High Tide: March 14, 2022

March 14, 2022 | Vol. CII Edition 8 Redondo Union High School Redondo Beach, C A

7 NEWS

Elderly man drives onto campus

HAND ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATELYN PERRY

8 FEATURES

Freshman Tristan Chen voice acts in Pixar’s “Turning Red”

18 SPORTS

Boys and girls soccer make history as CIF Champions

SEX.

Teens, Tech and

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@ruhsmedia

2

news

Waking up Waki

1

the competition The band Willowake won this year’s annual Battle of the Bands 1. Members of the audience watch Willowake’s performance on Thurs. Feb. 24.

2. Senior Junior Polanco, lead singer and guitarist of Willowake, performs on stage.

by CRISTINA COUCH

I

n this year’s annual Battle of the Bands, a battle of musical talent and skill, the band Willowake took the title of champion, receiving the $100 prize.

The competition, which lasted from Feb. 22-24, featured three different bands: Suffrage, TBD and Willowake. These bands all performed on separate days and each group brought a different genre to the table, from hardcore punk rock to indie alternative.

For senior Gavin Alvarado, the guitarist in the winning band Willowake, the competition not only allowed him and the band to express themselves, but gave them the ability to get their “name out there.”

“We were very confident that we had a good chance of winning,” Alvarado said, “but we were definitely excited [when Willowake won].”

Willowake formed around September 2021, with Alvarado and his two bandmates, lead singer and guitarist seniors Ju-

PHOTOS BY KEARA ANTONELLI

nior Polanco and PVHS student and drummer Dax Corcaron. Performing with other bands in venues within neighboring cities, merchandise designed and made by members of the band selling and over 300 Instagram followers on the band’s account, @willowakee, the ind i e

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punk b a n d has a larger following than most on campus.

“We aren’t established per se, but we have a lot of people backing us up and coming to the shows,” Alvarado said.

In addition to the positive experience Alvarado got through Battle of the Bands, the lead singer in the band Suffrage, sophomore Adan Pineyro, and

his band all agreed that despite the loss, it was still “fun to play.”

Their hardcore punk rock band Suffrage, with the name being inspired by an 8th grade vocabulary word learned in social studies class, has five core members. With Pineyro as lead singer, sophomore Mason Mussetter as bass, senior Ethan Lavallee, and junior David Lastiri Villanueva as guitarists and junior Joseph Mintz as drummer, the band has evolved from Pineyro and his friends’ middle school vision to what was seen performing on the stage outside the cafeteria.

When writing songs, band members are inspired by their dislike of and anger towards certain aspects of society, such as right-winged people and the police.

“Some of us can get angry sometimes and that comes out in the music,” Pineyro said. “But at the end of the day, we’re just playing for fun.”

One of the three judges, Kitaro Takesue, a multicultural and AP literature teacher, found that the competition was a way to highlight the “many talented students on campus.”

Takesue, who has judged a local talent show in prior years, evaluated the bands from a wide range of criteria. From stage presence and audience participation, to the songs the band chose to perform, the panel of judges took everything into consider-

ation while assessing each individual band.

“It was very close,” Takesue said, “All the bands were awesome, but Willowake reigned supreme this year.”

Additionally, the lead singer of TBD, junior MaKenzie Smalling, found the Battle of the Bands as an opportunity to “get back into music.”

According to Smalling, TBD getting together was “very random.” With the creators of the band in search of a lead singer, Smalling was asked to join the band along with other members.

“We were trying to sing songs that people knew [like “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World] so that they could sing along or be like ‘oh, I know that,’” Smalling said.

Throughout the competition, Smalling and TBD members Jacob Dick as drummer, co-lead singer Rin Lakandula, Saya Ward on bass and guitarist Collin Demersman, all juniors, hoped to convey the idea that you can really be yourself while performing.

Despite losing Battle of the Bands, Smalling regretted nothing about the experience with her bandmates, and each band, whether they won or lost, agreed they’d definitely compete in Battle of the Bands again.

“The competition showed people in the school that even in the midst of all the stuff going on, we could still have fun,” Smalling said.

ASB’s semester two Club Rush showcased many new and old clubs

by SCARLETT MISCHE

A

SB hosted their annual semester two Club Rush Feb. 23-24.

As students walked through the different booths at Club Rush in the Student Union with music from Battle of the Bands playing in the background, several new clubs could be seen amongst the many old clubs. One of the new clubs, the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Club (held in the yearbook/journalism room on Mondays), gained popularity quickly, going through several sign up sheets during only the first half of Club Rush.

“The point of our club is to do community service while still following the Spider-Man theme of our club, which had been our original idea,” sophomore and president of the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Club, Giulia Panganelli, said.

This club gained traction at Club Rush due to its name and voting jars for who the best Spiderman actor is. However, although they do Spider-Man related activities, one of the club’s goals is to make a real impact on the community while having fun doing it.

“It doesn’t matter if you want to join because you like Spiderman or because of the community service, anybody can join for any reason,” Paganelli said.

This club is not the only one using new ideas to help the community. The Squares of Care Club, another club formed during semester two of this year, is dedicated to

crocheting square patches and then making them into blankets. According to sophomore and president of the club Natalie Goldman, the blankets will go to hospitals and other organizations for people in need. ¨It’s a good way to help out the community and it’s also a good thing for your mental health. I feel like this year there has been a lot of stress and I feel as if crocheting is a good way to unwind,” Goldman said.

Aside from this club being a place to hang out and relax, it’s also a great way to have a creative outlet that is helpful towards the community, according to Goldman.

The Squares of Care Club isn’t the only club who uses their creativity as a way to relax. The Cooking Club (their second year as a club and their first year being an in-person club), which is led by senior president Carissa Le, also uses an art form as a way of both relaxation and expression.

“Having a creative outlet during a break in the day is really nice, so you can express yourself in whatever way you feel,” Le said.

The Cooking Club, which meets every Monday in room 705, normally picks a theme for the week then has its members cook or bake their items at home. The week after that, they share their dishes through a Google slide presentation of the different steps in making their dish. They also watch and play cooking related shows and games.

“It’s a fun community. Everyone can do whatever they would like and feel comfort-

able with. It caters to everyone of all skill sets—you don’t have to be an expert at cooking to be in the club,” Le said.

Another club that was present (for the the first time this school year) at this semester’s Club Rush, although it has been a club in years prior, was the Creative Writing Club (meeting every Wednesday in room 706), whose president is junior Una Meidav.

“The environment at our club is really easy going and communicative,” Meidav said. “Having a creative writing space is so important.”

According to Meidav, writing is a form of emotional release and learning how to properly record feelings can be helpful if an escape is needed.

“It’s always good to have writing skills.

School is very focused on more structured writing, and there isn’t much opportunity for creative writing,” Meidav said.

According to Meidav and her co-president, junior Dylan del Rosario, when students are younger, they tend to have more opportunities for a “free write” time, yet as they mature into high school, those creative opportunities aren’t given out as often. “[Creative Writing Club] is very laid back, and it’s just a space where people can talk, but it’s also very open to growth. You can come in for a little bit of time and participate then leave,” Meidav said. “It can be a very personal thing to share your writing

in general, so I’m really proud that we’ve created an environment where people can do that.”

With similar values to the Creative Writing Club, the Jewish Culture Club (one of the oldest clubs on campus), run by senior Kyla Simon, is all about including students of all types.

“We welcome anybody and everybody that wants to join. We are very open and very casual,” Simon said.

This club is all about making students aware of Jewish culture and helping educate members (that are made up of about 50% non-Jewish students) on a topic in which they might not be as well-versed. The club also celebrates Jewish holidays, learns about anti-Semitic acts throughout history and plays Kahoots and other trivia games.

According to Simon, knowing about other cultures is something that the members of the Jewish Culture Club believe to be very important in order to counteract any misinformation or preconceived stereotypes around that culture. In this club, the methods in which people are educated about Jewish culture are “entertaining and informative at the same time.” Simon encourages anyone wanting to learn more about Judaism to join the club.

“It’s just a very beautiful thing when everybody comes together to learn about something [Jewish culture],” Simon said.

HIGH TIDE MARCH 14, 2022

NEWS 3

A NIGHT ON THE WATER Spring formal was held at the battleship USS Iowa on March 12

by MADISON KURIHARA

T

he COVID-19 pandemic has taken many aspects of high school life away from students, school dances being one of them. However, given the decline in cases, RUHS was once again able to hold its winter formal, or rather spring formal, this year on Saturday, March 12 at the battleship USS Iowa in San Pedro from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

ASB, which originally planned to hold the winter formal on Jan. 29 at the California Science Center, wanted to find the best time and place to hold a formal that would still be safe for the students.

“We know people were looking forward to having a chance to go to a winter formal, and though we had to postpone it, we felt that we still wanted to have the event,” senior PJ Scotting, ASB Vice-President, said. “People enjoyed homecoming and we haven’t had a winter formal for a few years now because of COVID. We thought it would be important to try and bring back some of the past events we’ve done since we’re coming out of the COVID year.”

In the process of planning for these large events, ASB goes through and “makes a pros and cons list of all the venues that [are] available,” mainly considering the “location, distance and price.” This year, ASB considered the USS Iowa due to its outdoor setting that would make attendees feel safer being in a large group.

As a student-run organization, planning large events like spring formal is challenging due to all the meticulous coordination that must go into it, according to Scotting.

“A lot of us need to communicate with people outside of the school, which can sometimes be challenging since we’re students and we have to work with big companies that are helping put these events on,” Scotting said. “That was sort of challenging: trying to communicate with them and then also having to postpone the event. But once we set a firm date it got easier, especially because there’s a lot of people helping to put this on and organize it. I feel there were a lot of working parts that came together to help prepare and push out this event.”

Tickets for the spring formal went on sale roughly a month in advance and started at $75, or $70 with an ASB sticker. In the subsequent weeks, the price increased by $5, capping out at $85 for those without ASB stickers.

“A lot of [the price] has to do with the location itself and how much the venue costs to

rent out and hold an event there,” said Scotting. “Since homecoming was on campus, we didn’t have to pay for a venue, but since we went off-campus [for this event] and got a company to help us, it was a little more pricey.”

The tickets themselves paid for various aspects of the event, which included a DJ, a photo booth, karaoke, games such as air hockey and pool, a dessert bar, drinks and appetizers.

According to sophomore class president Kate Fukushima, a risk in planning the formal was trying to satisfy the entire student body. With so many differing opinions and ideas, “it was difficult to try to meet everybody’s needs.”

“Meeting the interests of the students was challenging because you want to meet as many major groups as possible and without throwing a bad event,” Fukushima said. “We did have to weigh the pros and cons of everything. We were pretty set on the California Science Center [the previous location for winter formal] and everyone else also liked it. So, it was a little upsetting when we had to give it up and postpone it. But we are happy we could still put something on.”

ASB finds these risks worthwhile, however, as when the students’ ideas are taken into account, they “feel involved with their school.” For Fukushima, it is especially important to listen to the voices of the underclassmen.

“We want everyone to feel heard, not just the upperclassmen, especially because that’s something hard to do when you’re a freshman or sophomore,” Fukushima said. “We try to make [the underclassmen’s] voices heard as much as possible, and we try to reach out and see what they would like because, in the end, this will be their high school for the next four years and we want it to be a fun time. We want them to like RUHS and we want them to feel connected.”

After the spring formal came to its conclusion, freshman Summer Montemurro, who attended the event, reflected on what she thought of it.

“The formal was really fun,” Montemurro said. “I enjoyed seeing all my friends dressed up and having a good time. The music choices were really good and seeing everyone singing along and dancing just made the atmosphere really exciting. Overall, the event was amazing and I’m glad I came. I can’t wait for the next one.”

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1.Students hang out on the illuminated deck of the USS Iowa.

2. Students enjoy the dance floor’s flashing lights and music.

PHOTOS BY ERIKA GLASS

The Starbucks across from RUHS returns to normal closing hours

by STAVYAH NAVEEN

T

he smell of fresh coffee disseminates through the air, attracting a long line of RUHS students. Starbucks employees find themselves in a hassl as they try to make drinks but are halted by exhausting requests from their teenage customers, which include but are not limited to “Can I get a water?” They call it “rush hour.” It’s the period of time between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. during which RUHS students bombard the Starbucks on the corner of Diamond Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

However, for a period of time, the privilege of “Iced Chai Tea Lattes” or “Acai Lemonade Refreshers” ceased to be given to the majority of RUHS students, as Starbucks implemented an early closing time of 1:30 PM. This abrupt change in availability triggered a disappointed and confused response from RUHS students who were regular customers at the Starbucks branch.

Freshman Sienna Fong, a frequent visitor to the Starbucks branch, described the

early closure as “really disappointing,” because while Starbucks is a place that many rely on for their daily dose of caffeine, students also appreciate the optimal location of the store.

“Some people depend on [Starbucks for] their lunch or for somewhere to go before their parents pick them up. Sometimes, I would go there and wait for my parents or my brother to pick me up. [After the closure,] we [were forced] to figure out where to go, because not a lot of places are open for seating.”

However, the motive behind Starbucks’ early closure wasn’t to spite students but instead was influenced by the fact that Starbucks was understaffed.

According to senior Isadora Scott, a part-time barista at Starbucks, the company is very “strict” with COVID-19 policies. If an employee tests positive for COVID-19 or has been around someone who has tested positive, the employee is required to isolate

themselves from others for a minimum of 10 days. This explains why Starbucks employees were dropping like flies.

“There was only one person taking orders, two people making the drinks and [so on]. So it [would] get really stressful,” Scott said. “I’ve only had to work the rush hour one time when we were really understaffed.

I saw my manager and he just looked so stressed with the [cash] registers, so I [offered to help]. I was in my lacrosse clothes, but I still put on my apron and went straight to taking orders.”

Immensely busy working hours and a slightly overwhelmed staff led to the branch’s decision to close at an earlier time.

According to the manager, Sash Johnston, the lack of RUHS student business did impact the overall sales for the store.

“It affected us a lot, but since we [were] not open during those hours, we weren’t [necessarily] losing money,” Johnston said.

“But, aside from that, it [was] nice for us to

have a little bit of a break. We get bombarded by you guys, but it’s all great. [RUHS brings] great business, and we [also] know some of you, which makes it fun.”

Luckily for many students, the branch has reverted back to closing at 7 PM, rather than mid-afternoon.

“We’ve been hiring people,” Johnston said. “Since we have more employees, we are able to extend our hours again and have more body coverage.”

As a result of these newly-extended work hours, Starbucks employees are now able to interact with the RUHS community once more.

“I’ll take their order, and I’ll recognize their face and their name,” Scott said.

“Then, I’ll walk around school [and I’ll see them and interact with them]. It’s kind of like part of Starbucks policy to be nice to everybody. You try to make sure that the customer feels important, and just try to brighten up their day.”

4 NEWS

MAR. 14, 2022 HIGH TIDE

ATTENTION TO DETAIL RUHS MCJROTC attended their first competition of the school year, with drill team winning second place and underclassmen competing for the first time

by ELISE HAULUND

T

he wind and the RUHS Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (MCJROTC) blew the competition away at their first competition. MCJROTC attended their first meet in over two years at Henry J. Kaiser High School in Fontana, CA on Feb. 26. Despite weather challenges, the drill team placed second, and neither color guard team placed.

“Everyone was very nervous because there were people watching, we didn’t know what to expect and we didn’t want to look bad,” sophomore Joshua Olson, third squad leader of drill team said. “The whole time, you do not want to mess up, because when you practice this long for this moment, the last thing you want to do is mess up during competition.”

At competition, the drill team is expected to perform commands such as “column left march” or “right face” from a drill card that they practice ahead of time. As third squad leader, Olson is at the front of the third line while marching.

