Panorama November 2017 Issue

November 2017

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In the In-Between: waiting for citizenship Nicole Kim and Alena Rubin

Volume 1, Issue 1

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Letting go of Religion: students who are less religious than their parents

on the cover

Sofia Heller

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The new educational therapy department on campus

Why girls feel pressured to conceal less and reveal more on Halloween

Sam Ko, Alexandra So & Saba Nia

Kaitlin Musante

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27

How Clickhole uses satire to make relevant political commentary

Kickstarter Kids: students in the business world Ellis Becker

Josie Abugov

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o N.

Issue

1 COVER ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE KIM AND ALENA RUBIN

3 Leveling the Playing Field

By Sam Ko, Alexandra So, Saba Nia

9 Look, Don’t Touch: How photographer Ari Shooshani captures girlhood

By Ryan Albert

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In the In-Between

By Nicole Kim and Alena Rubin

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The Breakdown

By Saba Nia and Sophie Haber

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Letting Go of Religion

By Sofia Heller

23 Why Girls Feel Pressured to Reveal More on Halloween

By Kaitlin Musante

27 Kickstarter Kids

By Ellis Becker

Curl your Enthusiasm

By Danielle Spitz

18 Down the Clickhole

By Josie Abugov

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Editors-in-ChiEf: Nicole Kim AleNA RubiN sEnior Editors: mAddy dAum ANthoNy WeiNRAub eli AdleR NoA SchWARtz Kitty luo

Junior Editors: KAitliN muSANte SofiA helleR AlexANdRA So RyAN AlbeRt SAmANthA Ko JeNNy li SoPhiA hAbeR SAbA NiA lucAS gelfoNd AliSoN oh

AdvisEr: Jim buRNS

PANoRAmA mAgAziNe is the student magazine of Harvard-Westlake School, and is affiliated with The Chronicle, the student newspaper.

It is published four times per year. Letters to the editor may be submitted to chronicle@hw.com or mailed to 3700 Coldwater Canyon, Studio City, CA 91604.

Letters must be signed and may be edited for space and to conform to Chronicle style and format.

Letter From the Editors

PHOTO BY NOA SCHWARTZ

In 90° weather, we sat cradling cups of coffee and flipping through magazines fanned across the table. It was early July and Panorama Magazine was just an idea. We knew we wanted a space to print more in-depth features, a space where words were elevated by powerful design. A magazine seemed like the obvious platform. We met at a coffee shop to discuss how it could become a reality.

Our generation processes information largely through visuals. We knew that no matter how well-written, how hard-hitting a piece may be, we would not be able to engage our audience with huge blocks of text. Panorama Magazine is also an endeavour to make news more palatable to students by making innova-

tive design as much of a priority as responsible journalism.

We also want to expand our scope beyond our campus. A story doesn’t have to relate directly to our campus to be engaging to our community. We want to share stories of people, problems and situations that readers can connect with.

When we were meeting at the coffee shop, we were still discussing the mission of the magazine and how we were going to bring other creative minds on board. Now, not only have we solidified our vision for the magazine, we have a dedicated team that we’re proud of and our first issue behind us. We hope to continue sharing inspiring and thoughtprovoking content.

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Leveling the playing field

Learning Resource Specialist Grace Brown is now available to help students with learning differences.

By Sam Ko, Alexandra So and Saba Nia

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atthew Berg ’19 grimaced as his teacher handed his algebra test back to him. His eyes fixated on the red Band he couldn’t help frowning as he turned the page, the grade bleeding through the paper. But as he reviewed his work, his expression grew less disappointed and more incredulous. As he finished scanning the last page, he realized that the scrawled letter grade was one of the few traces of ink on the paper. Most of his work was left untouched, correct.

Berg had gotten an almost perfect score. That is, on the questions he had finished.

After noticing Berg wasn’t finishing his tests but was getting most of his work right, Berg’s eighth grade math teacher encouraged him to speak to his parents about the possibility of receiving extended time.

To assess whether he qualified for extended time, Berg completed a series of tests with an educational therapist outside of school.

Berg said the tests, which take approximately 10-12 hours distributed over a few days, are similar to IQ tests in format. According to Berg, the exams measured his testing intelligence versus his efficiency. They allowed the specialists to determine the speed at which he processes information and completes work in relation to his output.

After testing, psychologists wrote reports summarizing his test results, as is the common protocol. These analyses accompanied the therapists’ recommendations to the school about the testing accommodations students should receive. Accommodations Harvard-Westlake offers include receiving 50 percent more time for assessments, computer usage for written assignments and allowing students to circle their answers in workbooks instead of using standard bubble sheets.

Now, instead of going off-campus to get evaluated for learning differences, students can visit on-campus Learning Resource Specialist Grace Brown.

The school hired Brown at the beginning of the school year.

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PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY JENNI LI

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She has 22 years of experience working as a learn- school as she expands the learning specialist proing specialist at local schools, including schools spe- gram. She said that most students at the school who cifically for students with learning disabilities. Most have learning disabilities may not be aware of them recently, she has worked in Miss Porter’s School in when they are younger, because they compensate for Farmington, CT. them through other means and have enough time to Brown helps facilitate extended time by connect- finish all their work. When the workload increases ing with education therapists who recommend the and students’ schedules become increasingly more psychological tests students should take. Harvard- hectic, many become aware that the difficulties that Westlake requires students who are applying for they were mostly handling and ignoring are actually learning accommodations to take the same tests, all learning disabilities, she said. According to Brown, of which Brown said follow a set of school standards. in these situations, when compared to their peers at These standards follow the ones College Board and school, these students may begin to perform at the other universities use for receiving accommodations, lower end of the spectrum without any testing acso a student may be able to maintain those accom- commodations. modations whether they change schools or take stan“Statistically speaking, within any population, no dardized tests. matter how high the IQ, ten perIn addition to streamlin- “We are acknowledging cent of that student body or even ing the process of receiving adults are going to have a learning learning accommodations, the neurological differ- disability or learning difference – Brown said she is also a daily ences in every population. a sort of a neurological diversity,” resource for students, parents Brown said. “So [in any] school, and teachers. She meets with It gets into the bigger is- from the beginning of time, no students who receive testing sue of diversity and inclu- matter how selective, ten percent accommodations and with sion. It’s really an issue of of its population [has] what we members of the community would now call a learning disabilinclusion.” who seek advice about more ity.” efficient learning strategies.

