “CHS college counselors have been really helpful, and the Zoom meetings don’t seem that different from how they would be in person.”

There have even been some benefits that have come out of the situation.

“I think one of the major positives that has come from this is the fact that scores are not being required by most universities. There has long been a debate within the university college admissions about scores and whether or not they were equitable, accurate, and necessary.

This year most colleges, no matter how selective, are being forced to make decisions without scores. This will be quite informative and will certainly affect the process in the future. I am on the advisory board for the Fiske guide which is a major college search tool.

Our last meetings have focused on whether or not to remove standardized test scores as one of the factors by which students search for and sort schools. It has also been helpful for junior family meetings. Oftentimes, it’s difficult to get a family together for a college meeting due to traveling parents, work schedules, etc.

Zoom family meetings have made it possible to include more family members which has been a really positive part of the process,” said Blair.

So much has had to be changed during these “unprecedented times” leading to a lot of additional stress especially for something as important as applying to colleges. There are many downsides to having to go through the application process during a pandemic, but fortunately, a few positives have come out of it as well. Ultimately, CHS students are trying to make the most of the situation.

sophie yoshino PAGE EDITOR

14TH AMENDMENT EXPLAINED Reporter Alex Slen covers how the 14th Amendment has influenced equality in our nation.

T

he 14th Amendment is one of the most important constitutional amendments that you probably don’t know anything about. So what is the 14th Amendment, why is it so important and what does it tell us about the future of our country?

The 14th Amendment is one of the three constitutional amendments that came out of the period of American history known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a time following the Civil War in an era trying to repair a broken nation as well as to grant rights to African Americans.

The first amendment of the era was the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery in the country except for as a form of punishment.

The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. So what is the 14th Amendment? The 14th Amendment covers many things, from the definition of citizenship clarifying a question that existed following the landmark Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sanford, to privacy protections which was cited in Roe v. Wade.

Though the most important parts of the 14th Amendment are the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. Together, those two clauses in the 14th Amendment have shaped America we know today.

To understand the 14th Amendment, it is important to look back to the time of Reconstruction as well as back to the Founding Fathers. When the Founding Fathers created the U.S. Constitution, they were scared of a phenomenon known as “big government” in which the federal government has too much power and thus becomes tyrannical to the citizens.

So the Founding Fathers limited the power of the federal government and gave that power to the state governments, as they saw the states as the good guys who could overthrow a potentially tyrannical federal government.

Because of the fear of government, the Founding Fathers limited the power of the federal government while at the same time limiting people’s rights as the Bill of Rights only applied to the federal government not the states, and the states were able to systemically limit people’s rights.

Though, this mindset changed after the Civil War when all of a sudden the states were the bad actors and the federal government was the good guy. To protect the rights of freed slaves as well as to protect the rights of all people they believed that they should take power away from the states and give that power to the federal government.

Kermit Roosevelt III, law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, believes that the United States that we know today started

Cody Abril exits after voting early in the General Election at California State University, Fullerton Monday, Nov. 2, 2020 in Fullerton, California. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS) during the time of Reconstruction.

“The story that we tell ourselves about America we like to identify with the founders […] the story with a continuous American identity starts with the declaration and the founder’s constitution and then sort of works itself out over the years with the gradual realization of the founding ideals, and we don’t want to admit that it was actually a failure. It failed in the Civil War and we ended up with something very different,” Roosevelt said.

The founding constitution was a failure and after the Civil War, a major change was enacted during reconstruction. Expanding the power of the federal government making slavery illegal, expanding the right to vote and then extending people’s rights to the states.

Though the idea of equality was never really on the Founding Fathers’ minds as well as the people of the early American republic Roosevelt believes, “The interesting thing about the Declaration of Independence is if you look at how it was received and understood in the early American Republic. Up until around 1812, people didn’t pay much attention to the preamble they didn’t think that it was some bold statement or philosophy of people’s rights.

They thought that it was important because it declared independence,” Roosevelt said.

Though abolitionists at this time were looking for any way to get rid of slavery so they turned to now some of the most important words in the Declaration saying, “We hold these truths

to be self evident that all men are created equal and they are endowed with certain inalienable rights that among them are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Those words because of the abolishments became a sort of new founding ideals during the age of Reconstruction making possible the 14th Amendment.

Because of this time, the idea of equality was central and that idea is central in the 14th Amendment. The most important phrase in the amendment is the idea of “equal protection of the laws.”

This phrase has been used in some of the most important Supreme Court Cases such as Bush v. Gore which was about election recounts, Brown v. Board of Education outlawing segregation, Obergfell v. Hodges legalizing same-sex marriage. These landmark Supreme Court cases were made possible by the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Without the Equal Protection Clause, our nation would look substantially different.

In conclusion, the 14th Amendment ushered in a new era in American history. Granting protection to every citizen and creating the country we know today. The future of our nation is tied to this amendment: what we believe is right, what is wrong, and how our values will shape our country into the 21st. century.

alex slen REPORTER FEATURE 17

THE STATE OF POLITICS 18

By: Alex Cohen, Isabella Bamnolker, Sofia Erlin, Enoch Lai, Ivy Reed, Kaitlyn Tran & Angela Xiao

ELECTION STRATEGY commercially available data, maybe your with the hope that they’ll tell their friends and The COVID-19 pandemic has changed credit score or what magazines you subscribe family about your candidate. everything in our lives. From online learning to to. And then they use some psychometric and “Grassroots as a concept means starting grocery shopping, nothing is the same. These statistical models to try to figure out who to with the voters and right from the ground and effects were also felt heavily in the presidential target… campaigns can potentially bolster building that energy. [Grassroots] has been an election. COVID quickly moved to the top of turnout in ways that they couldn’t 10 years ago,” many people’s voting criteria, and worries about important strategy, particularly for progressive said Washington University political science ideas,” said John Walsh, campaign manager the future of the economy have intensified. professor Andrew Reeves. for Senator Ed Markey. “The most opposite of Additionally, millions of people voted by mail Campaigns also evolve during their duration. for the first time, testing the limits of our voting a grassroots campaign is top down. It’s very In the beginning, campaigns must clarify their much dependent on money and television infrastructure. Both candidates adjusted their message and marketing. As the election nears, advertising. In other words you’re not taking in campaigns. Trump continued holding large direct contact with people, but you are trying to they must focus on reaching individual voters in-person rallies, but had to leave the campaign and making sure they will get out and vote. distribute information to them using top down trail for a few days while he was positive for In the case of Senator Markey’s campaign, methods rather than bottom up.” coronavirus. Biden shifted to Zoom town halls, initially, the as well as small polls showed in-person Markey trailing events. Both behind Kennedy. candidates Typically increased their incumbents digital capacity have a much by sending higher chance out emails and of winning phone calls to re-election. supporters, However, running ads Markey’s case and posting to was different social media. since Kennedy In St. Louis, was so popular.

Cori Bush’s “I think his win in the name recognition democratic was high, his primary for favorability the Missouri was high, he District 1 had his job congressional approval ratings seat provides high … As a an example of matter of fact, a successful by any standard sociallymeasures you distanced would say campaign.

U.S. President Donald Trump smiles while disparaging Democratic presidential unbeatable based Another contested nominee Joe Biden at a campaign rally at Oakland County International Airport on on those numbers, primary that took place October 30, 2020 in Waterford, Michigan. With less than a week until Election Day, but we had an over the summer was the Trump and his opponent Joe Biden are campaigning across the country. opponent who Democratic primary for senator of Massachusetts.

(John Moore/Getty Images/TNS) had equally strong numbers,” Walsh Incumbent Ed Markey beat said.

The rise of social media has allowed challenger Joe Kennedy in what had originally Additionally, many people currently feel campaigns to connect with voters in new and been predicted to be an easy win for Kennedy. unique ways. Apps like Twitter, Facebook Despite the changes the pandemic has dissatisfied with the government which opens and Instagram allow candidates to reach new brought to campaigning, many of the basic them up to voting for a challenger. audiences. Additionally, new technology has principles remain the same. When it comes After creating a clear message for your made it easier for campaigns to find who they to election strategy, there are two basic campaign, the next step is focusing on voter approaches: top-down or bottom-up. Top-down should target with their ads. engagement. Since many voters are too busy “We’re both in an era of big data, where refers to a strategy in which a campaign tries to focus on an election until right before, voter campaigns can go by national voter files. These to attract large donors and focuses on running engagement efforts continue to ramp up as the are just records of whether people are turning TV ads. Bottom-up, also known as grassroots, election draws closer. The major way campaigns out to vote or not. Those are paired up with emphasizes connecting with individual voters connect with voters is through the media.

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DATA

The Globe surveyed 198 CHS students, 264 parents or guardians and 71 teachers and staff on their opinions regarding the 2020 presidential election.

who students under 18 would vote for: OTHER E UR

TR

who parent voters would vote for:

S UN

UM

P

TR

UM

P

BIDEN

who teachers would vote for: TR

BIDEN

who would handle the pandemic better?

TR

UM

UM

P

P

“I believe any organization needs to become their own content generator. What that meant for us was to build an in house capacity to tell our story directly through digital, through social media and other direct voter methods. So we built a studio with analysis, audio, video and graphics capability, which included equipment space and professional staff,” Walsh said.

Because of the pandemic, digital content became crucial. Campaigns could no longer send volunteers to knock doors, so they were forced to reach voters digitally.

Another important aspect of campaigning is fundraising. In order to create ads and other media posts, campaigns must have funding.

A relatively new development in campaign funding is trying to reach out to small donors.

“One of the things that the Obama campaign did back in 2008 was to specifically decide to try to target those lower dollar donors. Before, it was $2000 [donors targeted]. Obama was one of the first candidates to really embrace this idea of getting the small dollar. The other part of it is once [a campaign] has your email address they can come back to you and ask you to do something else,” Reeves said.

In terms of the presidential campaign, two main factors affect strategy. First, the electoral college affects where presidential candidates allocate their resources.

“In more recent times, especially with the Bush election in 2000, we see this hyper focus on 5, 6, 7 states where they’re the only ones that matter. Missouri used to be one of these states but now Missouri [always] goes Republican.

No campaign resources will be expended here, the candidates won’t visit here and why should they?” Reeves said.

Another challenge for presidential candidates is shifting from a primary audience to a national audience. For Biden, in the primaries he was criticized for being too conservative.

After winning the nomination, Biden has had to make it clear he will not advocate for the more progressive Democratic policies like the Green New Deal or defunding the police.

Candidates must balance their more zealous base with a general audience.

Regardless of the results of the election, political strategy will continue to be important to our democracy. Walsh urges everyone to find a way to be politically involved in their community.

“I do think that’s a real risk for our democracy that more people don’t see a way to impact [politics] and then a smaller and smaller group of people start making decisions.

I think there is an importance to engaging in politics. And for some people it may be doing this as work, or as a career, either being a candidate, being an activist, or just engaging as a volunteer,” Walsh said.

BIDEN

BIDEN

who would handle the economy better?

TRUMP

BIDEN

21

SOCIAL MEDIA Russian interference. The FacebookCambridge Analytica data scandal. QAnon conspiracy theories. The finding that fake news travels six times faster than true news. In an age where claims about candidates and elections can be posted by users on the Internet and rapidly spread across social media, how can we tell what’s real and what’s not?

The COVID-19 pandemic has led the 2020 election to face a unique set of challenges. With obstacles around voting by mail, along with worries about ballots being counted properly, there is a critical need for factual information on voting guidelines. In conjunction with the rise of social media usage to an all-time high amidst the pandemic, the role of social media in elections is more important than ever.

The recognition of social media as a large issue in elections can be traced back to events surrounding the 2016 election. “I think one thing that what happened in 2016 really did was raise the salience of the possibility of fake news and misinformation. [It’s] to the point where I think there are some people out there who now just don’t trust anything because they think there’s nothing that can be trusted,” said Taylor Carlson, assistant professor of Political Science at Washington University - St. Louis.

In 2016, there were a number of misinformation campaigns from fake sites to debunked allegations of “rigged” voting machines that were used to delegitimize the election circulating on Nov. 8. As for state-sponsored disinformation, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found in a bipartisan report that “the Russian government engaged in an aggressive, multi-faceted effort to influence, or attempt to influence, the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.”

These incidents in the last election have served as a warning signal to the American public regarding mis and disinformation online.

“I think that there have been more measures put in place to try to help people be able to distinguish fact from fiction. I think in some ways, the attention that misinformation got in 2016 is perhaps helping us in 2020 to be able to try our best to prepare the public to try to differentiate what’s real and what’s not,” said Carlson.

