The Featheralist: Volume 02, Issue 01 by The Featheralist

DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 02, ISSUE 01

The Featheralist

life is like a seesaw tip one side over and everything comes crashing down balancing life can be hard. maybe it’s trying to get enough sleep while juggling classes and extracurriculars and clubs. maybe it’s rushing to complete college applications or studying to ace standardized tests. maybe it’s maintaining a social life while still trying to find time for yourself. maybe it’s the burden of sports, home, family, grades. it can get really difficult to stay at a balance. it’s like playing on a seesaw. put too much weight on one side, and the other spirals out of control, put too much weight on the other and the same things happens. put the right amount of weight on both sides, and the whole thing levels out. it’s important to find this balance within yourself. managing school, extracurriculars, friends, while at the same time remembering to take care of yourself is something that can be difficult, but it’s something we all need. some people have it down more than the rest of us, and others, like me, struggle to walk the fine line between productivity and self-destruction. finding that space in between is so, so important. so, set your priorities. get things done. but more than anything, take care of yourself. is it worth getting burnt out so quickly?

An Imperfect Human World

Someone Who Cared

A World of Difference

The Customary System

Dadless

Forgiveness

by Avani Ranka, ‘23

by Rubina Tabassum Sheeraj, ‘23

by Phoenix Dimagiba, ‘20

by Kayley Tung, ‘21

by Bella Chong, ‘22

life is long. take your time. you got this.

by Shriya Sankaran, ‘23

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

Standardized Testing

Let’s Stand

The Fight for 2020

On Comic Book Aesthetics

A Bitter Onion

Inadequacy: a Memoir at the End of Time

by Kevin Wang, ‘21 and Kane Xu, ‘21

by Marco Villanueva, ‘22

by Daniel Dolan, ‘23

by Aidan Rosen, ‘22

by Ayesha Aslam-Mir, ‘20

by Ken Zhou, ‘20

22 23

The Mirror by Shreya Shahane, ‘23

AI and the Future by Andrew Wang, ‘20

Fighters of the Future, Problems of the Present

10 Questions with Del Norte Rocketry Club

Contributors, Colophon, and Editors’ Note

by Joshua Trost, ‘20

by Skyler Wu, ‘20

29 Works Consulted 01

The Featheralist

float Lawyer Mamaril, ‘22 Photography

trade, money, land. The process repeats again and again. The world uses the same concepts with different names and time periods, new faces. Humans continue to make the same mistakes after forgetting the lessons of the past. Years ago, I saw a small boy on a sidewalk. He was skipping and twirling, a piece of chalk held in his tiny hands. He was happy, not a care in the world. I watched as he stopped and moved to the side to let a snail pass. Five minutes later he was on his way, not seeming to give the encounter a second thought. That same little boy grew up to be a building contractor running a campaign to replace a forest with apartment complexes. He used to make paper out of old leaves and carry spiders to safety, until he was the one to waste the paper and kill the spiders. Another one of my little . . . observations was a girl, barely a couple years older than the boy. She was a talented kid, a bright, burning light in this dark world. She was kind and gentle and outgoing, filled with potential. She, I thought, was going to change the world. Barely a year later, I watched the life drain from her. She was a star who burned too bright and faded too young. The girl had been — unknown to her peers — fighting a disease for the majority of her life. Her untapped potential was lost to the world, and the world didn’t even know it. All that was left was a . . . gap. A gap that grew bigger and bigger as the girl, who was dying while the world thought she smiled, disappeared. The amicable lady who baked you cookies was once a murderer, the crotchety man down the road risked his life to save wildlife. Human interactions tend to go: “Surprise! Everything you thought you knew was wrong and nobody wanted to bring it up! You’ve been trapped in the matrix! The dark side has you!”

Written by Avani Ranka, ‘23 | Designed by Sophia Du, ‘20 All humans come from a branch of the ape family, who evolved from tetrapods, who evolved from ancient sea creatures, who evolved from the original bacteria called life. In other words, human beings are extremely complicated creatures. They can change as easily as a snake, shedding one skin and slipping into another. Mankind has long since evolved into what it is today, but they are still far from perfect. I watch the world as it moves and grows, sometimes forwards and sometimes back and sometimes it doesn’t change. History, I’ve noticed, has a habit of repeating itself. It’s like cracking your knuckles. Kind of annoying,

occasionally a little painful, and a hard habit to break. People have a fascination with history; they can’t seem to let go of the past. But of course, I can’t really complain. My life — if you can call it that — is literally made up of watching the past. I see the same faces, always on the same types of people. Intellectually modern humans are only about 5,000 generations old, and they’ve already run out of new ways to interact with the world. Conquest, for example, is universal to people. Invade a country and fight a war. Either fail or succeed. Try again for a multitude of reasons:

Humans are dynamic, subject to powerful outside forces: life, death, the universe, other people. People wear many faces, one after the other, over and over again. And I have seen every single one. Kind becomes “evil” and a star is “dying inside”. Maybe one day I’ll be surprised by humanity. Maybe one day there’ll be an actual reason for me to watch the world, instead of betting against myself on the outcome of the next presidential elections or guessing the numbers of winning lottery tickets. Pointless, in the grand scheme of things. I know that there is a reason I watch the world, a reason I remember everything. Because I don’t know what would happen if there wasn’t. When that time comes, someday, maybe I’ll find a place where the burning light doesn’t fade, and the kind little boy keeps his spirit. Where things change for the better instead of for worse, where the brightest stars continue to shine their lights on the galaxy. That is a perfect world. But despite humanity having evolved past amoeba and monkeys, it has a long way to go. People are advanced creatures, living in an imperfect human world.

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

SOMEONE WHO Written by Rubina Tabassum Sheeraj, ‘23 Designed by Julia Du, ‘20 A swift breeze passed by I huddled under my worn hoodie Waiting and waiting But nothing came No one came For days, weeks, months I only huddled and hoped Doc Martens, Vans, white Filas I had seen them all Yet none of which came toward me Through the dancing snowflakes I’d seen Ugg boots But never once did they come to me As the rays of the sun beat down on the sidewalk I hoped that the sandals would stop and turn towards me No, I was stupid to hope By now I wanted to give up on hope Summers and winters had passed But still no one cared enough to turn to me To help me To offer me a penny, maybe a dollar To offer me a hot churro or a bottle of water To give me a jacket so I could feel warmth To give me a newspaper so I won’t need to sit on the cold hard sidewalk One day I felt sicker and colder than ever Maybe I had waited long enough And it was time For me to say goodbye to this cruel world in which I had no life No I was thankful Thankful to the store owner who let me stay outside his shop all this time Thankful to hear the sound of children laughing as they came out with their favorite toys Thankful for being alive and experiencing this world A tear escaped my eyes No, I will not cry I am brave and so what if I was given this life? There are others who have worse I cried anyway Because I wish I could’ve helped those in more of a need I never got the care of others It hurts me to know there are others with less care than me Less in general They don’t have nice shop owners who let them stay They don’t hear the sound of joyous children

As my face was blotched with tears A pair of Converse came to me Wait To me? I rubbed my eyes I no longer saw only the Converse

Lonely Mabel Szeto, ‘21 Pencil

I saw a face A kind and caring face She smiled She opened her mouth and said words I couldn’t hear I was too distracted by the fact that someone had actually came She offered me money My face glowed But she didn’t leave She talked to me How are you, she asked Are you okay? She asked No one had ever done that Then she did the most surprising thing She hugged me Unclean me who had gathered so much dirt and grime over the months I felt my hunger disappear My shivers were no longer there I had got more than I asked for No not money I had found out that in this world Someone cared.

The Featheralist

A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Written by Phoenix Dimagiba, ‘20 | Designed by Sophia Du, ‘20

First on the list is Paris, France. Though the city’s often overromanticized in pop culture, even the drab winter dreariness and the frigid rain felt more satisfying than any light drizzle here ever did. I think it’s the weight and grandeur of a place with a long history; some Parisian streets and sights have seen their fair share of dignitaries, revolutions, and wars. The French people were somewhat gruff compared to what I remember in San Diego, possibly a contrast between our Mediterranean weather and the relatively arctic cold of winter there. However, most were friendly in conversation and generally seemed to appreciate my attempts to speak their language (no doubt a step up from the

Hawaii’s Hawaii, if you overdose on southern California sunshine try this state. My most recent foray abroad was to America’s father, Great Britain. Though ostensibly an academic visit (an exchange program), it was on this trip that I met the most people. The cultural divide was surprisingly wide between the 10 Americans and even wider between Americans and Brits. It took a few days for us all to mingle comfortably, but one of the things that helped me converse was my sense of humor. As it turns out, teenagers are similar worldwide (it helped that we were all from western, English-speaking countries). Through our collective laughter, we all realized we weren’t so different after all. College apps aren’t fun anywhere in the world, it seems. I can’t say glowing things about British food, as my diet was regrettably limited to almost exclusively unremarkable university fare. One of my British friends described it as “a war crime” in jest, so there’s little doubt in my mind that genuine British food is much more impressive; to my surprise, traditional British tea is delicious. Walking the streets of London and Bristol reminded me a lot of

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

There’s something about travel that makes me feel invigorated. Perhaps it’s because it’s not school, perhaps it’s because of the excitement, perhaps it’s the food, or perhaps it’s the novelty of it all. In any case, every place has its own vibe worth experiencing. If you have the means to travel, I highly recommend it; there’s no better way to see the world than with your own two eyes. In my time, I’ve seen a few notable overseas locations at length. I’ll endeavor to do them justice here.