Brown said that students with Brown splits her time belearning disabilities don’t perform Grace Brown tween the Upper and Middle at a lower level when compared Learning Resource Specialist Schools, but encourages anyto the nationwide student populaone to approach her or visit tion, even without extended time. her office. She emphasized that students who don’t because Harvard-Westlake students are already so receive testing accommodations should also feel wel- bright to begin with. She said that it’s important to come approaching her with any concerns or ques- respect students’ disabilities even though they may tions regarding study skills. already have high-functioning abilities without any Brown’s hire marks the beginning of the educa- accommodations. tional therapy program’s expansion. According to “It is important to have [discussions] because then Brown, approximately 10 percent of students at the we are acknowledging the neurological differences in school are diagnosed with a learning disability. every population,” Brown said. “It gets into the bigger Former Upper School Dean Vanna Cairns had ad- issue of diversity and inclusion. It’s really an issue of vocated for the expansion of the program throughout inclusion.” her 32 years at the school.

The school’s decision to hire Brown follows its “A learning specialist can help students come up pattern of promoting diversity on campus and enwith coping techniques,” Cairns said. She said that couraging students to feel more comfortable in their psychologists would say, “Okay you have this prob- learning environment. lem. You’re probably going to have this issue all your “For me, at least, it is really hard to focus somelife. You have other strengths, but this is your weak- times,” Oscar* ’19 said. “I was kind of afraid of adness, so let’s figure out coping techniques.” mitting that I have ADHD because it was a kind of Brown said that she wants to increase the aware- self esteem issue. I thought people would look at me ness about students with learning disabilities at the differently. I would have a big confidence issue. But I

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of students at the Upper School have a learning accommodation, according to Learning Resource Specialist Grace Brown.

realized that it was affecting my test scores, so I went to the person and I did some tests and she said I have severe ADHD.” In addition to helping students come to terms with any disabilities, students with learning differences said they appreciate the practical benefit of being able to properly demonstrate their knowledge. Several students who receive testing accommodations said they believe it is important for the school to offer them so they can accurately display their skills.

“The idea is that teachers make tests that should, at Harvard-Westlake, take at least 45 minutes or a little bit shorter,” Dwight* ’18, who has ADD, said. “But the thing is, for people who should be having extra time, with learning disabilities, it can take longer than the amount of time teachers would normally guarantee for a regular-time student. So [a learning accommodation] levels the playing field because otherwise you can end up leaving a lot of problems blank or having to guess, which isn’t really a test of knowledge, but a test of how quickly you can do something. While that is applicable in the real world – time management is important and how quickly you can do something – it also doesn’t guarantee how well someone knows things.”

Berg, who was diagnosed with ADHD, auditoryprocessing issues and visual-spacing issues, regularly uses his extended time to complete assignments. He said that even though he still doesn’t always finish his work with the extra time, Berg also appreciates the accommodation because he believes it creates a more level playing field between students with and without learning disabilities.

“I 100 percent support and understand people who have extended time,” Anja Clark ’19, who doesn’t receive extended time, said. “It is not an advantage. It just puts students on a level playing field with everyone else who doesn’t have a disability. Being slightly dyslexic myself, it frustrates me that people think that extra time is an unfair advantage.”

Brown remains optimistic about the future of the

program and will use her experience creating similar programs at other independent schools to do the same at Harvard-Westlake.

Brown maintains that she is aware that some people may have negative preconceived notions about students who receive extended time or who struggle with learning disabilities. She said she aims to raise awareness about the school’s “10 percent” and help diffuse stigmas about the program or the extended time process.

“This position isn’t to attract a different student body, but to support the one we already have,” Brown said.

According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America, approximately three million students receive special education accommodations due to learning disabilities. In 1990, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act was passed, requiring schools to provide students with learning disabilities with “an individualized education plan,” and active parents to help them devise an education plan with their school.

As part of her new position, Brown will also work with adults. She directly contacts students’ teachers and recommends their learning difference accommodations. For example, current students who receive extended time use the Silent Study area in the library to take their exams. Brown hopes that in the future, the school can incorporate a common space such as a writing lab or a learning center where students can peer tutor or have discussions with teachers.

She will also maintain her duties as a specialist and aid students, whether they have a learning disability or not, to achieve their potential in class.

“We’re honoring the fact that not everybody learns the same, that not everybody processes at the same speed,” Brown said. “That’s where extended time comes from. They can still think at that high level. They can still be incredibly intelligent, creative contributors to the environment. They just do it differently.” *Names have been changed.

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Look, Don’t Touch: How photographer Ari Shooshani captures girlhood

By Ryan Albert

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n the dimly lit photography studio, Ari Shooshani ’18 stepped back from the camera to reassess the chaos around her. Her friends stood precariously on stools, dangling red roses over Charlotte Weinman ’18, who sat in front of a tiny blue backdrop set up in the middle of the studio.

But despite the hectic setting of the photography studio, the style of Shooshani’s final composition was intentionally delicate. The photos Shooshani took that day became the preliminary round of her first substantial studio photography series, focusing on uncommon perspectives of women in society. “[They are] centralized on girls in general,” Shooshani said. “It is less about me personally and more about me as a girl in the world.”

In the studio, she likes to experiment with props, such as roses or hands, to see their effect on the photo’s composition and feel.

ALL PHOTOS PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF ARI SHOOSHANI

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Shooshani does not believe the photos represent one specific feeling or meaning.

They could elicit disgust, anger or discomfort, but should be interpreted by the viewer, she said.

“I look at [the pictures] and even I’m just kind of uncomfortable,” she said.

Shooshani is also experimenting with different styles of image formatting to enhance her work.

“I moved away from just a photo, and I’m starting to use words and imagery, which is new for me,” Shooshani said.

“People don’t realize how deliberate everything has to be when you use this type of stuff.”

In the studio, Weinman served as Shooshani’s model, while Oceania Eshraghi ‘18 and Annie Wendorf ‘19 assisted her with the photographic visuals.

Shooshani plans to retake her current studio shots, which she calls “first round photos,” and eventually add a few iterations to the series.

“I don’t want to overdo it,” she said. “I feel like it kind of gets redundant at some point, and I like leaving it to the imagination of the concept.”

Although she is now exploring studio photography, Shooshani previously focused on documentary photography.