“When it was announced that our drill team got second place, we all started screaming. We were really happy. We were trying to predict what place we got, and I predicted around fourth to sixth place but everyone else was predicting we got last because it was our first competition,” Olson said.

Olson believes they performed “pretty amazingly,” even though the high wind speeds nearly blew them away.

“When everyone’s cover was flying off, it was really funny because one moment their hats were on and then they were just off somewhere on the turf,” Olson said, “and you can do nothing about it but watch. You have to keep going like ‘oh, nothing’s happening, it’s fine.’”

Leading up to the competition, MCJROTC spent hours practicing every day of the week—at zero period, during snacks and lunches, and after school. According to Olson, the drill squad repeated the drills so much that even if the drill commander called out the wrong command, everyone still performed the correct movement.

One of the elements of JROTC competitions is inspection, where a drill sergeant, or another inspector from one of the military branches makes sure everyone looks right, as well as quizzes them on military history, and current events. According to Olson, it’s the hardest part too.

“You have to stand at attention. You’ve got to be looking perfect. You gotta get your uniform all dry cleaned, you can’t have any wrinkles. You have to look perfect, you have to act perfect, you have to be perfect,” Olson said. “That’s

what they expect.”

The JROTC program at RUHS is the Marine Corps branch, but other schools follow the protocols different branches of the military. This competition was hosted by the army branch, but unbeknownst to the RUHS MCJROTC drill team, the army has a different procedure for inspection. When the drill sergeant walked up to Olson, he didn’t take his rifle to commence inspection, as the Marine Corps practices.

“

You have to look perfect, you have to act perfect, you have to be perfect.”

JOSHUA OLSON SOPHOMORE

“He told me to go to parade rest [a different way of holding a rifle], but I knew the rules. I thought he was just trying to trick me or something, so he told me to do that four times and then he just skipped me,” Olson said. “I was so confused because he literally did not inspect me because he did not take my rifle. I didn’t even reach the part where he asks me a question. So he went on to the next person so I closed the bolt and went back to order. He goes to the next person in the third squad, and the same thing happens.”

The inspection issue ended up being resolved when the MCJROTC commanders talked to the sergeants about the differing customs that they weren’t aware of, but Olson was still “very very very very very relieved” to get out of the question-asking part.

Going into inspection and the rest of the competition, junior Kimberly Bautista, a flagbearer for the bravo color

Drill team commanded by Cadet Gunnery Sergeant Cienna Szeles stands at attention. PHOTO BY CHRISSA OLSON

Cadet Gunnery Sergeant Sarah Yong inspects the American flag before presenting it in competition.

PHOTO BY CHRISSA OLSON

guard team, had contradicting feelings.

“For anyone’s first time competing on anything, you’re obviously kind of nervous. So deep down, I was obviously nervous, but at the time, I was actually kind of excited because being my first competition, I wanted to know what it was like,” Bautista said.

As a flagbearer, Bautista’s job was holding up a hefty flag pole that was bigger than herself in the furious winds.

“We tried to pretend there was no wind, even if you could tell what was going on, but we tried to keep it as perfect as it was before. My flag was the heaviest, so holding the heaviest flag while also fighting the wind in the opposite direction was also super hard,” Bautista said. “I hated it and it made me feel so bad. It made me think I was a bad cadet for the fact that I couldn’t hold a flag, even though it probably weighed more than me.”

Freshman and commander of bravo color guard Minkyung Jo says the competition was “better than [she] thought it would be,” despite not placing.

“We practiced a lot just for that day, but I didn’t have any regrets because I know we all tried our best, even though we didn’t win anything,” Jo said. “Now I’ll just try to improve based on this. There’s always a second, third, fourth chance for me.”

MCJROTC will attend more competitions over the rest of the school year, so Jo believes that learning how to push through the challenges of the Feb. 26 competition will be valuable for the future.

“There’s other people who are relying on you, right next to you, just waiting on your voice. It made me be more careful, loud and clear so that everyone could hear my voice, because if my voice is too quiet, they might turn the wrong way,” Jo said.

Amidst the roadblocks of competition, the team supported each other and bonded as a team, according to Jo, Olson and Bautista.

“There’s no stranger danger tension in ROTC. You can just talk to anybody there and we’re all like a giant family in first platoon right now. It’s like free friends,” Olson said.

“You join the program, plus the friends.”

Alpha colorguard riflemen salute the colors.

PHOTO BY CHRISSA OLSON

HIGH TIDE MAR. 14, 2022

NEWS 5

ASB held their spring spirit rally on Mar. 9 after its postponement

Sophomore Payton Boitano is lifted in an arabesque stunt. PHOTO

by ZELIA LERCH

A

Students from different grade levels all compete in a game of blindfolded musical chairs.

PHOTO BY VALERIE TISCARENO

Don’t rain on my

RALLY

eety said.

During a school year not within the pandemic, the fall rally occurs on the football field. The spring rally takes place in the gymnasium, and the audience is split in half so the games take place twice.

“Our other biggest difficulty with this rally was the uncertainty over whether we could have it inside, and then what would happen with the impending rainstorm. It was hard to reschedule because not as many people dressed up or even knew this was happening. It definitely taught us how to adapt to and flourish with the changes, though,” McEveety said.

Sammie Hall, the junior class vice president, emphasizes the stress that comes not only with planning the event, but what could potentially go wrong during the performances.

“If something goes wrong, it’s on ASB. For example, for the spring rally I was in charge of all the music, so I would have been the first one in trouble if something had gone wrong and the music had been messed up during the salsa or hip hop dances,” Hall said.

However, Hall most looks forward to the spirit week when it comes to spirit rallies—both coming up with the spirit days and dressing for them.

“I like getting dressed up with my class to take cute pictures. It’s really cool to see the spirited kids getting a chance to band together and chant and cheer and get the energy up.

It’s also fun seeing all the class colors and everyone pull up and Marco Foster, 11, and Samarah Nuques, 11, perform in a salsa routine at the Spring Rally. PHOTO BY VALERIE TISCARENO get into it,” Hall said. fter three ASB directors, a change in location from the gym to the football field bleachers and finally a raincheck, the ASB Spring Spirit Rally finally occurred on Wednesday, Mar. 9.

The biannual spirit rally is a hallmark of every semester, and according to co-commissioner of activities and senior McKenna McEveety, over three months of planning go into each one.

“There’s a lot more work behind it than you’d expect. Even just remembering tape to put up bleacher signs and other small things like that is up to you to remember. The things that other people don’t think about, you’re the one who has to think about it,” McEveety said.

A rally starts off as only notes about potential ideas, from which it festers into a week-long theme with daily dress-up prompts, specific game ideas, class representatives to take part in the games and jobs for each member within ASB. “This rally was a little weird because where normally we have an indoor one in the spring, we had to have it outside because of COVID-19.

It was difficult to think of eight games that were specific to the theme and audience inclusive.

Usually we could have fun smaller games in the gym, since it’s half the school at a time,” McEv-

As the co-commissioner of activities, McEveety takes “special pride” in

BY VALERIE TISCARENO seeing the rest of the school enjoy the activities. She “loves watching people get into the games and feel the spirit as the whole thing comes together.”

Junior Caleb Davis, who participated in the final relay event, particularly loves the competitive and bonding aspect that comes with working as a team to complete a task in front of the entire school.

“The camaraderie we feel with our class and the rest of the school is unmatched,” Davis said.

“There’s not one moment I can pinpoint as my favorite, it’s just that general feeling of class spirit.”

The seniors in ASB, especially McEveety, regret the rallies they lost to COVID-19, as this spring rally was their last one of high school.

“I’m going to miss that typical high school environment, especially because I’m a senior.

I’ll definitely miss planning what happens in the rallies, figuring out the games and getting everyone spirited. Just everything that comes with being in ASB,” McEveety said.

RUHS Theatre Arts hosted a ComedySportz match including middle schoolers

by ELLA SILBERLING

C

omedySportz is no stranger to outlandish games such as “Emo Party”, where players must maintain a certain emotion while acting out the events of a themed birthday party, or even “Rock, Paper, Infinity” in which players must battle with rock, paper, scissors, or absolutely anything. On Friday, Feb. 25, the RUHS Theater Arts hosted a ComedySportz match featuring middle schoolers from RBUSD combined with the RUHS ComedySportz team in a heated competition of quick-thinking and wild humor.

In the match, the red team and blue team faced off, with the blue team coming out on top with a score of 31-27.

Students from the middle schools were introduced to ComedySportz through RUHS’ Rising Theater Artist Workshop which allowed them to learn about the different aspects of drama at RUHS. Those who enjoyed the experience were invited to participate in the Feb. 25 ComedySportz match. Senior Jordan Benitez, vice president of ComedySportz, is excited to welcome a new generation of comedians to RUHS. “We really have a great community of people who share the same interests in ComedySportz. So I think bringing in the middle schoolers gives them a chance to see what we have to offer at Redondo in the drama department and, on a more personal level, it gives them an opportunity to explore who they are as a person and an actor,” Benitez said.

ComedySportz is a worldwide comedy organization that holds matches and has

leagues of improvisational comedy teams.

Improv, in drama, refers to a type of theater in which performances are unplanned and created on the spot by performers. The matches generally revolve around two competing teams who participate in a number of spontaneous games and skits in attempts to generate laughs and gain points awarded

“

I really just like making people laugh and I enjoy seeing people’s faces when they get to experience a little bit of happiness.”

ELLA KLUG SEVENTH GRADE

by the audience and referee.

“The matches are so enjoyable especially because audience involvement is such a huge part of ComedySportz. When the audience is there to feed off the player’s energy and vice versa it turns into a big hype show and it’s just a ton of fun,” Benitez said.

Benitez has been a part of ComedySportz since he was a sophomore. He believes that despite the competitive nature of ComedySportz, the environment is very

encouraging and friendly, especially at and share her love for acting and improv.

RUHS. According to Benitez, no matter the “The community is really fun and imdifferences between members they’re “like prov itself is also just really enjoyable. Still, a family” and can work together easily un- I’m a little bit nervous to perform on stage der their shared passion. but mostly I’m excited,” Kanouse said. “It’s “During this match, we’ll have our var- been really great to be around people who sity players who aren’t playing, watching in like the same things I do and act similarly the audience to support those participating, to me.” and then Kai (president of ComedySportz) According to Klug, she was nervous beand I will be backstage helping everyone fore performing but was able to look on the out and making sure everything runs bright side of things, be grateful for other smoothly, which it usually does,” Benitez students’ friendliness and learn from the said. opportunity.

According to seventh-grader Ella Klug “I really just like making people laugh and sixth-grader Lily Kanouse, who both and I enjoy seeing people’s faces when they played in the match, they were welcomed get to experience a little bit of happiness,” with open arms by the drama department. Klug said. “Making people happy brings me “Everybody here is really sweet and joy and that is why I am doing this today.” really encouraging.

They made it a really nice space for me and the other middle schoolers,” Klug said. “It was nice to see the high school as well.”

Kanouse had similar views to Klug about the inclusive attitudes of the high schoolers in ComedySportz.

She wanted to use the match Referee and junior Eva Lopez-Quintana explains the game that the red as a chance to and blue teams will compete in. PHOTO BY ZELIA LERCH enjoy herself

HIGH TIDE MARCH 14, 2022

NEWS 6

A WRONG TURN OF EVENTS

A Silven Honda driven by an elderly man was found parked in front of the 500s building PHOTO BY MAKENA DAMARIO

An elderly man drove onto school grounds, sparking discussions about campus safety

by DANI HARPER

B

ad teen driving is common around campus, but senior citizens doing so isn’t.

On Wednesday Feb. 16, an elderly man drove onto campus without authorization in a silver honda. He made his way from the science building to the 700s building before being convinced by the police to leave campus.

Freshman Zara Schwar was walking with her class to the library when she noticed the car on campus and later, the po-

lice. Schwar, like other students and staff who witnessed the incident, wasn’t fully aware of what was initially happening.

“We actually saw the car first. It was kind of weird. I thought it was one of the teachers at first, so I was a bit confused.

Then we saw the cops, so I thought ‘Okay, something is going on here,’” Schwar said.

According to principal Anthony Bridi, at first, the man’s arrival on campus wasn’t a concern as some parents get lost and end up making U turns to exit the lot. However,

that is not what happened in this case.

“We had a campus supervisor at the gate there who saw the gentleman and assumed he was going to make a U turn, and it looked like he was doing that. However, he did not.

He made a left. [One of the campus security guards] basically said ‘Hey, stop’ and he just kept going and ended up in front of a classroom.,” Bridi said.

Many, such as Schwar, questioned why the gates were opened in the first place but according to Bridi, there are a multitude of

reasons it was open during this time. Bridi says that the gates were opened due to a class passing through them or a recent passing period or grounds employees getting into the school. The only other way to get from the auditorium to the main campus is through a small door next to the gate which, according to Bridi, is “less efficient.”

Additionally, the vehicles that the grounds and maintenance employees use don’t go through the small door, so the gate must also be opened for them to pass through.

Ensuring that the gate is closed when not in use is something that is going to be more strictly enforced by the campus security after this incident, according to Bridi.

“I think the awareness of the fact that anything can happen at any time, regardless of how many security measures might be in place, is important. Things can potentially happen, whether it’s on campus or not. Your awareness is crucial for your safety anywhere,” Bridi said.

Bridi also says that he “feels bad” for the older man who drove onto campus. The elderly man in question was confused in some manner, according to Bridi.

“I don’t want to put that gentleman in a place where he feels guilty. I don’t know his current state. I feel for him. If he’s lost, or whatever it was, he probably thought that [the parking lot] was a street,” Bridi said.

While Bridi believes this is an isolated incident, he says that “the school takes safety and security very seriously.” He said that security questions need to be asked if something like this is able to happen and it is a reason to “continue thinking of better ways to stay safe.”

“I want to make sure that we continue to look at things like this as an example of creating and thinking about ways to increase our security and awareness of any possibility that might happen,” Bridi said.

NEW YEAR, NEW CLASSES RUHS will offer four new class options for the 2022-2023 school year

by YARA EL-HASAN

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tarting next school year, RUHS will be expanding its course selection to include four new electives: philosophy, Introduction to Business, a second level of Culinary Arts and Link Crew.

“I want to emphasize that we’re always trying to think about a couple of things whenever we develop new classes. 'What’s the demand? What is the new generation interested in?' When we build all these classes, we’re always thinking about where the world is going,” Vice Principal Kyle Garrity said.

Physics teacher Lauren Litus will be next year’s philosophy teacher. The class will be open to juniors and seniors and will cover a wide range of topics including the philosophy of math, language, mind, science, epistemology and metaphysics.

“Philosophy is really awesome because it can take anything as its subject matter.

Really, it’s an approach to understanding the world. We will analyze concepts and do it in a systematic way,” Litus said.

According to Litus, students who will take philosophy should expect around half an hour to an hour of homework each night. The assigned work will mostly consist of reading and analyzing primary and secondary texts.

“We’ll talk about what knowledge is and if we have any. We’ll also be talking about the ultimate nature of reality. What do we know? Do we have free will? Is the mind distinct from the body?” Litus said.

In the class, students will also study sig-

nificant philosophers including Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. With a master’s degree in philosophy, Litus believes that students who take philosophy will learn important life skills that can help them in the future.

“I think it’s a great critical thinking class. It’s perfect for high school kids because they need to learn how to think on their own and develop better writing skills,” Litus said.

Along with philosophy, all grade levels will be able to take an introduction to business class which will be taught by personal finance and algebra 2 MCR teacher Mike SooHoo. Students who take introduction to business will learn about accounting, finance, marketing and entrepreneurship. The class will be project-based and will allow students to learn about local businesses. According to Garrity, it will prepare them for other more advanced classes that follow in the business and finance pathway.