In any case, every place has its own vibe worth experiencing. usual American tourist). I enjoyed the food immensely; similar to the weather, there’s something about the city that makes sitting at any given cafe feel more authentic than visiting one at home. If you have a significant other, money, and time, Paris is probably a great romantic getaway. If you’re me, then there’s plenty to enjoy: food, art, and culture (though mostly the first one).

Artwork provided generously by Del Norte alumni

Hawaii is often regarded as the quintessential vacation destination, a sentiment that’s unsurprising to anyone that’s visited in the right conditions. When I visited Maui, there was a familiar sense of comfort, partly because of my islander heritage, partly because San Diego’s also a tourist destination, and partly because Hawaii is still in the U.S. and I can actually understand the language. Driving around the island definitely felt agrarian, in no small part due to the many wild chickens running around (they’d been domesticated but many escaped after a storm and continued to reproduce) and the green landscape. I appreciated the relaxed, laid-back feel of everything; my only other vacation reference point included many an art museum. What can I say?

Paris. As with France, the U.K. also felt comparatively grandiose in its history. There’s also something to be said for European metropolitan public transportation, it works like a charm. I confess, most of my time in Britain was spent in a classroom, so I can’t provide a purely recreational perspective as I can with Paris and Maui, but I can say that the friends I made are the best part of the trip and that there was much more binding us together than making us different. Such is the beauty of travel; done right, it provides irreplaceable perspective. I don’t think there’s anything I can say about travel beyond what I’ve already said: if you have the chance to go somewhere new, do it. It doesn’t have to be far overseas, even getting out of the city can feel fresh. To anyone considering a collegiate future, many institutions offer study abroad programs for their students. One of the main aspects of college is venturing into the vast unknown, why not make part of that geographic? Besides, sometimes we all need a break (me right now more than ever).

The Featheralist 06

THE CUSTOMARY SYSTEM

Written by Kayley Tung, ‘21 Designed by Julia Du, ‘20

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

I am an antimetricist. The metric system stands as an alien, utopian, sterilized system the United States of America has resisted for its entirety. We are the last remaining industrialized nation. We are standing up, tall and proud, for ourselves and what we believe in, on our own two-thirds of a yard. However, there are delusions that America would be better off switching to the metric system. The gravity of the situation has not yet weighed down on those skeptical of the imperial system’s strength. Changing our superior system would only cause mass confusion for all. The metric system is a product of the French Revolution, adopted by the revolutionaries who murdered King Louis XVI in an act of cold blood. He didn’t raise taxes or take out international loans, actions any great leader would perform. Those filthy revolutionaries were well out of their bounds, orchestrating a chaotic bloodbath headed by the guillotine. Using the system bloodied and marred by approximately 40,000 people’s corpses hardly seems ethical. Our very own esteemed National Aerospace and Space Administration has led the exploration to the moon and the galaxy beyond. However, they did not do it alone. Who was just as technologically equal in the space race? Who could keep up with America’s advancements? The Soviets. The enemy. The USS of R. This is a classic example of the enemies-to-lovers trope. The fierce competition sparked the flames of their partnership (and love). Space is nonexistent — Russia knew that going into space was impossible — but they faked Sputnik, hoping to scare the US (still, obviously, during their “enemies” phase). Fueled by their “enemy’s” success, the US responded with their own (falsified)

Using the system bloodied and marred by approximately 40,000 peoples’ corpses hardly seems ethical.

A Journey Through Time and Space Allen Chen, ‘21 Pencil/Copics

accomplishment; through these elaborate deceptions, however, the truth came out: they had unresolved sexual tension. (Like, more than Jim and Pam in Season 1 and 2). Yet Russia and the USA didn’t want to lose face, so they agreed to continue their “work” together, faking each new discovery, turn by turn. Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be; any idiot with a brain can realize that this was all a thinly veiled deception made to fool the masses, propaganda to bolster nations’ images. Life was going just swell for everyone until President JFK made a mistake. In May of 1961, JFK made the erroneous claim that the USA would land a man on the moon before the next decade. Russia and the USA were 1/12 footing their way to certain ruin. Desperate to keep the leader of the free world from knowing the truth, they made sure that he couldn’t learn or pass out any more information, permanently. Yes, that's right, you heard me right, the USSR and our own NASA assassinated our glorious President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, merely to keep face. Additionally, if you combine the numeric values of the day and year of JFK’s assassination, the result is 2+2+1+9+6+3=23. Where would you find the number 23 associated with the metric system? For my stoichiometry buffs out there, the value 6.022×1023 probably rings a bell. It is the number of particles in one mole of a compound. A mole. Besides the unit of measurement, a blemish on your skin, or a small dirt rat, a “mole” can also be used to refer to a spy. That’s right. Spies. The Soviet Union has been embedding these spies and lies of the metric system, ingraining these evils deep among the roots our glorious imperial system has bloomed from. NASA has only encouraged Russia’s chicanery; NASA has lied to us before, and they will do it again.

NASA has only encouraged Russia’s chicanery; NASA has lied to us before, and they will do it again. Don’t believe me? What about the juicy, hefty meals that unionized the States with their marvelous measurements? The buttery burger, an American classic weighing in at a quarter pound. Not a 113.4 gram-er, but a fulfilling, even 4/16 oz. Take the savory steak, another American rarity, which is portioned out in generous ounces. These are the rich staples that fill the gluttonous American diets with protein and fuel our intense patriotism. God bless America! Let’s wrap this up. Some people were willing to go the whole 324 inches to force the United States of America to adhere to the regulations of the world but they were still miles away. In the 1970s, these evildoers almost got their way, only to be stopped in their tracks by strong legislative action against metric system conversion. Even today, metricists are trying to metrify the United States, forcing us to conform and destroying our American values, and all else we hold dear. They justify their madness by claiming that their metric system is an international standard, made to ease international transactions and communications, making it more efficient and effective. We must stand against this oppressive, totalitarian dictatorship regarding the unit argument until the imperial system stands uncontested as the superior form. It will be a long, difficult fight, but we must stand firm. As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu famously said, the journey of 1000 miles starts with .000189 of a mile, or something like that.

The Featheralist

DADLESS A NARRATIVE ABOUT GROWING UP Written by Bella Chong, ‘22 | Designed by Angela Baek, ‘20 In 2016, my world fell apart. It was because of six words: “Your dad is in the hospital.” The car ride to the hospital was a form of torture as I drowned in my endless thoughts and worries: was my mom there now? When did this happen? How? And what in the world was a stroke? — I didn’t know what to do. But what did you do if even your mom had no clue? She didn’t leave the hospital to go to work, to go home, or even to get herself food for days. She sat in the waiting room for good news and some kind of hope. I didn’t get to see my comatose father until a week later. I didn’t last five minutes before sobbing uselessly while my uncle dragged me out of the room. To see my hero lying there so helplessly . . . what does that do to an eleven year old’s mind? The other half of me couldn’t even talk to me. There would be no more bear hugs, no more screaming sixties and eighties music, no more Cold Stone runs. There really was only one option for me. Grow up. On their own, two basic words, but together, they created an impossibly daunting task. How do you grow up? For a sixth grader who was just learning the ropes of middle school, who was just beginning to feel insecure, who was just realizing that the world wasn’t so innocent after all, I “grew up” by locking myself away. I distanced myself from the people who could’ve helped me the most. I feared that the more people I let in, the more I would end up hurt. Adjusting to a life without my dad was harder than I could've imagined. To me, he was my other half — my better half. One moment, he’s dropping me off at school. The next, I’m sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, praying to a god I never believed in until now. Things seemed to start falling apart around me, too. I couldn’t think straight, our household items stopped working, and our connections with other people strained. It’s like trying to sprint when you haven’t used your legs in years.

Artwork provided generously by Del Norte alumni

I fell into a period of pure independence (as independent as a middle schooler could be) and became even more of an introvert. My independence was helpful in the sense that it would take a load off my mother’s shoulders, but debilitating as it did not allow me to ask for help when I needed it. My brother needed my mom more than I did, was what my pride told me. In reality, I’d needed them both more than ever. What I needed . . . What did I need? I needed someone to talk to, I’ve realized. Everything went on lockdown and everyone was an enemy threatening to burst my protective bubble. I needed to open up to someone, but I couldn't seem to find the right person who could slap me in the face and say “get a hold of yourself” without me shutting them out.