Preferring to highlight the natural composition of a scene instead of adding or manipulating elements to convey a certain message, Shooshani was initially drawn to documentary photography because of its ability to capture the authenticity of a scene.

“It is easier for me to tell stories and be a better photographer when nothing is really staged,” Shooshani said. “I don’t like moving stuff around. I like showing how it is and my point of view.”

Using this technique, she shot her first substantial body of work, which featured a documentary series of her sister’s routine life around their home.

“I look a lot like her too, so looking at those photos was kind of like looking at

a part of me in that way,” Shooshani said.

She used familiar scenes and objects to express her perspective on the subject.

“It is really easy for me to communicate stuff when it is closer to me because, emotionally, I am able to convey a lot of things better,” Shooshani said. “That’s why it is harder for me to work in the studio because every little last detail has to be very deliberate, and when things are candid, it is deliberate on its own.”

Shooshani submitted these works to YoungArts, an application-based competition that grants awards to emerging artists.

Recognized as a 2016 YoungArts winner, Shooshani participated in the National YoungArts week in Miami, where she practiced her photographic skills alongside the other finalists and received artistic guidance from professionals.

“Being recognized for that was really a lot for me,” Shooshani said. “I do art for myself and I’m not really doing it for other people, except as a means of expression.

To see that the mechanics of it and my actual photos are good was really a boost of self-confidence.”

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ILLUSTRATIONS BY NICOLE KIM AND ALENA RUBIN

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By Nicole Kim and Alena Rubin

áté Major ’18 likes routine.

During the school week, he wakes up at 6 a.m., battles traffic on the 101 in his 2007 Honda (“the village donkey”), goes to his classes and goes home. He might go to a La Femme meeting during break and on Mondays, he goes to Peer Support. Recently, he’s been working on college applications, but if it were up to him, he would cook a meal or go on a hike with his family like he usually does when he isn’t overwhelmed with work. As a new junior last year, he found friends in the class of 2017, last year’s senior class. He tries to keep in touch with them, but it’s hard, him being in the middle of the college process and them being busy college freshmen.

He may seem like a typical teenager making his way through high school, but any day Máté could receive a notice in the mail that could take away this “normal” life. Máté immigrated to America from Hungary in 2014 after his father, an economics professor, was contracted to teach at the University of California, San Diego. He first came with a temporary, non-immigrant visa, but made the decision to stay and apply for a Green Card the same year. Now, over three years later, he’s still waiting for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to accept or deny his Green Card application. When we asked him when he’ll receive the decision, he shrugged. It could be tomorrow or a decade from now, he said.

He’s adopted a “one step at a time approach” to life, learning not to plan too far in advance, knowing that his future is largely uncertain.

“I don’t know if you would ever find anyone

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saying that they just love waiting for a green card,” he says. “I would rather have a definitive answer and know what my next move is or has to be. Again, it’s just disempowerment. You’re suspended and you’re not going any which way.”

But Máté accepts the situation for what it is.

“It’s a gamble, I knew that coming in,” he said. “The fact that I am in this limbo, if you will, and have been is just part of the deal, more or less.”

This gamble was one that he himself decided to take. Since his father lives in San Diego, he lives in Los Angeles with his sister. He was given the option of returning to Hungary and living with family there, or staying in Los Angeles with his sister. He opted to stay. Although he still considers Hungary his homeland and his country, he recognized there were more opportunities for him in America.

“I looked at what would’ve waited for me back in Hungary,” he said. “Hungary is still a European country, and we are by no means a developing nation, but it is a post-socialist country with a lot of corruption. [There are] not too many opportunities for young people for quality higher education. The government has centralized all power and is basically censoring education. You cannot leave the country for ten years if you decide to get a degree at a Hungarian university. It is a very restrictive and somewhat oppressive country, and that did not quite sit with me knowing that I had the option to move to America, because who wouldn’t want to do that?”

Similar to Máté, Hunter* emigrated to the United States from a European country on a temporary visa. He asked that his name and the country he emigrated from not be printed to protect his privacy. However, he had one reason for staying and applying for a green card: attending Harvard-Westlake.

Unlike Máté, Hunter’s decision to stay was

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made largely for him by his parents.

“It wasn’t an easy decision for me,” Hunter said. “I didn’t make the decision. It was an easy decision for my parents. I mean, granted I’m on financial aid, so I’m not paying all of the tuition. All the money my family ever owned would probably [not] be enough to live in America and go to this school, just based on [my family’s] employment. The fact that we got financial aid meant that it would be a sustainable thing to do, but also it’s a really good school, right? And it is in America. So for them the decision was very easy.”

Despite how easy the decision to emigrate was for his parents, Hunter struggled with the prospect of uprooting his life. He said leaving Europe meant leaving

his entire family and moving to a country where he did not know anyone his own age.

“Obviously I couldn’t have carried every single one of my friends with me or taken them to America, so it’s a difficult thing, and probably what makes it most difficult is the feeling of familiarity and similarity that you have in a community that you grew up in,” he said. “You go, ‘Ok, I guess I just won’t have that for a while.’ Anything you can think of—teachers that I liked, friends that I had, family relations, just habits, like every Tuesday I took violin lessons and I took that bus and I would ride from here to there, and I would get off at that stop. It all had a feel to it. And that sort of thing is completely gone.”

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Máté also left behind much of his family when he moved to America. Although he tries to stay in contact with them, he said they often don’t have access to internet, which makes communication valuable but also infrequent.

“My great grandmother passed away a while back,” he said. “She was very old, I think she was 95 or 96, but learning about her death through an email, it really drove home the fact that I’m as far away as can be.”

Despite the difficulties of moving to Los Angeles, “it is what it is,” Máté said. What makes it worth it to both Máté and Hunter is the greater educational opportunity in America.

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“If I went to the best school in my country, I may have tried for an application into Britain.

I would not have even dreamed of sending an application to, like, ‘insert name of great college here,’” Hunter said. “The fact that I have this opportunity here now is basically what the main reason of moving out was.”

Máté said the benefits of receiving an American education extend beyond attending a prestigious college. Since moving to America, he has had a more enriching high school experience, he said.

“I really enjoy studying, which might be shunned by some, but this school has facilities that go beyond measures [compared] to all of the other schools I’ve attended,” Máté said.

“That doesn’t get lost on me and I want to use that to the utmost extent. Whenever I feel mopey about the homework I have, I remind myself that is why I’m here.

To get the most, and to me that’s learning as much as I can.”