In preparation for the 2020 election, groups have been working to combat mis/ disinformation by spreading awareness. One of these groups is the 2020 Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), a coalition of research entities with an objective “to detect and

ALL IT TAKES IS HACKING THE MINDS OF YOU AND I AND VOTERS TO PLANT JUST THE TINIEST SEEDS OF DISTRUST AND DOUBT IN THE PROCESS THAT CAN BE MAGNIFIED AT UNPRECEDENTED SCALES.

22

mitigate the impact of attempts to prevent or deter people from voting or to delegitimize election results.”

Isabella Garcia-Camargo, an organizer of the 2020 EIP, explained the reasoning behind why the EIP was created. “We talked to a lot of election officials of how they deal with missing disinformation incidents and it became clear that they didn’t have great avenues because the government can’t monitor social media for disinformation, given that you can’t monitor the American population. Because of this, we needed an independent third party, nongovernmental organization to be doing the real-time monitoring aspects for the election officials,” said Garcia-Camargo.

The EIP publishes policy analyses and rapid response reports on their website (eipartnership.net) that evaluate specific mis/disinformation campaigns affecting the election. Their publishings range from analyzing narratives targeting electronic voting machines to looking into claims of ballot harvesting.

Another group working to fight mis/ disinformation is the team who published the documentary The Social Dilemma, a “documentary-drama hybrid [that] explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations. Daniel Wright, co-producer of The Social Dilemma, described the documentary as covering how social media causes “big picture issues all the way from mental health issues and addiction to the breakdown of truth and democracy.”

The idea for The Social Dilemma was rooted in the parallels that could be drawn between the dangers of technology and the environmental issues that The Social Dilemma’s production company, Exposure Labs, favored covering.

“With the issue of climate change, it’s caused by an extractive technology where we’re pulling these resources out of the ground and using them to our benefit, but it’s causing all these downstream effects. We realize that’s the exact same thing that’s happening with these tech companies, but instead of mining fossil fuels and lumber, they’re actually mining our human attention or human experience,” said Wright.

With mis/disinformation being a key issue of informing voters in this year’s election, criticism has been widely directed at social media platforms to take accountability. In response, social media platforms like Facebook Messenger will limit message forwarding and Twitter will label or remove false or misleading information around the laws of the election process, unverified information that delegitimizes the election, and premature claims of an election outcome.

Garcia-Camargo finds that these responses by social media companies should be viewed positively, since the scale of aspects such as calls

to question the election are new to 2020, and that the platforms should continue to make policy changes in preparation for the election.

“This is why we push the platforms to do more and have these written and set in stone before the election itself, because it allows the decisions to be made at a lower level, and then that will lead to better outcomes,” said GarciaCamargo.

Beyond the election, Wright ties the platforms’ responses into the broader issue of how social media operates, saying that these responses are ultimately a band-aid solution for the broader problem of the advertising business model.

“As long as there are incentives for a thirdparty to be paying lots and lots of money to get in front of you, these problems will still exist,” said Wright.

Between all of these conversations, a resounding theme has been that fighting mis/ disinformation ultimately relies upon the people. Social media users must be cognizant of the media they are consuming and sharing in order to limit the spread of false information.

However, the current state of social media intentionally makes this evaluation process difficult.

“These tools are available [to manipulate us through social media], and it’s not a hack. That’s what’s so dangerous about misinformation. It doesn’t take hacking the actual infrastructure, [for example] the actual voting machines of an election. All it takes is hacking the minds of you and I and voters to plant just the tiniest seed of distrust and doubt in the process that can be magnified at unprecedented scales,” said Wright.

The limited amount of information that can be contained in a single social media post makes it particularly volatile to be rapidly liked or shared. Referencing the rise of political information being posted in infographics or Instagram stories across the high school to college age group, Garcia-Camargo explains that simplifying complicated key political issues into short snippets, that can be injected with mis or disinformation first, can be harmful to our democratic process.

“My suggestion is that you take your political conversations off of these platforms as much as you can. It’s great to spread awareness but think about the impact that has on the larger information space and what you’re encouraging people to do. You’re encouraging more authority of information on these 10-slide Instagram posts,” said Garcia-Camargo.

Furthermore, she stresses that even the interaction with information online can create a chain effect that amplifies misinformation.

“When you see something, don’t take it

at face-value. Always go and check sources, always go and get two or three opinions and really think through the votes that you’re giving on social media. Every time that you retweet something, that’s like a vote because it creates more authority in that piece of information.”

Similarly, Carlson urges users to increase their information literacy and identify personal biases.

“There’s a lot that can be done by way of information literacy, like learning about potential biases that different sources have and thinking about that every time you consume it. If it’s a news outlet, thinking about: does this news outlet have a known bias? If it does, which direction does it go? How should I then interpret the information in that context?” said Carlson.

The largest consequence of this rampant mis/ disinformation is how it can influence the way people think and the beliefs that they present.

“When [opinions on the value of a democracy] are based on mis or disinformation, or just based on not factual evidence, that’s where we get into problems because then you can unfairly break down a democracy,” said Garcia-Camargo. “[The process by which we vote] is a very, very important portion of the democratic process, and we need to make sure we have the facts.

Losing faith in the democratic process is losing faith in the way that we vote. Without faith in that, we don’t have an overall democracy.”

In the imminent scope of the 2020 election, the mis/disinformation online can also be weaponized to delegitimize the election results.

President Trump has cast doubt upon mail-in ballots, a claim that has swept social media to dominate a face of the election. Although these claims have mostly been proven false, these words factored into inciting a wave of mis/ disinformation including allegations that the Democrats planned to use mail-in voting to ballot-harvest and that Republican ballots for Trump were being dumped.

President Trump, echoing his sentiments from 2016, has used mail-in ballots to question the integrity of the election. When asked if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power if not re-elected, Trump responded by saying, “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens.

You know I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.”

With the leading public figure in the US casting doubt on the election, mis/ disinformation has taken an unprecedented role as a foremost threat to democracy. If what is supposed to be facts can be questioned under a system that is plagued by mis/disinformation, our democracy fails to operate appropriately.

“If we don’t have a peaceful transfer of power or a reliable election result, that is democracy breaking,” said Wright. “We’re going to be tested as a nation.”

Ella Cuneo

23

SUPREME COURT IMPORTANCE

CASES

PRECEDENT

First and foremost, the Supreme Court is a check on the other branches’ power. It can overrule laws and executive actions if they betray the constitution.

The Supreme Court is designed to protect the rights of citizens and is the last resort for citizens seeking justice.

The Supreme Court hears and makes decisions on between 100 and 150 cases a year.

However, they receive petitions or requests for over 7000. It has two types of jurisdiction or authority over cases. Trial jurisdiction covers cases where the Supreme Court is the first court to hear a case; this only occurs on cases involving two or more states, ambassadors and high level public ministers. Mostly, the Supreme Court hears cases where it has appellate jurisdiction, meaning it reviews the decisions of a lower court. These cases generally involve issues of Constitutional law, federal law, and trade.

Precedent is a legal concept that means to stand by things decided. The Supreme Court uses it to refer to a past ruling, when they believe they have already decided on an issue brought by a case.

This fosters efficiency, because it quickly decides certain cases. Precedent also ensures constitutional interpretations remain similar over time, keeping the judiciary non-partisan.

Precedent can be overruled in two instances: if a prior decision doesn’t seem to fit the case at hand, or when American society has changed significantly since the last decision.

THE FEDERAL COURTS

THE NINE

There are three levels of federal courts. The lowest are the district courts. There are 94 district courts, at least one for each U.S. state and territory. They handle the first trials of civil cases, when someone is suing someone else and criminal cases and when someone has broken the law.

Missouri has two district courts, the Eastern District and the Western District. Above the district courts are thirteen appellate courts that handle appeals, or people who want another court to review decisions in their case. Superior to them is the Supreme Court.

In addition to Supreme Court justices, there are several types of federal judges. District court judges and appellate court judges are Article III judges, just like Supreme Court Justices. They must be nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate and can be impeached. Magistrate judges are appointed by district court judges to assist them in preliminary trial matters, such as search warrants and setting bail. They are appointed for eight year terms. Bankruptcy court judges are appointed for fourteen year terms by appellate court judges. They preside over matters of bankruptcy and debt. The bankruptcy courts also have their own appellate courts and judges.

sonia sotomayor

elena kagan

stephen breyer

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States and the only one specifically stated by the Constitution. Article III of the Constitution states that there should be one Supreme Court and that the legislature may create lower courts as it sees fit. It also states that the president must nominate or choose justices to serve on the Supreme Court, and the Senate must confirm them.

After their confirmation, the Justices hold office for as long as they choose on the condition of good behavior, and their salaries cannot be reduced. However, they can also be impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate, similar to the President. These processes are intended to keep the judiciary non-partisan. Currently, there are eight Associate justices and one Chief Justice, though this number has fluctuated from six to ten over the last 200 years.

chief justice john roberts

samuel alito

neil gorsuch

brett kavanaugh

clarence thomas amy coney barrett

ELECTORAL COLLEGE Your vote matters.

For many American citizens, this message embodies what it means to be a member of a democracy. Selfies with “I Voted” stickers flood social media feeds on Election Day, celebrities encourage fans to make a plan to vote, and numerous organizations are dedicated to voting rights advocacy. Voting is the cornerstone of American democracy. But once a voter casts their ballot in a presidential election, where does that vote go and what system is it fed into? What significance does a single vote hold on the larger scale of American government and politics? That’s where the contentious and complicated system known as the Electoral College comes in.

“It’s sort of a game,” said Dr. Kenneth Warren, a political science professor at Saint Louis University. The game begins the same way in each state, with the tallying of the popular vote.

Then the candidate who receives a plurality of the votes is awarded all of the state’s electoral votes. To win the whole game, a candidate must amass 270 electoral votes out of the total 538. The number of electoral votes allocated

to each state is determined by the size of the state’s Congressional delegation. For example, Missouri has 8 Representatives and 2 Senators, so it gets 10 electoral votes. Because every state has 2 Senators and at least 1 Representative, every state is guaranteed a baseline of 3 electoral votes. According to Warren and many other election experts, this is when the rules of the game start to become unfair.

“You have a lot of small states that don’t deserve the electors they have based on population. [...] The fact of the matter is people in Wyoming and Alaska have more than equal representation in the Electoral College,” said Warren. He pointed to the fact that the entire population of Alaska is only two-thirds that of St. Louis County, but the state still gets 3 electoral votes. Warren also explained that Missouri’s population is over 10 times that of Wyoming, but only receives 3 times more electoral representation.

States with small populations, such as Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, are disproportionately represented in a system that is supposed to represent all states’ populations

STATE A: BIDEN WINS 77 VOTES

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proportionately. Voter influence isn’t equal between all Americans; a vote in one state can hold significantly more power than in another state. For example, statistics from electoral reform organization FairVote show that a citizen in Wyoming has 3.18 times as much power in the Electoral College than the average U.S. voter.

Another frequently criticized rule of the Electoral College game is how the electoral votes are actually allocated to candidates.

“The way those electoral votes are awarded is on what’s called a winner-take-all basis,” said Jesse Wegman, New York Times editorial board member and author of “Let the People Pick the President: The Case For Abolishing the Electoral College.” “And what that means is, in all but two states, the state has decided that the candidate who wins the most votes in that state gets 100% of its electors, no matter how close the vote is, even if it’s almost exactly a tie.” To understand this rule better, let’s lay out an example. The Globe surveyed a total of 536 members of the CHS community. The portion of those respondents who said they

STATE B: BIDEN WINS 23 VOTES

planned to vote in the 2020 election were broken down into 3 groups: 257 parents, 71 teachers, and 13 students. Let’s call the parents State A, the teachers State B, and the students State C. When asked which candidate they would support, Biden won approximately 84% of the State A popular vote, 87% of State B, and 62% of State C. Now that the popular vote has been tallied, let’s give each state 2 electoral votes and an additional number of votes based on population. State A will get 77 votes, State B will get 23 votes, and State C will get 6 votes. Biden wins all three states’ electoral votes, and 44 votes will not count. That means around 13% of survey respondents who plan to vote would not get a say in this mock election.

Additionally, the winner-take-all method of assigning electors means that a candidate can lose the national popular vote but still play their cards right to win the Electoral College game.

This has happened 5 times in the history of American elections, with the election in 2016 as the most recent example. Ultimately, American presidential elections can be determined more by strategy than popularity. If a candidate knows how to play the game to their advantage, they will still win even if the rules may not be fair.