“Introduction to business is a great way for students to understand how the subjects they’re learning here at school can be applied in business-type settings,” SooHoo said. “One of my goals is to be able to explore different types of business. Everything from health care, technology, finance, production and entertainment.”

Another option for students next year is a second, more advanced course of culinary arts The class will be taught by the current culinary arts teacher, Emily Byars, and only students who get her approval will be per-

mitted to join.

“Culinary 2 is using the skills you learned in culinary 1 and now applying them in a workplace environment. The goal of it is to create more space for students to have work experience,” Byars said.

According to Byars, students who take the new culinary arts class will learn important life skills in the kitchen that will be helpful after high school.

“This new class is not just a great way to learn about yourself, but also to learn about others through food. You’ll also become more confident in your communication, collaboration and working with others,” Byars said.

As the school implements more classes to increase diversity in the electives students can take, Garrity hopes they appeal to both the teachers and students. He additionally encourages both students and teachers to bring him ideas of new classes that can be implemented in the school’s future.

“When teachers are teaching classes they like to teach and students are taking classes they like to take, everybody’s happy and it feels like there’s more of a connection in the classroom,” Garrity said. “Schools and students run better when people are taking classes they’re more interested in.

We always have to take the core classes and make sure we cover all those things, but these electives give students a chance to explore ideas they didn’t know they wanted to before.”

FOR THE 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR

4

NEW CLASSES WILL BE OFFERED

A SECOND LEVEL OF CULINARY ARTS FOR RECOMMENDED STUDENTS

INTRO TO BUSINESS FOR ALL INTERESTED STUDENTS

PHILOSOPHY FOR JUNIORS AND SENIORS

LINK CREW FOR JUNIORS AND SENIORS

7

features Long snapper junior Sam Bosse hopes to play D1 university football

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAM BOSSE

3, 2, 1

by RYAN PARHIZI

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hunderous roars erupt from the passionate football fans. The kicker makes his way to the field. Down by one, the kicker sets up for a field goal to take the win home. The stands go silent, the crowd fills with anxious stares and all the pressure is on the kicker—and the long snapper.

Under the heat of the moment long though it could make the difference in an snappers like junior Sam Bosse have to important play.”

Bosse began long snapping for varsilaunch the ball between their legs in a play called a snap. Long snappers differ from ty after his freshman season, seeing this traditional snappers as they have to launch position as a better path to continuing his football career at the colthe ball around fifteen legiate level. yards during punts and “During my freshman seven to eight yards Long Snapper (AKA season I mostly played during field goals. This wide receiver and I still extra distance introduc- Deep Snapper): player es a unique skill set that on the special teams unit back up for that position but due to the compestresses precision and tition and volatility at speed. A bad long snap who snaps the ball on a could make or break the punt or a field goal (“The wide receiver I felt like I had to make a change kicker’s chance of makStadium Reviews”) to stand out,” Bosse ing a field goal. said. “After switching to “Long snapping is a really under-appreciated position in foot- long snapper I have devoted a lot of effort ball,” Bosse said. “Most casual fans of the outside of Redondo’s football program to sport don’t even realize that long snappers bulk up and get quicker and more efficient and centers are a different position. There snaps.”

Bosse’s hard work eventually landed isn’t much glamor to long snapping even

him at Rubio long snapping camp in Las Vegas. Rubio is the most prestigious camp for long snappers in the nation and many elite colleges keep their eye on their ranking to recruit their next long snapper. Rubio puts you through a series of tests to challenge your snapping abilities, similar to the NFL combine; a good performance at Rubio can get you offers and ranked.

“I was ecstatic on my trip to the Rubio camp,” Bosse said. “I was prepared to go out and perform as best as I could, to get my name out there. By the end of the camp I was ranked 170 in the nation making me a 3 star nationally ranked recruit.”

During Bosse’s time at Rubio he was able to connect with other notable long snappers like Logan Rager—the number one recruit of the class of 2022, as well as the University of Utah’s starting long snapper Keegan Markgraf.

“Being able to get connected with Mark-

graf meant a lot to me because [going to] Utah is my dream school and having that level of exposure that Markgraf could provide can help me land a long snapping roster spot at Utah,” Bosse said.

Bosse’s performance at Rubio presented him with college offers from a multitude of high level Division III schools, coming in the form of a roster spot at Baldwin Wallace University as well as meetings with Crown and Brevord University. Bosse’s name is also starting to make its way around the Division I circuit as recruiters from the University of Montana have contacted him and shown interest.

“I’m really proud of where I’ve gotten myself and I know I have so much more space to improve,” Bosse said. “I’m really excited for next season because we have some new players joining as well as a new head coach in Keith Ellison. If the team performs well I can hopefully continue to get my name out there to Division I schools.”

Serena Tavai’s brothers compete in the NFL and CFL

by AMINA RAÏSS

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reshman Serena Tavai’s most cherished memories are tossing around a football with her brother from a young age, now, instead of her receiving her brothers are throwing to their NFL teammates.Tavai is the younger sister of a powerhouse group of football players.

Her brother Jahlani is a linebacker for the New England Patriots, while her oldest brother J.R plays for the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football League. It doesn’t end there though. Incredibly, her other three brothers play division 1 NCAA football. Despite her close proximity to celebrities, Tavais’ day-to-day life looks just like that of your average teenage girl.

“Just because most of my brothers play professional football doesn’t mean there are paparazzi always outside. My life wouldn’t be really any different if my brothers weren’t in the NFL and CFL. They aren’t any different either, just my brothers who happen to be pro-athletes,” Tavai said.

The only brother who doesn’t play professional or college football is Jaggar.

He is still in high school, Jaggar is a standout for the local powerhouse Junipero Serra High School in Gardena. He attends Junipero Serra because of the great football team they have there.

“It was natural for him to pursue it in high school, and he will continue to pursue it in college. All of my brothers started playing football at around seven. They’ve always known that football is what they wanted to do. I wouldn’t say they are following the others’ examples, just chasing their own dreams,” Tavai said.

Despite all of her brothers playing high-level football, Tavai never felt family pressure to pursue sports herself. “I’ve always been [attracted] to sports. I play them because I choose to, not because of any pressures that my family put on me,” Tavai said.

Eager to blaze her own path, Tavai herself is on the tennis and track teams at RUHS. She plays doubles with fellow freshman Molly Trotter on the JV tennis team and competes in shot put for the track team. Tavai hopes to become a professional athlete, whether that be tennis, shot put, or another sport entirely.

“My family is very sports-oriented. I’ve always been exposed to athletics when I was younger and I love playing [tennis and other sports],” Tavai said.

Tavai’s exposure to sports started at a young age because of her brothers. They all started playing football as kids and as

a result, most of her childhood memories include football. She remembers tagging along with her parents to watch her brothers’ games on countless Saturday afternoons. Early on, her brothers’ talent for football made them local celebrities in their hometown of Inglewood.

“I have so many good memories of playing football with Jaggar and my other brothers. Just throwing the ball with him, watching them practice and always being there for games,” Tavai said.

One of Tavai’s favorite childhood memories revolve around her brothers and their career paths.

“Seeing them on TV for the first time was great. I love always being able to see all their accomplishments in football or in any other sport. It’s so cool being able to remember being with them when I was younger and seeing where they all ended up,” Tavai said.

The youngest brother in the family, Jaggar, decided to pursue football because of his brother’s influence.

“I wanted to start playing football because my brothers made it look fun. I loved watching them practice and knew that that’s what I wanted to do,” Jagger said.

Similar to his sister, Jagger wants to

leave his own mark in the family. Despite going into the same sport, he’s managed to accomplish things his brothers never had the chance to do in their high school careers.

“My favorite memory about football is that I got to win a state championship and none of my older brothers have. It’s cool being the only one in the family who has done that,” Jaggar said.

From the time he was a boy, Jagger remembers always being inspired and eager to follow in his brother’s footsteps. Witnessing their achievements has fueled his passion for football.

“I’ve always looked up to my brothers, and I’m so lucky that I got to see their journey from when I was younger to now. It’s full circle,” Jaggar said.

Both of the youngest Tavais favorite part of their brothers going pro isn’t being able to tell her friends about them. Instead, it comes from their love and support for them.

“The best part of them becoming professional players is that they got to achieve their dreams. I’m just happy and proud of them for putting in the work and making it,” Tavai said.

8 FEATURES

KEEPING WITH TRADITION

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by MARLEY VAN PELT

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I like [...] being that go-to person for a student [...] because you never know what’s going on in someone’s life.

AMARYLLIS VELASCO ASB ADVISOR

Velasco started actively writing at the age of 15, and pursued journalism as a career until the age of 24. She wrote for “The Pet Post” and wrote sport articles as an intern for “The Downey Patriot.” She always had the desire to write but found that she also wanted a more “positive” environment such as that found in teaching.

“There are lots of great things going on in the world. Instead, I felt like [journalism] was focusing too much on the negative, and I’m more of a positive person,” Velasco said. “That’s one of the reasons I chose to be a teacher.”

Velasco’s upbringing in a family of educators inspired her to follow in their footsteps because, after hearing the experiences they had as teachers, she wanted the same “connection” with people and in particular, the students.

“Just being able to do something as simple as asking a kid ‘How are you doing’ or ‘What are you up to’—those are the things that are rewarding for me,” Velasco said. “I like having the interaction and being that go-to person for a student in the classroom because you never know what’s going on in someone’s life.”

Prior to teaching at RUHS, Velasco taught at Monrovia High

School and El Rancho High school.

In her seven years of teaching, she has taught numerous 10th grade and 12th grade English classes. But, during her five years of teaching at El Rancho, Velasco began her journey in advising ASB. “I’ve always been really passionate about getting involved in extracurriculars and helping out students,” Velasco said. “I know how tough it is to do school. Some students have jobs, so I wanted to be the person who helps them.”

Also greatly immersed in the program, senior Sophia Oswald, ASB President, first involved herself in ASB in 8th grade with the motivation to “try something new,” not knowing the role she would be taking part in as a result. Without an advisor during the summer, Oswald and her Cabinet had to take on more responsibilities than in prior years.

“We had freshman orientation in the summer, and that was all run by the Cabinet. We had no teacher at this point, and we put on this event for almost 800 students,” Oswald said. “From that, our Cabinet knew no matter if we had an advisor or not, we have all the skills we need.”

Now, with Velasco facilitating the organization and structure of ASB, the Cabinet no longer has to work unaccompanied.

“She’s been super supportive, helping us with the teaching aspects like grading, contacting admin, and other stuff that is really difficult for us to do on our own,” Oswald said. “We’ve been through so much.

Cabinet is so strong, and it’s a breath of fresh air that she acknowledges how strong we are and how well we work together.”

Velasco finds that the support she has shown to ASB’s Cabinet has been reciprocated in a heart-warming way.

“My favorite part is just how welcoming the kids and the staff have been, especially coming in right at the beginning of the second semester,” Velasco said. “Everybody has just been warm and welcoming, and they know that I’m new so if I don’t understand something, they’re very patient.”

Oswald notes that the partnership between advisor and student is a “two-way street.” Velasco finds herself proud of ASB’s student leaders as she a c -

Stephen Kelley returns to RUHS as offensive coordinator

by ZOE ROSSI

Amaryllis Velasco follows in her family’s footsteps in eductaion by becoming the new ASB advisor

he spring rally, club rush and the senior picnic: all these events that have occurred over the past few weeks have been under the direction of a new ASB advisor.

With the start of second semester came the start of Amaryllis Velasco’s career at RUHS, stepping into the role of ASB Advisor to provide ASB the support and help that they may lack. This job follows somewhat of a family tradition as, with a father as a principal and a mother as a teacher, Velasco comes from a family of educators.

“Everyone, including my sisters and brothers, are all teachers or principals,” Velasco said. “I actually didn’t think I was going to go into teaching. I have a journalism degree, so I was actually a journalist before a teacher.”

MAR. 14, 2022 HIGH TIDE

knowledges how efficient and organized the program is and the connections they all have with one another.

“I’m just helping them to facilitate and make sure no one steps out of line or gets hurt—more just the logistical things,” Velasco said. “I’m so impressed with their leadership that I know that I don’t have anything to worry about. I can’t think any more highly of them.”

Velasco also wants to return the favor and build something really special at RUHS. “I actually started making a little collage in the back of the room,” Velasco said.

“In their room, I noticed that they didn’t have pictures of themselves together. I just want them to have this sense of family and have that bonding so that next year when they do come together, they just feel like they’re all set and they feel excited.”

“

It’s a breath of fresh air that [Velasco] acknowledges how strong we are and how well we work together.

SOPHIA OSWALD SENIOR

After Stephanie Matheson left toward the end of first semester and the leave of Ms. Martinez after almost two weeks, Velasco serves as ASB’s third advisor this year. After this era of uncertainty within ASB, she hopes to make her own impact on ASB in order to help them be prepared for the future.

“I want to make sure that there is a proper code of conduct that is being followed. I want them to have a very strong leadership team next year,” Velasco said.

“I want to make sure they all feel like they’re being heard.”

PHOTOS

BY KEARA ANTONELLI

ith the hopes of establishing a dominant football team and reuniting with an old friend, offensive coordinator Stephen Kelley has decided to return to RUHS. “What led me back is the opportunity to help one of my good friends, Coach Ellison. We’ve known each other and worked with each other for a long time, and I felt compelled to come back and help him get our program back to the level that it was when we worked together previously,” Kelley said.

Kelley coached at Redondo Union from 2011 to 2016 before he left to explore other opportunities. Over the past two years, Kelley has been working at Warren High School, which was ranked the 33rd best football programs in California on Max preps under his leadership. For comparison purposes, RUHS ranks 491 in California after the 20212022 football season.

According to Kelley, what led to a great season for Warren High School was letting no details go overlooked. This is a philosophy that Kelley wants to bring to the RUHS football team.

“Practice establishes habits that will transfer into the game. Everything matters in practice because everything matters in the game,” said Kelley. “I am a coach that teaches with great passion, and I will make sure that I push the student-athletes to get out every piece of potential I see in them.”

Senior Eve Divinity was previously coached by Kelley from her freshman to junior year in track and field at RUHS. She believes that Kelley’s background as a track coach will lend itself to future success for the football program.

“You can take track speed, and you can apply it to football. Track and field is an aggressive sport, and you need to be strong. So, the go-after and get-aggressive mindset he coached with will translate to his coaching of football, and will hopefully lead to wins,” she said.

Divinity has experienced the passion and care Kelley puts into coaching his students and believes it will be beneficial to the student-athletes on the RUHS football team.

“I think Coach Kelley actually sees a lot in his athletes. When the game is on the line, he makes sure everyone gives it their all. And, if he knows that you can do better, he’ll call you out individually and he’ll make sure you can see and understand what you can do better,” said Divinity. “He puts a lot of effort into connecting with his students, and even if it’s not an event that he is familiar with, he’ll do research and try to actually help you with it.”

Kelley’s passion as a coach comes from a deep love for playing football.

He played for Leuzinger High School in Lawndale and often played against RUHS. “I love the game within the game.

I love strategizing and figuring out schemes in order to beat defenses. I love talking and really studying the game,” said Kelley. “I like the geometry of football, and as a math nerd, I like finding the patterns of play that will be the best route for the team. It all goes hand in hand.”

The belief Kelley has for his players and his investment in coaching is evident in his goals for his student-athletes.

“My main goal when coaching our student-athletes is to leave them with the tools to be the best they can be—to help them in every aspect of their lives,” said Kelley. “I believe you need to be fully invested in the student-athletes so they understand I’m not just coaching them for this moment. I’m coaching them so they can have a great life after they finish playing.”

HIGH TIDE MAR. 14, 2022

TURNING HEADS Freshman Tristan Chen voice-acts in the new Disney film “Turning Red”

1 1. Tristan Chen at El Capitan for “Turning Red” film.