Although they have both made sacrifices for their education, there are still additional hoops that they must jump through in the college process that come with not being an American citizen. This includes the lower probability of receiving financial aid for college tuition compared to students who are citizens.

“Most colleges aren’t nearly as generous as Harvard-Westlake is,” Hunter said. “Where I go from here is who gives me the most money.”

Hunter, however, doesn’t want us to feel bad for him. His outlook on life is still one of gratitude.

“I realize that I don’t have all the money in the world, and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say,” he said. “I don’t think it’s unfair and I’m not sad-

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dened by this fact. I realize that even if I have to restrict my options to whichever college gives me the most money, that’s still a whole slew of universities I never would have thought of had I stayed [in Europe].”

Besides the obstacle that financial aid presents, Hunter recognizes that he is also disadvantaged in starting the college process later than other students.

“This train, this ‘getting to college rat race’ that you guys are in, starts very early,” Hunter said. “I started late. So, in hindsight, I get a late start on the whole college thing, and by that I mean basically everything—the amount of APs that you can take, whether you think you should be taking [them] or want to take [them] . I didn’t even know what an AP class really was, so I said ‘Ok, I guess I’ll take two, that’s fine,’ whereas most people took more than two.”

Although neither Hunter nor Máté consider themselves to have the extenuating circumstances that they believe many students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program have, both agreed that there are some similarities with their current status. Máté has been waiting for his Green Card for over 3 years. Hunter declined to state how long exactly he has been waiting for his Green Card, but it has been over a year.

DACA recipients are unsure of the future of the policy that allows them to legally stay in America following President Donald Trump’s announcement Sept. 5 that his administration intends to end DACA if Congress does not reach a deal to extend the program by March 5. After that date, DACA recipients could face deportation.

Jens Hainmueller, a professor of political science and a head of the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University, helped lead a study that found that DACA protections significantly improve the health conditions of people enrolled in the program, according to news.stanford.edu.

“Childhood mental health problems are associated with serious challenges later in life,” Hainmueller said. “Struggles in school can lead

to limited job prospects and long-term reliance on welfare, and adults who experienced trauma during these formative years have higher rates of substance abuse and chronic health problems.”

Hainmueller said that these health problems during adolescence can have long-term negative effects during adulthood.

“By curbing acute anxiety in young children, programs like DACA could have cascade effects in improving health and other outcomes across the lifespan,” he said. “In addition, there are significant implications for costs given that childhood mental health disorders account for the lion’s share of pediatric health care spending in the U.S.” Máté said that the biggest frustration that comes with being in the waiting phase of finding out whether or not he can continue living in America is his sense of helpless- “I’m constantly in this ness in deciding his own situation, but I also canfate. not change it. There are “It’s always present,” Máté said. “I’m constantly very clear limitations to in this situation, but I also what I can do to affect cannot change it. There the situation I’m in.” are very clear limitations to what I can do to affect the situation that I’m in.”

Máté Major ’18 He treats the obstacles he’s faced in applying for citizenship as learning experiences and remembers to keep things in perspective.

“I gained perspective from this,” he said. “I know that I’ve been saying this a lot, but it is one of my favorite words. Putting everything in perspective can help with a lot of predicaments we face in the first world. We often get sidetracked and terribly consumed by things that might not matter all that much.”

Until he hears back from the USCIS, he waits.

He still loves living in the city. He does it every day, but driving down streets lined with palm trees, rarities in Hungary, never ceases to blow his mind. *Names have been changed.

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By Danielle Spitz

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Curl your enthusiasm

ike 34 was finally open. I had been refreshing Lisa’s Justin Bieber vs. Justin Timberlake class all week, waiting for someone to cancel.

When the opportunity presented itself, I couldn’t turn it down. “Bike 34 is yours!” flashed across my screen, and I scanned my inbox for a confirmation from SoulCycle. I double-checked my calendar to make sure nothing conflicted with the 9:30 a.m. ride on Saturday. Much to my disappointment, it looked as though I wouldn’t be able to tap it back to a What Do You Mean/Summer Love mashup.

With family dinner at 7 that night, there was no way I would have enough time to do my hair after a post-workout shower.

Without time to dry, detangle, moisturize and style, who knows what it would look like by dinner time? I had to cancel.

Having curly hair has always been an integral part of my identity. It’s my most defining feature and one that I’m not afraid to accentuate. But just like any other relationship, my curls and I go through our fair share of ups and downs. From cancelling highly-anticipated SoulCycle classes to making me late for school, my hair truly has a mind of its own. What others might see as a unique trait is often a time-consuming burden that I wish I could do without.

Even after spending hours watching YouTube tutorials and trying out dozens of styling products, my hair is still wildly unpredictable. In an attempt to control it, I often resort to putting it in a ponytail, or the more drastic alternative, straightening it.

That way, I can shave off about 45 minutes of my daily routine,

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not having to worry about unexpected frizz or unruly fly-aways.

As soon as my curls disappear, so do most of my insecurities. Straight hair is the norm. Only after a dramatic makeover and permanently straightening her curls did Mia from “The Princess Diaries” become royalty. Subliminal messages like these instilled in me from an early age the notion that straight hair is mainstream and curls are unconventional.

I’m relieved to take a temporary break from my unmanageable curls and eliminate the stress of a bad hair day from my list of responsibilities. But I start to long for my curls as soon as someone comments on the change.

“You should wear your hair straight more often.” “Have you ever considered

permanently straightening it?” “I like your curls, but this is so much better.”

What might be intended as compliments actually feel like suggestions to conform my look to conventional standards, as if my straight hair is more acceptable than my natural hair. It’s difficult to take these comments to heart because they seem back-handed and imply that I would be better off with a different appearance, so I quickly start to wish for my curls back just so I can set myself apart.

While they may be a little wild, my curls are a part of who I am, and there is no use in trying to tame them. According to the Today/AOL Ideal to Real Body Image Survey from 2014, women spend an average of 55 minutes per day on their appearance, which is only about 10 more minutes than the amount of time I spend on my hair alone. 32 percent of women surveyed also said they worry about their natural hair. I used to belong to that 32 percent, but I soon realized that my curls were something to flaunt, not hide.

Yes, they are extremely frustrating the majority of days. And yes, I spend far more time on my hair than the average person. But at the end of the day, I like being able to stand out. They’re definitely unorthodox, but that’s why I love them. I might still plug in the flat iron once or twice a month to change it up, but my time away from my curls is shortlived.

