20 minute read
DEAR DEVIL
a purely red devil advice column to address your most pressing questions
by Nadia Burt designed by Nadia Burt graphics by Mara Severts
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As it is c ollege season, is ther e any advice current seniors can g ive to upcoming underclassmen and juniors for the following years?
College season is upon us and seniors are STRESSED. ἀere are a few of us who were proactive over the summer and got that crucial CommonApp personal statement done, but the vast majority were a little more “behind”, starting essays and filling out the activities section as senior year got underway. I think the most important advice seniors can give to all of our underclassmen is to give themselves TIME. You don’t have to get everything done in the summer before senior year, but make sure you start researching the questions each college asks, and maybe start drafting some responses. You want to make sure that you mention something specific from each school and that research takes time, so breaking it up into reasonable chunks helps immensely. Another thing that is especially important for juniors is asking teachers for recommendation letters. Typically, it is best to ask (politely) around March but each teacher has a different process and timeline. Make sure that you are asking teachers in classes you have participated in and put in a real effort - teachers write much better letters for students they got to know. In general, the college application process is difficult, but Hinsdale Central has some amazing guidance counselors and resources, so don’t be afraid to reach out if you are unsure how to prepare.
It truly does hurt seeing your crush go out with someone else, but the biggest thing to consider in this situation is your friend’s feelings. For example, if she genuinely likes this guy and you are good friends, then perhaps the best thing to do is what makes her happy and doesn’t break your friendship. However, you have to do some introspective thinking too . Will telling her your feelings break the friendship? Will you be more hurt if she starts dating someone else and you never shared that you like her? If seeing them with another person will hurt your friendship regardless, then you may as well tell her that you like her! ἀ ere is a thin line between being an advocate for your feelings and malicious intent to break up a relationship, and you want to make sure that your friend realizes it is the former. Just remember, whether you tell her your feelings or not, you will be OK. However, make an effort to distance yourself from the friendship if it becomes too much for you emotionally - prioritizing your mental health should come first. ἀere comes a point in which you have to recognize what you can and can’t control - you have time to make dozens of friends and have dozens of crushes, so don’t limit your high school experience to one person.
Hinsdale Central has had a lot of messaging about mental health lately, such as Red Devil Reflections, working to ensure that students feel that they are able to talk to others about their mental health. Dec 6-10 was our Spirit/Coping week, which we used to learn and talk about our emotions, as well as checking in with those around us. ἀese programs are timely to our society’s current situation as according to the World Health Organization, one in seven teens experiences anxiety, depression, or behavioral disorders. I think the idea of a strong and silent type is one that has been supported by the societal norm of internalizing our feelings - despite this, it is important to ensure these feelings don’t overwhelm us. I think that people should ABSOLUTELY talk about mental health, but we also need to be aware of who we are talking to. Talking to your friends is certainly a great way to open up the conversation about mental health with people you trust and are comfortable with. Still, you must remember that your friends are not professionals with the resources to help you navigate emotions, which is why reaching out to social workers at Central and therapists outside of school is a great idea. Being honest with mental health professionals and owning your issues is important as their help will only work to the extent that you let them in.
My friend just got asked out by a guy she likes, but I like her - what should I do?
Do you think that people should talk about men tal health? Or should they deal with it themselves? Personally, I feel like the str ong and silent type and being able t o deal with y our own emotions is something I ’ve been able t o do all m y life. But there’s all this messag ing nowadays about talking about stuff. What’s your take?
book review..................
The Fountainhead: A Testament to the Individual
By Maximilian J. Pohlenz
Ayn Rand is Russian-born American author with a rather infamous name to those that know her. Rand is most known for her philosophy, Objectivism, which argues that “reason, informed by the senses, is the only way of perceiving reality; that rational self-interest is the only moral position.” Detractors of the philosophy argue that it essentially justiἀes being a horrible person. It’s one of the (many) reasons that Rand’s work is so controversial. Indeed, one could argue that the main character of her novel, The Fountainhead, Howard Roark, is precisely an example of such behavior.
Roark is a visionary architect in New York. Genius, arrogant, and determined, he ἀghts against the forces of the status quo throughout the book via his architecture, a bold and innovative style that Rand states was inspired by the buildings of architect Frank Llyod Wright. And whilst I agree that the idea of ultimate selἀshness that many ἀnd Howard Roark to exemplify is a rather nasty one, I also ἀnd it an incorrect evaluation of Roark.