I’m not the person I used to be, nor am I the person I thought I’d become. It took me awhile to realize it was okay to tell someone you weren’t okay. Three years and counting, I am still recovering. I am growing stronger. He is recovering and growing stronger and persevering. He fought through the coma, survived the surgery, but is still dealing with the effects of just making it out alive. The fact that my father, my dad, my hero is still fighting despite the unfair odds against him will forever push me to fight through my own hardships. I’m not the person I used to be, nor am I the person I thought I’d become. But I am better. I made mistakes in my past that led to some problems in my present. My fears had backfired against me. The real question was how I was going to deal with it. I've been running for a while — sprinting, even — but now I know I need to slow it down. What I did then to help myself did not work, so I’m just going to have to keep trying until I get it right. It's part of growing up.

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

FORGIVENESS Written by Shriya Sankaran, ‘23 Designed by Meena Annamalai, ‘23 all you’ve ever done is doubt me repeatedly, repeatedly, as predictable as the tide rolling in am i supposed to believe you? your sad, overused lies echo in my head, so predictable i could lip sync to your falsehoods. was i supposed to ignore all you’ve done for me? the shattering, brokenness replays in my head, a sad playlist stuck on loop.

Broken Record Anna Feng, ‘23 Colored Pencil

maybe the only thing you ever did was show me that sensitivity wasn’t all that the picture books made it out to be, wasn’t all that the movies showed, wasn’t all that the happily-ever-after fairy tales told me. and you come to me again, begging my forgiveness as soon as you need it, as soon as you can use me, how many lies have you told me? have you rejoiced in? no, kneel there, become another myth — one that lied, cried, turned to stone, one that deserved what came to them.

The Featheralist

STANDARDIZED TESTING Written by Kevin Wang, ‘21 and Kane Xu, ‘21 Designed by Colin Szeto, ‘21

East and West Colin Szeto, ‘21 Digital

factor used to determine the future of a student’s education and the course of a child’s life.” The National College Entrance Exam (NCEE), infamously known as the gaokao (literally translated as “high test”), is held annually for high school seniors in China. The gaokao is a nine hour examination that tests topics, ranging from mathematics to politics, with notoriously difficult questions. More importantly, it is nearly the sole factor used to determine the future of a student’s education and the course of a child’s life. As Chinese students growing up in a Western society, our parents’ stories of preparing for the gaokao serve as a deterrence for any excuses and a constant reminder to appreciate our seemingly difficult academic careers. We hear the same typical, yet remarkable, stories from our parents, who spent years taking an uncountable number of practice tests, permanently living in their high schools just to scrape up extra studying time for their gaokao. Today, these stories are no different; competition and expectations have risen, even leading to the use of intravenous drugs as a means of staying focused and achieving the ultimate goal: a satisfactory test score. It may seem like the NCEE is an unfair and cruel form of testing students, but the history behind it is quite the opposite. The gaokao was implemented in 1952, but was scrapped during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution, which focused the youth on calls for revolution and labor work in rural areas. After Mao’s death, the gaokao was reinstated in 1977 as an objective form of examination, replacing Mao’s previously elite-centered college admissions system. This highlights the primary justification for standardized testing in both China and the US: standardized testing is the only truly objective way to judge students. Standardized testing represents a relatively objective method of evaluating student merits, eliminating factors such as gender and race. Data from standardized tests helps to identify struggling students and potentially aid them. If standardized tests were optional, lower performing students could choose to opt out and students who are struggling will never be identified. Achievement gaps will never be identified or addressed, leaving the lower performing students behind. Furthermore, standardized testing helps pinpoint areas of improvement — it not only assesses student performance, but also reflects the effectiveness of each portion of the curriculum.

While the benefits of standardized testing are initially obvious, critics have questioned the effectiveness of a test-based education system. Many are quick to assume that testing creates a cramming culture, where students fixate on exams as opposed to actual learning. However, results from recent PISA rankings seem to favor standardized testing. The PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) serves as a measurement of compulsory education among nations. Data is collected by testing teenagers across the globe on traditional subjects, such as math, science, and reading, as well as directly applicable skills, such as financial literacy and global competence. Overall, PISA has an emphasis on functional skills, and shows the preparation obtained from compulsory education. In the 2015-2016 PISA, the top scoring countries included Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, all of which were in the top 10. Furthermore, college-readiness is expressed in these same countries. While countries such as China have college completion rates nearing 100%, the US has a graduation rate in the 60’s. The common link between almost all of the most successful education systems is one that is not typically expected: standardized tests. It seems that countries who have notoriously difficult and heavily weighted standardized tests seem to be the most successful, reflected through their students’ performance throughout the course of their education. If standardized testing is such an effective learning tool, why hasn’t America seen higher benefits? After the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2002, schools began to place a heavy emphasis on standardized testing, which was used to measure the progress of schools and their students. College admissions in America today also heavily rely on standardized tests, such as the SAT, ACT, and AP exams. Nevertheless, America continues to consistently rank low on PISA and produce students unprepared for college.

“Countries who have notoriously difficult and heavily weighted standardized tests seem to be the most successful, reflected through their students’

Perhaps it is the way that the tests are designed themselves. The SAT, a primary measurement for college readiness and qualification, is taken by millions of high school students every year. The test is a combination of reading, writing, and math, with the vast majority of answers in multiple choice form. Reading questions test your ability to extract specific information from a text, writing questions primarily test grammar and writing conventions, and the math section tests high school level math problems. In preparation for the SAT, families spend thousands of dollars on test preparation from companies such as Princeton Review, according to The New York Times. Test prep focuses on tips and tricks — crossing out answers, memorizing formulas, and paying attention to minute details — rather than truly understanding the material. As a result, the test does not fully test a student’s proficiency or preparedness on a subject but rather tests their preparation for the test itself. Students who can afford pricy test prep courses or have the time to grind through several practice tests may score higher even if that high score does not truly reflect their academic abilities.

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

“It is nearly the sole

Standardized tests should be a test of true learning and depth of understanding. Take the aforementioned gaokao as an example. The gaokao is a combination of multiple choice as well as free response. The language section, rather than testing the regurgitation of certain writing conventions, requires students to write essays on abstract concepts and unconventional topics. The math section, rather than giving a barrage of algebra problems, requires students to give derivations, proofs, and creative problem solving. While the SAT focuses on your final answer, the gaokao focuses on the thought process that accompanies the answer. The gaokao is not prepared for with a summer full of memorization and test taking strategies. Instead, it emphasizes the application of knowledge and the understanding of fundamental concepts. This not only provides a more accurate representation of a student, but helps ensure proper learning approaches. Students are forced into deeper understanding that will help them achieve a high test score rather than skipping through the understanding and knowing just enough information to perform well on a test. If knowledge is thoroughly understood and skills can be creatively applied, students will truly be ready for their next step, whether it be college or the workforce. While the American holistic college admissions process has its clear benefits, the standardized testing is subpar compared to many countries. Changing the attitude of our tests can have a great impact on our attitudes toward learning.

performance throughout the course of their education.” 11

The Featheralist

LET’S STAND Written by Marco Villanueva, ‘22 | Designed by Colin Szeto, ‘21

Stars and Stripes Colin Szeto, ‘21 Digital

¨And now they've about quit waving her back here at home. In her own good land here she's been abused. She's been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused. And the government for which she stands is scandalized throughout the land. And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin. But she's in good shape for the shape she's in. 'Cause she's been through the fire before. And I believe she can take a whole lot more. So we raise her up every morning. We take her down every night. We don't let her touch the ground and we fold her up right. On second thought, I do like to brag. 'Cause I'm mighty proud of that ragged old flag¨

In 2016, NFL player Colin Kaepernick started kneeling for the national anthem of the United States of America, as well as its flag. Kaepernick’s protest was explained by himself as representing a movement of fighting against police brutality, of injustice. Unfortunately, Mr. Kaepernick did not seem to realize the possible consequences of his actions. Within hours of his first kneeling, he ignited a firestorm that threatened to derail the NFL and incite a battle between different sides of the issue. Colin Kaepernick has not understood that in kneeling for the flag and anthem, he has orchestrated the launch of a direct attack on the citizens of this gallant nation. He has disrespected and insulted the millions of brave, patriotic Americans that have, over the course of the existence of this country, given the ultimate sacrifice in uniform. We cannot, as a country, continue to allow this. We must set the record straight, that we are proud of our country, that we stand with those that serve and sacrifice every day for the sake of maintaining the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness guaranteed to us under our Declaration of Independence. Mr. Kaepernick claims he fights against injustice and “systematic oppression.” He also claims that veterans fought for his right to stand or kneel. That is correct, to an extent. Standing for our anthem and flag is a sign of respect for our veterans, for our servicemembers, and for those who paid the price. The cliche “freedom isn’t free”, although widely used, is so true. US troops have fought across the globe, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and everywhere in between. Those soldiers fought to keep this country free, and the flag that they plant on their territories is the Stars and Stripes. The flag that identifies them on their uniforms, the flag that is painted on tanks, artillery, bombers, fighters, and the flag that flies into truly oppressed nations is the one that for hundreds of years, entire populations have looked forward to seeing enter their town,