The key to winning the game is not through gaining the most votes from the American people. Instead, it is played in a few specific locations on the board: swing states. Most states will reliably go red or blue in every presidential election. Because of the winner-take-all method, Democratic votes cast in Missouri, Wyoming, Tennessee and other Republican strongholds are largely erased once they enter

the Electoral College system. The same goes for Republican votes in safe Democratic states such as California, New York and Massachusetts. In our CHS survey simulation, States A, B and C would all be safe Democratic states. Electoral votes in these states are almost guaranteed to be cast for the Democratic candidate in every election. For example, FiveThirtyEight’s election forecast gives Biden more than a 99% chance of winning California. He has less than a 1% chance of winning Wyoming.

“My students coming from, let’s say, Mississippi or Wyoming or New York or California, will say to me, why should I vote because my vote doesn’t matter? And they’re right. It doesn’t matter,” Warren said. Wegman pointed out that in 2016, 4.5 million votes were cast for Donald Trump in California. In just one state, millions of votes did not count at all.

The Electoral College creates a disproportionate focus on battleground states: the handful of states where both candidates actually have a decent shot at winning. This focus is reflected in both policy platforms and campaign stops. According to National Popular Vote Inc., an organization that advocates for the abolition of the Electoral College, two-thirds of 2016 post-convention campaign events by both candidates took place in only six states. 94% of events took place in 12 states.

“The problem with that is that it means [candidates] focus on a tiny sliver of the American population to win the entire election.

They should be having to talk to all Americans everywhere, but because of that winner-takeall rule, they only have to worry about a few states - this year it’s states like Pennsylvania,

STATE C: BIDEN WINS 6 VOTES

Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida and Arizona.

Those states are no less important than any other state but they’re no more important than any other state, and a president is the only person in the country who has to represent all Americans equally no matter where they live,” Wegman said.

Candidates know that the decisions made by Pennsylvania voters on Election Day matter far more than those made by members of the electorate in safe states such as Maryland or Alabama. Many critics of the Electoral College contend that this creates a stark disparity in which states’ interests are catered to by campaigns. Wegman pointed out that the issue of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a main focus of both Biden’s and Trump’s policy platforms.

“Fracking is a tiny issue in the larger question of the American energy system and the issues of environmental harm. So why do they talk so much about it? Because it’s of great interest to people in western Pennsylvania, where a lot of fracking occurs, and Pennsylvania is a battleground state,” Wegman said.

“Meanwhile, they completely ignore issues that matter to millions of more people, like public transportation in the big cities or climate change and the effects of climate change and wildfires and floods out west.

Those are the kinds of things that presidential candidates should be talking about because they affect everybody or they affect millions more Americans, and yet they end up focusing on these niche issues that only affect small numbers of Americans.” Wegman emphasized that fracking is not unimportant - but it should

13% OF VOTES DO NOT COUNT

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not hold more importance just because it applies specifically to a swing state.

Obviously, the rules of the Electoral College play a massive role in how the American political system works and how presidential candidates run their campaigns. So how were these rules created? What was the original rationale behind them?

Dr. Randall Calvert, a professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis, explained that the system “was originally designed to put some distance between the popular electorate and the President.” The Electoral College is often described as a mechanism to prevent tyranny of the majority and to provide stability to the electoral system by ensuring that a candidate always receives a majority.

Calvert said that preserving the integrity of elections was an original aim in the system’s creation: “Part of the story was to prevent demagoguery, part of the story actually also was to provide the least possible opportunity for manipulation and parties and strategizing to form behind who would be the president.”

However, Calvert explained that the creation of parties was in fact accelerated by the Electoral College because organized party systems were needed to get one candidate to a majority of 270 electoral votes.

Justin Fox, a professor of political science at Washington University, said, “An Electoral College advocate might believe the fact that a person who gets a minority support among the citizens can actually become a President might be a feature and not a bug, because it would increase the chances of divided government, which makes it harder for majorities to oppress minorities.” Fox explained that opponents of the Electoral College often find oppression of the majority by the minority more of a cause for concern than the other way around.

“The founders themselves were actually very ambivalent about the idea of popular participation in government,” said Wegman.

The Electoral College reflects this concern about what would happen if the people’s will was truly represented in government and whether that will would gain too much power.

The system was also created to close the gap that existed at the time between limited voter knowledge and the complicated reality of politics.

“They designed it in

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part to deal with the fact that most Americans would not know anything about national political candidates,” said Wegman. “There was no transportation network, there was no communications network, there was no TV or radio, people didn’t travel far from their home.

And so, when it came to electing a national leader, they feared that a lot of Americans, most of them would not know anything about those candidates and wouldn’t know how to make a good choice.” The idea of electors was created to put the presidential election into the hands of highly educated, politically aware people who could make a more well-informed decision than the average American voter. However, that original intent no longer holds true.

Wegman continued, “The problem was that that system collapsed almost immediately because national political parties developed and electors and voters suddenly became affiliated with one party or another, and so they stopped thinking so much about what’s in the best interest of the country as what’s in the best interests of my party.” Instead of engaging in intellectual debate and careful deliberation, electors have become more of a symbolic figurehead.

Many frequently-criticized aspects of the Electoral College stem from the fact that it is an antiquated system. It was built during a time when women couldn’t vote, when there was no two-party system, and when the protection of slavery dominated legislative interests. Because of the 3/5 Compromise, which stipulated that every enslaved person would count for 3/5 of a person in matters of representation, white voters in slave states benefited from the Electoral College because their increased representation in Congress meant more electoral votes. The modern world does not align with this system anymore.

Many critics of the Electoral College say that it doesn’t have to be this way. The rules of the game can change.

“We could do it any number of other ways, like having the electors selected from congressional districts like in Maine and Nebraska. [...] Or we could have them allocated proportionately - the Democrats get three quarters of votes, they get three quarters of the electors,” Calvert said.

Maine and Nebraska both use a split system instead of winner-takes-all. Both states assign two electoral votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, but the winners

of each individual Congressional district also get one electoral vote. Another more drastic shift away from the current system would be the implementation of a popular vote: the candidate with the most votes from the American people would win the presidency.

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement enacted by 15 states, as well as Washington, D.C. If enough states eventually enter the compact so that their combined electoral votes are 270 or more, these states would commit to allocating all of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote, instead of the statewide popular vote. This would circumvent the rules of the game and allow the winner of the popular vote to win the presidency by gaining a majority of electoral votes, but without abolishing the Electoral College. Under this solution, every person’s vote would count equally towards a candidate no matter the political climate or coincidental demographics of individual states.

However, the chances of transitioning away from the Electoral College in the near future remain slim.

“Politically speaking, the Democrats and Republicans still like the Electoral College because it protects their parties from third party competition. Under the Electoral College, there’s no way a third party candidate can win realistically,” Warren said.

Even though public opinion polls show a majority of Americans oppose the Electoral College - 58%, according to one Pew Research Center poll - the two-party system is protected by the current method of choosing the president. Politicians who benefit from a system are unlikely to spearhead calls for its abolition.

And the Electoral College doesn’t always advantage Republicans the way it did in 2016 in fact, Wegman explains in a Times Opinion video that total popular vote shares between 1932 and 2008 have been roughly split equally between Republicans and Democrats. So even though many Democrats currently support abolishing the Electoral College, would that change if in a few decades if more swing states start to tilt blue?

Right now, the game has been played for so long that it feels normal. But sometimes, even as impossible as it seems, all it takes is simple rule change to make the game more fair for everyone playing.

LAW AND ORDER “Are you in favor of law and order?”

“Law and order with justice where people get treated fairly.”

During the first presidential debate, President Donald Trump posed this question to former Vice President Joe Biden. After a summer of economic crisis and protests for racial justice, the issue of law and order has come to the forefront of the 2020 presidential race.

But, this is not the first time law and order has held significance in an election. Law and Order politics has no official definition but refers to a political platform that emphasizes stricter sentencing and more support for law enforcement. Law and Order politics began to enter the American consciousness in the 1960s.

“Law and Order politics really has its origins in 1964 and 1966. The first six years of the 1960s saw… an increase in crime.

And in particular, there was an increase in really sensational graphic crime… and many Americans were deeply concerned by it,” CHS History teacher Daniel Glossenger said.

During this same period, the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled on two monumental cases that strengthened the rights of the accused: Gideon v. Wainwright and Miranda v. Arizona. Gideon v. Wainwright ruled that in criminal cases, states must provide an attorney to all defendants who are unable to pay for their own. Miranda v. Arizona ruled that in order for a defendant’s testimony to be used in court, they must be informed of their rights (now known as the Miranda rights).

“The Warren Court began to expand the rights of the accused in ways that many Americans were really not comfortable with… these two Supreme Court cases, they don’t have a really huge impact actually on what law enforcement do on a day to day basis, but the perception was that they were tying the hands of police,” Glossenger said.

As the crime rate rose, many white Americans wrongly attributed the increase in crime to the civil rights movement and integration.

“The third thing that’s happening historically in the 1960s, is that virtually every year, one or more major American cities experienced riots. Some of these were an outgrowth of Black

uprisings about the failures of white society to actually grapple with civil rights. But, at the same time, there was also rising inequality and there’s major economic disruptions happening in urban areas. So you can’t just say these riots are happening because of the civil rights movement, but in many cases the militancy of the Black civil rights movement was being

“

There wasn’t really a need for somebody like Nixon to spell it out… because the white suburban voters in the 1960s knew exactly what he was talking about.

-Glossenger viewed in the eyes of many whites as this is driving that crime wave,” Glossenger said.

In 1968, these three phenomena came to a head in Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign.

During his acceptance speech, Nixon emphasized his focus on Law and Order: “And if we are to restore order and respect for law in this country there is one place we are going to begin. We are going to have a new Attorney General of the United States of America. I pledge to you that our new Attorney General

will be directed by the President of the United States to launch a war against organized crime in this country.”

Despite Nixon’s claim, it is important to note that the power of the president to reduce crime is significantly less than that of individual states.

“It’s interesting because presidents talk a lot, or at least a fair amount about crime and maintaining the law in order, yet it’s something that we tend to think of it as mostly a local function of police power that belongs to the States. [There’s] a little bit of a mismatch there between what presidents can do and the things that they want to say,” Washington University political science professor Andrew Reeves said.

After Nixon’s presidency, an emphasis on Law and Order helped Ronald Reagan defeat Jimmy Carter in the election of 1980. Reagan, and then later George H. W. Bush cemented Law and Order as a successful Republican strategy.

In the 1988 election between Bush and Democratic candidate Micheal Dukakis, the racist undertones of the Law and Order rhetoric became starkly clear. Bush’s campaign ran the notorious Willie Horton ad. The ad compared Dukakis and Bush’s differing views on crime. It stated that Bush supported the death penalty, while Dukakis not only opposed the death penalty, but allowed convicted murderers to have weekend prison passes.

Then, the mugshot of convicted felon Willie Horton, a Black man, was displayed on the screen as the narrator explained that Horton kidnapped a couple, stabbing the man and raping the woman, while using a prison pass.

Although the ad did not explicitly mention the race of the murdered couple, Horton’s mugshot made his race clear to viewers. The ad used the racist trope of a Black man raping a white woman to evoke racial fear in white voters.

However, Bush was not the first candidate to use racial messaging to popularize his campaign.

“That racialization piece is something that’s been going on for a very long time. And so for many of these white voters in the suburbs in ‘66 and ‘68 they felt threatened by this rising Black militancy that was in their minds hand in hand with the rise in crime rates that were happening around them [...] There wasn’t really a need for somebody like Nixon to spell it out… because the white suburban voters in the 1960s knew exactly what he was talking about,” Glossenger said.

After losing in 1980, 1984 and 1988, Democrats fully embraced the Law and Order strategy. Bill Clinton was able to win the 1992 election running as a tough-on-crime Democrat. During his presidency, he signed the 1994 Crime Bill into law, which was heavily supported by Biden, allowing states to pass stricter criminal justice laws, such as mandatory minimums.

Beyond affecting the polls, Law and Order politics created policies that changed the lives of millions of Americans.

“Mass incarceration is an effect of having

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decades of Law and Order politics be a force at the forefront of the American electorate. Mass incarceration doesn’t really start to happen until both political parties converge on the issue. We start to see Democrats in the 70s, 80s and 90s leaning into the idea of hiring lots more police on the streets, building more prisons, [etc.] … when they start to agree it’s really where we see the rise of the carceral state in America,” Glossenger said.

The rise of mass incarceration in the US as a result of Law and Order politics caused the US prison population to balloon from roughly 200,000 in 1956 to 1,600,000 in 2010.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, although the US makes up only 5% of the world’s population, it houses 20% of the world’s incarcerated population.