Otherwise, I would miss them t o o much.

PH LUSTRATION B O IL Y OT

NOA SCHWARTZ/CHRONICLE

ND RA

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By Josie Abugov

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Down the Clickhole

n most d a y s , when my eighth period class ends, I head as quickly as I can to the senior lot and zip through the 818 until I get home. I immediately change into pajamas and make myself an iced coffee. I am exhausted. Over it. It’s probably only 3 p.m. at this point. I’ve done zero exercise in the past month, but I act as if I’ve completed my third marathon of the day.

Crawling into bed, my iced coffee in one hand, my phone in the other, I shamelessly scour through Clickhole’s Instagram page, the social media equivalent of both the Rocky Horror Picture Show and a glass of lemonade.

Clickhole, the Onion’s satirical website and social media page that spoofs prominent clickbait sites, is a deep void of endless and addictive posts.

The site launched in 2014, when The Onion stopped publishing print issues and shifted its focus entirely to web. At first glance, Clickhole humor seems bizarre and illogical. Quotes that make no sense. Out of context faux clickbait headlines.

A black hole of meaninglessness. People seem to either love Clickhole or simply not get it.

For those who do love it, Clickhole serves as this odd internet cult favorite. Consistent in its bizarre, dry humor, the style of its content is predictable. Getting lost in the maze of Clickhole is easier than prematurely stopping a juice cleanse.

But under the surface, there is undeniable intelligence and social commentary weaved into their ludicrous headlines. This past May, Clickhole launched Patriothole, which satirizes online conservative news outlets. Headlines such as, “Steve Bannon Has Completed His Yearlong Plan to Become Increasingly Irrelevant Before Eventually Getting Fired” and “Wasting Taxpayer Money? The White House Reportedly Spends $7.99 A Month On A Free Hulu Trial Obama Forgot to Cancel” run on Clickhole’s website.

When Clickhole gets political, it often replaces its nonsensical humor with something legitimately clever and illuminating about society. Sadly, as political unrest and confusion increases nationally, I’ve seen more and more legitimate headlines that sound like they belong on Clickhole.

On a typical day, I feel not only academically overwhelmed, but politically overwhelmed. A lot of times, my CNN notifications make me want to either cry, take an anxiety nap or just generally yell. While I believe wholeheartedly that tuning out the news in response to feeling inundated with information isn’t the right response, I also understand this reaction. With each news cycle more troubling than the next, we are living in uneasy and exhausting times.

Amid constant sensationalism and societal unrest, Clickhole and The Onion often provide relevant social commentary through satire and humor. As the nation’s political environment becomes increasingly polarized and unethical behavior abounds in the highest positions of power, these satirical online outlets illuminate the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of events in our country and the white house. Following Hurricane Maria, an Onion headline read, “Trump Administration Sends 30 Million Nothing to Puerto Rico Victims.” Following the Las Vegas shooting, The Onion headline read, “‘No way to prevent this’ says only nation where this regularly happens.“ 45 minutes later, I dramatically crawl out of bed. My empty mason jar of used-to-be iced coffee sits on my bedside table. Clickhole’s Instagram page is displayed on my phone screen.

I watch a Clickhole video about a dog. I get a terrifying New York Times notification. As I do my homework in the evening, I wonder why the world is grieving.

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LETTING GO OF RELIGION

By Sofia Heller

While some students identify as less religious than their parents, many still value the morals and culture from their religion.

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ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANNA GONG

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J

ane’s* ’18 head was pounding as she made her way into the kitchen in the afternoon. She was about to take her first a bite of food that day when her dad came into the room, yelling that she needed to keep her annual promise to God. Jane was fasting for Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday in which Jews go without food or water for 24 hours to facilitate self-reflection. Last year was the first time Jane broke the fast before the day was over.

“My health was preventing me from doing it, and I always feel like my health comes first before anything,” she said. “My dad definitely was not on the same page as me.

He thought the fast and the Jewish holidays come before anything else.”

Although she usually fasts for Yom Kippur, Jane attributes her Jewish identity to the culture rather than the belief system. She said she does not regularly go to

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temple or pray.

Jane’s dad, however, is much more religious and spiritual, she said.

In addition to placing great value on Jewish practices, her dad meditates frequently and tries to persuade Jane to participate in spiritual exercises. Jane said she gets frustrated at her dad’s suggestion that she needs spirituality in order to better herself.

“I don’t feel like I need to do anything more to be in touch with myself,” Jane said.

“Sometimes [my dad] thinks I do, and that’s a little offensive. I feel like I’m pretty comfortable in my own skin without doing that.”

25 percent of people 18 to 30 years old are unaffiliated with a religion—agnostic, atheist, or “nothing in particular”—versus the 14% of all adults over 30 years unaffiliated with a religion, according to the Pew Research Center.

Grace Swift ’19 is part of the 59% of students on campus who said they feel less religious than their parents, according to a Panorama poll of 328 students. Like 34 percent of students who responded to the poll, she identifies as an atheist.

Swift said she started considering herself an atheist in seventh grade. Initially, it served as a mechanism to defy her m o m , she said.

Looking back, however, Swift said she never truly identified with Christian beliefs.

When Swift expressed herself as an atheist to her parents, it created significant tension in her house, she said.

“It almost felt like ‘coming out’ to my parents,” Swift said.

Swift’s mom was ardently unaccepting of

her atheist convictions, she said. Swift said her mom now forces her to participate in church monthly as an acolyte.

In contrast, Anita Anand ’19 said that while her mom is more religious than she is, she accepts Anand’s agnostic beliefs.

Both of Anand’s parents mainly care that she receives the core values and culture from Hinduism.

Anand said that she connects to her Hindu culture through Indian dancing.

The dances she performs portray religious stories and texts.

Similar to Anand, Swift said there are appealing characteristics of the Episcopal Church that she is able to separate from belief in God. Swift said she has been going to church since she was a baby and has grown up enjoying its structure.

“It’s less about God for me than it is about routine,” Swift said.

She also said she values the morals that the church instills in its congregation. Swift said she would not feel comfortable being involved in another sect of Christianity or in another religion that does not give considerable weight to ethics.

“This church is a lot less about religious dogma and a lot more of just trying to teach people how to be good people, which I appreciate,” Swift said.

Swift said she wonders about the number of people in her church who are there to practice their religious beliefs versus the number of people who are there to benefit from the church’s moral lessons.