their city. This symbol of the United States of America is not just a symbol, but a guarantee. The flying of this flag is the only thing that keeps kneelers from being thrown into prison. The only reason they are millionaires is because of that flag. The only reason these protesters have the luxuries that they have is because that flag flies over their stadiums, over our buildings, and over our nation. The price paid for us to be able to display our flag and play our national anthem is unimaginable. Millions of gallons of blood have been spilled. Entire countries have been crushed like bugs for the sake of freedom. Colin Kaepernick and his followers show ignorance. They show ignorance and disrespect. There are billions of other human beings that don’t have the liberties and freedoms, and the monies and prosperity that these protesters have, and they stand for their flag. Mexicans, who have a government riddled by corruption and more, never kneel for their flag. A great example is their soccer team. Not one player does not stand. Not one player does not place their hand over their heart. Not one player does not sing with passion their national anthem at every single game. This is unity. This is respect. Not the disgrace we see on

the football field when we turn on the TV. The news once aired a photo of an amputated Marine in his wheelchair. And it struck the crowd when he stood up on his chair and placed his hand over his heart for our national anthem and for our flag. If an amputee Marine can stand for the flag, for our anthem, for our country that he gave so much to preserve, why does Colin Kaepernick kneel? He gives a reason. And yes, there is racism in this country. But it is not a matter of protesting. It is most certainly a matter of respect for those that served, for those that continue to serve, and for unity of this country. Political correctness and more is rampant in this country, and we are afraid to speak out against it and by extension kneeling because those that respect our flag are afraid that they will come under fire. And when those that stand and speak out against those who do not, we will have reached a dangerous point in our nation's history. We will have reached a shocking point when patriots come under attack for being proud of their country.

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“Within hours of his first kneeling, he ignited a firestorm that threatened to derail the NFL and incite a battle between different sides of the issue.”

What this country is embroiled in is wrong. It is wrong to dishonor our veterans. It is wrong to kneel for a flag that itself gives you the luxuries and rights you have. It is wrong to attack those that respect our country. But it is right to set the record straight. The liberty that people have to read this article is because of our flag. All citizens have a choice. They can insult, disrespect, and dishonor the sacrifice that has been offered for our flag and for our freedoms. Or they can show pride in the country that has given them so much and look for ways not only to honor the price paid, but to give back. Which side do you stand on?

“Not one player does not stand. Not one player does not place their hand over their heart. Not one player does not sing with passion their national anthem at every single Green and Red game.” Colin Szeto, ‘21 Digital

The Featheralist

THE FIGHT FOR

2020

Written by Daniel Dolan, ‘23 | Designed by Julia Du, ‘20

As Donald Trump’s 2016-2020 term comes to a close, the race for the Presidency in 2020 has fired up. Candidates have come in from all sides, seeking to take advantage of a politically charged country and rise to the pedestal of the highest office in the land, the President of the United States.

WHO ARE THE CANDIDATES? Republican The frontrunner for the Republican party is incumbent President Donald Trump, who officially announced his reelection campaign on June 18, 2019, kicking it off at a rally in Orlando, Florida. There are three other Republican candidates besides Donald Trump. Joe Walsh, former US Representative from Illinois. And Bill Weld, running mate of Gary Johnson during the 2016 Presidential Election and former Governor of Massachusetts. Democratic The number of candidates in the Democratic field is massive. There are nineteen current candidates running, eight who have recently withdrawn, and it's expected that the field will begin thinning considerably. Only ten qualified for the Houston debate in September, and twelve qualified for the debate in Ohio in October. This article will primarily focus on the nine that qualified for the Houston debate that are still running: former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, former tech executive Andrew Yang, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer. Third-Party Out of the third-party choices, seven parties have announced candidates; however, five of these have limited ballot access, meaning their candidates do not have enough support to feature on enough state ballots in order to be legally elected. The two that do have ballot access are the Libertarian and Green parties. On the Libertarian side, there are nine declared candidates and on the Green side, seven. The field of the third-party nominations is wide and yet sparse. In fact, the last time a third-party candidate gained more than 5% of the

Artwork by Julia Wang, ‘22 Pencil/Charcoal national vote was in 1996, and the last time a third-party candidate gained any electoral votes was in 1968. Thus, while it is important to know the existence of third-party candidates, this article will primarily feature the Republican and Democratic candidates.

THE FOUR REDS In this section, we’ll be focusing on the four Republican candidates: incumbent candidate President Donald Trump, and two primary challengers Joe Walsh and Bill Weld. President Donald Trump is the frontrunner on the Republican side who won the 2016 Presidential Election with 57% of the Electoral College. His slogan for the 2020 election is “Keep America Great”, a tie-in to his previous 2016 slogan, “Make America Great Again”. His main legislative accomplishment as President was a sweeping tax cut that chiefly benefited corporate investors and, in some eyes, boosted the economy. A focus throughout his administration has been the dismantling of Obama-era policies, such as healthcare, environmental regulation, and immigration. His signature issues in his platform are restricting immigration at the Mexican border, renegotiating international deals on trade, arms, and climate change, and withdrawing American troops from overseas. Former Congressman Joe Walsh is one of the three current challengers to Trump. Originally he supported Trump during the 2016 elections, claiming he did this as Trump “wasn’t Hillary Clinton”, but has since reversed his course and is now running against the President. He has called the former president Barack Obama a “Muslim” and “traitor”; however, he says he regrets making these comments. Walsh runs a conservative radio

talk show, and his signature issues are reducing the national debt, restraining the power of the executive, securing the border, and defeating President Trump, who he claims “cannot be trusted.” And finally, Bill Weld, former Governor of Massachusetts and running mate on the Libertarian Ticket during the 2016 election. He presents himself as an alternative for mainstream conservatives and outspoken moderates on both sides. And unlike the other challengers, he did not support Trump during the 2016 election, emerging as a vocal critic of his immigration policy. His signature issues are fiscal restraint, free trade, immigration reform, and drug decriminalization.

Pete Buttigieg is a veteran and mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He rose to national prominence with an essay counseling Democrats on recovering from their loss in 2016. He’s embarked on what seems to many a longshot campaign as one of the few moderate faces in the field. Buttigieg is supported by a massive grassroots funding campaign and focuses on issues such as climate change and economic opportunity. Julian Castro was HUD secretary during the Obama administration and is pushing that spotlight in a bid to be elevated to the Presidency. Castro focuses mainly on immigration reform and education policies. Amy Klobuchar is a senator from Minnesota who is running on the platform of tackling the opioid crisis and positioning herself as a candidate who can win the swing states during the 2020 Presidential election. Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont and considered one of the frontrunners in the election. A self-described socialist, he focuses on Medicare for All, free tuition, and curtailing billionaire influence in politics. Elizabeth Warren is a senator from Massachusetts and considered the third frontrunner in the election. She focuses on large structural change and plans to attack income inequality and middle class erosion. Andrew Yang is a former tech executive whose campaign runs on wealth inequality and combatting automation. His signature issue is establishing a Universal Basic Income of $1000 a month for all Americans. Michael Bloomberg is the former mayor of New York City, whose campaign centers around his past mayoral experience, as well as his outspoken views on gun control and climate change.

THE TEN BLUES In this section, we’ll mainly be focusing on the ten candidates that were on the stage at the September debate in Houston. Joe Biden is a former Senator and Vice President and considered one of the frontrunners in the Democratic field. He regards 2020 as a last Presidential run and identifies strongly with issues such as economic protections for low-income workers and restoring America’s status on the world stage. Cory Booker is a current Senator from New Jersey. Considered a gifted orator, Booker runs on a large connected fundraising base. Issues that Booker

Tom Steyer is a billionaire hedge fund manager who gained recognition for running media ads calling for Trump’s impeachment. His campaign focuses on renewable energy and attacks on President Trump.

WHAT’S NEXT? Hopefully, now you’re informed and ready for whatever comes next. Here are the important milestones leading up to the Election in November of 2020. Timeline On February 3rd, 2020, the Iowa Caucus will happen, giving the greatest indicator (first major vote) of how voters will vote when it comes to November 3rd, 2020. A month later, on March 3rd, Super Tuesday will occur, giving insight to the votes of states with a collective 190 electoral votes.

Each party will hold a National Convention to pick their nominee for the general elections in the following dates and locations: Between May 21-25, the Libertarian National Convention will be held in Austin, Texas. Between July 9-12, the Green National Convention will be held in Detroit, Michigan. Between July 13-16, the Democratic National Convention will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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prioritizes are criminal justice reform and class equality.