2. Tristan Chen poses with co-star Sandra Oh. PHOTOS

by ARIYA ANVARI

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hen a screaming kid is ambushed by a dodgeball in the trailer for a new animated Disney film, your first thought probably wouldn’t be, “Wow, that sounds like the kid who sits behind me in math class.” But, shockingly, that may not be too far from the truth. Freshman Tristan Chen has a role in “Turning Red,” a film about Mei Lee, a girl who turns into a red panda when feeling overly emotional. Chen play’s, Mei’s classmate, Tyler.

Chen has been acting for several years now, having grown up surrounded by actors as a child, he was able to learn more about the film industry from a young age.

“My entire family actually acts,” Chen said. “My mom is an excellent actress. My dad’s actually got a lot of things going on right now—he’s been in the ‘Snake Eyes’ movie that recently came out, and he’s working on a movie of his own.”

A family of all actors gave Chen the opportunity to start acting from a young age because of his parents’ knowledge of the film industry and their ongoing careers as actors and actresses. Chen’s father, Steven Allerick, is known for his roles in “Snake Eyes: G.I Joe Origins,” “Broadway’s Lion King,” “The Walking Dead” and more.

“There’s something nice about it, in the sense that I feel like I can help both of my kids in ways I wouldn’t be able to help them if they were doing something I didn’t know anything about,” Allerick said. “Like if they were studying to be doctors, I could help them with their work ethic, but I wouldn’t be able to help them identify the bones of the body, illnesses or anything like that,” Allerick said. “My kids have the freedom

to do whatever they want to do, they don’t have to be actors. But the fact that both me and their mom are in that industry, it feels really good to have a family like that. I feel like I can contribute to his success in ways that I wouldn’t normally be able to.”

Although Chen showed an interest in theater at a young age, he only got into voice acting during quarantine. COVID-19 certainly put a dent or two in the film industry, causing him to lean more towards voice acting and animated works. Melissa Berger Brennan, Chen’s agent, got him the audition, and it was decided that due to circumstances, in-person was simply not an option. “[The audition] was a strange one because it was in the middle of a pandemic.

We have a pretty good microphone and voiceover recording set up at the house, and that’s what he used. ” Allerick said. “If there was no pandemic, they would have flown him to Pixar and had him go on the campus, see what it’s like and meet people. But because of the pandemic, it was just another call back and then he got the job.”

Despite not being able to see them in person, Chen was still able to befriend his co-stars.

“Everyones really nice, and the cast is really good. Not just the voice cast, but everyone on board is just really helpful. It was my first really big voiceover, so it was really helpful when they guided me through it and showed me the ropes,” Chen said. “I think I had a really good starting off point, especially with this Disney movie. So I’m glad I’m able to start with this.”

Chen’s career doesn’t just stop at “Turning Red” though, since he played an extra in

FEATURES 9

COURTESY OF TRISTAN CHEN

2 “WandaVision,” an extra in “The Kominsky Method” and several other films. Out of all of his roles, Chen couldn’t pick a favorite.

“I like all of them equally, because each one brought out a different aspect of acting,” Chen said. “In ‘Turning Red,’ I get to let loose and act like a bully. I’ve had a lot of different acting experiences, so there’s no way to really select one favorite.”

Chen has acted in several productions, and intends to do more. Allerick believes his son is up to the task and is glad to be in a family of actors despite his family coming

to America from Canada with little involvement in the film industry.

“I’m filled with pride, you know? Because that’s exactly what I do for a living,” Allerick said. “It’s nice to see him get opportunities that were really hard for us to come by because our parents were immigrants; they didn’t know anything about the film industry or how to get their children into it. So I’m filled with pride not only for that, but also for the hard work he puts in. He’s learning a good work ethic, which is paying off.”

Freshman Kseniia Kozulina uses her skills as an artist to decorate cookies

by CHARLOTTE GOLDSTEIN

A

fter seeing freshman Kseniia Kozulina’s artwork, it’s hard to believe that the hand painted cookie decorations she designs aren’t actually printed onto the icing. In reality, each cookie is the result of over 48 hours of work, many shades of carefully placed food coloring and over three years of practice. After a simple family tradition became a more serious artistic endeavor, Kozulina has worked hard to perfect her unique set of skills in cookie decorating.

For as long as she can remember, Kozulina has loved to bake cookies. By the age of 11, she decided to take this passion to a higher level and started a business where she sells her cookies.

“We have a tradition in our family where we bake gingerbread cookies every year for Christmas and New Year’s. When I was just four-years-old, I would help my mom bake them, and I would decorate them with icing. I found it really fun, and just a couple years ago, I got more seriously into it,” Kozulina said.

In addition to cookie decorating, Kozulina also enjoys sketching, oil painting and watercolor painting. While she loves all forms of art, she says that cookie decorating is set apart from the rest.

“For watercolor, which I really enjoy, you would put many layers on top of each other to layer the painting. But for cookies, it’s much more difficult,” Kozulina said.

She explained that cookie decorating is a much more delicate process because of how fragile the icing she uses is.

“The more liquid you put on the cookie icing, the more it becomes ruined and the very top layer of the icing becomes dam-

aged,” she said.

To avoid demolishing hours or even days of hard work, Kozulina utilizes a precise step-by-step process when she makes her cookies. Her first task is to form and bake her cookie dough.

“I like using gingerbread because they have a fun connection to my last name, Kozulina,” she said. “Kozulies are gingerbread cookies that originated in Arkhangelsk, and they are also decorated with icing and served at Christmas. I have tried other types of cookies, but gingerbread has always been my favorite because of that connection. I also just love the flavor.”

Once the gingerbread cookies have been fully baked and cooled, Kozulina moves on to the more difficult aspects of her project: designing and decorating.

“Depending on my client, I have different amounts of creative freedom with my art. Sometimes they make the design themselves and they tell me every single detail, but most of the time they just give me the general idea and I come up with the designs myself,” Kozulina said.

She says that planning out her designs is one of the most challenging steps because of the logistics of the project.

“I always just want to make sure that the client likes the cookies and that I really understand where the client is going with it.

That’s probably the hardest part, but with everything else you kind of get the hang of it,” she said.

Kozulina explains that she finds inspiration for her cookies from a variety of sources.

“I get inspiration from a bunch of different social media platforms such as Pinter-

est, Instagram and YouTube, but sometimes even from TV shows that are popular,” she said.

Once the artwork is fully planned, she begins to paint.

“I make the icing, and I glaze the cookies. And after the icing is 100% dry, I use food coloring and alcohol mixed together and I paint the design one detail at a time,” she said.

Once her cookies are completed, Kouzlina posts pictures of her artwork on her Instagram, @kseniias_creations, where she has nearly 1,500 followers, and then sends her cookies to her client. However, the cookies don’t usually travel far considering she only sells to close friends and family. This is because she doesn’t have the business license she needs in order to sell them.

“It’s really hard to get [a license] at my age, and because of school, I have limited time for cookie decorating.

I can only sell them to my friends and family because it’s risky to do without a license,” she said.

Kozulina explains that her friends and family have all been very supportive of her business. Especially her friend Moa Brink, who loves seeing Kozulina grow and evolve as she hones her craft.

“She’s doing this all on her own, and it’s really inspiring that she gets better and better with every cookie. I really believe that she will be able to fulfill her dreams,” Brink said.

While Kozulina is happy with where she is at in her artistic journey, she does have

Cookies made and decorated by Kseniia Kozulina, featured on her instagram: @kseniias_creations. PHOTOS COURTESY OF KSENIIA KOZULINA

some plans for the future.

“In the summer, I might get a license to make it into a full time business because making more money off of it would be nice,” Kozlina said.

“But for right now, I just like living in the present moment and trying to enjoy making the cookies day by day.”

10 HIGH TIDE MAR. 14, 2022

WHAT A

TURN ON

T

rying to write his APUSH assignment, junior Patrick* can’t seem to focus. His mind is racing and key concepts make no sense. ‘What do I do?’ he thinks to himself, ‘Make a snack, go for a walk, listen to music?’ And then he types “porn” into his incognito browser.

The exaggerated moaning, the perfect bodies, the awkward up-close angles—pornography is just one search away.

Pornography’s perpetual place in society is blatant, and while there are positives and several other topics associated with it, there are also potentially harmful effects, supported by science, that watching pornography can result in. Despite pornography’s prevalence in teenage and adult lives, it is rarely a topic of discussion, due to societal taboos. Without open discussions, pornography can be abused and have harmful effects.

PHOTO BY KEARA ANTONELLI

Pornography creates unrealistic expectat teenagers about what sex should be and life is nothing like a staged production

by KATARINA (HAVEN) BECHES

A Creativity Crash

J

unior Will* stopped watching pornography when he became involved in a romantic relationship a year and a half ago but recalls that whenever he did watch it, he “felt ashamed after it, like ‘Why did I do that?’”

“Pornography is unrealistic. It creates a very bad picture and sets expectations differently than what they should be.

If you [are in a relationship], you shouldn’t mimic something that’s fake and scripted,” Will said.

Raised to believe sex is about “love and respect,” Will believed pornography has the possibility of tainting sexual experiences.

“Pornography takes a lot of the value out of what should mean a lot and makes [sex] feel cheap,” Will said. “It’s a you-do-you kind of thing. If that’s what you like, go ahead, but I just think it can ruin the real thing.”

Liz Dubé, certified sex therapist, considers watching pornography a growing problem, especially for the younger generation, as it exposes them to explicit content that can have irreparable harm on their future sexual lives.

“Requiring the use of pornography to reach orgasm or using it every time you masturbate causes teens to lose the creativity in their brains. It can make it hard to get aroused or feel satisfied with another person if you’re so used to a video screen,” Dubé said.

According to a report by the Institute of Public Policy Research think tank, pornographic images are “pervasive” in teenagers’ lives, with 45 percent of 14-yearolds watching “explicit content on the web, which subconsciously shapes the attitudes and behaviors of young people towards sex.”

“When you use pornography as your sex education, it’s kind of like using video games for real life, but video games aren’t real life. You can’t drive a car or shoot a gun in real life the way you do in a video game, otherwise, you crash and people die. The same is true for pornography,” Dubé said.

Students also recognized the importance of watching pornography with the knowledge that it is reality-distorting entertainment. Pornography, after all, is a scripted, audience-catered $97 billion dollar industry.

Regarding those expectations, Dubé noted how “if you dive in too early [watching pornography] and use it on a

regular basis, it will be harder to be intimate and experience pleasure with another human being.”

The Knowledge Gap

A

ccording to Live Science, 25% of 18 to 24-yearolds listed porn as their “most helpful” source of information on how to have sex, above asking their own partner. Study leader Emily Rothman, professor of community health sciences at Boston University School of Public Health and her colleagues have been working on “porn literacy” instruction among teenagers, a concept aimed at not shaming people for being curious about pornography or regulating the content they watch.

Rather, porn literacy refers to putting “pornography into context; to help young people understand why they might see content that doesn’t represent healthy, consensual relationships; and to promote communication between sexual partners.”

Upon first watching pornography, senior Beau* used it to learn about the human body and explore what he personally liked. However, he acknowledges that seeking out such knowledge can expose individuals to “terrible” content.

“There are so many categories that are wildly terrible.

People will find ways to access CP (child porn) which is disgusting. One of the terrible things about porn is it may not be easy to find, but if you want to find it, you can,” Beau said.

More and more, teenagers are turning to pornography to educate themselves on how sex, consent and how relationships work, according to a study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior. This study surveyed young adults and adolescents (ages 14 to 17), and found that “half of the participants received useful information” from pornography.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), Lindsay Orchowski, Ph.D., a psychologist at Brown University who focuses on adolescent dating violence prevention, agrees with Boston University’s Rothman regarding the importance of porn literacy. Additionally, she also notes that “exposure to violent pornography—pornography in which a person is forced into a sexual act against their will— is correlated with the perpetration of teen dating violence.”

Misogyny in the making

S

ophomore Katy* noted that pornography is mostly “catered towards men” and the pornography that is catered towards women is “more gentle and more

MAR. 14, 2022 HIGH TIDE 11

tions for often, real

Vulnerable teens report feeling pressured to sent sexts without understanding the repurcussions

*All student names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

by ALLIE D’AMATO

real.” Even though she rarely watches pornography, she considers it a “better and safer alternative” to actual sex.

“If you need your fix, go watch some pornography, and don’t risk it by self-sabotaging and having sex with random people,” Katy said. “It’s also safer physically because you’re not getting any STDs.” Although it may be physically safer, the mental side effects of consuming inherently misogynistic pornography can be damaging.

According to a 2010 study from SAGE Journals titled “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos,” 88.2% of videos contained “physical aggression,” and 48.7% of scenes “contained verbal aggression, primarily name-calling.” The majority of targets were women, the aggressors were men, “and partners most often showed pleasure or responded neutrally” to the aggression.

ABC, a news site in Australia, corroborates SAGE Journal’s assertion, noting that the pornography industry capitalizes on toxic masculinity, entitlement, and borderline abuse and that males view females as objects to act “out on” rather than “fully engage with.”

Orchowski also found that exposure to violent pornography is associated with “perpetration of teen dating violence [and that] boys exposed to violent pornography were up to 3 times more likely to perpetrate sexual violence and to be victimized themselves, and girls were 1.5 times more likely to threaten their romantic partners with violence,” according to the APA.

“They want to act like teens aren’t having sex.”

T

he stigma surrounding pornography and discussions regarding sex, in general, is prominent and can cause addictions to develop.

According to marriage and counseling organization OnlyYouForever, “half of boys and nearly a third of girls experience guilt or shame after using pornography,” however, these negative, ashamed feelings “did not reduce the use of pornography [...] rather than pushing people away from harmful behaviours like addiction, can actually fuel the cycle, causing addicts to spiral further.”

“The shame is generational. Even adults are really uncomfortable talking about sex or what they want,” Dubé said. “[They] tend to be scared of sex—they want to act like teens aren’t having sex. They want to ignore it. They feel like if we don’t talk about it, then maybe they won’t do it, which is not true.”

Even with this generational shame, younger individuals are becoming more open. Will estimates that 90 percent of his friends watch pornography, and he doesn’t find discussing it uncomfortable with his male friends.

“It’s not uncomfortable to talk about unless you’re surrounded by girls,” Will said. “It’s a male-dominant thing in my opinion, so it’s comfortable being discussed around guys. But [when around girls, discussing pornography] doesn’t happen.”

Sex and pornography is also a topic of conversation among junior Patrick’s* friend group and family.

Watching pornography “with a grain of salt” according to Patrick is necessary.

“It’s just a form of entertainment. Compared to all the other illegal things we can do like drugs or drinking, I think porn is one of the lesser evils. As long as you’re not abusing it, meaning the only way you can get off is watching pornography, I think it’s fine,” Patrick said.

Pornography and conversations regarding sex should be discussed more openly, according to Patrick, Beau, Katy, and Will—both within the household and at school, if pornography is to be viewed without judgment.

“You may end up having to see a sex therapist at some point in the future if you use pornography every single time you masturbate because at some point you’re going to hit a plateau,” Dubé said. “Pornography isn’t inherently good or bad and masturbation with and without it is healthy and it’s okay. If your friends say they don’t do it, they’re probably lying.”

STATISTICS FROM: JAMA PEDIATRICS PORNHUB 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

PSYCHOLOGY TODAY

PEW RESERACH CENTER

1

992. The year the first text message was sent. 2003. The year MySpace, one of the most notable social media platforms, was created. Both these significant events influenced an outpouring and rapid emergence of other social media and messaging interfaces, giving teens increasing accessibility and opportunity to express their outlooks and likes, promoting connection and communication. The rise of social media and messaging gave way to the prominence of related topics, such as beauty standards, insecurities, identity, and, probably the most “taboo” subject according to junior Zion*, sex.

