March 2016 • Estd. 1892 • Vol. 123 #12 • Published Monthly • www.ihstattler.com Ithaca High School, 1401 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 • FREE
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The Art
Hamilton
page 14
page 16
page 19
Center Spread
of Cybersleuthing
By CHLOE WRAY, Staff Writer
When one searches for a definition of the term “social justice,” the dictionary generally gives a vague and unsatisfying one. The Oxford English Dictionary calls it “justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society,” which leaves the reader wanting. As we search for a better meaning of the phrase, we begin to fill in the blanks, adding embellishment to these unvaried definitions, often through experience. Ultimately, social justice is an umbrella term under which a plethora of categories falls—from gender and queer issues to environmentalism and food justice. During IHS’s annual Social Justice Week this year, the Social Justice Week Committee aims to expose students not only to all of those topics, but also to start the conversation about what social justice really is and how students can become involved. Social Justice Week will take CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
musical review
10 Weeks Without Break: A Death March or a First-World Problem?
JOHN YOON
Social Justice Week
Forgotten Justice
Pearse Anderson ’16 and Luca Greenspun ’17 point at old and new cameras installed on the ceiling in E-hallway.
More Gear for the School Year By JOHN YOON
They look like small snow globes, except less conspicuous. A set of 20 newly-installed video cameras capture videos of students as they enter and leave bathrooms, walk through nearly every hallway at IHS, or relax in H-Courtyard. Students who litter in bathrooms, trigger false fire alarms, or vandalize vending machines may feel little remorse. But they’re guaranteed to regret one thing: being videotaped. Principal Jason Trumble said the new cameras, purchased through the district’s IT budget and installed mid-February, replaced the 17 antiquated cameras that were unreliable and unstable. These new cameras come with ethernet-powered connectivity and zooming capabilities, district Director of Technology David Lima said. As of press time, Mr. Lima did not respond to a request for the cost of the new cameras, sent March 1. Mr. Trumble said the cameras are not meant to be a means of surveillance but of resolving incidents. “When we had an incident that might’ve taken us hours to find out what happened, we can now just play the tape back and know what happened,” Mr. Trumble said. “It’s not like we’re watching who’s moving where.” Nobody is in a room watching the videos live. Employed throughout hallways, cameras capture any misdeeds on tape as irrefutable evidence, particularly around high-traffic areas like the cafeteria, hallways between F and G-buildings, around bathrooms CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
By PEARSE ANDERSON
Recently, students and staff at IHS have noticed a strange phenomenon in the schedule for this school year; namely, that there’s a massive gap of breaks. The 10 weeks between the end of February break and the beginning of spring break will go by without a single vacation day. Many, of both student and staff complexion, haved called these 68 days the “death march.” Why did we have so many breaks in the second quarter, while there are nearly none in the third? Whose system do we follow that requires this format? Who should I blame? The answers to all of these questions were more interesting and understandable than I had anticipated. In late February, I sat down with Superintendent Luvelle Brown, Director of Human Resources Bob
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
PAGE 2
OPINION
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
Editorials Lead in Enfield and Caroline Water In a small, low-income city in Michigan, an attempt to save money for the financially-drowning local government backfired catastrophically, resulting in one of the worst public health crises in recent years. The city’s residents, about 10,000 of them children under the age of nine, have in the last two years encountered heavily toxic water every time they turn on a shower head or a kitchen faucet. In an attempt to understand how such a harmful mistake could have occurred, many have pointed to a financially-desperate local government, incompetent and unchecked leadership, and even a lack of environmental safety protocol in Michigan. Besides the question of how such a mistake was made, another question is not so easily answered: Why didn’t the public know sooner? The city moved its water supply source to the Flint River in April 2014, and, despite, continual concerns about the safety of the water beginning soon after the switch, residents were not officially advised against using their tap water until October 2015. In recent months, the narrative of this public health crisis has taken root in the city of Ithaca. Routine lead testing in Caroline and Enfield schools last August found elevated lead levels
in the water. Parents were not notified within the EPA-mandated thirty day time period; in fact, they were first notified early this month, almost six months after the initial testing. In both Flint, Michigan and Enfield and Caroline schools, officials did not communicate properly with their communities, nor did they investigate issues carefully and scientifically enough. Caroline and Enfield schools are tested every three years because they come from a separate water source; the rest of ICSD buildings are not required to be tested on any regular schedule, because they get their water from the public city source which is subject to its own routine testing. However, disturbing results from the 2015 tests in Caroline and Enfield prompted the district to look into the status of the other schools—and what they found is not any more reassuring. The rest of the ICSD buildings have not been tested since 2005, and the results from eleven years ago often show many tap water sources containing lead levels over the regulation amount. In Enfield and Caroline, many unclear variables muddle the case and blur the rights and wrongs committed by the school district and the Tompkins County Health Department. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
What the Ithaca Plan Means for Us
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After two years of consultation with issue experts and Ithaca community members, in February, Mayor Svante Myrick and the Municipal Drug Policy Committee released a new, comprehensive plan aimed to reform the city’s drug policy in response to the city’s increased rate of drug abuse. One of the plan’s major proposals calls for building better awareness of how to prevent problematic use, helping those who have drug problems, reducing risks from illicit substance use, and providing overdose response trainings. The plan also calls for the creation of an Office of Drug Policy, which would work to reduce morbidity, mortality, cost, and inequities associated with illicit drugs. In addition, the plan suggests the expansion and improvement of more affordable recovery-oriented treatment services in Ithaca, such as supervised detox centers, syringe exchange programs, and clinics that integrate housing, nutrition, and mental health care services with substance use services. Further, the plan calls