Between August 24-27, the Republican National Convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Theirs is the latest, as is tradition that the incumbent party’s convention is last. As of this writing, there are also several debates planned on all sides. The Republican National Committee has not planned any debates or primaries, as part of its strategy to disadvantage challengers and boost President Trump during the general elections. On the other side, the Democratic National Committee has planned twelve debates between June 2019 and April 2020. So far, as of writing four of these have gone by, and a fifth is coming up at the November debate in Atlanta, Georgia. The dates or locations of the other eight debates are unknown. Various Libertarian parties across the country have conducted debates, with two more planned on March 28, 2020 and April 4, 2020. Finally, the various Green parties of each state have held three debates; there are assumedly more planned, but no official dates. For the general election, there are no planned debates yet, but six cities have been chosen as candidates to hold the three presidential debates. And finally, the date that the general election will be held: November 3rd, 2020. What Can I Do To Help? The most important thing that you can do is VOTE. There have been dozens of electoral races where the margin of votes by which the winner wins was between 1 and 1000. And just a year ago, in races for spots on the Alaskan and Kentuckian Houses of Representatives (state-level), the margin by which the winner won was one vote. Your vote can matter, even if you don’t think it will. In California, 16 and 17 year olds can pre-register to vote, and their registration will go into effect as soon as they turn 18. Thanks to the Student Voter Registration Act of 2003, in most high schools across California, voter registration cards will be available in the school administration office. Students registering to vote can also use: RegisterToVote.CA.GOV

ON COMIC BOOK

The Featheralist

Written by Aidan Rosen, ‘22 Designed by Julia Du, ‘20

Man, you come right out of a comic book. - Enter The Dragon

1 It is quite interesting how the quote to the left compares someone to comic books of all art forms. After all, our world brims with expressive art from the ever-smiling Mona Lisa to the shocking Saturn Devouring His Son. Meanwhile, comic books make the most upfront statements about humanity with their front cover, grandiose heroes and villains. After all, many comics possess densely detailed illustrations capable of conveying human feelings at mere sight. This subject of conveying human messages through and beyond superficial details is called “aesthetics” in philosophy. Comics display their aesthetics through their profound art, placing them high on the humanities totem pole.

First, the many comics’ cover art exhibit attention to introductory, symbolic details which evoke awe the viewer’s eyes. For example, take the cover of Spawn Origins volume 1. (1) Focus on how Spawn’s arcane and cool-green force is polar opposite to his physical clothing’s warm red. These colors are then both juxtaposed by his subdominant black bodysuit with white mask and accents. All these forms then lie on top a dense, dark, and soft negative space surrounded by a pure, empty, solid white border. This contrast surplus portrays Spawn as a hero with intense internal conflict, such that his outward appearance leaks with contradictory turmoil. Furthermore, the art’s focal point has

3 Spawn pointing a clawed hand directly at the viewer with a menacing glare. This is especially imposing since Spawn’s body goes beyond the border of the dark negative space, almost emerging from the page. These details line up appropriately with Spawn’s identity: a dead ex-assassin raised from hell who fights crime. Note that Spawn is not a “caped crusader” or “the Spectacular Spawn”. He’s a killer, and he's been to hell and back to kill some more. However, someone browsing a Comics-n-Stuff chain wouldn’t know this automatically. So, Spawn is depicted with his clashing colors, menacing disposition, and potential to escape his paper prison, reach out, and

strike. These elements on the cover of the first, introductory volume inspire the expected awe and fearful respect such an almighty anti-hero deserves. And so, the unknowing viewer understands the grim of Spawn without his backstory. In this way, comic books hold philosophical aesthetic in their ability to convey feelings, like awe, clearly through their sole presentation of mythical beings. The distinct art style of comic books also makes them recognizably distinct. Consider the art previously mentioned Spawn art. No other issue, collection, or volume of Spawn comics has or will

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

have similar art — at most, an homage. Furthermore, Spawn’s design instantly fires off a trigger to a frequent reader, saying “this is Spawn.” This can be everything from the set of colors to the body proportions. For example, take the Joker’s laugh in The Killing Joke. (2) One observes his historical purple and green color scheme, which reappears in various live action portrayals. The onomatopoeic laughter in the black-white background and exaggerated black shading on Joker’s face displays his characteristic madness. The black shading highlights Joker’s perfectly round, panicked eyes while creating a generally pointed and tense look. Second, the onomatopoeia of the background is in a scratchy font. This tells the observer it’s not a jocose laugh; it emerges from the funny noise of one’s surroundings falling apart. These elements help easily identify the “Joker” name from art using basic color scheme, criminal shape, and maddening situation. The way comic books can identify and portray such archetypes is what grants their distinct style. Including words in the background is rare, one of few examples being the surrealist (a style quite separate from comic books) painting The Treachery of Images. (3) So, comics using words as an amalgam between dialogue boxes and background without consequence or controversy gives them their own unique style. In this sense, comic book art is truly individualistic as it can portray unique characters repeatedly from a single name and do so in one-of-a-kind fashion. In total, comic books are prime examples of art qualifying for philosophical aesthetics. This is done by depicting awesome characters with artistic techniques only the comic book genre can pull off. For example, one would almost never see words in a fine art painting, yet one is not always sure what a fine art painting intends. Indeed, comic books are some of the most blatant, self-indulgent works of art in recent history: and it is beautiful. It is beautiful to simply stare at a cover in a window, admiring the contrast of colors, the pop. It is beautiful to analyze and dissect the ink and shading, how the technique links to emotion like no other character or art style. And it is beautiful to consider the painted, epic battles of hero versus villain, right versus wrong, good versus evil. Edgar Allen Poe, a renowned philosopher in aesthetics, once said “we understand truth by contemplating the beautiful.” Since comic books are beautiful, they then grant us insight into higher truth with their aesthetics. Truly, comic books are one of Man’s magnificent inventions. Ultimately, it is even more magnificent to be compared to one.

The Featheralist

A BITTER ONION Written by Ayesha Aslam-Mir, ‘20 Designed by Mabel Szeto, ‘21

Artwork by Andrew Zhang, ‘21 Digital

criticizing some aspect of society in an easy-to-distinguish manner — the truth of the situation is played out for us to laugh, before the audience does a double take and goes “I do that!” This “shock of recognition” is meant for us to understand what we, whether as a society or a certain group, are doing something wrong. Once we see that, we can fix the err in our ways and move on. However, with the everlasting themes of human tragedy in literature and the correlating subsequent survival (and in terms of entertainment, entertainment value) of satire disproves to us this truth. Humanity continues to be just as terrible as the greedy, lustful characters that humored us in the Canterbury tales, and continues to be just as untruthful and snarky as the politicians so mocked by Saturday Night Live and The Onion. Even with the timeless nature of human error, the twenty-first century has greeted us with immense change in our thought. Let’s look at some . . . examples to clarify this notion. The simple ideas of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales — from the grotesque nature of the character’s lifestyles to their simple speech — to portray to both archaic and modern audiences the flaws of his characters. The flaws are believable, they are authentic, and the audience, begrudgingly, is able to identify with them. The modern political climate, however, has led satire to become a game, a fight between forces arguing over morality and fact in a sense that the two are the same in nature: abstract. This, of course, is a falsehood; fact is not abstract in the nature that morality or opinions are. You cannot argue the validity of actual fact, or so it was before distrust in media and general reporting of information became rampant in 2016. Michiko Kakutani talks about this in her Death of Truth.

It’s 2019. Your roof is on fire, insurance premiums cost $150,000, and the president just signed a contract with seventeen countries all smaller than Texas dedicating 70% of US troops to join a space legion. Funny stuff right? It is until it really . . . isn’t far from the truth. Let’s try again: Welcome to 2019. Your roof isn’t on fire, insulin costs several hundreds of dollars despite costing way less to manufacture, and the president dedicated the United States to a new space legion.

Not so funny anymore. Now, it may just not be entertaining because you already knew the truth of these situations, but it could also not be funny just because it's not authentic satire; I’m no satirical writer, and though I do enjoy sharp wit, I can’t encapsulate any one topic in an effective piece of such entertaining, scalding criticism.

It’s beyond anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers. It’s Americans choosing alternatives to the truth, discussing and absorbing bits and pieces that support the limits of individual perspective. Kakutani covers a multitude of cultural, literary, and political events and movements to come to what she calls “a celebration of opinion over knowledge, [and] feelings over facts” (Kakutani 63). She discusses how the extremity of ideas that leads to distrust in truth obviously comes from personal feelings and motive somewhat but is amplified by a lack of reliability in sources and “the values of the culture” (54).

To begin, we must review the purpose of satire. From Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to the modern Onion, satire has, for ages, served the purpose of

Even if not politically, this holds true to explain part of why satire is becoming harder to write and why parallels are being drawn in the ridiculous

Truth is now muddled in falsehood. We break bits and pieces of facts and skew them with our opinions to paint pictures that only we want to see, rejecting reality for our own perspectives (see: The Glass Menagerie). And, it is most unfortunate, that from our skepticism to blind gullible nature that depends on our few trusted sources, we now have difficulty differentiating from truth and falsehood. See: r/nottheonion Reddit, a widely used site for both entertainment and news, happens to have a subreddit (or rather its own forum page) called “NotTheOnion” where people post headlines that sound like they could be from The Onion but are true headlines. With a description as “For true stories that are so mind-blowingly ridiculous that you could have sworn they were from The Onion” as well as almost 16 million members, this group draws an almost frightening parallel between the insanity of the real world and of satire. The sources of the crazy headlines aren’t all entirely unreliable either.