“I think sex has never really been as widely talked about as it has now. Maybe it has something to do with the generation before us viewing sex as sacred, or maybe it has to do with the fact that we are afraid to share our experiences and ask questions—I’m not completely sure.

But I’m glad that with Instagram and Snapchat becoming more popular, people are becoming less fearful to start conversations about it, because, even if we don’t realize it, sex plays a big part in our lives, whether it be for purposes regarding intimacy, relaxation, or gratification,” Zion said.

The National Institute of Health reports that sex and topics relating to sex have been increasingly surfacing on social media throughout the years, and it is evident that adolescents, particularly in the 15-19 age range, have been immersing themselves in sex culture.

Social media provides teens the chance to view posts about sex, but only to a certain extent. Many platforms have put strict community guidelines into place which prevent people from sharing sexually explicit photos–photos regarding sex may be posted, but photos outwardly showcasing it are prohibited.

In light of this, many turn to messaging interfaces to send nude photos or engage in sexually charged banter known as “sexting.” Sage Open, an open-access journal that publishes original research and review articles, reports that sexting can take on many forms: sending sexually suggestive photos or videos, photos or videos wearing lingerie, nude photos or videos, sexually suggestive text messages, or text messages propositioning sex. JAMA Pediatrics claims approximately 12% to 16% of youths aged 10 to 19 years have sent a sexual photo to someone else.

Danny Huerta, Doctor of Psychology and Vice President of Parenting and Youth for Focus on the Family, asserts that sexting is “damaging” for relationships as a whole, especially those involving adolescents who aren’t as knowledgeable.

“Girls, who should be treated with honor and respect, are instead viewed as objects whose purpose is to provide gratification. They often begin to see themselves in that light.

Guys quickly learn lessons about male-female relationships that are unrealistic. This leads to pornography addiction and relationship failures,” Huerta said.

Beyond the objectification of females and the desensitization that males experience through sexting, it poses many concerning dangers to the teen population. Minors, those 17 and under, legally are not allowed to possess or distribute nude photos of themselves or their peers, as this is considered child pornography.

“I used to sext when I was in a long-distance relationship, but I don’t anymore,” Zion said.

“When I sexted, I only sent verbal text messages, no pictures or anything. I’m aware of how unsafe it can be going beyond just rapport or banter, and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t crossing any lines.”

Sexting has the potential to lead up to “revenge porn,” a term used to describe the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent. Revenge porn can lead to “unfortunate” consequences.

According to Chase Carter, a law clerk for the National Association of Attorneys General, personal information is often coupled with revenge porn, directing more harm to victims.

*All student names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

“I’ve heard about revenge porn before, and it kind of plays into why I started sexting more cautiously. I realized how scary sexting can actually be because once you send a photo, you have no control over it. You don’t know where else it could go beyond your messages,” senior Maria* said.

Another aspect of sexting involves either unsolicited messages/images or pressuring someone into sending messages/images, which are both “extremely invasive,” according to Maria. “The New York Times” reports that one in nine teenagers report forwarding sexts without consent, and that “nonconsensual sexting leads to significant stress, leaving teenagers in the same kind of distress they may feel after being sexually harassed or assaulted.”

“Simply put, people can be jerks. There have been times where I’ve gotten an explicit snap from a random guy who I’ve never talked to before. I never asked for a photo or for any kind of communication, yet he thought it was necessary to send me a naked pic without any heads up or agreement? Absolutely not okay,” Maria said.

“And there have been other times where I’ve talked to boys who pressured me into sending nude photos. In some mild cases, they merely degraded and shamed me into sending photos, and I ended up submitting to their judgment because I was insecure. In more serious cases, they have outright threatened me. It’s terrifying, and it’s something no one should go through.

Thankfully, I’ve moved past those relationships, and I am stronger now, but I’ve really learned a lot about consent through my bad experiences.”

Megan A. Moreno, MD for JAMA Pediatrics, explains that adolescence gives way to self-discovery and exploration–engaging in sexting may feel like a way to explore their attraction to someone, but, ultimately, it can lead to emotional distress in developing minds.

A study conducted by the National Library of Medicine found that “psychosocial problems were more frequently observed in teens who had sent or showed sexual photos of themselves. [Additionally], high self-esteem was negatively associated with having sent or showed sexual pictures, and for female teens, results showed a significant association between sexting and depressive symptomatology.”

Teens seem to agree that social media poses benefits in the sense that it exposes them to sex early on, allowing them to become more open to it. However, there are some clear drawbacks when it comes to sex-related topics being so easily spread, such as the exaggerated portrayal of sex, which, according to senior Maria*, gave her heightened, and unrealistic expectations.

“A lot of the time I see these girls pamper themselves to get ready for sex, and when the actual intercourse happens, it’s like an overdramatization. When I have sex with my partner, it’s really nothing like what it is portrayed as, and when I continually see posts or videos about unrealistic sex that the media spotlights, I become insecure. I ask ‘Am I doing okay?’, ‘Is sex supposed to be some monumental profession of love?’, ‘Is sex just a superficial form of stress relief?’, ‘Am I bad at sex?’”

Along with the promotion of an overwhelming depiction of intercourse and extremely skewed sexual ideals, many teens feel as though media “pressures them into having sex,” according to Zion. He believes that sometimes media can negatively impact the course of a relationship by “shoving sex down viewers’ throats.”

“A lot of the time, social media and media at large put such a large emphasis on sex, making it seem like people, teens especially, need to have it to successfully express their sexual frustrations or use it as a catalyst for a smooth relationship. Now, I’m not trying to downplay sex. But it shouldn’t be a defining factor,” Zion said. “Losing your virginity shouldn’t be looked at as a prize to be won. Just because you had sex the fastest or the earliest doesn’t mean anything. What’s important is that you have good intentions, you are aware of your situation, and you are being as understanding and safe as you can possibly be.”

12 FEATURES

MARCH 14, 2022 HIGH TIDE

1

1. ILLUSTRATION BY MIA DOWDELL 2. PHOTO FROM FREEPIK DATA FROM THE WASHINGTON POST

Get

REA L!

As reality shifting is on the rise, sophomore Rory Cooper shares the details of her experience with it

by LARA MAGDESIAN

H

aving the capability to take yourself to any fictional place seems like a dream, yet for some who’ve obtained the ability to shift, it’s their reality.

Shifting is the act of moving one’s consciousness from this current reality (CR), to their desired reality (DR). The concept of shifting has been around since the early 1900s but garnered attention on TikTok in a sub genre known as “shifttok.” A more technical term for shifting is

“quantum jumping,” divided into two categories called awake and asleep methods.

Although sophomore Rory Cooper only shifted once, she researched immensely on the topic.

“The cool thing about shifting is that the possibilities are endless. You can go to fiction and fantasy worlds, or even create your own waiting room (WR), which sort of acts as a base reality that’s easier to go to than full realities,” Cooper said.

Cooper explained how she first shifted by complete accident and that she originally was skeptical about the whole idea.

“I’ve only shifted once, and it was honestly really intense. I had gotten home from a really long day at school and went to sleep, I didn’t even think about shifting. I had a really strange dream while I was asleep, and then suddenly I became aware that I was dreaming,” Cooper said. “It felt like I was spinning really fast and the first thing I noticed that freaked me out was that it felt like real life. I could feel the floors and the air, and it felt nothing like dreaming.”

There is often a common misconception about shifting and the act of lucid dreaming. While both are similar to moving your consciousness, each has qualities that make

them unique. And yes, somewould describe shifting as intense daydreaming.

“Shifting is moving your conscious-

“

It felt like I was spinning really fast. I could feel the floors and the air, and it felt nothing like dreaming.

RORY COOPER SOPHOMORE

ness from one reality to another. Lucid dreaming, on the other hand, is gaining awareness that you’re experiencing a dream. You can shift while you lucid dream, meaning that while you’re aware that you’re dreaming, you can start going to other realities. When you shift, you have the ability to change your reality.

Lucid dreaming is only the act of you experiencing your dream.”

Cooper also emphasized the importance of knowing where you want to go when you shift and that you can create your own story to take with you to your

DR. “It’s important to make a script. You don’t need one, but it narrows down where you want to go,” Cooper said.

“A script is basically where you put where you want to be, what you want your name to be, where you live and who you’re friends with. You can add in anything or change whatever you want, whenever. You don’t just randomly start existing one day. That reality you go to has always existed, but you just moved your conscience to experience it.”

Unlike dreaming, shifting gives a person the ability to remember what happened during the experience.

“Everything you learn in your desired reality also follows you back to your current reality,” Cooper said. “Say you shift to a desired reality where you’re at school. Everything you learn there will also be known here in your current reality. Everyone you interact with in your desired reality are real people.”

While shifting isn’t a dangerous practice, it’s crucial to understand the fundamentals to have an enjoyable experience.

“I think the most important thing to take away from shifting is that it shouldn’t be stressful,” Cooper said. “It should be fun, and you should do what makes you feel comfortable.”

As of January 2022, #shiftingrealities amassed over

2.9 billion views

on TikTok

2

HIGH TIDE MARCH 14, 2022

FOLLOW

FEATURES 13

the

leader

The HOBY summer leadership conference selects sophomore Giancarlo Lombardo to represent RUHS

by ERIN HARTMAN

T

titude and the ability to lead [because we’re] looking to develop young leaders. I thought that he fell into that mold.

He’s a very outgoing, positive guy and never ever seems to be having a bad day, and is always very supportive of his classmates. You can kind of see why he draws people to him,” Feeney said.

Feeney feels that the conference will teach Lombardo many leadership skills and will introduce him to many different people.

“Whenever you have an opportunity to actually focus on leadership skills, that’s a wonderful thing because there isn’t necessarily a class that teaches that, right? We hope to help our students learn how to become leaders, but the idea that he’ll have the opportunity to meet other people who were nominated for this conference and the idea that he’ll have the opportunity to actually take classes in leadership will really help benefit him,” Feeney said.

On his resumé, Lombardo included that he strives to bring people together around the globe.

“I explained how my ultimate goal for the world is world peace, because if you focus on everyone as a whole, and everyone getting along, there’d be no more fighting, there’d be no more conflict. Everyone would just be happier. The world would be a better place, and we’d be able to solve problems better,” Lombardo said.

He feels that the conference will help him achieve his goal after learning different leadership skills.

“One thing they emphasize at HOBY is that there really can be no perfect leader because we’re all human, we’re all developing, and we’re all still learning. There’s room for error, there’s room for mistakes, and that’s okay. I’m going to do my absolute best to bring everything I learned back to this community, not just to the school, but to everyone I meet, and everyone I talk to, because even if it’s just a few people, we’re all one unit, and everyone matters. I don’t want to leave anyone out,” Lombardo said.

he idea of having a peaceful world with no conflict and drives sophomore Giancarlo Lombardo to fight for world peace. Representing RUHS in the summer HOBY leadership conference, Lombardo leaps closer to that goal.

Chosen as the RUHS representative, Lombardo will attend the summer Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) summer leadership conference.

The conference, which is three days long, will take place at Cal Poly Pomona and will host sophomores from high schools around California.

“HOBY is a leadership program where its task is to target both small and large scale problems as one group of people. What the conference does is bring all these different people, minds and ideas together. Apparently, there’s a bunch of fun, problem-solving, critical thinking activities. It’s really designed to get the left side of your brain going, which is crucial to help real-world problems like climate change, poverty and other serious issues,” Lombardo said.

Aside from hearing interesting guest speakers and participating in different activities, Lombardo feels excited to meet new people and to make new friends.

“Last year’s candidate for HOBY was Sammie Hall, and she’s still in a group chat with all the friends she met at HOBY. As of today, she still talks to them, and I think that’s really cool. It really shows how passionate these people are, and how willing they are to make a contribution,” Lombardo said.

One teacher who nominated Lombardo for the conference, Sean Feeney, who co-teaches ninth and tenth English, chose Lombardo for his positive and supportive attitude.

“We [teachers] were given the opportunity to nominate three students. The criteria was [looking for] a positive atPHOTO BY KEARA ANTONELLI

Cedar Sinai selects juniors Josie Crosthwait, Sabrina Sawamura and Neeki Janani for the summer volunteer program PHOTO FROM FREEPIK

by LAUREN CHOY

R

outine check-up after routine check-up. Every time, she would get her eye examined and her blood pressure taken. She was scared of the people, their instruments and basically– the whole place. But it wasn’t until junior Josie Crosthwait got older that her fear turned into curiosity for the medical environment.

“I remember when I was little, I used to be scared of the check-ups. But over time, it fascinated me when they took my blood pressure or did eye exams. I would ask my doctor how everything worked and that curiosity furthered my decision to actually investigate medicine, biology and chemistry,” Crosthwait said.

With a recent acceptance into the Cedar Sinai Teen Volunteer program that begins in the summer, Crosthwait takes the steps to proceed with her future career in medicine. Through the program, she wants to get accustomed with the medical environment around her whilst performing simple tasks.

“I wanted to get any experience I could in an actual medical setting so basically in the summer for a few shifts a week, I’ll help with either data entry at the hospital, delivering stuff for patients or different errands for hospital staff,” Crosthwait said.

In order to get accepted, applicants submitted two free response questions as well as a letter of recommendation from a teacher.

Although Crosthwait applied for the program because she wanted experience under her belt, junior Sabrina Sawamura applied because she’s always been surrounded by people already involved in the medicine area like her aunt who owns a clinic in Japan.

“My siblings are also both trying to be doctors so I was inspired to look into medicine as well. They actually volunteered at a hospital for a couple of years also and I applied freshman year but with COVID, it got canceled. So I was looking

for medical volunteer programs again and found Cedars,” Sawamura said.

But for junior Neeki Janani, she just wanted an opportunity to finally use the skills she learned in an El Camino class.

“I took an emergency medical foundations class at El Camino, so I really wanted to implement what I learned in a medical environment to get practice,” Janani said.

All three students are interested in becoming doctors in their future, and Sawamura said her current courses are helping her ultimately reach her goal in the end.

“I say that I don’t like it, but honestly deep down I really enjoy it because I like being able to challenge myself. AP Chem is definitely important if you’re going to go into the medical field, so I guess that ties into my interest.”

Similarly, Crosthwait also notes how her classes align with her interest in the actual science and medical side of becoming a doctor.

“Recently, we learned about the eye and all parts of the eye and that was really fascinating. I love learning about how different things work,” Crosthwait said.

But for Janani, while she thinks that her interest for the field comes from fundamental science classes, it is just as important to also attend social science classes in addition.

“I’m also taking sociology, and I took

psychology too. I like how it teaches you how to react to different groups of people, which I feel is really helpful in the medical field,” Janani said.

The program requires the students to take on four-hour shifts per week, in the span of eight weeks in the summer.

Crosthwait wants to take this time to “talk to more health professionals about their experience to know what track I might want to take through college or graduate school,” Crosthwait said.

Similarly, what Sawamura wants most out of this program in the end is to make connections in the medical field.

“I just want to have a good experience.

My siblings have made a lot of friends through their volunteer programs, so that’ll be really important. So having this experience of being in a hospital, I think is very fortunate,” Sawamura said.

Sawamura believes this program will help her establish the skills needed in her future career. She also believes that volunteering in general will help anyone because you are put into an environment that is “surrounded with adults,” Sawamura said.

“You don’t really get to experience that as often. In school, you’re surrounded by a lot of kids around your age. You get to learn how to interact with a lot of adults and that’ll help you, especially in the future,” Sawamura said.

14

opinion N ^O T

Let’s talk about

HIGH TIDE

SEX, baby

Sex Ed does not adequetley inform students

by CHRISSA OLSON

N

o class gets away with murder quite like sex-education does.