The effects of the rise of the American carceral state have disproportionately affected Black Americans. According to the Sentencing Project: “In 2016, black Americans comprised 27% of all individuals arrested in the United States—double their share of the total population... What might appear at first to be a linkage between race and crime is in large part a function of concentrated urban poverty, which is far more common for African Americans than for other racial groups. This accounts for a substantial portion of African Americans’ increased likelihood of committing certain violent and property crimes. But while there is a higher black rate of involvement in certain crimes, white Americans overestimate the proportion of crime committed by blacks and Latinos, overlook the fact that communities of color are disproportionately victims of crime, and discount the prevalence of bias in the criminal justice system.”

A clear example of the disproportionate effect of Law and Order policies is the War on Drugs. Starting in 1971, Nixon began what he called “a war on drugs.” Reagan continued the War on Drugs with the implementation of zero tolerance policies. Bill Clinton carried on with the incarceration as prevention model, refusing to eliminate the disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentencing.

Although crack cocaine is just a different form of cocaine (powder cocaine mixed with water and baking soda), the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act stated that the distribution of only 5 grams of crack cocaine had a minimum federal prison sentence of 5 years while the distribution of 500g of powder cocaine carried the same sentence. Because crack cocaine is much cheaper than powder cocaine, it became popular in many low income areas. Media outlets began to report on the crack epidemic, showing only Black sellers and users. Although the majority of crack users are white, the American public began to view crack as a drug used mostly by Black people. For this reason, police officers overpoliced Black neighborhoods when looking for crack.

According to the ACLU “In 2003, whites constituted 7.8% and African Americans constituted more than 80% of the defendants sentenced under the harsh federal crack cocaine laws, despite the fact that more than

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66% of crack cocaine users in the United States are white or Hispanic.”

In 2016, President Trump updated the Law and Order rhetoric to fit new worries of the American electorate: unchecked immigration and ISIS. “In 2016 Trump was talking about immigration and ‘build that wall.’ That’s not something we always think of in the same vein as Law and Order, but in some ways he was expanding and sort of linking together Law and Order and immigration,” Reeves said.

However, because of the rise in protests and homicide rates, the 2020 election has returned to a more classic Law and Order rhetoric.

According to statistics released by the FBI “When data from the first six months of 2020 were compared with data from the first six months of 2019, the number The number of violent crimes per 1,000 persons ages 12 and older (blue) versus the % of Americans who believe crime has increased since last of rape offenses decreased 17.8%, year (red). Data from the US Bureau of Justice and PEW Research Center.

Americans tend to believe crime is increasing more than it is. and robbery offenses were [however] they’re not high, that’s the other down 7.1%. The number of murder and nonpiece of this is that many Americans think that negligent manslaughter offenses increased crime is really high and getting higher… even 14.8%, and aggravated assault offenses were up in years when it’s declining dramatically. There’s 4.6%.” this media interest in creating a narrative Both candidates have called for order. of rising crime. That kind of feeds this fear, Trump’s message is explicit. On August 30, 2020 and then politicians adopt and respond to,” he tweeted simply “LAW AND ORDER!!!”

Glossenger said.

Biden has said he does not support defunding Overall, Law and Order politics has been and the police, has condemned riots and his choice continues to be an important platform for both of Kamala Harris as a running mate supports Republicans and Democrats. The increased his ‘Law and Order with justice’ approach since strictness in the criminal justice system caused Harris is a former prosecutor.

by Law and Order has devastated millions of “Biden Harris can’t be too far to the left of Americans, leading to disproportionate arrest where the American electorate is on this issue, and sentencing rates for Black Americans. particularly now with crime rates rising again

A recent Pew Research study shows how countries outside of the United States view the U.S. on certain topics such as coronavirus handling, Trump, and racial injustice.

According to the study, “Across the 13 nations surveyed, a median of just 15% say the U.S. has done a good job of dealing with the outbreak.”

Is the United States still as admirable as it was before? Have countries outside the United States changed their perspective? Is the understanding of America more influenced by past alliances or the current news? The Globe acquired personal responses from residents of several of the countries included in the survey.

The government of the United States has helped Israel in terms of financial and military aid. One example of US interference in Israeli events could begin in 1978, with the peace accords at Camp David between Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. The United States was one of the earliest countries to recognize Israel as a sovereign state.

Many people in Israel were supportive of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel.

According to the Spring 2019 Global Attitudes Survey, 74% of Israelis (who were mostly Jewish) approved of Trump moving the embassy to Jerusalem.

“I know a lot of people who are not very educated about Donald Trump. They see that by the book, he is pro Israel. Then everything is great and everything is amazing and that we have to love him,” said Ella Benkemoun, a teenager from Jerusalem. “Even my dad, who is the farthest person from being racist or anything that Donald Trump is, says that at the end of the day - Donald Trump is supportive of Israel and is helping our country. But I would not want to get his help.”

According to the Israeli Foreign Policy Index done by the Miviztim Institute, Israelis rank the state of Israel-US relations at 8.05 out of 10.

Since 2015, the relations have increased in trust.

The study also states that 50% of Israelis want Donald Trump to be elected as US President, compared to 21% who support Joe Biden. In the mass of people who chose Donald Trump, 57% were Jews, while the other 11% were Arabs. Joe Biden was chosen more in the survey, among Arab citizens than Jews, with the leading amount being 41% Arab and 17% Jewish.

In a Pew Research study done to analyze the confidence in six of Trump’s policies, Israel stood out as being one of the only countries to approve of Trump’s policy, accounting for 55% in approval.

“I would summarize the debate into one word: pathetic. I saw some of the clips where Trump was criticizing Biden for wearing a mask and then in the end he was the one who got the coronavirus. It’s just very, very, funny.

My friend agreed that it was a joke and it was

pathetic. It was just funny to laugh at it. We may have problems in our country right now (Protests against the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu), but the least of our problems is Donald Trump,” said Benkemoun.

South Korea, on the other hand, has seen a large drop of confidence in the United States coronavirus response. In a Pew Research study released in September that surveyed adults in different countries, South Korea ranked the lowest for “..if the U.S. has done a good job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.”

South Korea stood at the lowest preference for the United States handling of coronavirus,As

I WOULD SUMMARIZE THE DEBATE INTO ONE WORD: PATHETIC... IT WAS JUST FUNNY TO LAUGH AT 20% of people in Spain who believed that the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S was handled well.

Mi-Hwan Lee, a South Korean resident previously perceived America positively, but since Trump became president, she has become disappointed in the U.S. She wondered how people were willing to elect a person like Trump into office.

But many Korean adults have a favorable view of the US. 59% of people surveyed, expressed positive views on the United States.

But confidence in Donald Trump was 17%.

In 2017, the confidence in Donald Trump doubled due to Trump’s policy to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about the country’s nuclear weapons program.

“The people want to have good relationships with North Korea. Some just support him because they are conservatives,” Hwan-Lee said.

71% of the people surveyed in Korea who view the U.S. as favorable have a right-wing ideological orientation, compared to the 43% of left-wing surveyors.

The ideological divide between the left and right-wing in Korea can also account for the influx of support towards Trump’s policies from

2017 to 2018.

There was a gradual decrease of favorability towards the U.S. in 2015, continuing into Trump’s presidency. In summary, the favorability towards the U.S. and the president decreased in Trump’s presidency.

Confidence in the United States’ response to the coronavirus outbreak was 66% very bad, compared to the 6% somewhat good.

“Korea did things around the nation. The government made sure to find the people who had COVID-19 and made sure they got treated and found the infected people. There was almost nobody who wasn’t wearing a mask. The whole country did a great job,” Hwan-Lee said.

Germany’s near recession and fallout in 2019 is an increasing factor to the discontent towards Trump’s tariff increase. According to a Pew Research study done, 85% of Germans disapprove of the U.S.’s implementation of increased tariffs on imported goods.

The car industry, one of Germany’s largest exports, was impacted greatly by the tariffs implemented.

However, young people in Germany are more likely to see the United States in a positive light.

Two Global Attitudes tests show the increasing favorable view of the U.S. In 2018, only 24% of young people stated that their relationship with the U.S. was good. From 2018 to 2019, however, the percentage of people who stated their relationship with the U.S. as good had gone up to 34%.

Germany and the U.S.’s militaries are highly connected. Recently, Trump finalized the plan with the Pentagon to bring back over 11,000 troops stationed in Germany. One might concur that the German people were unhappy with this decision. But, according to a survey done by the research institute YouGov, 47% of surveyors said they were “in support of reducing the numbers of U.S. soldiers in Germany”.

Confidence in Trump is common among the right-wing parties in Germany A survey done

by PEW Research in 2020 found that 34% of The Alternative for Germany (AFD) supporters have confidence in Trump, compared to the 5% who do not support the AFD and have confidence in Trump.

Aside from the support of right-wing parties, Germany gave some of the worst ratings in the PEW survey. Only 26% of surveyors have a positive view of the United States, while just 10% have confidence in Trump.

Views of Trump and the United States itself have changed drastically. As the favorability during the Obama presidency was at a high of 90% in 2009. Comparing that to the highest of 13% favorability towards Trump in 2019, It is safe to assume that many people in Germany no longer hold confidence in the U.S. president.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

A MORE PERFECT UNION

The case for a parliamentary democracy

Wikimedia Commons

The E.U. Parliament in Strasbourg

P

olitical polarization. Low voter turnout.

Partisan gridlock. While they get less attention than topics like immigration or climate change, these problems paralyze our political process, making the resolution of other issues almost impossible.

One cannot deny that these problems exist. Compared to countries like Israel or New Zealand, where three quarters of the eligible population vote, voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections has remained at around 60% for the past century. Political polarization and gridlock are similarly serious issues, albeit much more recent ones.

In 2014, the Pew Research Center found that Democrats and Republicans were “more divided along ideological lines … than at any point in the last two decades.” It is also clear that political gridlock (an inability to pass laws) has increased in recent years. Data from the website GovTrack shows that between 1981 and 1991, an average of 663 laws were enacted each year. Over the past decade, the average was little over half that number.

It would be wise to consider how a switch to a different system of government might alleviate some of these problems. Currently, the United States, along with much of South America, Africa and Central Asia, is a presidential republic. This means that the government’s executive branch is not part of the legislature, but is instead elected separately by the people.

While this system of checks and balances ensures that neither branch of government becomes too powerful, it also creates gridlock

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when the presidency and the legislature are controlled by different parties. This was the case during the last six years of Barack Obama’s administration, and for the past two years of Donald Trump’s.

The peculiarities of the American presidential system also pose their own challenges.

Presidential candidates are chosen in primary elections. Voter turnout at these elections is low, and as a result presidential candidates are chosen by only the most zealous and committed members of their parties. This results in a general election between two candidates whose views are much more extreme than those of the median voter. Additionally, the national character of these elections makes it impossible for small third-parties or regional parties to gain any ground.

However, in addition to the American approach, another option exists: the parliamentary system. Parliamentary democracies are the norm in most of Europe, as well as in Japan, Australia and Canada.

In a parliamentary system, the executive branch of the government is chosen by the legislature. This would be as if the Speaker of the House or the Senate majority leader in the U.S. also had the powers of the president, but would lose them when their party lost control of Congress.

The adoption of such a system would reduce legislative gridlock, as there would never be a situation in which the presidency and Congress were controlled by different parties. As it allows for smaller parties to form coalitions and

share power with large ones, a parliamentary system also provides individual voters with the freedom to choose between many different ideas.

As an example, the U.K.’s parliamentary system allows voters to choose between three major parties (the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat parties), several smaller, regional parties (like the Scottish National Party) and a few parties dedicated to particular issues. This is in contrast to the American system, where voters have only two options to choose from. It is perhaps because of this abundance of options that parliamentary democracies without a directly elected president have levels of voter turnout on average 7% higher than those that do.

Many Americans might be squeamish about altering a system of government that has served them well for over two centuries, and it certainly seems unlikely that a new U.S. parliament will be convening any time soon.

But to solve a problem (be it low voter turnout, political polarization or anything else), one must first recognize that it exists. Only then should possible solutions be taken into account, feasible or not.

By considering a parliamentary system, the United States would not only act to address its political difficulties, but would show that it has the humility to accept its mistakes and learn from them. That would be an achievement in itself.

luka bassnett PAGE EDITOR

THE POLITICIZATION OF SCIENCE Disha Chatterjee examines the harmful implications of viewing evidence-based research through a partisan lens.

Dr. Fauci testifies before a House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on a national plan to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 31, 2020.