Now, gems from the ACTUAL Onion site:

NEWS IN BRIEF

Bernie Sanders Renounces Call For Economic Equality After Brush With Death Teaches Him Money Isn’t Everything NEWS IN BRIEF

California Combatting Wildfire Risk By Shutting Off Oxygen To Thousands Of Residents

Humans aren’t learning from each others’ mistakes, they aren’t learning from history, they aren’t learning from literature, and they sure aren’t learning from the news. The issue of a lack of accurate news, perhaps caused by a biased selection of media, could be solved with holistic review of information. From using sites such as Allsides.com, researching information from several sources, and diving into articles beyond their mere titles to evaluate content and credibility, we could have a better educated society, one that understands better what is true and what is false. But society still has its fatal flaws. People are still greedy, terrible monsters, and people will forever prefer their own opinion over others, even if others lean more toward truth.

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nature of satire and true news. Not only is the world becoming a crazier place each day, but the receptivity toward news carries a culture of skepticism, not entirely new but one that nowadays allows an incredible amount of false information to be praised as true.

People aren’t absorbing satire as they should. The shock of recognition leads to self-defense rather than self improvement. Beyond human nature, if we cannot recognize that we have broken down the concept of fact and truth, humanity, nor satire, will reach the sharp effect they once had.

Some r/nottheonion gems from October 2019:

NEWS IN BRIEF

Missouri man flies to California, sets 13 wildfires, then tries to fly home, cops say NEWS IN BRIEF

“We don’t want to con anyone”: Inventor charging $50,000 for rain denies ‘preying’ on farmers NEWS IN BRIEF

DOJ investigates itself

Not the Onion Mabel Szeto, ‘21 Digital

The Featheralist

A MEMOIR AT INADEQUACY: THE END OF TIME

Realization

Written by Ken Zhou, ‘20 Designed by Esther Jin, ‘21 I speak now of personal experience. The constant competition. Being surrounded by friends who seem to be paragons of math, or science, or writing, or art. The incessant grind of trying your best just so your “betters” would think you haven’t failed. The stress of measuring yourself against those who you believe try harder, think faster, and soar higher than you ever will.

Mabel Szeto, ‘21 Digital The twin disgust and anger over failing a test whilst the ones who were more accomplished than you — the only ones who mattered — stood triumphant with their pitying glances and silent apologies. On and on the pages ramble, while the only one at fault is myself. I should be smarter, better, more ambitious. But why didn’t they?

The search for passion. All the empty classes taken to fill in the checkboxes; all the hollow nights doing homework and obsessing over trying to understand just enough to achieve a good grade — they were endured. There was a hope of finding something I could love: something that resonated with me as a character, as a human being. It was not found. Meanwhile, I endured the paragons and their incessant passions. I endured the CS fanatic,

I should’ve left my comfort zone. But why didn’t they have to? The question of character. Not fitting the description of an “ideal friend,” or even fitting the barest ideal of what they tell you being a “man” entails. Always wondering if you’re doing enough; sometimes paranoid that you’re doing too much. Feeling slighted because of the popularity of another. Seeking confidence in the image of that other. Envy and want for the righteousness and energy others embody. The personas we wear in pale mockery of what we want to be. The masks we bear for the sake of others and their fickle opinions, all for the sake of some petty, fleeting validation. And amongst it all, never certainty, and never surety. Where is our individuality now? What am I but a delusion made to fit the image of an aspiration? This is inadequacy. The self-loathing and envy. The disgust and resentment. Bitterness, despondency, disillusionment, cynicism — and beneath it all, grief. Perhaps we’ve all felt those damnable emotions. From whence does it come? For years, I’ve struggled with that question. Inadequacy, that painful word — did it come from the sky, dictated upon us like the cosmic justice of some vengeful, callous god? Did it arise from the faceless arbiter of society: some artificial, unstoppable force that names us inferior because of some unfathomable standard? Or is it from ourselves? It is a troubling thought, owning that word. I ask you: who is it that compares ourselves; who is it that focuses on our areas of weakness rather than our areas of strength; who is it that finds insecurity in our flaws, and condemns ourselves because of them? Who beckons the envy, discord, self-pity and self-destruction — who, but us? In the years past, there stood a shattering of delusions and revelations of truth. Delusions that, once shattered, helped reconcile self with self.

The first broken was inhumanity. Those I named “betters” — the ones I had revered and envied for so long: they were human. Their pride rested in hours of stress; their talents from the countless mental breakdowns along the way. Their talent laid in their dedication; their right to admiration blossomed in midnights spent in dutiful submission to the biology textbook, or the essay competition, or even just bog-standard practice. And even in the geniuses and prodigies, theirs was a brilliance cultivated, not just something gained from a blessed genome, unburdened by talent or work. For those faces of strength and unerring talent, the ones I had admired and envied for so long: they were just that, faces. Beneath were people burdened with grief and sorrow and life and joy and insecurity just like us all. Humanity was what I learned to see in all my “betters,” and with it ... a journey. A journey waged against a natural inferiority. A journey undertaken to achieve skill. A journey that was possible for me as well, had I the willpower.

For those faces of strength and unerring talent, the ones I had admired and envied for so long: they were just that, faces. Beneath were people burdened with grief and sorrow and life and joy and insecurity just like us all. The second broken was self-delusion. Across the better half of four years, resentment and bitterness bred from the “betterness” of my “betters.” Those paragons of ability, talent, and skill — they were mightier than me. Stronger than me at math. Worthier people to be around, better people to talk to, and on and on the delusions ramble. Never was I in need of improvement; they were paragons, how can one even aspire to them? And in this

self-deception, my inferiority was cemented — bound by flaws woefully unacknowledged. Never once did I aspire as hard as they did, nor have I taken the chances allowed to me or attempted to better myself for the sake of a worthy goal. There was no saboteur, no divine will dictating my inferiority. There was only myself. Once more, there was journey yet untaken.

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

prodigious in his abilities. I endured the Biology kings and queens: those intent on becoming doctors, or researchers, or whatever prosperous profession they were bound to succeed in. I endured the artists, the activists, the theater nobility. They all shone with the promise of being gods in their field — of being immortal for their passion, their drive, their love for their science or their dreams or their sacred calling. All the while I stood in that monolithic shadow, clutching empty passions of a heart still searching.

Perhaps mine was but waiting for me. And the last, broken and shattered, was inferiority itself. For across these years, I’ve learnt of my excellence, and bred confidence from them. I learnt of my abilities, be it speaking, or writing, or just incessant talking. I learnt of all the things that painted individuality upon my human frame: the horrid sense of humor, the witticisms, the passions for life and glory and creation. And from those virtues acknowledged, so too did I realize my history of self-destruction. For what victory was there to be gained by comparing one’s weakness to another’s strength? How could I ever measure a flagging AP Chem grade to the Chem Olympiad all-star? What did I set myself up for, but failure? What journey is there in aspiring and coveting what I could never achieve? For I stand tall enough in what I love. As I stand here at the end of time, I say this once more: there is a journey to be undertaken. It finds roots in aspiration, in that bold, ambitious glint that says “I wish to be worthy for myself.” And each step forward, each measured tread, each determined stride towards that destination yet unseen—it strengthens us. Every night we spend fighting for our worthy goals, every mission we undertake and stress over and feel pride in its fruition — it bolsters us, along with every failure, every backwards step, every tragedy that befalls our path. The destination is defined by what we do to get there, so I bid you aspire. Because we are not defined by the soul-crushing grind, nor the comparison of what fruits we’ve earned to another. Our self-worth is not defined by how tall we believe we stand next to another, for in time all shall wither and become equally inadequate dust. So why stress about that standing? Why, when all we can achieve and control is what we earn? We are defined only by our journeys: our efforts to achieve self-worth, our crusade towards what we love, and the sweat and blood we shed for the sake of that love.

The Featheralist

A girl with long hair, blond and wavy, A small smile, with thin lips and cute dimples. She has fair blue eyes and pale skin with a splash of freckles in the middle She is tall and thin, and many admire her… Yet … When she looks in the mirror— she frowns. Why must my hair be wavy? Why can it not be straight like other girls? Why must I have thin lips and dimples? Why must my skin be so pale, and dotted with freckles? What she doesn’t know is that others are jealous of her for the exact same reason She looks down at herself, She wears what they do, sweatshirts of dark maroon, short shorts, and converse high tops, She is dressed like them, yet she did not feel like them, The pressure of what people might think pulled down on her. Scrunchies and Hydro Flasks were popular last year, but only a few months after she had bought them they became infamously known, She likes listening to Kpop, But not many others accept that, She likes watching anime, But that’s given a bad name. She goes to school, With the hope that her appearance would be accepted, They laugh and listen to music with their airpods, Tossing their hair as they walk, She tries to do the same, She tosses her hair, and laughs for no apparent reason, She walks by them and hears laughter as she passes, The hairs on her neck stand up and she is flushes in embarrassment, Are they laughing at me? is it my hair? My clothes? is my method incorrect? She walks faster passed them. She enters her class, She sits opposite to one of them, She stares as the girl, The girl purses her lips and runs her hands through her hair, The girl catches her stare and smiles in amusement, Turning away from the girl she is tempted to do the same, But if the girl sees she will laugh, And others will join her, A few months have passed and she walks carefree, No longer does she care what others think, Her hair is tied up, She wears a BTS shirt, And laughs happily without worrying how others will see her.