He is indeed arrogant - that much I cannot contest. Throughout the book, he denies any sort of help from friends and enemies alike, determined to do it all on his own - or die trying. But I’d disagree with even Rand’s own assessment of her character that this stems from a rational self interest. Although Roark is a logical being, often explaining his decisions through chains of carefully plotted steps, I found him often coming off as a romantic. He doesn’t want to be an architect because mother told him. And he doesn’t want to be an architect to get rich. He wants to be one because he feels this duty to build something - it’s this “selἀshness” (the need to fulἀll one’s own individuality and to achieve something great) that Roark exempliἀes. It’s this type of devotion that causes his mentor, Henry Cameron, to at one point snap at Roark and tell him to “be reasonable.” Hardly the comment you’d hear thrown at a rationalist.
It is then this irrational drive to be the best, to build something great, to do it all for sole self-fulἀllment, but to paradoxically also do it to inspire others that has struck a chord with me. Perhaps this is exempliἀed by Howard’s response to the possibility of The Stoddard Temple (his greatest building) being destroyed.
“That doesn’t matter. Not even if they’ll destroy it. Only that it had existed.” It’s this pure pursuit of self-worth - self happiness, that I feel is important in today’s world. We often sacriἀce our identities to the whims of Instagram likes and test scores telling us how to feel, think, and react. It’s something I myself have struggled with - a mentality where one determines their self worth based on the opinions of others. Best not reveal that you love that type of music in front of them, lest you look uncultured. Don’t dress like that - you’ll stick out. He who doesn’t have ten different one last campaign, all the while working for that one opening - that one moment - where he can land the perfect punch, and make a statement to the world that bet against him. Are there flaws in Rand’s book and philosophy? Absolutely. A quick search of her name will reveal many, many pieces of literature detailing each and every one of these flaws. But it’ll also reveal a few other pieces that show love - genuine love. Love, that in Rand’s own words is, “Reverence, and worship, and glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores.” It’s the love that can only come from a person
AP credits must be stupid. It’s hard to resist the urge to bow down to this rhetoric. Throughout the book, Roark wages war against that very same rhetoric. He is shamed by the press - called a hack and a fraud, and at one point, is forced to resign from architecture entirely and work in a quarry. Yet, he never gives in. Instead, he chooses to “drive the anger back inside of [him], and store it, and decide to let [himself] be torn to pieces if necessary, but reach the day when [he’d] rule those people.” Despite the intimidating undertones, Roark’s approach to life feels strangely appealing. Take as many hits as necessary, like an old boxer on that has been truly inspired by the work. A person that has been encouraged to continue their own silent war for the individual. Rand’s placement of Roark on a pedestal is questionable. Yet, it’s also Rand’s placement of Roark on a pedestal that elevates individualists everywhere. It’s why Roark proclaims to a young student in chapter four: “Don’t work for my happiness, my brothers - show me yours - show me that it is possible - show me your achievement - and the knowledge will give me courage for mine.”
Interviewing random Central students about their Red Devil state of mind
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND? WHAT ARE YOU HAPPY ABOUT?
“ἀe Jimmy Johns sandwich in my lunch.”
“Prose Analysis in AP Lit.”
“A lot of work and getting to Winter Break.”
“I took some cute pictures at a hockey game last night.”
WHAT SONG IS STUCK IN YOUR HEAD?
Candy Shop by 50 Cent
Chances by Five for Fighting
Best Part feat. HER
Poker Face by Lady Gaga
WHAT ARE YOU ANGRY ABOUT?
“I don’t understand AP Chemistry.”
devils around the world
taking a quick look at some notable alumni
by Nadia Burt, Killian Hughes and Mara Severts designed by Mara Severts
Bob Dudley
Brian Allen Danielle Campbell
In 1973, Hinsdale Central graduated Bob Dudley, who would go on to attend the University of Illinois for his undergraduate degree and get an MBA at Southern Methodist University. Aἀer decades of working in oil, Dudley rose to a position managing a joint venture between his firm, BP Oil, and a group of Russian billionaires called Alfa-AccessRenova (AAR). Aἀer several years of successful management between 2003 and 2008, the relationship between the two fell through and Dudley was moved to a more general management position for BP’s Asian division. In 2010, Dudley was placed in charge of BP’s project to clean up the enormous Deepwater Horizons spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and was soon promoted to CEO of the company. He spent eight years in that position, and oversaw a huge period of change in the company as it overcame the $68 billion fallout from the oil spill and started to deal with the new issues presented by climate change. Dudley has traversed all around the world in his executive career, and serves as an example of a Red Devil who has used his Hinsdale education to a global extent.