KEVIN DIETSCH /ABACA PRESS

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s the 2020 election draws near, there has been heated discussion between the two candidates about some of the biggest issues facing our country: namely, coronavirus and the climate crisis, and it seems that the responses vary widely from two candidates on opposite ends of the political spectrum.

The basis of these problems are rooted in science. Questions like “is climate change real?” and “are masks effective?” have answers backed by both qualitative and quantitative evidence.

When it comes to climate change, NASA states that, “Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree*: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities.” They further go on to show resources from several reputable sources, organizations and government agencies offering evidence which backs the threat of global warming as a legitimate concern.

Mayo Clinic explains how various masks work to assist in slowing the spread of COVID-19. N95 masks filter out particles of all sizes, even blocking 95% of very small particles.

Cloth face coverings “trap droplets released that are released when the wearer talks, coughs or sneezes.” Mayo Clinic further goes on to state, “Countries that required face masks, testing, isolation and social distancing early in the pandemic have successfully slowed the spread of the virus.”

However, citizens seem split on these issues based on their ideology. According to Pew Research, 71% of Democrats believe that climate change is due to human activity, whereas only 27% of Republicans believe the same. Even when findings backed by various research studies support human activity as a contributor to climate change, party affiliation seems to play a role in whether or not citizens believe them.

Additionally, Pew Research states that Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are twice as likely as their Republican counterparts to support wearing masks most of the time or all of the time.

Protests over mask mandates have sprung up across the country, and several encounters of “anti-maskers” clashing against those who impose mask rules, sometimes violently, are frequently reported. Scientific evidence seems to crumble when viewed through a partisan lens.

Increasingly, objective facts are interpreted subjectively based on political ideology.

While focusing on the bias in reporting and media seems to be a primary focus for many Americans, they often fail to focus on the bias in their own interpretations.

Social media is a main contributor to the politicized atmosphere we live in today, and impacts political discourse significantly. A 2016 Pew Research survey showed that 62% of adults received their news through social media, but the more social media is used for

news, the more politicized its audience tends to become. The way platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are structured leads to social media acting as an echo chamber. Users receive more and more content that affirms their views the more they engage with said content. Like millions of Americans, I am not immune to bias - even my Explore page on Instagram is filled with content from those who fall on the same side of the political spectrum. Social media also makes it easy for the objective truth to be distorted, making the spread of disinformation easier than in the past.

Science and politics have become extremely intertwined, and today’s heavy social media use is certainly one reason. As famous American commentator Ben Shapiro loves to say, “facts don’t care about your feelings”-- and it seems feelings don’t care about facts either.

Rather than thinking of climate change and coronavirus as topics for debate, we should instead turn to research, studies and reputable sources to form our opinions on the legitimacy of mask-wearing and global warming. It’s up to us to confront our biases when faced with objective evidence, and form our opinions on scientific issues through scientific evidence.

disha chatterjee

OPINION SECTION EDITOR OPINION 33

SOCIALISM IN AMERICAN POLITICS What place do socialist ideas hold in American society?

Red flag socialism/ Wikimedia Commons

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specter is haunting America. The specter of socialism.

As an idea, socialism is difficult to pin down. Ask people from different walks of life for their definition, and you’re bound to get very different answers.

From its origins in the 19th century to the establishment of a multitude of socialist nations during the 20th century, the United States has always defined itself as opposed to the leftist ideology. America was founded on capitalism, and has seen it as its duty to defend any threats to this system. But in the 21st century, should socialism still be seen as a threat?

When terms like socialism, populism, democratic socialism and progressivism are thrown around, it can often lead to great confusion. Furthermore, even as socialism’s reputation has been rehabilitated, the closely intertwined ideas of communism remain unpopular in the States. For the sake of simplicity, socialism will be used as an umbrella term, appropriate to its multifaceted role in politics.

Socialism has never truly cemented itself domestically in the United States. Its biggest platform was during the presidential elections of 1912, when 6% of the vote went to a candidate on the Socialist Party ticket. It was shortly after this election that the the first Red Scare, a period of intensified fear mongering against leftist ideas, swept the nation. A culture developed that would prevent socialism from finding a foothold in the political landscape.

“One of the things I teach about American

OPINION 34

political culture is this emphasis on individualism.” said Kathryn Lyons, the U.S. Government and AP Comparative Government teacher at Clayton High School.

“Individual rights, and also the individual’s responsibility to take care of yourself and pull yourself by your bootstraps. This idea of individualism often doesn’t connect with this idea of collectivism, where as a society we have to come together to help each other”.

She adds that, “Going back to our origins, the government’s involvement in the economy really came down to protection of property rights, and that was about it.”

The U.S. government also instilled a general fear of socialism in the public in an effort to combat communist influence, conflating the two together both intentionally and by extension. While America fought wars and staged coups to mitigate the spread of communism, the country used a variety of techniques to achieve the same goal at home.

Senator Joseph McCarthy’s habit of accusing other public figures of being communists and socialists led to the coining of the term McCarthyism, which is a process where unfounded sensational political accusations are thrown at others as a method of ruining them. The FBI also carried out attacks against organizations they deemed threats, most of which were socialist in nature. Known as COINTELPRO, operations could range from invented news fed to the media to assassinations of leading figures.

Now, socialism commands a fraction of

the international power it used to hold. The communist movement that seemed primed for world domination came to an abrupt stop in the early 90’s, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. Only 5 nations still hold the moniker of socialist, with China being the most prominent. However, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) does not pursue ideological conflict on the same scale that the former U.S.S.R once did, leaving socialism a mere shadow of its former global influence.

Why then does socialism never seem to leave the American zeitgeist? Politicians, Republicans in particular, have continued to treat socialism as a leading threat to our country. At the first presidential debate, President Trump accused Biden of entertaining socialist ideas regarding healthcare and climate change. He even told Biden he had “lost the radical left” when the Democratic nominee denied these claims.

This is not the first time Trump has slammed socialist ideas. The president once said America “will never be a socialist country” during a rally, and similar assertions are made in his email newsletter on a daily basis.

Looking at trends in American politics, these comments have not come out of nowhere. In recent years, the Democratic party has been home to more left leaning elected officials, some becoming household names. Bernie Sanders is one such official. Although almost 80 years old, the independent Vermont senator gained national attention when he came in second for the Democratic presidential nominee in both 2016 and 2020. Sanders is

a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, and a longtime proponent of policies such as Medicare for All. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, became the youngest woman to be elected to Congress in 2018 and has quickly risen to prominence. She is a member of the Squad, which includes congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib, a group of influential progressives known for penning the Green New Deal. A shift to the left can even be seen right here in St Louis, when Cori Bush unexpectedly defeated the more moderate incumbent Lacy Clay in this year’s Democratic primary for Missouri’s 1st congressional district.

The rise in politicians who are not afraid of the stigma of socialism has also been accompanied by a rise in its popularity.

A Gallup poll found that in 2019, 39% of Americans had a positive view of socialism, including nearly 50% for millenials and members of Gen Z according to a Gallup poll.

40% of Americans said they would prefer a socialist system to a capitalist one. 44% of Americans said they have a favorable view of capitalism, as opposed to 52% in 2015.

While 29% of Americans said they would be comfortable voting for a socialist candidate, the number was as high as 70% for millennials.

Trends show that socialism is substantially more popular among younger generations.

Millennials were born at the tail end of the Cold War, so the great stigma surrounding socialism would have been greatly diminished when they were growing up.

More important, however, is the multitude of pressing issues facing us as a society. Many millennials felt abandoned by the system after the 2008 financial crisis, and our country’s economic woes have not been alleviated since then. Wealth inequality is at an all time high.

In the last 30 years, wealth has increased for the top 10%, while wealth has been cut in half for the bottom 50%. 52% of young adults live with their parents, more than during the Great Depression.

Societal issues are just as prevalent.

Discussions on racial injustice and discrimination have only intensified, especially as the United States continues to become more diverse. The discussion of treatment of individuals based on gender and sexuality has also expanded significantly in the last decade.

Meanwhile, the threat of climate change continues to loom, perhaps the most universal and pressing issue of them all. It provides a countdown to the possible end of human civilization as we know it.

When society faces large issues, it tends to turn towards the government and form a collectivist mindset, a mindset that suits socialism. Politicians that represent this viewpoint, such as the ones mentioned prior, have been gaining more success for this very reason. It is no surprise that the generations that are bound to be most affected by problems that only seem to become worse are more socialist than others. Some question if these issues will properly be addressed by the powers that be.

“I started out as a left-leaning democrat.

Then I began reading a lot of work by Black and Indigenous radical authors, and thinking about who my ideology really benefits. My belief really benefited the corporate structure, which is the root of the problem and needs to be addressed,” said a CHS student who wishes to remain anonymous, “I am a socialist because I believe in achieving equality and people being able to have a decent life.”

The younger, more socialist generations have been the ones leading the recent waves of protests. 70% of Gen Z and 64% of millennials say the government should do more to solve our problems, but many are willing to take matters into their own hands. A large part of the increase in activism has to do with the advances in technology. People are confronted with a 24/7 news cycle, where the inadequacies present in American society are on full display.

Technology has also made it easier to organize and spread messages.

“

I started out as a left-leaning democrat. Then I began reading a lot of work by Black and Indigenous radical authors, and thinking about who my ideology really benefits. My belief really benefited the corporate structure, which is the root of the problem and needs to be addressed.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been one of the most substantial movements in recent years, especially 2020. Climate change protests have reached a global platform.

Both address problems - police brutality and environmental negligence, respectively - that are deeply entrenched in how this country operates. Both are led primarily by young adults.

Although socialism has never been very successful in national politics, it has always

risen in reaction to the tides of destructive and exclusionary ideas. During the Civil Rights movement, leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party were self avowed socialists. Many anti-war protests from Vietnam to Iraq have been socialist-led.

Socialism has played an important role in labor, Indigenous, and feminist movements.

Yet much of the Red Scare propaganda leveled against socialism lasts until today.

The president is one of the offenders of its perpetuation.

“The president has the ability to control the narrative of what socialism is, when the media is so closely following one person and what they say controls the message on that specific topic,” said Lyons. The leader of the free world has spoken against the Black Lives Matter movement, called protestors “thugs” and refused to condemn white supremacists at the first presidential debate. Trump has fanned the flames of fear surrounding the Antifa movement, which has a large socialist element, and also targeted China as a top opponent through trade wars and rhetoric. He lumps all his opponents into one nebulous leftist bubble that he can mold as he sees fit. Times may have changed, but scare tactics have not.

“We are made to feel that capitalism is our only option, and we need to make the most out of our misery, but it’s actually the opposite of that”, the student said. “All the possibilities in the world exist outside of capitalism.”

This has led many socialists to wonder if it is even capable of change.

“A colonial institution can never be held accountable because its very existence is violent. I think people are realizing that our current system has no morality to appeal to,” said the CHS student. “A state conceived through genocide and slavery cannot change its nature without undergoing a revolution.”

The more radical elements of socialism are certainly not mainstream, but with the continual polarization of politics and the rise of more right wing elements, it remains to be seen how things will play out.

“Traditionally people have been able to compromise to pass policies.” said Lyons “We are not necessarily in traditional times.

More recently, polarization has been driving policymakers apart and they are less likely to work together to get things done. We see evidence of this in the stalling of the current aid package in Congress.”

If one thing is true about socialism in American politics, it is that it is not monolithic, nor does it have a concrete form. It appears in many ways, through strikes, protests, and increasingly, through the ballot. Sometimes it comes with reform, as is more common here, and sometimes revolution. The common thread is a desire for equality, and a desire for change.

Time will tell if socialism will find its own place within American politics.

isaac millians

REPORTER OPINION 35

NOTORIOUS NADIN Ruby Nadin is a dominate force on the CHS Field Hockey team, helping to improve their record.

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nlike most of the players on the CHS Field Hockey team, Ruby Nadin, a sophomore at CHS, started her field hockey career in England.

Nadin was born in England and lived there until she was almost ten years old. At the private school she attended, it was mandatory to play field hockey. Nadin’s introduction to field hockey was only six weeks before she moved to the US. At the start of these six weeks, Nadin began with a week-long camp before the start of the school year to get to know the sport. It was at this camp that Nadin realized she had a natural ability and love for field hockey.

After her six week introduction to field hockey, Nadin moved to the US and decided to continue playing. She joined Aim Field Hockey Club.

“It was definitely a bit challenging when I

started because the girls who were playing here had already been playing for a while and it’s pretty intimidating to start with people who are already really good,” Nadin said.

Despite Nadin’s initial discomfort, she quickly made friends at Aim and became much more comfortable with the team and the sport.

After years of playing with the same club, Nadin currently plays at a very high level.