It’s a little bit funny, when you think about how biology classrooms can spend an entire month on the topic of sex, yet refuse to delve into the physical and mental mechanisms of sex, instead resorting to preaching abstinence. (In no other class is this acceptable. Imagine asking “What’s Europe?” after taking European history.)

If I could go back and ask all the questions I plan to list now, I would. I’d place them in that little box where students can anonymously drop off questions, just because I want to see how they’d be answered by a shoddily-built curriculum. But since time travel to 2019 seems to be off the table, and God forbid I ever revert to my 14-year-old freshman self, I went and got all the answers to the unsaid questions myself from the internet.

It’s so easy to leave it there. To assume that because students will fill in the gaps on their

own, everything will turn out fine. But these gaps in knowledge are fissures in a larger failing of the public school system—to adequately teach sexual health in a comprehensive and inclusive way that doesn’t leave the most important question of all c o m pletely unanswered: What is sex, beyond the basic understanding of intercourse between two heterosexual people?

How many different kinds there are?

How does it work between people of different sexualities and genders?

How do you know what counts as sex, and what doesn’t?

Sex is a

sex are, and outlining definitions of sex bewhole world unto itself. All the questween all different types of people, not just tions I could come up with that couldn’t straight, cisgender people, because the repbe answered by the sex-education curresentation of LGBTQ+ people in the curriculum are too many to fit in one article. riculum is downright laughable. A cartoon Of course, sex-education doesn’t need gay couple doesn’t cut it when half the class to have the same material available as doesn’t even know how gay people have sex. someone getting a graduate degree in I understand the pause at teaching sex the subject. But sex-education’s failure in such such explicit terms. Many comis that it only talks about the lead-up to monly believe that teaching a kid about sex sex and the effects of it. Learning about will encourage them to go do it. However, consent and STDs is important, yes, but the opposite is true, according to a study everything that comes between is left done for the Journal of Adolescent Health, in the dark, and the sex-ed curriculum which showed that sex education didn’t indoesn’t even bother turning on the lights. crease the frequency at which teens had sex.

Just because shows fade to black The point of sex education is not to when they start to get steamy doesn’t stop sex from happening. Trying to stop mean our education should as well. Ina teenager who wants to have sex from stead of leaving teenagers to figure out having sex is listed on the Top 10 Hardest what’s going on, just tell them. NoThings To Do (curated by me), coming in body’s going to get mad that you gave second place only behind understanding them spoilers to season 17, or whatevwhatever is going on in AP Chemistry. er year of life they decide to have sex in.

So if teenagers are going to have sex, set I promise that freshmen can handle it. the record straight. Define an orgasm. How What’s harder to handle are intrinsic are they different between biological men misunderstandings about sex and our and women? What are the stigmas and own bodies fueled by gender stereotypes stereotypes surround- ing each one, and shame that will cause problems not and how can we only in teenage, but in adult-life. avoid those in To counorder to create teract misconbetter sexual ceptions and experiences shamefulness OF LGBTQ+ STUDENTS AGED in the future? surround13–21 REPORTED THAT THEIR Oh, and ing sex, HEALTH CLASSES HAD INdon’t forget the CLUDED POSITIVE REPRESENabout the people who don’t TATIONS OF LGBT-RELATED want to have TOPICS sex at all. EvACCORDING TO A GUTTMACHER SURVEY erything from popular media to the conversations we currichave with our friends are so saturated in u l u m sex that not wanting it seems abnormal. should not I want to see a sex-education curriculum be afraid of that answers these questions, being explicit. or we will answer it Explicit is what ourselves, rewe need, and no, gardless of I don’t mean if we full-color, stepget it by-step instrucright. tions on how to reSex enact every position in the eduKama Sutra. I mean fulfilling cation the definition of comprehensive. isn’t “Comprehensive” is decona l l structing what virginity means, bad—it if it means anything at all. covered “Comprehensive” is destigsocial-emomatizing masturbation, tional health erotica and porn, and and gave us “hapteaching about it in py sombrero.” But a conuntil it actually covers more than our favorite condom euphemism, it’s useless in creating the comprehensive education that we so badly need.

<6%

structive way so that these behaviors do not become destructive down the line. “Comprehensive” is explaining what different types of ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF FREEPIK

33% OF PEOPLE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18-29 REPORTED HAVING SEX ED ACCORDING TO A HEALTHLINE SURVEY

STAFF EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Nadia Bidarian Chrissa Olson Meghan Jacob NEWS EDITORS Elise Haulund Erika Glass Sara Miyake-Singer FEATURES EDITORS Katarina (Haven) Beches Mia Dowdell Ruby Crosthwait OPINION EDITORS Allie D’Amato Emilie Takahashi ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS Heather Lee Zelia Lerch SPORTS EDITORS Ty Soria Jess Alvear WRITING EDITORS Simra Zargar Mia Schrift COPY EDITORS Romi Riss ONLINE EDITORS Ben Ringel Ria Lopresto Ansel Reyes Troy Nevil ADVISOR Kerri Eastham

STAFF WRITERS Dani Otey Micah McFadden Yaya Kitagawa Meara Fay Marlie Cornwell Stavyah Naveen Ethan Chi Sadie Simmons Marley Van Pelt Sydney Lamich Hadeel Azzam Lara Magdesian Lucy Davis Rome Kanouse Strachan Ambrosi Michael Aprahamian Ava Warman Ella Silberling Lauren Greene

Zoe Rossi Sarah Bronstein Ryan Parhizi Andrew McKenna Madison Kurihara Lauren Choy Laura Strazerri Rena Felde Erin Hartman Jade Montoya Nicolas Tomsio Yara El-Hasan Ethan Lerner Sydney Palmer Cristina Couch Scarlett Mische Charlotte Goldstein Dani Harper

PHOTOGRAPHERS Pete Paguyo Meagan Ching Celina Moreno Spencer Rogers Rider SulikowSascha Perdue Collin Cruz ski Elizabeth Petrey ILLUSTRATORS Carly Carter Cecilia Aptiz

Katelyn Perry Heather Lee

LETTERS TO THE

EDITOR The High Tide encourages greater input of opinions from both students and staff. If you have an opinion about one of the articles, letters can be sent to the editor at: hightideonline@gmail.com We reserve the right to edit for content, grammar and space constraints. Letters must be signed and are not guaranteed to be printed. Please keep letters to a maximum of 250 words. Longer guest opinions are also accepted.

HIGH TIDE MAR. 14, 2022

OPINION 15

THE LAST MASK

Sex workers suffer stigma and are receive inadequate healthcare

by HADEEL AZZAM

S

Although the mandates have been lifted masks should stay on

by DANI OTEY

T

here’s a high chance that you don’t want to read another article about COVID-19.

It’s been a long (almost) two years, and COVID-19 has taken a lot out of us, emotionally, physically, and mentally. Just getting up in the morning seems to be harder now than it was before quarantine. This makes it very easy to want COVID-19 over with.

However, COVID-19 can’t end instantaneously, and so neither can our need for masks. At least, not for a little longer.

While it didn’t completely lift COVID-19 restrictions, the California mask mandate expired on Feb. 15. Much to the dismay of some lawmakers, mainly from the Republican party, however, it did lift 19 different COVID-19 laws that were in place. The mandate changed the regulations so masks were no longer required in both outdoor and indoor spaces. This law excluded public spaces like schools and still some counties decided to ignore the updated law– for the moment.

One such county is LA County, in which it was decided to keep mask mandates in public spaces until March 4th and in schools until March 12th. Keeping the mask mandate may seem hard or unnecessary, but it is the responsible choice.

Even though numbers in LA county have dropped 94% since January, of the 111,000 reported cases of COVID-19 in California in the last 14 days, LA County makes up 20,000 (according to the LA times official tracking of COVID-19 cases.)

The statistics show LA residents at risk, and that means we have to take additional steps to stay safe.

The decision to keep the mask mandate for longer was a good one, and that’s why it’s important that we continue to wear masks through March 12th and should continue to wear them for as long as necessary.

Wearing masks is proven to slow and stop the spread of COVID-19. If we’ve been given a way to protect those in need, those at risk of getting harmed, then we should use it to our full advantage. People are still unfortunately getting sick and dying from COVID-19, and I think sometimes reading things like ‘the numbers are down’ or ‘the only people at risk are’ can give us a mindset we need to steer clear of.

Just because we’re at less risk doesn’t mean we’re at no risk at all. Though hopefully, you’ll read your last of COVID-19 news soon.

FROM THE

EDITORIAL BOARD

T

he word SEX is plastered on the cover of this issue, and from the editorial board of the High Tide, we weren’t really expecting it either. As a publication, our goal is to cover topics that impact students in multiple, nuanced ways, and often, these topics turn out to be the kind of things you don’t discuss at the dinner table—alcohol use, extreme parenting styles, and yes, sex.

Sex and technology interact in a unique way for Gen Z, the first generation to grow up with the internet from a young age. Both a pathway to learn about all the things adults won’t tell us or don’t know, a stranger’s media (whether they are qualified or not) and preconceived notions can influence the way we think about sex, our bodies and our relationships with others. Although a lot of educational content exists, we often do not reach it, instead turning to pornography, fictional stories and public forums for

our information.

So many of these mediums give us downright sexist, homophobic and racist information. According to a study conducted by the European Parliament, 1 in 10 women have reported online gender-based abuse since 2014, including stalking, non-consensual pornography and more. It also exposes teenagers to predators online through online dating sites like Tinder, Omegle and Yubo. Approximately 55% of teenagers are having sex, according to the CDC, and 95% of them have access to a smartphone, according to Pew Research Center. We have a responsibility to accurately cover the intersection between sex and technology in a way specific to our student body.

Our goal is not to encourage or discourage sex or engaging in sexual behaviors online. It’s instead to cover what students think, how they act, and

ex workers are denied their laboring rights because their jobs are still illegal in California. People argue against sex work because of their own religious and moral beliefs: a standpoint that revolves around the individual’s personal beliefs and not around facts or logic.

The fact is simple: sex work is work. The criminalization of it dehumanizes sex workers and infringes on their human rights.

The stigma surrounding sex work disregards the main reason why people gravitate towards it. Most people turn towards sex work as a last-ditch effort and temporary solution when in poverty. But if they were to be arrested for up to six months or charged a fine of up to $1000, which is the law in California, not only may that put them deeper into destitution, it would make it more difficult for them to find a different job in the future. Laws, such as the Lewd Act in California, prohibit any sexual activity or contact between a person and paying customer and were put into place to stop sex work, but according to a study done by Yale University, the laws only making sex work more prominent.

Laws prohibiting sex work also prohibit sex workers from receiving any kind of justice. According to a study done by Sex Worker’s Project, out of 30 sex workers that were stopped by the police, 14 reported experiencing violence, sexual assault or abuse of some kind from officers.

These sex workers also reported extortion of sex from these officers in exchange for an arrest not being made.

These are the people who are supposed to protect and serve their communities, but instead the sex workers need protection from some of them. According to this article, police are making sex workers’ already dangerous working conditions even more dangerous because the sex workers have no path to justice.

Prostitution is, without a doubt, an extremely dangerous profession, but legislators have done nothing other than ban it. They have no made no efforts in solving the issues that lead people to prostitution.

Stigmatizing these people who, ac-

cording to the US National Library of Medicine, are mostly mothers or trying to support others depending on them, makes it difficult to move on to a legal job. They are stuck in this label society has deemed “inappropriate” or “demoralizing.”

They are stuck answering questions like “Do you feel empowered in your job?” But why is that question so important to people? Does it matter if people feel empowered by their jobs?

Many people who have legal jobs don’t feel empowered by them, but does this devalue the work being done? As Tilly Lawless, a sex worker in Wales so eloquently put it, “Empowerment shouldn’t be a prerequisite for human rights.”

Even under legal circumstances, sex workers still face stigma; however, pornography was legalized by 1970 in the U.S. and is protected under the first amendment as a form of artistic expression. People in the porn industry have access to health services. According to ABC news, pornography actors are tested for STI’s every 14 days. There is no system for the indivual sex worker, though, which is an inconsistency because society frowns on them. Additionally, according to the California Legislative Analysis Office, in 2016, California voted down proposition 60 that would have required pornography actors to wear condoms while filiming. So the public essentially gave them the green light to continue a risky behavior, while at the same time still criminalizing individual sex workers.

With all that said, there is still no way to stop sex work. Whether people are desperate and do it for quick cash or choose this path for long term employment, what the government should be doing is providing a way for people to do it safely.

People have a right to their own bodily autonomy, and that includes providing sexual services for money. Like I said before, sex work is essentially just work.

People provide a service, and they receive payment for it, the same way any other service worker does. It is only labeled differently because of the stigma around sex.

At the end of the day, you should not have a say in what other people do with their bodies. It is their bodies and as long as it doesn’t hurt you, you cannot control them.

It’s shocking to release an issue all about sex. Here’s why we did it. to analyze what it took to get to this moment, and the effects of it. In fact, it is the act of not talking about sex that can contribute to increased sexual behavior and the dangers that come with it—a national analysis of state data concluded that abstinence-only sex education does not reduce teen pregnancy rates. In fact, the U.S. National Library for Medicine found that it likely increases it.

Adults often struggle to grasp the intricacies of growing up online: the nature of explicit texts and photos sent on Snapchat, a social media app where messages automatically delete unless saved, the act of meeting strangers virtually through sites like Omegle, and the viewing of porn to discover what sex can (and many mistakenly think should) look like.

But this is our step towards understanding, and we hope you take it with us.

What’s the editorial board?

The editorial board is a group of editors that thoughtfully discuss and unanimously agree on the High Tide’s stance on a certain subject.

Who’s on the editorial board?

Jess Alvear Katarina (Haven) Beches Nadia Bidarian Ruby Crosthwait Allie D’Amato Mia Dowdell Erika Glass Elise Haulund Meghan Jacob Heather Lee

Zelia Lerch Ria Lopresto Sara Miyake-Singer Troy Nevil Chrissa Olson Ansel Reyes Ben Ringel Romi Riss Mia Schrift Ty Soria Emilie Takahashi

16

entertainment

A stroke of jeen-yuhs

Kanye West’s three-part documentary, “jeen-yuhs,” casts an introspective light on his rise to stardom as a rapper

by RENA FELDE

F

rom a Chi-Town producer to a 22time Grammy award winner, Kanye “Ye” West has arguably changed the sound of hip-hop. The three-episode docuseries, jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, originally made to show how far Kanye’s vision of his career would take him, depicts him mostly through exclusive clips filmed

by Kanye’s long-time friend, Coodie Simmons.

This series follows Kanye’s involvement in the rise of hip-hop in Chicago (ChiTown) through the struggle to get signed by a record label, be taken seriously as a rapper and prove himself to everyone else.

The slowly improving camera quality of Simmons’ recordings add to the familiarness of the clips, filmed for over two decades, from the late 90’s until now. Simmons’ importance in Kanye’s life gets introduced with his occasional, well-placed storytelling and narration. Though their friendship is not the main focus, Simmons often tied the events in Kanye’s life back to himself and their relationship. Each episode includes helpful locations and time stamps of the videos too.

Simmons’ style of direction presents the ability to briefly introduce relevant people in Kanye’s journey, while also showing Kanye’s personality around others, especially during act i. Throughout all three episodes, Kanye’s formative relationship with his mom, Donda West, becomes revealed. Interactions with Donda exposed another side to Kanye and his faith in himself relied on Donda’s faith in him. One of my favorite parts is when Kanye and his friends finally hit the right beat or discover the right lyric for a song. My heart warmed up when I saw Kanye and his mom reciting one of

Kanye’s first raps together, showing her support for him and their connection.