for alternatives to incarceration to connect drug users and people returning from prison with jobs programs and harm reduction services. By taking a public health and safety approach to drug policy, the Ithaca Plan offers an exemplary alternative to the failed tactics of the drug war. It is a holistic strategy that engages the various sectors of local government, the medical community, and law enforcement officials in providing services to people at different points on the substance use continuum—ranging from prevention to treatment and harm reduction—instead of treating the drug epidemic as a criminal issue. Among the plan’s recommendations is a controversial proposal for the country’s first supervised heroin injection site, which received both cautious support and criticism. Whether this particular proposal will be approved by the state and federal governments remains an unanswered question. The Ithaca CONTINUED ON PAGE 13
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Deborah Lynn advisor@ihstattler.com The Tattler is the student-run newspaper of Ithaca High School. It was founded in 1892 and is published monthly. As an open forum, The Tattler invites opinion piece submissions and letters to the editor from all community members. Drop off submissions in E25, email them to editor@ihstattler.com, or mail letters to: The Tattler 1401 North Cayuga Street Ithaca, NY 14850 The Tattler reserves the right to edit all submissions. Submissions do not necessarily reflect the views of editorial staff.
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
NEWS
ICSD’s Water Complications
IMAGE PROVIDED
In February, Caroline and Enfield elementary schools had something amiss with their water—particularly that it had failed drinking water tests for lead run by the health department. Questions began to rise quickly after the information was released. The Ithaca Journal and the Ithaca Voice both published pieces on the recent tests and water contamination. On February 9 at the biweekly ICSD board meeting, Deputy Superintendent Matt Landahl made a statement about the “water crisis” remarking that there had been communication and trust gaps. “I think it fundamentally gets back to the issue of trust. Trust is given when parents send their children to our schools ... trust is also something that is earned, and trust is something that can be lost. And thankfully, trust is something that can be earned back.” He went on to note that ICSD is the primary and principal water authority of Caroline and Enfield elementary schools. It is the school district's duty to monitor the water, and he noted that they have been engaging in such monitoring faithfully. Testing in Caroline and Enfield has been done every three years. EPA spokeswoman Mary Mears noted in an email to the Ithaca Journal that there is no federal law regulating the testing or monitoring of water quality in public education institutions unless said institution has its own water supply. While schools located in the city use the municipal water supply, outlying schools like Enfield and Caroline rely on well water. Mr. Landahl affirmed that water issues in August of 2015 were due to a misreading of a pretesting procedure in which water is left in the pipes for a minimum of 6 hours (in this case, water was left in pipes for two months). This was thought to be the cause of the high lead count—more than the 15 parts of lead per billion limit set by the EPA.
By VAYNU KADIYALI, Staff Writer
NOEL BENTLEY
By MAX FINK, Staff Writer
What’s the deal with North Korea?
Kim Jong-Un and his missile program.
ICSD has hired an engineer to audit Caroline and Enfield infrastructure, provided bottled water for students and staff there since February 17, and shut off all access to drinking water through the pipes.
In response to this August reading, the health department action plan was to test water once every six months instead of once every three years. However, these statements were made as of February 9, a week after the incident. Since then, a second round of testing confirmed lead levels at schools still above EPA recommendations. On February 24, Dr. Brown issued a letter to parents and staff members in which he confirmed that the district has hired an engineer to audit Caroline and Enfield infrastructure, has provided bottled water for students and staff there since February 17, and has shut off all access to drinking water through the pipes. All other ICSD buildings also had their water shut off until new rounds of testing have been conducted to affirm water safety. Dr. Brown’s letter noted that the district's investigation has revealed “the most recent water CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
From frequent executions of the closest government aides of Kim Jong Un, to appalling nuclear tests despite the outcries of the international community at large, North Korea’s behavior is unpredictable and menacing. Frighteningly, the Korean War of the 1950s is still unresolved, with a temporary stalemate being the only minuscule factor preventing World War III from engulfing the Korean Peninsula. However, South Korea has been taking increasingly bold steps towards destabilizing the Kim regime’s lunacy and aiding in reunification, sensing an impending collapse in the Hermit Kingdom, and they may just be working. South Korea and their Northern neighbor couldn’t be more different technologically and culturally. South Korea is the land of K-Pop, the musical genre which has become a global sensation with hits like Gangnam Style being amongst the most well-known songs of this generation. And South Korea’s economy, dubbed the Miracle on the Han River for its postwar economic boom, is among the most advanced in the world. South Korea can boast having among the world’s highest technology usage rates and standards of living and education. The nation is a resounding success, a testament to the power gained through a robust alliance with the United States. North Korea is the polar opposite. Their music and culture are throwbacks to the Soviet Union of the 1970s, with cults of personality and sappy patriotic hymns being North Korea’s only unfortunate contributions to the arts. And while it may be fun to poke at Kim Jong Un’s laughable physique and haircut, and while we as a nation will continue to mock Kim’s supposed CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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NEWS
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
Professors Lecture on ISIS, Uruguay IMAGE PROVIDED
By LIZ ROSEN
Dr. Alexandru Balas of the Clark Center for International Studies came to IHS and delivered a lecture on the Syrian Civil War and the formation of ISIS.