Nadin is only a sophomore, but even still, she plays on a U19 team with girls several years older than her and plays year-round, even in the winter. Nadin’s club team does a lot of traveling throughout the year to play teams from all across the country. Three of their most popular destinations are Orlando, Miami and Louisville because they each hold annual field hockey festivals.

When Nadin isn’t playing for her club team, she plays for the CHS Field Hockey team.

“Club is definitely a lot more intense than high school because most of the girls have been playing for just as long as I have or even longer. Also, most of the girls there are trying to commit to colleges so it’s very intense and very competitive. Not everyone in high school has been playing for as long as I have and not everyone here wants to go to college so it feels more like just a fun thing to do. So yeah, at Aim, I’m definitely not one of the better players because there are so many amazing girls whereas at school, I am one of the better players on the team,” Nadin said.

On the CHS team, Nadin is the top goal scorer and is one of the most important aspects of the team. Coming in as a freshman on Varsity, it was difficult for Nadin to adapt quickly.

“Last year was a lot to manage. I felt a bit out of place because I was a freshman and had been

Nadin dribbles the ball past St. Dominic defenders

SOPHIA KLEIN | PHOTOGRAPHER

cece cohen & kaia mills-lee

SPORTS SECTION EDITORS

SPORTS 36

“ THERE’S DEFINITELY A LOT OF PRESSURE TO PERFORM WELL. I ALWAYS THINK ABOUT HOW THERE’S MORE I CAN DO BETTER.”

Nadin dribbles the ball past Lindbergh defenders

SOPHIA KLEIN | PHOTOGRAPHER

playing for so long, and on top of that I was on varsity. So I did feel like I was in a bad place but this year I definitely feel a lot better because I’ve been here for a year and I know everyone on the team,” Nadin said.

Nadin’s sophomore year was a huge turnaround compared to her freshman year as she felt much more comfortable and confident.

Even as an underclassmen, a lot of the older members on the team look up to her.

“Ruby is always able to dribble past the defenders on the other team. It’s amazing because the ball could be in our defending 25 and Ruby is able to dribble it past four defenders and score,” senior Emma Reim said.

Abby Sucher, a junior also said, “She’s a big inspiration to the entire team because she’s a super reliable player and you always know that she’s going to be open and be able to carry the ball up the field and do what needs to be done.”

Despite Nadin’s impressive skill, it can still be mentally taxing to have the reputation she does.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure to perform well. I always think about how there’s more I can do better. In games where I don’t score a lot, I get upset because I know I could have taken missed opportunities and done better.

Aim, so when I found out she was coaching Clayton I was really excited to be coached by her again,” Nadin said.

Coach Lindblad was one of the people that helped Nadin to come out of her shell during her sophomore year and become such an important part of the team, changing the overall dynamic.

Before Nadin came to CHS, the field hockey team was only winning about four games per season. However, this year, with Nadin really taking initiative, their record was 8-3. Nadin is a prime example of how one member, even as an underclassmen, can have a considerable influence, not only improving the record but also the overall morale of the team.

I just want to be able to prove myself and pull through for everyone,” Nadin said.

Nadin credits most of her development to Lexi Lindblad, her club coach for her first couple years and the CHS Field Hockey head coach.

“I’ve been coached by Lexi for about five years total. She was one of the first coaches I really connected with at Aim when I first moved from England.

She coached me from U12 to U14 and she’s coaching me again now.

I thought she always knew how to motivate everyone and get them excited Nadin dribbles the ball past Webster defenders to play. I really enjoyed AUDREY DEUTSCH | PHOTOGRAPHER having her as my coach at

SPORTS 37

HUBIE HALLOWEEN Is Netflix’s popular new Adam Sandler movie worth a watch?

Hubie Halloween official movie poster

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lthough just recently released on October 7th, Netflix Original Hubie Halloween has already achieved great success on Netflix. As of October 18th, the American comedy/horror film was listed as “#2” in the top ten trending chart on Netflix. With characters played by well-known actors and actresses such as Adam Sandler (as Hubie), Noah Schnapp, Peyton List, Julie Bowen, Maya Rudolph, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, and more, the movie targets a wide variety of ages and audiences.

Hubie Halloween is set in Salem, Massachusetts and follows community volunteer, Hubie Debois, on his mission to protect the townspeople on Halloween night.

People mysteriously begin to go missing and it’s Hubie’s job to uncover what is going on.

Hubie is often the target of constant pranks and ridicule by everyone in the town of Salem.

No one ever believes his warnings or takes him seriously, not even the sheriff. He’s deemed as a loser by everyone in town, except for one woman, Violet Valentine. Of course there is never any doubt that Hubie will save the day, get the girl, and become a hero despite being an underdog (it is a Sandler movie after all).

While watching, viewers can expect to see a new famous actor or actress in almost every scene. Many current/former Saturday Night Live actors were also used in Hubie Halloween

as well as Disney child actors including Peyton List, Paris Berelc, Bradley Steven Perry, China AnneMcClain, and Karan Brar. Karan Brar plays Mike Mundi, a high-school mean kid who likes to cause trouble. Initially, Cameron Boyce was supposed to play Mike, but unexpectedly passed away in July of 2019. When Cameron passed, his best friend and former co-star Karan Brar took his part in Hubie Halloween.

The two became extremely close friends when they played brothers on the Disney television show, Jessie. The whole movie is in memory of Cameron, a talented actor who was lost too soon.

Hidden behind the classic comedic moments which never fail to exist in an Adam Sandler movie, a heartwarming message shines through. Although his gullibility and lack of intelligence are what one may describe Hubie’s character as while watching, to his core, he is a loving character with a true desire to keep his town safe. Aside from the fact that he is constantly dodging eggs being thrown at him, falling for pranks, and being name-called by both the kids and adults of Salem, Hubie continues to do everything in his power to keep his community out of danger. After watching the movie, viewers should walk away with a message of kindness, standing up for others, and the importance of self-love.

Although Hubie Halloween had a star

studded cast, the movie as a whole was fairly mediocre. Most likely done for a comedic effect, Sandler portrayed his character Hubie as having a very slurred voice. However, over the course of the move, this became a bit annoying and at times difficult to understand. Hubie was also portrayed as incredibly stupid and oblivious of his neighbors hatred for him. This led to several idiotic bathroom jokes and other attempts at comedy that were overall a miss. However, Hubie Halloween did have many jokes that warranted a chuckle and did not cause an automatic eye roll. Also, it was very pleasing to see several familiar faces of all ages and film backgrounds pop up throughout the movie.

Netflix did a great job of filming this movie and ensuring the filming location of Massachusetts radiated a spooky autumn vibe.

Overall, Hubie Halloween was filled with hit or miss jokes and annoying moments ranging from Sandler’s voice to the confusing plot.

However, the movie was entertaining to watch and is a great way to celebrate Halloween for those who don’t enjoy scary movies. We recommend this movie because it did have some funny moments and it is filled with a heartwarming love yourself message we all need to hear during this time. Happy Halloween!

jenna bush, kate freedman & moriah lotsoff REVIEW 38

REPORTER, REVIEW SECTION EDITORS

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

Ana Mitreva reviews one of Netflix’s most popular new documentaries.

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ocial media has monopolized people’s attention at an unprecedented rate.

It has dominated so fast that the sites being used are younger than most of the billions of daily users. Consequently, the effects of social media are yet to be confronted and solved. And in the day and age of COVID-19, it’s almost impossible not to spend time on social networks, which makes “The Social Dilemma,” a documentary about the problems caused by social media, ever so timely. From the very first frame on the dark screen stating the quote, “Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse,” accompanied by eerie instrumental music, the documentary immediately sets its doomsday mood.

One of the ways the documentary shows the negative effects of social media is through a fictional family of five: teenagers Ben and Isla, older sister Cas (who doesn’t use social media), and their two parents. Through this family, we are able to see negative effects of social media including political polarization, cyberbullying and addiction. While this portion of the documentary gives real life negative effects of social media, some of the situations seem rushed or too unrealistic. An example was a dramatization of Isla, the phone enslaved teen, breaking into a timed safe with a pair of kitchen tongs to get her phone because she can’t possibly spend one dinner without it.

Even though this dramatization is extreme, the problem still exists.

CHS student Sophia Pelligreen makes the connection many people face with screens

disrupting family time: “Everyone is on their phones and we get ‘distracted.’ We still spend time together, just not as much.” A similar connection is made between time spent with friends, a topic that is also brushed upon in the documentary. “When I hang out with friends I always see them on social media.” This is a reality we’ve become accustomed to that would’ve been considered absurd less than a lifetime ago.

On top of the anti-social media advocates, the documentary also includes snippets of interviews with several people involved in the creation of popular social media sites. These snippets help to form the larger story behind the causes of the negative impacts of social media. It also gives the documentary a powerful wide range of voices. Every single creator is shown to recognize major problems of social media: countlessly repeating the phrases, “we weren’t expecting this’’ or “there was never any malicious intent.” Some of these creators claim their kids don’t use social media because it’s banned under their roof.

The documentary introduces the viewer to the idea of an algorithm. After explaining the technicalities, the algorithm becomes represented by an evil trio monitoring and changing Ben’s social media feed to gain the most monetization, engagement and growth.

This representation makes the algorithm more understandable and dramatic as well as giving the algorithm an evil face. This section is very insightful and ironic considering this documentary was probably recommended to most people by the Netflix algorithm.

CHS sophomore Trey Perlut said what many think while learning about the algorithm: “I was aware of it, but I wasn’t aware how much it impacted people.’’

Throughout the documentary, psychological explanations are provided to explain the programming of social media sites. Through some of these explanations, the viewer is able to form their own explanation for their social media habits.

While explaining the problem of political polarization caused by social media. Justin Rosenstein, the coinventor of the Facebook ‘like button,’ puts it simply: “And then you look over at the other side, and you start to think, ‘how can those people be so stupid?...How are they not seeing that same information,’ and the answer is, ‘they’re not seeing that same information.”

The documentary also confronts the criticism that we’ll adapt to social media like we’ve adapted to every new invention affecting the general population. It explains that we’ve evolved from tool-based technology to addiction-and-manipulation-based technology.

Social media technology is advancing exponentially -- something that has never happened before.

The direct correlation between teenage mental health issues and social media use is also brought to light, even though the only teens shown to be interviewed are on the screen for only a few seconds addressing their screentime.

But on the topic of teen representation, CHS student Trey Perlut said in a positive light, “I think they represented teens very well.” Even though the struggles faced by teens aren’t shown through interviews, they are well supported through the fictional family subplot, as well as by the statistics provided.

Sophia Pelligreen also expresses the additional social complications that occur in teens when depending on communicating emotions through social media: “You can share your feelings over texting and your wording could come out wrong.”

Personally, the documentary helped me identify some of my own social media habits, and made me think about the negative effects they have on my life. From someone that uses social media almost everyday, this documentary was eye-opening on issues I was familiar with, but hadn’t taken enough time to truly acknowledge.

Throughout the documentary, “The Social Dilemma” doesn’t sugarcoat the negative effects of social media. In addition to the continuously-playing eerie music, “The Social Dilemma” explains the negative causes and effects in a simple, impactful and memorable way.

ana mitreva

PAGE EDITOR REVIEW 39

BB.Q CHICKEN Reporter Rachel Chung reviews BB.Q Chicken, a fried chicken joint based in South Korea flavor. This does not necessarily mean not to sing their praises, however. The chicken had a delicate and an almost caramelized crunch, usual for most sauced Korean Fried Chicken.

The chicken didn’t have too much of a heady garlic taste either, having a light covering of the addicting sauce that pairs heavenly with some cubes of pickled radish. I would advise some altoids, however, if you have to meet someone after eating this.

From left to right and top to bottom: Cheesling, Gangjeong, Honey Garlic, Galbi

RACHEL CHUNG, PHOTOGRAPHER

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he BB.Q Chicken chain, despite the name, serves Korean fried chicken.

Short for “Best of the Best Quality”, BB.Q recently landed a spot in O’Fallon, Illinois. Korean fried chicken has found a boom in recent years, with both Chicago and Kansas City gaining a Bonchon Chicken restaurant.

However, St. Louis had yet to truly join into the Korean Fried Chicken fun except for a couple sparse mom-and-pop places such as O Wing Plus. When my family heard that a famous Korean fried chicken place was opening, we took a pilgrimage over to O’Fallon to check it out.

When you walk in, you first see a clean blend of white subway tile, black counters, and blue and red accents. The menus are up on tvs above the counter, and there’s a delicious smell of fried chicken. Currently, the tables and chairs are away, and you have to eat in your car or the small table in the front, but I assume in regular times, there will be plenty of space with a side room tucked in the front. Besides chicken, BB.Q also serves different Korean sides, like ddukbokki, rice cakes in spicy sauce, and dumplings.