Zeke* ’19, like Swift, values religion for its moral guidelines rather than for a belief in a divine being.

Zeke’s parents saw religion as a crucial aspect of growing up, Zeke said, and sent him to a religious elementary and middle school.

While Zeke said his parents have a stronger belief in a divine being than he does, they also believe the most beneficial aspect of religion is its moral principles. “[My parents] have definitely introduced me to this world of religion, but I feel like my beliefs have been shaped mainly by my experiences,” Zeke said.

Zeke said he started grappling with the idea of a divine being after his dad was di-

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agnosed with lymphoma cancer and two family-friends died of breast cancer.

“I was wondering ‘Why are all these bad things happening in my life?’” Zeke said.

“That was a time of questioning. But, I do think that everything happens for one reason or another.”

As a kid, Zeke and his family went to church on a regular basis. Now, they only go for Christmas and Easter. Zeke said his family no longer has the time to practice religion, which, in turn, has led to them becoming less religious.

Julia Maccary ’19 is another student who said she and her family have become much less religious over the past few years. However, Maccary attributes this to personal tragedy.

Maccary was raised in a Catholic home.

She was baptized, went to Sunday school and took her first communion.

“It was a family thing—every Easter, every Christmas—to go to church and have a big meal after,” Maccary said. “I was raised like that. That was my culture.”

Her parents have now stopped taking her family to church, Maccary said. After her grandfather passed away, she said her parents lost their dedication to the church.

“My parents are both very pragmatic people, and I think they probably wanted to believe in some higher power,” Maccary said. “I think it’s very comforting to think that, but I think they both sort of knew.”

Now, Maccary said she and her sister consider themselves atheists. They started questioning the existence of God at the same time, Maccary said.

“I think we sort of fed off of each other,” Maccary said.

After Maccary started to question God, she said she also questioned why people ascribed to religion in general.

“I think a lot of it comes from people’s desire to be comforted by some explanation for what’s happening,” Maccary said.

“For example, ‘Why does this tragedy have to happen? Oh, because some higher power has made it happen.’ I also felt like it was a way for people to control their destiny in some way to think, ‘If I do all these great things in my life, it can pay off in the afterlife.’ I like to think there is a place after earth, but I don’t know if I believe that.”

Maccary said her beliefs were shaped by growing up in Los Angeles. Both her liberal parents and community allowed her the freedom to explore her relationship with religion, she said.

“If I had lived in a place where being atheist or agnostic wasn’t common at all, it probably wouldn’t have occurred to me,” Maccary said. “I feel like my liberal environment in LA has allowed me, early on, to find what I think is true.”

In a Panorama poll of 271 students, 57 percent said that the liberal climate in Los Angeles has influenced their religiosity.

Both Anand and Swift said they have found that their peers do not hold strong convictions in any particular religion or faith.

“I think it’s more and more common to get away from the structure of a religion and just lean towards more of a free, open idea of, ‘well, there might be somebody out there, but I don’t really know,’—more of an agnostic take on the world,” Swift said. “I feel like less people are atheist or Catholic or some religion with really strict rules.”

Upper school Chaplain J. Young said he thinks HarvardWestlake unint e n tionally attracts families who are less religious.

“I think that if you are a family in Los Angeles and you are sending your kid to a private school, and it’s important to you for that school to have a strong religious base, you’re going to be looking at Loyola, or a Jewish day school or Oaks Christian,” Young said.

“I do think because we don’t fall into those

categories as being uber religious, by definition, we end up attracting families who are less religious. Not because we’re intending to, but kind of a side effect of what the other schools are offering.”

Anand expressed her appreciation for the school’s acceptance of diverse religious beliefs, including those who don’t strongly identify with a religion.

“It’s always nice to have people with different perspectives and beliefs coming together in unity,” Anand said. “I like that my friends — and my parents—don’t judge me for not believing in God.” *Names have been changed.

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WHY GIRLS FEEL

PRESSURED T O

C O N C E A L

L E S S MORE A N D

R E V E A L

ON HALLOWEEN

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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SOFIA HELLER AND KAITLIN MUSANTE

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SOFIA HELLER AND KAITLIN MUSANTE

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PHOTO ILLU

By Kaitlin Musante

A

melia* ’19 pulled down on the black spandex of her costume, feeling exposed as she walked through a sea of Red Solo cups, discarded candy wrappers and jack-o-lanterns.

Just a few hours earlier, Amelia was dressed in a loose-fitting t-shirt and leggings. Feeling comfortable and confident in her previous Halloween costume, Amelia said she felt pressured by a friend to dress in a more revealing manner.

“When she handed me the new costume, I didn’t know what to think,” Amelia said. “I wanted to fit in, but I was surprised that this was the supposed way to do that. It’s never how I dress, but it feels like there is pressure to not look innocent, modest and juvenile because Halloween is a day to be anyone but yourself.”

“I always see on Instagram As she passed groups of similarly dressed girls who are wearing tiny girls, she said her costume gave her a sense of Halloween costumes and belonging at the party. However, she said she look amazing, and I tell was sad that she had to give in to pressure in myself that I would look order to avoid judgement.

“I was glad to fit in, but upset that I had better if I were wearing to change what I wore to fit in,” Amelia said. things like that too.” “[My friend] made me feel like, as a new high schooler, this is how I had to dress on HalAmelia* ’19 loween. It wasn’t about how the shorts looked on me, but rather about how they matched what other people were wearing.”

Amelia is not alone. Out of a Panorama poll of 227 girls polled, 38 percent said they feel pressured to dress in revealing Halloween costumes.

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Joanna Szumski attributed this pressure to social norms established by the media.

“The media places a great emphasis on thinness and sexuality,” Szumski said. “The fashion and beauty industry are both known to capitalize on the insecurities of girls and women. Teenage girls feel pressure to conform to their peers and dress up in a sexy outfit in order to fit in. Teens want to feel acceptance in a group and not be judged as being different.”

Amelia said social media contributes to the pressure she feels.

“I always see girls on Instagram who are wearing tiny Halloween costumes and look amazing, and I tell myself that I would look 24

better if I were wearing things like that too,” Amelia said.

Other students said they feel the way Halloween costumes are marketed promotes the stereotype that girls must dress in a revealing manner on Halloween.

Julie* ’19 said when she shops for Halloween costumes, she is shocked by the lack of body diversity between the models and the way the marketing is able to play off of her personal insecurities.