Written by Shreya Shahane, ‘23 Designed by Priya Tantod, ‘23

What has changed? She seems normal enough, But something is definitely different; She no longer carries the burden of self-conscious, She no longer cares for what the mirror shows. Often what we see in the mirror is not a reflection, But rather what we see ourselves to be, Whether it is positive or negative is up to you, Others could see you in a very positive way, But only if you saw yourself positively it would matter.

Artwork provided generously by Del Norte alumni

The world’s opinion seems important to many, And your opinion can seem small compared to the rest, What others think may come down upon many, But nothing will matter more than how you carry yourself. So disregard what the mirror says and shows, And step out into the world without a care to what others think.

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

Written by Andrew Wang, ‘20 | Designed by Sophia Du, ‘20 You've heard it all before: blah, blah, in the future, robots rule the world, and AI’s increasing complexity will lead humanity’s downfall. Recently, researchers from OpenAI developed a hide-and-seek simulator, and, within several million games, a relatively short amount of time for an AI’s training, the AI had already learned strategies not initially anticipated, including building forts and “surfing” on boxes. OpenAI has also used AI for other remarkable tasks, including creating an AI team for Defenders of the Ancients II that toppled the world championship-winning team. Another humbling incident of AI dominating humans is the DeepBlue chess engine, which defeated Gary Kasparov in two decisive, time-controlled matches as early as the late 1990s. In the wake of such demonstrations of the power of AI, many have raised concerns that AI will quickly develop into an uncontrollable threat or that it will replace millions of jobs. While such concerns are by no means entirely unwarranted, it’s important to first define AI and its strengths and limitations. According to TechTarget, AI, or artificial intelligence, is “the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems.” Much of AI technology depends on something called a neural network. But unlike our brains, which are actual neural networks, AI software relies on ANns, or artificial neural networks. Here's a basic explanation: each network consists of thousands, or even millions, of neurons that each receive data and perform operations on it

Artwork by Colin Szeto, ‘21

before passing it to other neurons. Each connection between neurons has a certain weight, which signals passing through it are multiplied by. Each neuron receiving data will add up all its signals, and, if it reaches a threshold value (much like a real neuron's action potential), it “fires.” To train neural networks, humans put in a crafted set of training data. The neural network then processes it and compares it to what the expected result that was predefined. Based on the amount of error, it adjusts weights between neurons before

Right now, AI is being used to do great things. repeating everything all over again. Eventually with enough time and training data, the neural network will be able to give the expected output very reliably, sometimes even with new data not in the training set. As such, neural networks have been very successful at tasks where there are clear “right” answers, such as classifying furniture in an image or human faces in a photograph. But herein lies the problem: neural networks are nowhere near as dense as the human brain and are fundamentally limited by the training data they are provided with. Neural networks are great at completing whatever they were designed for; they

can’t really do much else. Although a neural network that was trained on pictures of furniture could easily tell you if something was a chair or a table, throw it picture of pizza, and it will have no clue what to do. Despite their overwhelming efficiency at accomplishing certain tasks, AIs are not yet sentient, and that means that we are far from being dominated by robot overlords. Right now, AI is being used to do great things: it powers the software behind self-driving cars, allows for reverse image searching, not to mention its power in research. But AI isn’t just used in the world of R&D and academia; chances are, you’re interfacing with it daily on your favorite websites and platforms. As mentioned earlier, AI gets better when you feed it more data. Ever wonder why companies are so keen on collecting cookies and other statistics? Besides being used to develop new features to make your experience better, user data is often used to train AIs to find you your next favorite TV show or a new restaurant you’ve got to try. Notable examples of AI algorithms that you've possibly used are YouTube’s caption auto-generation and social media feeds. And with AI’s growth, many countries have also started putting increased emphasis on AI policy and regulation. Canada named its first group of CIFAR AI Chairs late 2018, aiming to promote AI research and lead Canada’s AI strategy. User data collection and privacy have also become a prominent issue, peaking with the EU GDPR changes in mid 2018 and the Facebook privacy lawsuit in 2019.

The Featheralist

FIGHTERS OF THE FUTURE, PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT Written by Joshua Trost, ‘20 | Designed by Julia Du, ‘20 The United States has always been one of the world's predominant military forces. From the early days of its inception to modern day combat, America has been at the forefront of military innovation and technology. One of the military’s newest technological wonders is the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter — a vertical take off and landing fighter that has advanced stealth and combat capabilities. Commissioned by Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, the fighter was

designed to fit the needs of three branches of the armed forces and foreign nations. However, meeting the requirements of three branches designated for entirely different purposes is no easy task. The Navy, Air Force, and Marines all needed to replace the outdated technologies of their previous fighter, the F-16 Hornet. The F-35 seemed to be the next big leap in United States military technology, and yet, to this day, the project is 70% over budget and seven years past its

expected deadline. What went wrong? As far back as the 1980s, Congress began to work on replacing their aging fleet of aircraft. Their solution to this problem was the JSF, or joint strike fighter program. The F-35 was designed to have three different variants. The F-35A Air force variant would feature conventional takeoff and landing, stealth capabilities and was intended for air to air combat and ground support. The F-35B

Now, those promises seem like a distant memory from a bygone era. As of 1994, the cost to manufacture a single plane nearly quadrupled. Even worse, pilots did not like the new jets. Many pilots reported a lack of maneuverability and overall ineffectiveness in combat. Not everything about the F-35 was a disaster, however. With advanced stealth, integrated avionics, sensor fusion and logistics support, the F-35 boasts the most technologically advanced sensor package of any aircraft in history. Electronic warfare capabilities allow pilots to track enemy forces, jam radar, and outrange the enemy. The fighter can also relay data collected from its sensors to allied planes as well as commanders at sea, in the air, or on the ground. These electronics allow pilots to engage targets and take lethal action before the target can ever detect the incoming fighter. On paper, the F-35 is an invincible jet of the future, the holy grail of military aviation. As mentioned previously, the massive issue of overspending has prevented the majority of these technologies from coming into fruition. In 2016, congress, started leaning towards the option of canceling the project entirely. Ending the project itself is much more than just simply canceling the purchase of all these fighters. There is a much larger force at play here: the military industrial complex. The military industrial complex, in simple terms, describes the relation between the military, government, and economy. The US is the largest arms exporter in the world, thanks to its defense companies supplying the largest military in the world. In turn, these defense contractors are also some of the largest companies in the world. The contractors hold a unique relationship with the US government. Not only do they bid on contracts, but they must also gain approval for their projects from Congress. This means that these companies try to get as much support from Congress as possible. To do this, they spread their companies

across as many states as possible to create more job opportunities and maximize the amount of legislators that are willing to support their project. Not only do these contractors provide jobs, but the over 300 sub contractors that are employed by these larger companies create thousands of job opportunities as well. One can only imagine how many jobs are at stake across the country. Because of this, some speculate that companies such as Lockheed Martin are too big to fail. Yet despite all of the design flaws and overspending, no major moves have been made to scale back the program. This is because the project is a political engineering masterpiece. Today, the JSF project supports nearly 146,00 jobs across 46 states. Manufacturing for the different parts of the plane have been spread all across the United States, maximizing bipartisan support from congress. Lockheed Martin has also employed 8 subcontractors from foreign nations, and those foreign nations have also placed their own orders for the fighters. Even the slightest harm to the F-35 project could have negative repercussions for a large portion of the world.

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

into one fighter that could do it all, but the cost to manufacture parts and train pilots was expected to be low. Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon had both made promises to Congress about how they would keep the cost low through part commonality and other features.

On paper, the F-35 is an invincible jet of the future, the holy grail of military aviation. At this point, it is questionable as to whether or not the F-35 project is even needed anymore. In Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current theater of combat, their adversaries don't even have air forces. Despite this, the F-35 program still slowly trudges forward with support from the Pentagon and Congress. In fact, Congress even devoted more money towards the program. At this point, failure would mean thousands of lost jobs for the economy, strained foreign relations for the government, and, worst of all, no plane for the military.