Per my mom’s advice, Korean Fried Chicken is best eaten bland, then sauced as to not cloud the flavor of the plain chicken. Pickled radish (every order automatically comes with a small container of some) is also strongly advised to

REVIEW 40

cut through the sauciness of the chicken, and for the older readers, beer, for the legendary “chimaek” (chicken and “maekju”, or beer) pairing.

GOLDEN ORIGINAL CHICKEN: Coming in a vented box so the chicken doesn’t get soggy and sitting on a bed of paper, the Golden Original Chicken was deliciously crunchy. The texture reminded me of calamari with it’s hefty fried outside shell. In terms of breading, it was closer to Popeye’s chicken breading than KFC. The Golden Original Chicken also had much less grease than American fried chicken places, which was nice but also led to a drier and harder fried outer shell. With no true flavor to it but chicken and salt, I soon became tired of eating it. The crunch was a welcome change in texture at first, but after a while, the fatigue in my jaws led me to other chicken flavors.

HONEY GARLIC/SOY GARLIC: My family and I visited BB.Q twice, once getting the Honey Garlic, Soy Garlic, Golden Original Chicken, and Secret Spicy Chicken tenders, and another time getting the Honey Garlic, Galbi, Gangjeong, and Cheesling chicken tenders. After the first time, we realized that the Honey garlic and Soy garlic were similar in texture and flavor, albeit the Honey Garlic having a more prominent honey

CHEESLING: Korean culture loves cheese (no pun intended), and tends to add it to things you would never think of. Some of the cheeseadding inventions are delicious staples, such as adding some cheese to buldak (super spicy instant noodles), while some of them land in the more dubious food pairings, like american cheese on ddukbokki. The Cheesling chicken, in my opinion, falls on the more dubious end of the spectrum, but my mom liked it.

Covered with a dusting of cheese and herbs, the Cheesling chicken delivered just as much crunch as the Golden Original with more flavor. The dusting of cheese threw me off, however, and it is probably good to note that I am not a particular fan of cheese. Overall, the Cheesling is entirely valid and delicious, but I just do not enjoy it.

GANGJEONG: The Gangjeong chicken was a great example of Korean-Chinese fusion. The chicken was on the saucier side, with sliced red and green peppers mixed throughout, and the flavor was reminiscent of General Tso’s chicken. Due to it’s sauciness, the crunch is lost a little faster and made soggy, so make sure you eat it hot.

GALBI: By far, the Galbi flavor was the most interesting fried chicken from BB.Q. Sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallions, the Galbi chicken imitated true galbi (korean marinated beef ribs) in the strangest ways, with a flavor that was almost smoky with notes of beef (yes, beef). This resulted in a very unfortunate galbi beef jerky taste, which was extremely odd coming from fried chicken.

In conclusion, BB.Q has a wide array of different chicken. My personal favorites were the honey garlic/soy garlic, but the golden original chicken is a solid choice for some simple fried chicken. Whether you’re going over to O’Fallon, Illinois, for some apple picking or family, I recommend a stop at BB.Q Chicken.

rachel chung

REPORTER

PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE REVIEW Cecilia Dupor reviews pumpkin spice lattes from cafes across the St. Louis area

STARBUCKS

Waking up on a fall morning and having to get up and go to school can be one of the hardest things. Luckily, we can find solace in the pumpkin spice lattes that many stores begin to sell as the cold sets in. The classic pumpkin spice latte that everyone knows can be found at Starbucks. It has become a cultural phenomenon and although it is not the first pumpkin coffee drink to be made available, it is certainly the most popular. The most prominent thing about this drink is the incredibly strong pumpkin spice taste. The taste, however, is not like an actual delicious pumpkin, it is more artificial. When I tried this drink, I had it iced with coconut milk. I could not finish my drink; it was so sweet, it made me feel sick. It tasted too artificial and overall was not a pleasant experience drinking it. The best thing about this drink was definitely the sprinkle of pumpkin spice on top of the whipped cream, which I think is anyone’s favorite part of a Starbucks drink.

DEER CREEK COFFEE

Pumpkin Spice Latte from Kaldi’s

CECILIA DUPOR, REPORTER

While I honestly have so much love for this business, this was my least favorite pumpkin spice latte I tried in the review. I got this drink iced with coconut milk. It was overly sweet and the coffee taste was so strong. It was difficult to say that there was any pumpkin in the drink. The flavor was mostly of the spice, as opposed to pumpkin, which is a valid preference but when I drink a pumpkin spice latte I prefer it to taste like it’s a cool fall morning and I’m drinking leftover thanksgiving pumpkin pie with my morning coffee. I found the drink overall repulsive because of the intense sweetness.

KALDI’S

Kaldi’s midmorning on a Saturday is crazy, especially with the coronavirus problem. Everyone wants their coffee and there are too many people to be inside the store. The line was almost going up to Captain Elementary. Once I finally got my drink after a ten-minute wait, I was highly disappointed. I got their “Baked Maple Pumpkin Latte” iced with oat milk and I found little seeds of some sort in my drink. I went again later that week and there was nothing like that in my drink. Although these didn’t bother me, I could tell they were edible and simply a mistake in production, $5.85 is a lot to spend on a drink where something went wrong. The flavor of the drink was fine. The pumpkin came through, but it did not have a strong coffee flavor. It was very different from the other drinks I tried because of the maple. I could not pinpoint maple as the flavor I was tasting, but I knew it wasn’t pumpkin or spices. I would recommend this to someone who dislikes the tastes of coffee but loves maple and pumpkin.

COMA

My first experience drinking coma coffee was a great one and I definitely plan on going back for another Pumpkin Latte or maybe a different coffee drink. The flavor of this latte was so perfect, there was the right amount of coffee and the right amount of pumpkin which made this easily my favorite. The description on the Coma Coffee website says it all, “Our pumpkin spice syrup is made with REAL pumpkin, clove, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and brown sugar.” The warm spices and pumpkin taste really reminded me of thanksgiving. It felt like such an expensive cup of coffee and it costs slightly less than the Kaldi’s coffee at $5.25.

cecilia dupor

REPORTER REVIEW 41

WORTH IT: TAKE-OUT EDITION During the pandemic, many restaurants were forced to resort to take-out only.

We try out different restaurants’ take out options at different price points.

AKAR ($$$)

T

he most expensive restaurant we tried was Akar. Located on Wydown Boulevard, it is nestled between a couple other stores and restaurants.

Ordering was extremely easy and user-friendly.

There was an online form to fill out detailing your order, payment information and contact information. Once filled out, Akar both texted and emailed to confirm our order, and notify us when the food was prepared.

We got the Spring Rolls ($9) and the Tempura Soft Shell Crab ($17). Our entire order was a little over $30 including tax and

REVIEW 42

tip. The smells emitted from both foods were tantalizing and mouth watering. We could not wait to dig into the meal.

The spring roll set came with three spring rolls (one pork, one shrimp, and one vegetarian) and a sweet and spicy dipping sauce. The spring rolls were set upon a bed of lettuce that was both a nice addition to eat as well a pleasing to the eye. We dipped the spring rolls into the dipping sauce and took our first bite.

The spring rolls immediately made a loud, crunchy sound as we bit into it. All the spring

rolls were savory, and the exteriors flaky and crispy. The umami flavor of the spring rolls paired beautifully with the sweetness of the sweet and spicy sauce, creating a melody of exquisite flavors. The pork spring roll, however, stood out more than the others-- the subtle natural pork flavors mixed with the extra spices added was divine.

After a satisfying first sample of Akar’s food, we moved on to the crab. Akar’s crab is raved about in their reviews, and is clearly a fan favorite. With these high expectations set up, we were eager to try this famed dish.

Although neither of us are huge fans of crab, we were pleasantly surprised with how delicious this was. The crab was lightly battered in a tempura mixture, giving it a crispy exterior.

The inside was tender, juicy and flavorful.

There was also another dipping sauce to accompany the crab which was spicy and garlicky. The sauce and the crab together was delectable. The crab was served with a mixture of corn, bell peppers and chili peppers, adding to the tropical taste of the dish. After eating all of the elements together, we definitely understood why this dish was raved about.

Our experience getting take-out from Akar was pleasant and easy. The food was inviting and packed full of flavors. The only downside was that the portion sizes were on the smaller side, but the quality of the ingredients and the immaculate flavor of the food more than made up for it. If you are looking to treat yourself or your loved ones with a fantastic meal, we definitely recommend checking out Akar.

BAO ($$) Next, we headed for the BAO to try out our second most pricey take out dish. This unique restaurant, which sits between a line of eateries in Central Avenue, blends Pan-Asian and western style ingredients together to create innovative flavors in their foods. Ordering the food was simple. On BAO’s website, we could easily navigate our way to the online menu where we could select meal items. BAO is named after its signature menu item, the bao burger, a fresh take on the traditional cheeseburger with bao buns for patties and a variety of filling options. We decided to order three little bao’s which are miniature, tapaslike versions of the original burger.

After several minutes of debating between all of the enticing fillings, we decided to go for an Impossible Bao ($5.99), a Char Siu Bao ($5.99), and a Fried Chicken Bao ($5.99). We filled in payment information and confirmed our order and then waited for the food to be ready.

When we drove to the restaurant to pick up the food, no one came outside to give it to us until we called the restaurant. However, these minor issues were quickly forgotten when we opened up the take-out box, which contained three, perfectly round little bao’s.

The presentation of the food was very neat and original-- we could not be more excited about trying the white, airy steamed buns sandwiching loads of filling with an amazing smell.

We decided to try the Impossible Bao first, which included an Impossible™ burger patty, arugula, a tomato slice and a piece of American cheese. Immediately after the first bite, our eyes lit up at how realistic the meat flavor and texture were in the patty-- in fact, it tasted just like a cheese burger with a fluffier bun. We quickly finished the delicious and intriguing burger and moved eagerly to the next one.

The Fried Chicken Bao burger, which contained a hefty piece of golden brown fried chicken, cabbage, bao sauce, and pickle slices, looked heavenly. We quickly dug in, tasting the delicious, juicy chicken encased in crispy fried bits marrying with the light sourness of the pickles and the creamy, tangy bao sauce. The flavors danced beautifully in our mouths and

TACO BUDDHA ($): WORTH IT WINNER For our least expensive meal, we went to Taco Buddha, located on the edge of Clayton and University City. Taco Buddha is a taqueria that focuses on giving a unique and exotic twist to all of their tacos. Like with the other restaurants, ordering was extremely simple and user friendly. Similar to Akar, when the food was ready, we were informed via text. To pick up, all we had to do was pull up to the curb in front of the restaurant, and a staff member asked for our name, and brought us our meal.

We didn’t have to step out even for a second.

We ordered three tacos from Taco Buddha: the New Mex-Hot Chicken taco ($5), the Veggie Saute taco ($4.75), and the New Mexico-Cajun Shrimp taco ($5.25). The three tacos shared between the two of us easily filled us up, so each meal came up to be about $10.

The aromas of the tacos were alluring, and we could not wait to dive in. We first started with the Veggie Saute taco. This taco was colorful and enticing. A fried avocado sat atop a bed of various summer vegetables, like squash, bell peppers, portabello mushrooms, and red onion.

This savory filling was wrapped in a soft corn tortilla. Biting into it, we were first blown away by the diverse textures in the taco. The softness of the avocado contrasted with the crunchy bell peppers and onion. Juxtaposed with the slight roughness and cheweyness of the corn tortilla, this combination was magnificent. The taco was topped with a grilled corn salsa, which took the flavor profile to the next level. We scoffed down this delicious taco, and eagerly moved on to the

next one.

The next taco we tried was the New MexHot Chicken taco. This taco came with a large piece of hot fried chicken with New Mexico chile, pimento cheese, buttermilk dressing, red onions, all wrapped up in a soft flour tortilla.

When we took a bite, the crunchy exterior of the fried chicken opened up to reveal tender, well seasoned meat. Paired with the rest of

the toppings, the taco was simply delicious-sharpness of the red onions and the chiles cutting the richness of the buttermilk dressing and pimento cheese, all while being tied together by the crunchy fried chicken. It also had a perfect level of heat: noticeable, yet not overwhelming. Out of all the tacos we tried, the New Mex-Hot Chicken taco was one of our favorites. Once we finished wolfing down this taco, we tried our final one, the New MexicoCajun Shrimp Taco.

Right off the bat, we knew this taco would

we couldn’t help but savor the rest.