“I definitely feel like the way that they market Halloween costumes is targeting more what society wants than what we think best fits us as women,” Julie said. “They present a perfect teenage girl and they expect everyone to look exactly like she does in that costume, and that won’t happen. I don’t look like that. There are so many different body types, which are all beautiful, but not in the way that society defines as beauty.”

Julie said that she has also noticed a clear difference between the way that boys and girls’ costumes are marketed, as girls are often provided with significantly more revealing options.

In fact, Party City’s website has a category called “Sexy Costumes” for women but not for men.

Szumski said that this difference reinforces the negative messages about body and worth established by the media.

“Girls are bombarded with messages from movies, TV, advertisements and magazines that what really matters is how they look and how much of their body they show off,” Szumski said. “Not only do we see costumes made for teens that are short, lowcut and way too revealing, but they are also made for one specific body type, thin girls.

This only further perpetuates the thin ideal that the media imposes on women from an early age.”

According to the American Psychological Association, the hyper-sexualization of women in the media can lead to self-confidence issues, eating disorders, anxiety and depression.

Julie said exposure to these sexualized images each Halloween has made her less confident about her body.

“I feel like this stereotype definitely has affected my self-confidence,” Julie said. “It puts a lot of pressure on teenage girls to al-

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ways look sexually appealing and make boys want to be attracted to them because the outfits that we are pressured by society to wear are revealing and can make me feel bad about my body, especially when I compare myself to others who are wearing a similar costume.”

Other students attributed this pressure to the influence of their peers. Brittany* ’19 said that as she entered middle school, she became more aware of the societal pressures surrounding Halloween.

“In elementary school, Halloween was more of a fun, fair-type event, and I would wear my costume solely to school and trickor-treating,” Brittany said. “Sometimes, I even made my own costume. Once I got to the Middle School, however, this changed. I was hanging out with high schoolers instead of kindergarteners, and the people I was around were dressing more provocatively, which made me feel like I needed to dress this way.”

The influence of her older friends, as well as her participation in a group costume, led Brittany to be pressured into dressing up as a “slutty” geisha.

“I think that as you get older, there is more pressure to do costumes with your friends and when you are deciding to do a costume with a bunch of people, you don’t want to be the one person that doesn’t agree when the general consensus is to dress provocatively,” Brittany said. “It definitely was not a costume I would normally choose for myself, but I didn’t want to be the odd one out.”

Although the costume was more provocative than those she would usually choose, Brittany said that the outfit served as a confidence boost.

“Although I was initially hesitant, I ended up feeling good in the costume,” Brittany said. “It ended up being less provocative than I thought because I loved the traditional robes that they wear.”

Other students on campus expressed similar sentiments. Abigail* ’19 said dressing up each year allows her to look at her body in a more positive light.

“I think that when you look good, you feel good,” Abigail said. “For me personally and for a lot of people I know, dressing in a way where you look conventionally attrac-

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tive does make you feel good.”

Although Abigail said that she recognizes that there is pressure to conform to societal norms, she has decided to embrace it.

“I don’t mind the pressure, and I would probably dress this way on Halloween anyways, even if there wasn’t pressure,” Abigail said. “If I am going to a party, I want to look good and I think sometimes that is equated to be the same thing as looking slutty.”

Olivia* ’19 said although she recognizes that many other students across campus feel pressure to dress provocatively, she has been able to ignore the stereotypes and view the holiday as a chance to be creative.

“I dress for myself,” Olivia said. “I think it is fun to have a night where you can dress up and dress differently than you usually do in your daily life, and Halloween gives you a chance to do that.”

In contrast, many boys on campus have said that they do not experience any pressure regarding their costumes on Halloween. In a Panorama poll of 191 boys, 10 percent said they feel pressure to dress in revealing costumes and 89 percent said they felt no pressure to even dress up at all.

“For most guys, Halloween is simply a lighthearted day to have fun,” Peter Sykes ‘19 said. “There isn’t the same pressure for guys to dress up as there is for girls, and even if you choose to, there isn’t the same judgement over what kind of costume you wear.”

Sykes, however, said that he feels the holiday has a different connotation for most girls.

“I think that [dressing provocatively] on Halloween for girls has become a social norm, and I think that this has led most girls to feel pressured to dress in this particular way,” Sykes said. “They are trying to conform because they see that a lot of other people are doing it. It more based on peer pressure than actual desire, I think.”

Julie said that although she resents the expectation, she finds it difficult to separate from the stereotype.

“I really wish I had the courage to separate myself from the stereotype and dress the way I want to on Halloween,” Julie said. “However, because everyone else will be dressing like that, I don’t want to be the odd person out. I am afraid to be myself and be different.” *Names have been changed.

38%

of girls said that they feel pressure to dress in a more revealing manner on Halloween.

10%

of boys said that they feel pressure to dress in a more revealing manner on Halloween.

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KICKSTARTER KIDS After deciding they wanted to explore their entrepreneurial abilities, Cameron Schiller ’18 and Jonathan Damico ’18 founded a company that creates premium backpacks designed for students, by students.

Main cavity. For storing books, papers and laptops.

“The brain.” For miscellaneous items, such as drives or notecards.

Cell phone pocket.

For additional flat items such as calculators, drives, or notecards.

Interior flap pocket.

For any flat items.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF PROVA DESIGNS

Magnetically attached pencil case.

For pencils, calculators and erasers.

By Ellis Becker

S

tanding in the Tuff warehouse in San Diego, Jonathan Damico ’18 and Cameron Schiller ’18 looked at the first prototype of the backpack that had once been just an idea they had dreamed of. As they stared at the backpack they had seen drawn hundreds of times, the white “Mk 1” writing stitched into the top stood out. Although Damico knew they still had a long way to go, he said it was one of the proudest moments of the whole experience.

“My favorite moment was seeing the first prototype in person,” Damico said. “It felt fantastic to hold the physical result of countless hours of work and was a strong symbol of how far the once-little project had come.”

Around eight months ago, Schiller and

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Water bottle pouch.

For water bottles, thermoses or any other cylindrical items.

Damico started their company, named Prova, hoping to gain business experience and create a product that would make a difference. They settled on backpacks.

“We both knew we wanted to do something impactful,” Damico said. “We both knew we wanted to do something outside of the scope of what we were doing in school and we just started to look for inefficiencies with products that we use every day that don’t quite cut it. Both of us looked toward backpacks as something that were in need of improvement.”