F-35 Colin Szeto, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;21 Digital marine variant would have short vertical takeoff and landing capabilities for the purpose of taking off and landing without an airstrip. Finally, the F-35C aircraft carrier variant would require foldable wingtips and vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. Evidently, there were high standards that needed to be met for this project. With so many requirements and a design created by a committee, however, compromises had to be made. Not only did these features need to be crammed

The Featheralist

QUESTIONS WITH DEL NORTE ROCKETRY CLUB Written by Skyler Wu, ‘20 Designed by Mabel Szeto, ‘21 The Featheralist had the honor of interviewing our school’s very own Del Norte Rocketry Club. Last The Featheralist had the honor of interviewing year, Rocketry Club qualified for the National our school’s very own Del Norte Rocketry Club. round of the TARC Rocketry Challenge and was even interviewed by KUSI News. Please enjoy some round of the TARC Rocketry Challenge and was of the highlights below. even interviewed by KUSI News. Please enjoy some of the highlights below. *Responses have been edited for cohesiveness and *Responses have been edited for cohesiveness and clarity. clarity. What is DN Rocketry? How long have you been around? How many team What is DN Rocketry? How long have members do you currently have? you been around? How many team What’s the work schedule like for you members do you currently have? What’s all? How do you fund your operations? the work schedule like for you all? How doWe youare fund your operations? Joshua Trost: a club that builds rockets to compete in a set of nationwide challenges and Joshua Trost: are was a club that builds rockets requirements. TheWe club officially started 6 to a set of nationwide and yearscompete ago, butinwe’ve been the mostchallenges active in the last 2 years. years ago, but we’ve been the most active in the 2 years. Omrilast Habot: We collect funding to build our Omrithrough Habot: We sponsorships collect funding to build local our rockets from rocketssuch through sponsorships from local We businesses as Elite College Consulting. businesses suchthan as Elite College Consulting. are currently more 40-members strong withWe are teams. currently more than 40-members strong with multiple multiple teams.

How does the designing and building process work? Is it powered or How does the designing and building unpowered? What’s the propellant? process work? Is it powered or unpowered? What’s the propellant? Joshua Trost: The rocket is powered by an electric motor.Josh WeTrost: spendThe onerocket to two to by design the is weeks powered an electric Congratulations on your National title rocketmotor. andWesimulate performance withthe spend oneits to two weeks to design last year. Could you walk me through OpenRocket to estimate time, windwith effects, rocket and simulatedescent its performance how the competition works? and OpenRocket air resistance. We descent then order parts to estimate time, wind accordingly. The motors are FLAMMABLE, so we Julian Ramos: Last year, the requirements were to are not allowed to test at school or even in our accordingly. The motors are FLAMMABLE, so we build a rocket that would reach a height of 856 feet backyard or the local to park. are not allowed test at school or even in our and come down in between 43 to 45 seconds. Our backyard or the local park. rocket also had to weigh no more than 650 grams and have a minimum length of 650 millimeters. During the testing phase of the season, we go to Fiesta Island, a very popular rocket-testing site, for nearly 3 hours every week to test our rockets.

Rahul Kulkarni: We can designate up to 3 of our runs beforehand as official runs, and these runs are used as our results to qualify for the national competition. Our lowest scores, like in golf, are submitted to the TARC organization for judging. This year, we’re going to try and experiment with actual avionics as well using a controllable fin and air-breaks to upgrade our rocket.

What separates DN Rocketry from other science organizations on campus? Why should forward-looking freshmen and sophomores try out Rocketry?

Joshua Trost: It’s just cool to see something go through the air and be part of a team that makes that happen.

Rahul Kulkarni: It’s not just about learning science. It’s about problem-solving and bonding. It’s about learning to accept unpredictable, last-minute changes and learning to adapt. We’re unique because we are very connected outside of rocketry as well and that helps us have a better sense of team unity as well as helps us create a better team dynamic. Milan Dhokia: Most of us got into this because we are all very close friends. It was a social thing for us that turned into this very hard-core academic activity.

DNHS

Why make rocketry into a club and not just an activity off-campus?

Joshua Trost: We started off as a bunch of friends looking for a fun and social thing to do, and we realized that we had developed this common interest for rocketry. But we really want to make rocketry more accessible to more people at Del Norte, and that’s why we made it into a club.

What role do you see Rocketry playing on campus 5 years after you all graduate?

What are your career aspirations? What do you all want to do in 20 years?

Joshua Trost: 5 years from now, we hope that rocketry will continue to hold its popularity as a hobby at Del Norte. While we know that a lot of people joined this year because of our Nationals news, we hope that future generations will sustain our vision. We are also looking to create outreach programs at D39 and other local middle schools. We also really want to see more girls joining rocketry and trying something new.

December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

Why Rocketry? Why not biology or some other field of science?

Kevin Wang: In a ditch on the side of the road. Everyone else: I want to design rockets on a larger, more practical level. I want to work in data analytics. Maybe in a hedge fund doing finance.

Is a hotdog a sandwich?

Omri Habot: Yes. Anything that’s meat between bread is a sandwich. Mathematically, a hotdog meets this definition.

Favorite place to get food after Rocketry competition or practice?

Joshua Trost: Boba at ShareTea is pretty nice. Ribs are good as well!

Take Off Mabel Szeto, ‘21 Digital

The Featheralist

CONTRIBUTORS Staff Contributors Skyler Wu, ‘20 - Co-President Ayesha Aslam-Mir, ‘20 - Co-President Ellie Feng, ‘20 - Vice President Phoenix Dimagiba, ‘20 - Secretary Kane Xu, ‘21 - Treasurer Andrea Baek, ‘22 - Board Editor Nora Mousa, ‘20 - Board Editor Andrew Wang, ‘20 - Board Editor Kevin Wang, ‘21 - Board Editor Ken Zhou, ‘20 - Board Editor Cynthia Wang, ‘21 - Head of Art Julia Du, ‘20 - Co-Head of Graphic Design Esther Jin, ‘21 - Co-Head of Graphic Design

Artists Allen Chen, ‘21 Anna Feng, ‘23 Colin Szeto, ‘21 Mabel Szeto, ‘21 Julia Wang, ‘22 Andrew Zhang, ‘21 Graphic Designers Meena Annamalai, ‘23 Angela Baek, ‘20 Sophia Du, ‘20 Colin Szeto, ‘21 Mabel Szeto ‘21 Priya Tantod, ‘23

Writers Bella Chong, ‘22 Daniel Dolan, ‘23 Avani Ranka, ‘23 Aidan Rosen, ‘22 Shriya Sankaran, ‘23 Shreya Shahane, ‘23 Rubina Tabassum Sheeraj, ’23 Joshua Trost, ‘20 Kayley Tung, ‘21 Marco Villanueva, ‘22

Advisers Mr. Tom Swanson Dr. Trent Hall

EDITORS’ NOTE

COLOPHON The Featheralist, Volume 02, Issue 01 Del Norte High School’s Literary Magazine 16601 Nighthawk Lane, San Diego, CA 92127 (858)-487-0877 powayusd.com/Schools/HS/DNHS dnhshumanities.wixsite.com/TheFeatheralist dnhshumanities@gmail.com School Population 2365 students 162 full-time staff Font Families League Gothic (titles) Oswald (pull quotes) Libertinus Serif (bylines/body text) Computer Hardware and Software Windows 10 Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop/InDesign Paper Stock Cover: 100# Glossy Text Inside: 80# Glossy Text We would like to thank our printing company, Best Printing USA, for their steadfast technical support and consistent high quality. Price of Magazine We rely 100% on local advertisers and student essay contest award money to print our magazine. We print around 150 copies per issue depending on page count and distribute copies of each publication for free to the Del Norte student body and surrounding community.

Editorial Policy The Featheralist is produced and managed entirely by members of the synonymous The Featheralist club, a 100% student-run extracurricular club. The Featheralist club members are divided into three departments: Writing, Art, and Graphic Design. Each department is led by a small group of student officers. The positions expressed in any of the articles are solely those of the individual writer. They do not represent the viewpoints of The Featheralist as a club, nor those of Del Norte High School or the Poway Unified School District. Mission Statement The Featheralist as a club exists to foster a collaborative and mutually edifying community of artists, writers, and graphic designers. It empowers students to explore topics spanning the entire spectrum of the humanities—from screenplay to political essay, from poetry to short story. It serves as a megaphone to broadcast students’ unique ideas, experiences, and visions to the entire campus and the larger community. Scholastic Affiliation We are honored to announce that The Featheralist was recognized with a Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal with two All-Columbian Honors. Cover art by Angela Baek, ‘20

Hey Del Norte! We just wanted to thank you for supporting The Featheralist for our third year now. This issue is our first of the 2019-20 school year, and we just wanted to reflect a little. We envision The Featheralist as a platform for all forms of expression on campus — poetry, essays, debates, fine art, photography — you name it. We’re transitioning from our past political and current event niche into a general publication that captures what Del Norte thinks about and believes in. Volume 2, Issue 1 is really important to us because it represents our transition, not just in content direction, but also towards long-term sustainability. You may have recalled the Senior Issue from last year. That was the end of our first phase of growth — of establishing ourselves as a publication dedicated to serving Del Norte culture. With Volume 2, we’re now focused on growth: more writers and literature, more artists and artwork, and more circulation and community outreach. We hope you enjoy our articles in Volume 2, Issue 1. We also hope to have you onboard in future issues! Warmly, The Featheralist Staff

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December 2019 | Volume 02, Issue 01

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WORKS CONSULTED “A Bitter Onion”

“The Fight for 2020”

“On Comic Book Aesthetics”

Kakutani, Michiko. The Death of Truth. Tim Duggan Books, 2018.

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