Central’s tradition of athletic excellence has sent devils into the world of professional sports. Brian Allen, 25 years old, grew up in Clarendon Hills. He went to Hinsdale Central from 2010 to 2014, where he joined Hinsdale Central’s football team. Both he and his brother Jack went to Michigan State, where they played football, and where we has named as a three-time all Big Ten selection, as well as a freshman All American. Now, Allen plays for the LA Rams and worked his way up to starting center in 2019. He was selected in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draἀ, and has played 33 games so far. His brother also plays in the NFL, having signed a free agent deal with the New Orleans Saints in 2016. Allen keeps close ties with Central, having held an offensive line clinic over the summer for the football team, along with giving a shout out to Central during the 2021 NFL season opener when the Rams faced off against the Chicago Bears.
Hinsdale Central alumni have gone on to do great things in the world, from writing award winning novels, to transforming our political system, and even attaining successful acting careers - as is the case for actress and alumni Danielle Campbell.
Danielle Campbell was born on January 30, 1995 and in her early childhood lived in Singapore, due to the nature of her parents’ work as real estate fund managers. Upon returning to the United States, Campbell was promptly discovered in a hair salon at age ten - within her first week with a casting agency, she booked a national Build-A-Bear Workshop commercial.
One of her first breakout roles was in the Disney Channel Original Movie: Starstruck at age 15. Aἀerwards, she was in a number of high school centered movies (including two about Prom) and played Devina, a powerful witch, on the Originals, a spinoff of Vampire Diaries. Many other fans first discovered her while she was dating Louis Tomlinson, a former member of One Direction, back in 2015. Campbell graduated from Hinsdale Central in 2013.
battleground.................
Recently, inflation rates in the Unit ed States have begun to rise. In this month’s Battleground column, Jawed and Parkins argue whether this dev elopment presents a legitimate danger to the American economy.
Danyal Jawed
According to the Pew Research Center as of October 2021, inἀation has risen to 6.2%, the highest it has been in over three decades. This alarmingly high figure has marked a level of economic instability that will be remembered for years to come.
Amidst the pandemic, Americans have faced severe economic hardship. It is to the point where, as reported by CNN, grocery prices have risen by over 5% in the past year, making it difficult for many to sustain themselves. President Biden’s attempts at alleviating this stress and increasing consumption came in the form of stimulus checks. But handing out checks ranging from $600 to $1,400 to an entire country isn’t cheap and in March 2021, Biden signed a $1.9 trillion dollar Covid relief bill. According to the U.S. data lab, America is facing over $28 trillion dollars in federal debt. Infusing copious amounts of money into the economy is not the answer, and has only worsened the country’s inἀation crisis.
As Stanford Economics Professor John B. Taylor puts it in his Project Syndicate article, “the stimulus didn’t work, again.” He reports that the stimulus had “little to no impact on consumption.” The reason Taylor says again is because we’ve been down this road several years ago during a period known as the Great Recession. Taylor wrote an eerily similar article 12 years ago in The Wall Street Journal where he described how in response to the economic recession, President George W. Bush signed the $152 billion Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, but this unprecedented expenditure “failed to stimulate consumption.” And as reported by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the measures we saw taken during the Great Recession to stimulate the economy “added to the debt” the government was facing. Nonetheless, Biden resorted to stimulus.
Inἀation causes the hard earned dollars of the American people to lose value, and President Biden’s heavy spending has only contributed to that. It is the government’s obligation to the low-income families who are struggling with basic living expenses under today’s economies to learn from the mistakes of the past and build a better economic future.
Katie Parkins inἀation was at 6.2% in October, the highest since the 1990s. However, it is crucial to put this rapid inἀation into perspective and acknowledge its causes. The Brookings Institution reports that the three main contributors to this instance of inἀation are strong consumer demand as the economy reopens, the fact that inἀation is calculated against last year’s pandemic shutdowns, and the stimulus packages. The benefits provided through this expansionary policy outweigh the harms of inἀation for two key reasons: The current inἀation is an exacerbated number, and the stimulus packages were a necessity that saved lives. Firstly, the benefits of the expansionary policy, which directly caused this inἀation, outweigh the harms of higher prices because the 6.2% of inἀation is an exaggeration with minute impact. Last year, there was a global recession, with most countries hitting that threshold in February of 2020. Experts Anyone who has purchased gas or groceries has paid the price of inἀation: cashing more for the same amount of goods. In fact, the CPI calculated that expected this inἀation even in 2020, due to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The US Bureau of Labor Statistics uses the CPI to calculate inἀation annually, comparing current prices to last year’s. As 2020’s recession prices were drastically low, price inἀation in 2021 was not only expected, but it was inevitable. Obviously consumers will purchase more goods when the economy is not in a recession -- naturally boosting the inἀation. Therefore, the current measure of inἀation is both expected and instinctively overblown.