Finally, we grabbed the Char Siu Bao filled with char siu pork, pickle slices and mayo. We were pleasantly surprised by how well the bao bun balanced the sweetness of the pork. We also enjoyed the blend of chewiness from the char siu and the crunchiness of the pickles in addition to the rich flavors of the mayo.

All in all, we were very satisfied with Bao’s take-out. The food was absolutely delicious, the presentation was very appealing and the meal was very filling. Our only concern was picking up the food itself, but the good price of the meal and the exquisite flavors of the food made the experience very worthwhile. If you’re ever craving fast food but want a more high-end, healthier alternative, you should definitely consider ordering from Bao!

taste delicious. The juicy pieces of red chili and Cajun-spiced shrimp covered in Baja special sauce and topped with romaine, vibrant grilled corn salsa, cotija, and cilantro all sitting on a flour tortilla looked extremely enticing. The very first taste was enough to blow our minds-the Baja special sauce tasted surprisingly different when mixed with the corn salsa and tender shrimp, and the combination of flavors tasted absolutely delicious. While we wanted to savor the divine taco, we could not stop biting into it, relishing in its savory and fresh taste. This taco surpassed our expectations and immediately became a top contender along with the New Mex-Hot Chicken taco on our “favorites” list. It was a mouthwateringly memorable way to conclude our Taco Buddha takeout experience.

We were extremely pleased with our experience at Taco Buddha. The customer service was exceptional, the tacos were filling and delicious, and the price was extremely reasonable. There were next to no drawbacks in our experience at Taco Buddha. If you are looking for an affordable place with great food, we would highly recommend checking out Taco Buddha.

We found Taco Buddha the most worth-it out of all the places we visited. The amazing food, accessibility, and hassle-free service all at a low cost is almost impossible to beat. However, all the places had excellent food, and we would recommend checking out all of them. Happy eating!

siddhi narayan & rachel liang

CHIEF DIGITAL EDITOR, PAGE EDITOR REVIEW 43

PRO: IN-PERSON LEARNING With cautionary measures in place, the time has finally come for students to reenter the classroom.

Northampton High School janitorial staff Nick Huber cleans desks and tables in classrooms with a disinfectant spray and by wiping down the desks manually in Northampton, Pennsylvania.

C

onsidering that Clayton High School plans to return to a form of in-person learning on Monday, November 9, there are many events happening around us that could prevent this plan. In Mid-October, our school planned to return to in-person learning by following a hybrid schedule with one half of all students in the morning, and the other half in the afternoon.

This decision comes as the whole United States has been reaching some of its highest spikes of coronavirus, surpassing the single-day record in July. On October 23, 2020, the United States reported more than 83,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Like other states in the Midwest, Missouri has been one of the states that has been reaching single day records within the range of 2,000 to 3,000 cases a day.

Learning virtually was something that many schools including the Clayton School District have been doing since Mid-March, which was when coronavirus first began surging in the U.S. Virtual learning has continued into the 2020-2021 school year, with one positive being that all students and teachers can stay safe.

However, while learning from home does have clear health implications, there is also a strong argument for returning students to the school building. And learning in person is something that many students hope to return to, regardless of the pandemic that has been surging across the country.

PRO/CON 44

AMY SHORTELL, ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL, TNS When learning in the building, one positive is that students will have easy ability to get help from teachers. Even though they can also get help during virtual office hours, it is easier for them to reach out to their teacher in person, so that they can easily ask questions and possibly look at the paper work together at the same time.

Additionally, students will also get to see their friends every day, which most people look forward to easily being able to communicate with their friends again. For many students being able to be in person with friends again would be beneficial from a social and emotional perspective.

This outlines one of the greatest challenges that the pandemic has created for all of us, lack of socialization can lead to isolation and depression. Humans are social creatures, we are designed to interact with one another and not just throw screens. So in general, socializing with friends is healthy for everyone, as long as that isn’t happening in the classroom when you are supposed to be listening to the teacher.

For the many schools that have reopened, this socialization aspect was a driving force behind those decisions.

A third positive of learning at school is that students can often learn more productively. In other words, students are usually more focused in the classroom than when they are just sitting at a desk in their bedroom.

When at home, students might often have their phones right next to them instead of away from them. In the classroom, students are forced to leave their phones in their backpacks instead of sitting on their desks, because teachers don’t allow phones to be out. Secondly, if you hear some of your family talking, your dog barking and any other loud noises, it distracts from your full ability to learn new things, and your full ability to pay attention in class. In the school environment, the distractions are kept to a minimum, and while there are some students who simply decide to not focus on the lesson, or stay focused in class, for students who want to be engaged, the setting is just more conducive to learning.

“Students who struggle more will likely struggle more online,” said American education economist and Stanford University professor Susanna Loeb back in March 2020, when Clayton started virtual learning. For students who already struggle, virtual learning has been especially hard and being at school would be best for them as a learning environment.

So despite the different “hybrid” environment that we will encounter when returning to the school building, the benefit to learning will ultimately be worth the masks, social distancing and strange schedule.

charlie miller

REPORTER

CON: IN-PERSON LEARNING While many students and parents are craving a return to normal, restarting in-person learning will hurt more than help.

A teacher wearing a face shield instructs first graders during a reading class at Stark Elementary School on September 16, 2020, in Stamford, Connecticut.

JOHN MOORE, TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

W

ith more than five months of online learning under their belts, students and teachers at CHS are preparing to return to school. Of course, just like when sports were about to begin, the potential restoration of in-person learning has sparked a large debate amongst Clayton residents.

Is going back to school really the best idea? Well, no. While many students are eager to return to a normal way of learning, the drawbacks of returning to an in-person learning experience are too much to ignore.

The penultimate reason for waiting to return to normal education is the coronavirus.

Cases are rising all over the country, not to mention the spike in cases that we have seen in Missouri. We didn’t go back to school in August or September when the number of cases was much lower, and yet we’re planning a return now? The whole idea seems rushed and risky.

If the administration wasn’t being pressured to make a decision, maybe the return to school would be carefully thought out and safe, but for the moment, it seems like students are being hurled back into the classroom with little afterthought.

With hundreds of students entering the high school every day, it would be almost impossible to completely stop the spread of the virus within school walls. Of course, parents are being told that it will all be safe because kids will wear masks and classes will be smaller, but

safety should be everyone’s biggest concern.

With countless hours spent together throughout the entire school year, it would be a miracle if not a single infection occurred between students. Especially since many students will assuredly not adhere to safety guidelines.

Of course, the students themselves will not be in harm’s way if this occurs, but their unsuspecting relatives will be. People have become so eager to return to school that they seem to have forgotten that the real victims of the virus are the elderly, not the students.

This not only applies to students but teachers as well. What happens if a teacher is high risk?

Do they forfeit their job, teach from home, or will they be forced to put themselves in danger by teaching in person?

One of the major arguments for returning to school is the social interaction between students that has been missing the past few months. But the advocates of this idea have not really thought hard enough about what going back to school in November actually means.

For starters, only half of a grade level will be in the school at a time. This means only half of a given student’s friends and classmates will actually be able to interact with one another.

Also, those interactions will be expected to be very minimal. Students will probably be separated completely during class time, there’s no ability to go off-campus, and there’s not even an option for students to lounge in the

commons or library. For any returning CHS student, this sounds like a nightmare, but it will soon be a reality.

Many of the concerns with returning to school seem to be directed at students, but teachers also will be bearing a large burden.

Every teacher will be expected to teach each class twice every day, not to mention the fact that a few of their students will be on a zoom call.

The fact that not all students will be returning to school is a major cause for concern for many teachers, as they will have to resort to an entirely online learning environment, to ensure that all students are getting equal opportunity in the classroom. Which begs the question, if we’re going back to school just to still use online learning, what’s even the point?

Returning to in-person learning sounds like a graceful return to normalcy, but in reality, we’d be stumbling blindly in the dark. Teachers and administrators have never been able to control the student body, and now it is believed that they will be able to control not only the students but also the spread of the coronavirus.

To ensure comfort and safety, CHS should remain online for the foreseeable future.

max keller

PRO/CON SECTION EDITOR PRO/CON 45

STAFF ED: CAMPAIGN MONEY The Globe discusses campaign finances and the influence of money in a race for political office. $66,000,000. The cost of about 570 average St. Louis homes. The cost of about 835 Teslas. The cost of about five million meals. That is how much President Donald Trump spent out of his pocket in the 2016 presidential election. $66 million may seem like a lot, but it is only 15% of the total funding Trump received for the campaign. Hilary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, spent $1.4 million of her own money, only 0.18% of her total campaign. $440 million went into Trump’s victory and $768.5 million went into Clinton’s defeat.

In the 2020 election, numbers have skyrocketed. Michael Bloomberg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, entered the race in November of 2019. Although his entry was very late, the money that he spent on his campaign helped him become one of the front runners. Bloomberg’s campaign cost $900 million, all of it his own money. While he was one of the only candidates with enough money to buy advertising all over the country, he faced harsh opposition from other candidates and suffered from poor debate performances.

The biggest concern when it comes to funding campaigns is that there is virtually no limit. The amount of money candidates spend rises each year. Between 2000 and 2012, the amount spent by the winning candidate’s campaign nearly quadrupled. This implies that the amount of money spent will only continue to rise, limiting who can run for office to a smaller and smaller margin.

In 1992 the total amount of money spent on all of the major presidential campaigns was $195.6 million which is $360 million adjusted for inflation. 24 years later, presidential candidates poured in $2.4 billion, over 12 times the amount of money spent in 1992.

While these prices are increasing because of staff, advertising, and events, there is still an noticeable increase in the amount of money candidates are spending compared to elections in the past. The massive amounts of money being spent are used to shine lights on specific candidates and look down on others. Because of this, the candidate who usually spends the most money is elected into office.

On January 21, 2010 the Supreme Court decided a controversial decision which allowed corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections. The Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission case allows for corporations to give unimaginable amounts of money to a candidate.

The court case has led to so-called dark

STAFF ED 46

money- money that comes from an undisclosed donor, which has been controversial because often people do not want to support companies, organizations, or individuals who donate money to things they do not agree with. Such organizations are able to keep their donations a secret and therefore may gain more support as less people could be opposed to them.

In addition, The Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission has been criticized for only empowering the very wealthiest of Americans. The wealthy have significantly more power as the money they are donating directly attributes to their endorsed candidate’s success. For example, the top 100 individual donors contributed $768 million in 2016 to the presidential campaigns.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times former State Controller of California Steve Westly said, “Citizens United is enabling small groups of the very wealthy of the right and left to have undue influence over politics.”

Where the candidate gets the money to win can vary greatly. They can spend money out of pocket, they can get individuals to donate, and they can get donations from political action committees (PAC) and super PACs, which pool money from different sources for campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, and legislation. The difference between the two being that PACs have a limit to the amount of money they can contribute to the campaign, whereas super PACs can donate unlimited amounts.

Super PACs allow for organizations and businesses to donate large sums of money without directly contributing to the candidate and being able to remain anonymous.

If someone gave you $1,000 as a birthday gift, would you feel more inclined to give them a nicer birthday gift next year?

Yes. The answer should be yes. The point being, if huge corporations donate lots and lots of money to political campaigns, even if it comes through super PACs, the candidate may be biased to support causes that said corporation supports.

One pressing example of this is the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) involvement in politics. Senator Mitch McConnell received approximately 1.3 million dollars from the NRA. He also voted against restrictions on high capacity magazines over ten bullets.

Whether or not he was truly influenced by the NRA’s donation, it is evident throughout his political career that he has been strongly against restrictions on guns and aligns his beliefs with those of the NRA. In a perfect world, anyone could run for president and stand for whatever values they believe in. In our modern campaign system which heavily relies on the amount of money given to you and the amount of money you begin with, that cannot happen.

ella cuneo & max hagemeister SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR | PAGE EDITOR

The Clayton Education Foundation advances the School District of Clayton’s culture of academic excellence and helps students reach their full potential by:

Funding classroom innovations Providing increased access to educational opportunities Promoting lifelong connections for alumni Our Teacher Innovation Grants foster creativity in the classroom and provide inventive learning experiences that are not covered by tax dollars alone.

A 2019 Teacher Innovation Grant from CEF funded a collaborative learning project between Family Center preschoolers and CHS ninth grade English students. The ninthgraders improved their research and speaking skills, while the preschoolers benefited from the opportunity to read, interact and have conversations with the older students.

The high school students also researched new books for the preschool library that included characters who represent our diverse student population.

Donate Today! www.claytoneducationfoundation.org The Clayton Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization; all gifts are tax deductible.