While there are many high-end backpacks available, there are few premium options designed specifically for students, Schiller said.

“We decided to think of a whole bunch of things, and after a while, I actually had to buy my first backpack, and Jonathan and I were just joking around about how [few]

premium backpacks there are for students,” Schiller said. “Some companies build really quality bags, but they’re designed for hiking or backpacking, so the function of the backpack is actually geared toward that.

We said, ‘Hey, there’s a gap in the market here, and it’s premium backpacks for students.’”

When the company was in the first stages of creation, Schiller said he and Damico went to Interdisciplinary Studies and Independent Research Teacher and Faculty Head of HW Venture Club Rob Levin, who connected them with alumni.

“We met with Mr. Levin, who connected us with all the alumni resources of Harvard-Westlake, and we kind of wiggled our way into finding a couple of alumni who could help us,” Schiller said. “When we first started out we got a lot of advice as to how to start a company. Then we got into how

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do we make a backpack, and we found a guy on LinkedIn who builds backpacks, and we scrolled down on LinkedIn and it says, ‘Oh, you and him went to Harvard-Westlake.’ So Mr. Levin got us a face-to-face meeting with the guy, and he did a really good job telling us about the whole process.”

Levin said that although the company has now turned into a positive experience, he was initially doubtful.

“My initial reaction was sharply negative,” Levin said. “They brought me a backpack. Do they have any particular skills in fashion design? No. Do they have any particular skills in fabrics and construction and zippers? No. I was saying to them, ‘These are your areas of expertise, why aren’t you focusing on them?’ They pointed out to me that in [HW Venture Club], we don’t say you’re not good at something, we say you’re not good at it yet. They were talking yetbased companies and boy have they learned a lot about fashion design, and a lot about backpacks, and marketing and things like that. They’re right. It was a perfect project for them.”

Despite his initial concerns, Levin said that although Damico and Schiller don’t have much experience in this field, he believes that they are in the best position for starting a company specializing in backpacks for students.

“They also have one other thing that qualifies them to be doing this backpack project,” Levin said. “They don’t know much about design, they don’t know about fabrics, they don’t know about marketing, they don’t know about manufacturing, and they can learn all of these things, but they know much more about backpacks than a Jansport engineer.”

Schiller said that he and Damico started the company as a learning experience for them, a sentiment that served as inspiration for the company name.

“We tossed around a whole bunch of ideas [for names], and initially one stuck which was Prova,” Schiller said. “It’s actually Italian for ‘to try’ or ‘to test.’ We’re trying our first company here, and that’s the whole idea behind Prova.”

Schiller and Damico implemented multiple innovations, including the orientation of the backpack’s opening, that they hope will separate their backpack from others on the market.

“Our backpack opens up on the side,” Schiller said. “What that allows for is when students get into the classroom, you don’t

even have to take the backpack off to get to your books, you can put one strap on, swing it around your hip, unzip one side and you have complete access to all of your books and they’re the right side up, just like the way you pull a book out of a shelf in the library.”

Schiller also said that to come up with these innovations, he and Damico looked extensively into a students’s use of backpacks themselves, and made improvements based off of their observations. They tracked students’ routines and how they used backpacks, specifically when leaving classrooms, in order to improve the performance of the backpacks.

“What we did as two robotics engineers to improve the functionality of the backpack was look at every single move a student makes when they leave a classroom,” Schiller said. “After looking at that, we realized a couple of things. The first thing was that zippers suck. Zippers get stuck one everything, they’re annoying, no one likes zippers. So first thing we did with our backpack was source the highest quality zipper we could find. The second thing is trying to remove as many zippers as possible.”

Another feature of the backpack is an included pencil case magnetically attached to the backpack itself.

“Almost everyone has a pencil case, which was a completely separate case that you ended up putting in another pouch in your backpack, so it was like a pouch inside of a pouch,” Schiller said. “So the entire front of our backpack completely detaches, and the pencil case is attached to the front using magnets. We’re partnering with a German company called Fidlock that builds really neat magnetic connectors that allow the pencil case to really securely and nicely latch to the front. If you bring the pencil case an inch away from the bag in any way, the two magnets will click together so satisfyingly. The feel of using the backpack on a day-to-day basis really matters to us.”

Additionally, the pencil case features a compartment that is designed to fit the dimensions of a TI-84 calculator. Schiller said he and Damico implemented innovations like this as they looked to design space for objects that are exclusive to students.

Schiller also said that the design and look of the backpack is important, and because of that, they made the backpack straps detachable and interchangeable.

“The straps of the backpack are removable,” Schiller said. “They’re completely

detachable from the backpack. Almost no backpacks on the market have that, and we did that for two reasons. One, you can change up the color of the straps or the design of them, so it adds some personality to the bag and you can now finally match your backpack to the outfit you’re wearing. Two, we can have different straps for different functionalities, so straps with extra padding or straps with little cargo spaces.”

Damico also said that the way the backpack looks overall is important to them.

“From a design perspective, we want it to look good,” Damico said. “Our goals were to make a bag that isn’t visually ostracizing, and something that looks good. We want it to be a fashionably positive project because just like anything else you wear, your backpack is an extension of yourself and who you are.”

As for the future of Prova, Damico said that he and Schiller plan to launch a Kickstarter in the next few weeks, not only to raise money for the company, but also to gauge interest in the product and gain a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

“There’s two reasons why we gravitated towards Kickstarter,” Damico said. “One reason is that it allows you to get funding really easily without having to go through venture capitalist firms, and allows you to vet your concept really well without having to guess. You can actually tell whether people want the product or not. The main reason though is the community. The Kickstarter community is just built really well for people who are passionate about the things they buy, and for engaged users. So if we want to get the right users for the first bag, the people that are going to give us feedback, the people who are going to love our product, the people who are going to share our product, there’s no better place than Kickstarter.”

While Damico said there could be many outcomes to the Kickstarter, he and Schillare hope the company will gain traction from the campaign.

“One of the [possible] outcomes of the Kickstarter is wild success,” Damico said.

“That would be the project gets wildly overfunded, gets picked up by media, and people seem to enjoy the product. That’s the outcome we want, and if that’s the outcome we get, then we’d be moving forward with multiple designs, multiple bags, and multiple lines, and we’d be at the brink of starting something brilliant.”

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