The benefits of the stimulus checks outweigh the mitigated impacts of inἀation. The stimulus checks were designed to provide economic relief to those who needed it most. In April of 2020, the unemployment rate was 14.8%, the highest since 1948. The stimulus checks gave essential funds to the vulnerable, 87% of whom spent the stimulus money on necessities per Bankrate. The NY Federal Reserve furthered that 34% of individual funds paid off debts, freeing people to purchase food, shelter, and water. Widening the scope of impact, Forbes continues that near 9 million unhoused people qualified for stimulus, granting protection from an ever spreading pandemic.
staff editorial...............
midnight deadlines: interfering with student schedules
Illustration by Mara Severts ἀis editorial is the consensus of the Devils’ Advocate Editorial Board.
Last year’s switch to online and hybrid schooling was marked by a scramble to adjust to a purely online environment - consequently Canvas was Hinsdale Central’s saving grace. Administrators, teachers, and students alike became more intimately familiar with the modules, quizzes, and discussions on Canvas, with nearly every assignment conducted online. Though it was ultimately an easier way to collect schoolwork, it gave rise to a more irritating phenomenon: 11:59 p.m. deadlines.
The use of midnight deadlines was not commonplace until the past two or three years, when the Hinsdale Central administration began to make the shift from paper assignments to Canvas. ἀough teachers were not required to have a Canvas page before hybrid schooling last year, some teachers such as Christina Brodell, AP Spanish teacher, began to use
online
resources like Google Classroom a few years before.
“When we started using the Chromebooks more and went one on one... I started using Google Classrooms but then they really encouraged us...to go to Canvas,” Brodell said.
Now, every class has a Canvas page centralized in student accounts, with streamlined information of upcoming assignments clearly visible on the main page. ἀe default Canvas submission time is midnight for every assignment, suggesting that 11:59 deadlines are in place simply due to teacher oversight. Brodell explained that her support of 11:59 deadlines was not necessarily an intentional move.
“It’s very anticlimactic but… it’s honestly an automated thing that Canvas has in place,” Brodell said. ἀough it may be unintentional on behalf of teachers, these nontraditional deadlines often pose more issues than benefits for students, especially those involved in sports and activities. Students will come home as late as 9:30, needing to eat, shower, and decompress before they delve into upwards of four hours of homework. Tessa Howe, senior, explained that her numerous clubs, as well as basketball and lacrosse schedules, mean that she is constantly preoccupied after school.
“I have basketball practice every day... after school for two and a half hours. [Conference] games... are heavy during the week and we have a few
tournaments on the weekends,” Howe said. With nearly 100 clubs and sports at Hinsdale Central, one is hard-pressed to find students that aren’t involved in any extracurricular activities. ἀough most students are not as involved as Howe, a time crunch is created regardless, proving midnight deadlines to be an impediment to student health. According to the Sleep Foundation, 69% of high school students are getting less than seven hours of sleep at night, a problem that has significantly increased with the rise of technology. “Games turn into a 5-9:30 event on weeknights,” Howe said. “After games I’m sometimes just so exhausted that it’s a struggle to get work done before bed.” However, some teachers appreciate the midnight deadlines, using it as a benchmark for what material needs to be covered in class the next day. Brodell said that while she did attempt to use 8 a.m. deadlines during the pandemic, it ultimately resulted in more difficult lesson planning. “If I don’t see who had...completed the homework before class then I can’t move on..and prepare what the lesson requires,” Brodell said. ἀough changing deadlines may mean some interference with teacher lesson plans, ultimately using a morning deadline alleviates mental stress for several students. Not every teenager is able to come home late in the evening and complete multiple hours o f
homework while trying to meet an 11:59 deadline the day of. For some students, it is more feasible to complete their homework in the morning or during a study hall before class, rather than staying up until midnight and beyond, prolonging their exhaustion. Simply put, 11:59 deadlines are inflexible barriers to students that work, play sports, or have family obligations, and shorten the amount of time they have to complete homework. It is only recently that online assignments became commonplace, meaning that the majority of the teachers at Hinsdale Central have the skill set to adjust lesson plans without a need for arbitrary deadlines. Instead of midnight, teachers need to change due dates to the time their class begins, reverting back to the traditional deadlines that our education system used less than five years ago. All we ask is that teachers allocate sufficient time to complete assignments assigned the day of, in a manner that benefits the diversity of Central student experiences.