Simmons’ clips of Kanye’s early career clearly display Kanye’s burning drive and belief in his career while simultaneously encapsulating minute pop-cultural details of the 90s and 2000s. Simmons interacted with the people that he recorded, but would also make the camera seem hidden and the moments more genuine. The videos used have a similar feeling to a cozy home video that was recorded onto an old VHS tape and finally watched for the first time in a while.

Hearing the early developmental versions of the lyrics of Kanye’s old songs is so pleasing. Knowing that he would go on to be so big, hearing his old verses and beats felt like foreshadowing. This was especially true when he started writing “All Falls Down,” a song about his insecurities as a rapper, and it kept getting rejected by the employees at the Roc-A-Fella record label.

Simmons and his camera managed to record seg-

ments of Kanye’s dedication, rejections, record label contract signings, music videos, and even dentist trips used for his debut single “Through the Wire.” Kanye’s efforts were so well executed that when he finally got signed to a record label in the series, I cried a few tears of joy.

Almost all the clips from Simmons were raw and uncut, but they lacked the true connection to Kanye in my opinion. Simmons followed Kanye around with a camera for 20 years, yet he couldn’t include a single interview or personal talk with Kanye. The videos definitely told the story from afar, but never really scoped out Kanye’s personal thoughts or ideas.

Simmons seemed most important before Kanye gained popularity so once Kanye started going on tour and making more sales, it was apparent that Simmons struggled to get quality clips of Kanye and truly capture what Kanye was going through that any old paparazzi couldn’t catch. As the series progressed, quality re-

cordings like Kanye’s exclusive interactions with other rappers, meetings, and studio recordings started to become less and less prevalent.

In all three episodes, only his album, “The College Dropout,’’ was talked about.

Although it was nice, knowing it stands as the most successful album of his career, I would’ve loved to know more about the process of creating other albums, especially his most recent, “Donda.” As the episodes progressed, I became less interested in the content. By the third episode, it was essentially just mentioning things about Kanye that have already been widely talked about with occasional mentions of Simmons’ worry for him during mental health breakdowns. They had lost their close bond by that point and Kanye had started a new path, so it was hard for Simmons to follow Kanye’s life and there was little chemistry within Simmons’ clips like I mentioned above. The third episode appears to cover the “current Kanye’’ and the first two methodically led up to then.

Upon independently listening to Kanye’s album “The College Dropout,” I realized how much of a connection I developed with this album. Jeen-yuhs and Simmons’ clips bring the viewer through the feelings of Kanye and realistically display his personality at the time of this album’s conception.

When I first started watching this docuseries, Kanye and his life didn’t interest me much, but I gained a respectful perspective of his life and all he has done to live up to his dream. I agree with Simmons in that, “every part of Kanye makes him who he is.” After learning about much of Kanye’s early career and life, I must say, this documentary makes me miss the old PHOTO FROM NETFLIX

The “Tindler Swindler” is a formulaic, but interesting documentary

by AVA WARMAN

F

rom wanting to scream at the women being interviewed, to throwing buttery popcorn at the image of Simon Leviev on my monitor screen, “The Tinder Swindler” had me on the edge of my seat for most of the hour and 54 minute run time.

The Netflix original documentary, The Tinder Swindler, follows Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm and Ayleen Charlotte as they discuss their chaotic and terrifying relationships with the ‘Tinder Swindler’ himself, Simon Leviev.

In 2018 and 2019, Leviev tricked these women and many others into giving him money after developing loving, devoted relationships with them. He met all of these women through (you guessed it) Tinder.

By posing as the millionaire son of a diamond tycoon, Leviev deceived the women into thinking he was a rich, well-traveled gentleman.

After earning their trust, Leviev would tell his female companions that his “enemies” were hunting him down and that he needed thousands of dollars to get away from them. Thinking that he was telling the truth, they would willingly send over

their money along with “stay safe” and “I love you so much” messages. Leviev would send them a fraudulent check, supposedly repaying them for their generosity, but the check wasn’t able to be cashed. Leviev would blame them, saying that they “made a terrible enemy” when they called him a liar.

I found myself wanting to scream at Fjellhøy, Sjöholm and Charlotte to not trust that monster of a man. After seeing each of their stories play out one after the other, I became increasingly vexed with Leviev’s sinister scam.

The way that the film was structured quickly became old. By the time Charlotte shared her story, I was zoning out because what she went through was exactly identical to the other two women. The documentary could have been made stronger by more variation in the questions that were asked, as by the end I had just heard a slight twist on the exact same story three

times.

While many documentaries just feature actors showing what happened over a voice-over and the occasional photo from the actual event, “The Tinder Swindler” displays a refreshing mix of actual footage taken by Leviev, Fjellhøy, Sjöholm and Charlotte, screenshots of Whatsapp messages, and interviews with the victims.

Additionally, the soundtrack was perfectly chosen to accentuate the emotions expressed in that specific scene. Whether it’s a chilling violin solo over a picture of Leviev and Fjellhøy, or a triumphant indie tune as Charlotte sells Leviev’s wardrobe, every piece fits its scene to the tee.

Finally, the end of the documentary left me grinning at my desk. The way the victims of Leviev fought back inspired me. The documentary highlighted not only their catastrophic journeys with Leviev, but their

triumphant revenge schemes. While Fjellhøy and Sjöholm brought awareness of Leviev’s wickedness through social media and the internet, sharing their stories with the world, Charlotte tricked Leviev himself into giving her his designer wardrobe, which she enthusiastically sold on eBay, keeping the profits for herself.

The Tinder Swindler was a well-produced documentary that left me feeling satisfied with how I spent my two hours.

I would rate the movie 4/5 stars, because while most of the documentary had me anxious to see what happened, the repetition sometimes left me checking how much longer was left on the movie. If I were working on the documentary, I would have varied the questions that the subjects were asked.

I also would have told each of their stories a little bit differently from each other so it wasn’t as repetitive. All-in-all, while The Tinder Swindler wasn’t a shining diamond like Simon Leviev claimed to be the prince of, it was an entertaining way of telling the story of three incredibly unfortunate women.

GRAPHIC FROM NETFLIX

ENTERTAINMENT 17

Batman brings light from the dark Robert Pattinson’s Batman brings energy to the classic character

by SYDNEY LAMICH

I

have to admit, when I see any DC or Marvel movie, it slips out of my head the next day, just as quickly as it floated in.

Even if I loved it. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which was my favorite in-theater movie experience, left my mind the next morning as if I had a fun night out.

But “The Batman,” which hit theaters Mar. 4? Still clattering around my mind.

Our darkest Dark Knight yet truly reflects the riveting darkness that consumes Gotham City (in some parts). I mean the whole movie was set in what seemed like Alaska in the winter. The only light that seemed to illuminate the sky was Batman’s signal.

Nonetheless, the darkness revolving around the Caped Crusader actually lives within him. Starring Robert Pattison, this Batman crosses emo kid with well-known Edward Cullen from Twilight (but in a more Dracula way). Furthermore, his mumbling and intimidating “superhero” outfit scared the whole movie theater. No one clapped when he appeared. No one gasped. It was just utter silence in the room.

But that’s what makes his character. He wanted his audience to feel fear just as the criminals did when they looked to the shadows in the alley next to them.

Most of all, however, “The Batman” felt like a horror movie.

The 1989 Tim Burton’s Batman, the comic book hero who zapped villains, was replaced by a traumatized eccentric orphan in black rubber gear and knock-off

Doc Martens. He’s pale and very awkward where he only mutters a sentence or two at one time.

“The Batman,” from beginning to end, is a detective mystery. We meet up with Bruce Wayne around two years after he became the Batman, when suddenly one of Gotham City’s mayoral candidates dies to the Zodiac Killer-esque villain, the Riddler (Paul Dano). Police detective Jim Gordon (Jeffery Wright) wants the help of Batman to track down this maniac. The scene is quite brutal as the candidate has his face duct-taped to the brim with a message in either blood or red paint saying “NO MORE LIES.” We later learn that the Riddler is trying to expose politicians and wealthy people for their lies on their promises to the citizens of Gotham City. In addition, the Riddler keeps leaving notes “To The Batman” attempting to show that they aren’t that different.

It’s actually the perfect setup of the DC comics. “The Batman” lives up to his reputation as “the world’s greatest detective” because he solves almost every puzzle the Riddler gives. Without Batman, the psychopath would run rampant. I haven’t seen another Batman movie where Wayne actually applies his skills of mystery solving, which makes the movie even better.

Director Matt Reeves captures every single moment of disparity, action and utter fear. “Dune” cinematographer Greig Fraser may have made the best-looking Gotham City film of all time. An upside-down shot of Batman blundering toward the Penguin (Colin Farrell), because he is overturned in his car. A camera strapped to the Batmobile’s back wheel. A birds-eye shot of Batman leading a group of survivors from a fallen billboard, emergency flare in hand.

Every scene made me feel like I was in the danger; the danger that came with Pattison’s Batman (Pattman? Battison?) slowly uncovering the big mystery.

“The Batman” also brings in Cat Women (Zoë Kravitz), who perfectly embodies her fearless character. The romantic tension between the two is obvious when they first meet but in a dark, twisted way. The two both lost one or more of their parents and suffer from loneliness. Furthermore, they feel like they owe themselves to save others from the corruption flowing through Gotham City to prevent the same thing that happened to them from happening to others out there.

Perhaps most thrilling of all in the film is the tense car chase. Instead of the previous high-tech speedster, Pattison’s Batman

PHOTO FROM DEN OF GEEK (TOP) AND POLYGON (BOTTOM)

drives a machine that’s just as unhinged as he is. This Batmobile sounds like a demonic hot rod, possessing Wayne to do some risky moves as he races to devour his prey.

To make it even better, the music selections between Nirvana, Beethoven and (of course) the Batman theme song (but darker) composed by Michael Giacchino, elevate the entire experience to a whole other level. The casting was on point, the music was spectacular, and the storyline was far from boring.

Hudson House is another hidden South Bay gem

by JADE MONTOYA

O

n 514 N Pacific Coast Highway, there lies a restaurant that truly stands out from all others. Its unique range of food is unlike any other establishment — and if you’re buzzing down PCH, you might not even bat an eye to it. But what it lacks in size, Hudson House makes up for in its unique theme and inspired menu.

When you arrive, you’re greeted by a detailed mural of a snorkeling boy with Poseidon’s trident. Its warm colors and playfulness instantly grab your attention, getting even better when you go inside. The beachy decor reinforces the casual, relaxed surf atmosphere. The gold-pendant lighting is an added bonus but the food is what shines the brightest.

Hudson House is well known for their pretzel burgers, which are, well, pretzel bun-burgers. The bun is baked to soft, buttery, golden brown perfection, with a juicy ground-beef patty in a gooey cheese blanket. Bacon bits add a satisfying crunch and bring the whole sandwich together.

Speaking of juicy, another great dish Hudson House offers is marinated skirt steak with truffle fries. The steak is very tasty, as it is a terrific combination of juicy, chewy and seasoning. Ordering it was definitely not a mi-steak. The fries, while not as

crispy as the house fries, were more flavorful and stood out in their own right.

Another item that is substantially flavorful is the brown sugar pork ribs. The meat is smokey, rough on the outside and tender on the inside. They are very crispy as well.

It slides right off the bone, so no time is wasted. The pork is drizzled in homemade barbeque sauce that is thick and sweet.

One of the items I tried sounded a little strange. It was anything but. The mac and goat cheese is a dish that said, “Moove over, cows!” The warm melted cheese brings a new zing to an old favorite. Lightly sprinkled breadcrumbs add a delightful crunch.

This dish is the G.O.A.T. Finally, the last dish I tried was the kale salad. While it is underwhelming compared to the more flavorful dishes, it will certainly attract your taste buds even if you aren’t a vegetable lover. The cheese, kale, and dates add a variety of textures. The three foods especially go hand in hand with their individually tranquil favors. While dates aren’t my favorite fruit, they added a welcome sweetness to the whole salad.

I give Hudson House a very solid nine out of ten for its friendly staff and its delectable menu. While nothing is perfect, Hudson House comes pretty darn close. This restaurant truly is a hidden gem.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JADE MONTOYA

Even though it’s almost three hours long, “The Batman” delivers a nerve-shredding, on the edge, excruciating intense film.

It’s my favorite Batman movie to date, even beating Christian Bale’s “The Dark Knight.”

It may not be for everyone (certainly not for kids), but it shows the deepest suffering that Bruce Wayne has to drown in. While most see Batman as the hero or the vigilante, Pattison’s Batman clarifies that he’s the light that will guide Gotham City out of the darkness for good. Ironic isn’t it?

18

sports

MAKING HISTORY

Girls and Boys soccer become CIF Division II Champions in the same night with Girls going on to win regionals

by BEN RINGEL

W

hen the Sea Hawk Bowl is packed to the brim with anxious parents, eager children and a thunderous student section saturated in Redondo red, it’s usually because the football team has a big game. However, on a Feb. 26 doubleheader at home, it was girls and boys soccer that earned the crowd’s cheers as they both won the Division 2 CIF Southern Section championship, a “phenomenal and incredibly special” title neither the girls nor boys had received before in RUHS’ history, according to assistant principal Marvin Brown.

“Nothing comes close to this,” senior Ryan Doyle said. “Our [boys] soccer program started 117 years ago, and this team was the first to win a CIF championship and make history. To me, that’s ridiculous.”

Last year, the girls made it to the second round of CIF and the boys didn’t qualify, but both teams were consistently successful

this season, with the girls tying for first in Bay League and hovering above fifth place in California and 10th nation-wide, while the boys came in second in Bay League and are hovering above 20th place in the state as well, according to MaxPreps. To win CIF, the girls defeated Oaks Christian 3-0 at 4 p.m. and the boys defeated Montebello 1-0 at 7 p.m. in overtime.

“

I hope that the teams that come after us in soccer and in other sports will see how determined we were and use our example as motivation to chase trophies” RYAN DOYLE SENIOR

“This was the hardest team we played all season,” junior center-forward Mia Minestrella, one of the girls’ captains, said.

“They were very connected and they did play through us a few times in the first 20 minutes. We were eventually able to open up and get some shots off, and our first goal along with the energy of the crowd and our pure excitement gave us the momentum to finish it out strong.”

While the girls’ early scoring allowed them to hold off the other team in the final

minutes, the boys’ game was much closer, heading into overtime tied 0-0.

“With around 15 seconds on the clock, I see Owen Zarnick kick a 50-50 ball to the moon. I see Daniel Vorndran head the ball to Jaden Hancock who makes a great touch [a controlled kick to one’s self] over the defender and then he rips it into the net. All I remember after that is everyone, our team and tons of fans, storming onto the field in celebration,” Doyle said.

Both Minestrella and Doyle cited their teams’ instant chemistry and determination as driving factors of their success, but the boys found an advantage in their strong senior leadership and the addition of seniors Owen Zarnick and Beau Yantz and juniors Caleb Davis and Jaden Hancock, who formerly only played club.

“We added some new players this year who really helped us on the defensive end as well as up top. We were also very senior-heavy, so I felt confident over teams with more juniors and sophomores playing,” Doyle said.

While the boys found strength in veteran seniors, Minestrella said it was their underclassmen whose energy was critical for victory.

“The freshman and sophomores came really focused and driven, and this energy even helped some of the juniors and seniors carry themselves and become good leaders,” Minestrella said. “We had 13 seniors leave us last season, which was most of the varsity team, and it took us upperclassmen and our coach a little bit of time to see what this completely new team was going to look like. There were definitely nerves, but the confidence of the underclassmen definitely made the upperclassmen more confident, as well.”

After the pandemic clouded last season and threatened part of this season in early

January, representing Redondo at such a high level with so many fans in attendance was an experience that “nothing compares to,” according to Doyle, and Brown said the night reminded him how much he loves working at Redondo.

According to Brown, when people think of Redondo’s premiere sports with playoff success, they usually think of sports like girls volleyball, baseball and girls and boys basketball. However, Minestrella, Doyle and Brown agree, this historic year will begin to change that and assert girls and boys soccer as two of Redondo’s top teams. Brown also thinks “the elementary and middle school kids in attendance got to imagine themselves as Seahawks doing the same thing the girls and boys just did, which will set a foundation for the program for years to come.”

“It felt like a homecoming football game with all of the fans there, something I’ve never seen before at one of our games. My friends who usually aren’t interested in soccer said they had a great time watching us compete, so I think people at our school will begin to recognize us as a team that’s entertaining and successful,” Doyle said. “I hope that the teams that come after us in soccer and in other sports will see how determined we were and use our example as motivation to chase trophies.”

CIF CHAMPIONSHIP

GIRLS SOCCER

3-0

1 2

BOYS SOCCER

1-0 Senior Tommy Copnall celebrates Jaden Hancock’s game winning shot. PHOTO BY MADISON BRANDON

The girls team celebrates winning the DIvision II CiF Championship. PHOTO BY KEARA ANTONELLI

Swim competes in South Bay Invitational Preliminary Meet

by EMILIE TAKAHASHI

T

he fifteen minute drive from Redondo Union to Mira Costa on any other day would be arbitrary; however, as the girls swim team made this trip on Tuesday March 8th, they marked their first bus ride in exactly 2 years.

They were on their way to the South Bay Invitational Preliminary Meet competing against ten other high schools to kick off their season. This would be their first invitational meet of the season and second meet overall, with the top sixteen in each event moving on to the finals on March 10th. Redondo is expected to place somewhere in the top three and some swimmers have already qualified for CIF based on their times.

Junior captain Samantha Hall, who placed second in the one hundred fly event, reflects on the swimmers that compose this year’s team as she hopes to defend girls varsity’s title as Bay League Champion.

“This year we did lose a lot of seniors, and we had a lot of people drop the team who were big key players, so I think the battle between us and Costa will be a lot stronger. This meet is important because it will set the tone between how we’re gonna race against Costa this year. I have the

confidence, I know we’re strong, but it’s going to be tight, Costa has a good team.”

Hall said.

For Sophomore Brooke Patel, this was her first return after a hip injury, but she celebrated with her teammates after getting word of her advancement to the final

“

I know we are strong, but it’s going to be tight, Costa has a good team.”

SAMANTHA HALL JUNIOR

heat, swimming the 200 freestyle.

“I kept going in and out of practice because it likes to flare up on me, so I’m quite out of shape, but now I’m able to come back and race, which I’m super happy about,” Patel said. “That time was a little rough for me, but I have a chance to improve again on Thursday.”

Sophomore Catalina Kahan, placed second in the two hundred freestyle, also qualifying her for the top sixteen competing at the finals. With the high school season just starting off Kahan notes the contrast to the club swimming environment she grew accustomed to during the break.

“The energy is just completely different from [club swimming], there’s more cheering behind the blocks and it’s a lot less nerve wracking because I’m more comfortable with the people surrounding me,” Kahan said. “It’s the people, the people that are lifting up my spirit, helping me be more comfortable with what I’m about to swim or how I did, whether I did good or bad.”

Kahan also felt this support from the coaching staff, who have trained the team in preparation for the season.

“The coaches are there to help you no matter what, they may not always be around all the time because they do have other swimmers, but they are always in the mentality to be able to help you whenever you need it,” Kahan said.

She is referencing head coach Julie Brancato, who looks on to the season with optimistic eyes and feels they established a

“great start to the season”.

“I am very optimistic. That’s kind of our team word this year,” Brancato said. “Every time we have a practice the kids have to say an optimistic statement. What are they happy about, it could be work related, family related, swim related, just something positive.”

On the bus ride home, the team bonded by singing “Fireworks,” a Katy Perry classic, in a celebratory mood, setting an uplifting tone for the rest of the season.

“One thing you need is to have good relationships with your teammates because you know they’ll be there for you whether you had a good race or a bad race. They’re always gonna cheer for you,” Kahan said.

Sophomore Audrey Lie swims butterfly. PHOTO BY MEAGAN CHING

HIGH TIDE MARCH 14, 2022

SPORTS 19

BIG STICK POLICY Solid pitching and three home runs allows baseball to mercy Carson 12-1 in the fifth inning but the team them loses to Newport Harbor 2-1 in the last inning

by JESS ALVEAR

R

UHS baseball dominated against Carson on Saturday March 5, winning 12-1. Junior Julien Cojulun, shortstop, led the team with seven RBI’s.

The score was 1-0 going into the bottom of the third inning, with RUHS trailing behind. However, with one out, senior Gavin Grace got a base hit. Next, Cojulun hit a two-run homerun, scoring Grace with RUHS taking a 2-1 lead going into the

“

Hitting is contagious.

Once we get one guy going, everyone was starting to hit the ball. It was a great performance overall."

LUKA BRANCATO SENIOR

fourth inning.

"It felt great to get the lead. Our offense came out strong, and we got our bats moving early in the game, which I think really paid off in the end," Cojulun said.

RUHS combined only gave up one hit, which Cojulun believes was due to a "supportive defense behind him." In the first inning, with a runner on first and one out, junior Aden Laureano, a second baseman, turned to second base for a double play to

“Our defense can still use some work. get the boys out of the inning.

"Between great infield plays and outfield We need to be sure that we are ready for catches, everyone was working together anything, no matter how tough the situawell. The guys were backing me up both by tion is. We still have a lot of season left so getting runs offensively but also working I am confident that we will get there and improve to play hard defensively," the best we can,” Stokes said. he said.

Sophomore Hurtado, along Sonny Hurtado, with senior pitchfirst baseman, er Luka Brancabelieves RUHS's to, believes that stronger pitchJULIEN COJULUN: 5H, 2HR, 8RBI consistency is key ing separated the leading up to the team from their SONNY HURTADO: 4H, 1HR, 3R next games. opponent.

GAVIN GRACE: 4H, 4R, 3RBI "Hitting is con"Carson's tagious. Once we pitching wasn't as TOMAS LOPEZ: 12.0 IP, 3ER, 13K, 7H got one guy gostrong as ours and ing, everyone was we really took adCOLE STOKES: 4.0 IP, 0H, 1ER, 6K starting to hit the vantage of that by ball. It was a great coming up swingperformance overall," Brancato said. ing and ready to play," Hurtado said.

The boys played Tuesday, March 8, With a 4-1 lead going into the fifth inning, the boys remained aggressive at the against Newport Harbor. Alplate. Junior Tomas Lopez, pitcher, started though the boys kept the lead off the inning strong with a base hit up the up until the final inning, they2 middle. The boys’ momentum continued fell short, losing 2-1. Accordwith Cojulun hitting a grand slam, scoring ing to Laureano, the boys needfour, and Hurtado hitting his first Varsity ed "more timely hits" in order to home run. The game ended after Hurtado’s secure the win.

"We left runners on base, and home run due to a mercy rule and the boys we needed to score them. I think took the win, 12-1.

"It was a crazy feeling. Everyone was if we had one or two clutch hits, going crazy in the dugout jumping up and that would have been a game down. It was an exciting moment for sure," changeer. We have been perfoming well, we just needed those Hurtado said.

Although the boys played a smooth extra hits and make us even game, Hurtado believes there is still room more competitive." for improvement.

Notable stats In the Last Three Games:

1. Junior Zephyr Clement, catcher, fist bumps junior Tomas Lopez before his at bat. 2.

Junior Cole Stokes follows through on the pitch. PHOTOS BY VALERIE TISCARENO

Brevin Blair places second in CIF, the highest of any Redondo competitor in the tournament in four years

by TY SORIA

I

n many team sports, knowing who the opponent is for the next game or match will help a team prepare for what will be thrown at them. However, wrestler Brevin Blair, senior, likes to remain in the dark of who he will face next.

This allows him to be unfazed for his next match and be better prepared mentally for the next six minutes of strife.

At the CIF meet, senior Brevin Blair competed with over 30 other wrestlers and placed second. This qualified him for the CIF Masters meet on Feb 18, where he won one match. According to Blair, the CIF meet was his “best tournament ever," and his second place finish was the highest by a Redondo competitor since Vince Reyes four years before.

“Vinny wrestled since he was around six, so placing the same as somebody who wrestled their entire life felt really cool. It was great to know how good I got in that short of a time,” Blair said.

The reason Blair skips 1 looking at the tournament brackets comes down to his thought process. The more he thinks about his opponent, the more hope he loses of beating him.

“I don't really look at brackets because I get myself nervous and, in my head, determine the outcome of a match before it even happens,” Blair said.

In the heat of the match, his emotions (or lack thereof) are similar. He does not think about the skill level of his opponent. He

goes straight to thinking how he will beat him.

“During the match, I’m not really paying attention to my emotions,” Blair said.

“If my opponent is the same level as me or better, we have to feel each other out, and the only time I’m thinking is when I figure out what to do next to win or pin him.”

At the beginning of the season, Blair set his mind to simply making as far as he could in playoffs, but once he saw that making masters was becoming more and more of a reality, he decided to make that his ultimate goal for the end of his high school career.

“To be honest, I didn’t really set any goals. I didn’t know if they were going to be achievable anyways because of COVID scares, but as we got closer to it, my goal became masters,” Blair said.

Before freshman year, Blair had just a few months of wrestling experience under his belt, but once he got into it again, it ended up being “one of the best decisions” he made in high school.

“I played sports my whole life, and I wanted to do at least something. In PE, a kid I knew was trying out for wrestling and wanted me to join so he wouldn’t be by himself,” Blair said. “I did wrestling for a few months when I was ten, and I thought it would be cool to try it again.”

Blair’s father’s wrestling career also served as a big factor in why he wanted to push himself to be a better

wrestler.

“My dad used to wrestle when he was in high school.

He got to state in Michigan, which is one of the tougher states to wrestle at,” Blair said. “That was definitely part of the reason why I wanted to work hard and try to do well.”

During Blair’s first couple of years in the wrestling program, Head Coach Andrew Cathey and many others did not expect him to be the top competitor in senior year, but Blair’s growth during quarantine proved that “he was a different person than he is now" because he became more focused, athletic and hardworking.

“He was a bit of a knucklehead and liked to joke around the room a lot, so he was not the most focused,” Cathey said. “But, he improved immensely over COVID time. He took care of his body, did all the right things, and worked his butt off to improve to where he is.”

Although wrestlers need lots of strength and stamina to win matches, Cathey believes Blair's best attribute on the mat is his intelligence.

“Brevin is a smart wrestler. He comes in with a game plan and he knows what his strengths are and he knows exactly what he’s looking for. He always asks questions because he wants to understand the logic behind each strategy,” Cathey said.

After pushing through four years of the “mentally challenging” sport, Blair is ready

1. During an injury timeout, senior Brevin Blair turns to his father and a coach for advice. 2.

Blair stands on the podium after finishing second in the CIF tournament. PHOTOS COURTESY OF BREVIN BLAIR

for more. He plans on wrestling in college, but hasn't made a decision yet on which school he will attend.

“Brevin is a great example of pushing through mental adversity. He’s a perfect example of mental toughness and battling through plenty of obstacles, and I’m extremely happy that he was able to do that,” Cathey said.

HIGH TIDE MARCH 14, 2022

IN-FOCUS 20

SWIPING RIGHT RUHS students recall their experiences with online dating platforms

*All student names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

by LUCY DAVIS Tinder. Omegle. Bumble. Yubo. In a hyperconnected world, there are dozens of platforms for users to find friends, meet new people and form relationships. However, some RUHS students found that teenagers’ experiences are shaped by their sense of self and their interactions with other users.

John* downloaded Tinder during the pandemic when he and a friend decided, “Let’s just do it.”

As a legal adult when he signed onto the app— and to some extent, as a male—John wasn’t really concerned with the dangers that might come with being part of a platform like Tinder.

“There are certain things you have to accept when you get [a dating app] in the first place; things you have to consider,” John said. “If I had been using my head when downloading it, yeah, [those conditions would’ve come to mind]. But given I most likely wasn’t doing that when I downloaded it? No.” Clinical social worker Cody Gauthier credits the pandemic with online impulsivity, something that stems from a lack of interpersonal connection.

“People are acting before they’re thinking.

During the pandemic, we didn’t know what to do.

And so relationships became less personal and more about whatever the need was, whatever satisfied the quick fix of dopamine. So in that sense, relationships got devalued,” Gautheir said.

Though John’s experience with dating apps was relatively short, Jane* used community apps like Yubo and Omegle from elementary to high school— an experience that was “detrimental” to her mental health.

“I downloaded [Yubo] because I was kind of

ONLINE DATING: using a particular website or mobile application for the purpose of meeting a potential romantic partner.

DEFINITION FROM PENN STATE UNIVERSITY going through an existential crisis—I was a freshman, and I was really, really lonely. I saw an ad on Snapchat or TikTok, and it was basically a dating website for younger kids,” Jane said.

Though Yubo’s age restrictions are 13-17, Jane

ILLUSTRATION BY CECILIA APITZ

soon found that there were older (usually male) users on the sites as well.

“I wanted to make friends, but what I got instead

“

Teens are not supposed to be exploring who they think they should be, but who they actually want to be.

CODY GAUTHIER CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER

were these guys who only wanted one thing. They weren’t trying to make any kind of real connection,” Jane said.

Jane also had similar experiences on Omegle, which she joined in elementary school.

“There were certain precautions, of course. I was really young, probably eight or nine. I would never turn on my camera, I would never turn on my microphone, I would only chat. And the conversations, again, were very sexual. Like, guys who want to see my [breasts], guys sending inappropriate messages. It definitely exposed me to a lot of things that an eight and nine-year-old shouldn’t know about,” Jane said.

Gautheir traces the problem back to self-esteem; teens with low levels of self confidence are more at risk to find themselves in unfavorable situations. “[It’s about] wanting that external validation or really wanting to find their sense of self through someone else. And I worry about them not thinking through some of their actions, and then being exposed, in a much more dangerous way, that could really make them feel terrible about themselves,” Gautheir said.

Gautheir also notes that since teenagers are still developing interpersonally, negative interactions online can be “especially difficult to rebuild from.”

“Teens don’t have a sense of self. They’re supposed to be exploring who they are not just through who they think they should be, but who they actually want to be. And if something like that occurs,

it takes away from your confidence and your self esteem. And then I think it’s really hard to ask for support,” Gautheir said.

There’s also the possibility that unhealthy patterns or responses could form in young relationships. Though it isn’t necessarily a gendered issue, Gauthier notices that young boys tend to be more aggressive and forward while girls become used to outbursts and the fear they experience as a reaction. “[Boys] can sometimes take risks that are impulsive—just undisciplined and also borderline disrespectful. There’s a lot of unintentional manipulation and unintentional gaslighting that can happen. And that causes a lot of consequences on the other end.

Then there can be girls misinterpreting confusing behavior, finding themselves in risky situations, and then carrying that chain with them [in other relationships],” Gauthier said.

Now in a steady relationship, Jane works to de-

“

My time on dating apps made me a lot more wary of men. I’ve had to consciously work through the process of opening up.

MARY JANE SENIOR

construct these patterns in her own life. “[My time on dating apps] made me a lot more wary of men. I’ve had to consciously work through the process of opening up in order to have a good relationship, a regular relationship,” Jane said.

Her current boyfriend is “very supportive” about helping her through the process, which she was “grateful” to have.

“If I explained a boundary, he would understand it. So I’ve had to learn to be open, and that’s what’s really positive—we talk through it, and both of us get to learn,” Jane said.