On Thursday, February 11, Dr. Alexandru Balas of the Clark Center for International Studies came to IHS and delivered a lecture on the Syrian Civil War and the formation of ISIS. Dr. Balas teaches international relations at SUNY Cortland and is well-versed in the Syrian conflict, thanks to his years of study, observations of the region prior to the outbreak of the war, and contact in southern Turkey, with whom he speaks about ISIS movements and checks the accuracy of Western media coverage of the violence. For an hour after school, Dr. Balas taught students at Ithaca High School about how the Syrian Civil War began, as well as how ISIS came to power. There was a lively question-and-answer period following the presentation, in which students asked why women were drawn to ISIS, how ISIS recruited, and what the ideal amount of American intervention would be. Approximately 50 people were in attendance, including several teachers. Two weeks later, on February 25, Assistant Professor Juan Arroyo from Ithaca College gave a lecture on Uruguay. Mr. Arroyo is a professor of politics as well as the advisor for IC’s Model UN and Model EU, and he has a great deal of experience in his field. His lecture, which was also open to the public, educated IHS students about Uruguay’s place as a modern success story, as it has transformed itself from a “banana republic” to a democracy with a vibrant economy. Through Dr. Arroyo’s talk, Model UN members and IHS students learned more about MERCOSUR (European-Union-style bloc of countries in South America), as well as the importance of geography to politics. The talks were arranged by IHS’ Model United Nations, but many
people from outside of the club attended. Model UN plans to hold one more lecture in the series, which is aimed at increasing awareness in the community of global issues. If you are interested in current events or diplomacy, please come to F4 on Thursdays, after school, where Model UN meets every week.
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
NEWS
Teachers and BoE Approve Contract After the tentative collective bargaining agreement between the Ithaca Teachers Association (ITA) and ICSD was approved by 74 percent of voters on March 2, the BoE voted to ratify the new contract at its March 8 meeting. The new contract will cover the 2015–16 school year. Details of the proposed contract include: • 1.5 percent increases to teacher base salaries, retroactive to July 1, 2015; • an additional $600 added to teacher base salaries for all teachers, retroactive to July 1, 2015; • an additional 0.7 percent increase to teacher base salaries, effective June 30, 2016; • an increase in out-of-pocket maximums to employees’ current Classic Blue Cross Blue Shield healthplan—$50 increase for individual plans, which are currently $100; and $150 increase for family plans, which are currently $300; • no change in co-pay cost for generic medication, which remains $5 under the prescription drug plan; and an increase of $10 in co-pay cost for brand name medication, which is currently $10; • removal of sabbatical leaves from the contract.
After the ICSD negotiating team works with the ITA and the Public Employment Relations Board facilitator, the new agreement will be in place for the upcoming school year by June 30, 2016, Superintendent Luvelle Brown said in a news release.
Cold Temperatures Cause Damage throughout IHS Several pipes burst throughout the buildings at IHS during the cold of February break, flooding the floors in several classrooms and offices and causing leaks in the sealing in a music rehearsal room. In four classrooms, Principal Jason Trumble said, the flooding caused floor tiles made up of asbestos particulates to warp and crack. Those rooms have been closed down and teachers have been relocated elsewhere in the building temporarily. Contractors have come in the meantime to install new tiles for those classrooms.
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BoE Report By JAMES WHITEHEAD, LISA YOO, and MAX FINK, Staff Writer
The BoE’s most pressing issues in February have included the potential resolution to the Ithaca Teacher Association’s collective bargaining agreement with ICSD, the water contamination in Enfield and Caroline schools, the lack of special education staff in the district, and the new budget for TST BOCES.
1. Teachers’ salaries Much of the public comments during the past several meetings have been made by teachers. Several spoke out in the board room filled with teachers, who tacitly supported their colleagues with provocative signs emblazoned with statistics. Some even brought their children with them, protesting the proposed agreement that would only retroactively pay teachers for this school year. Teachers emphasized their desire for a long-term commitment and appreciation, saying that this agreement was only a first step. The BoE responded that with the Gap Elimination Adjustment and other budget cuts, it was difficult to make ends meet. 2. Water contamination Recently at Caroline and Enfield Elementary Schools, high levels of lead were found at several faucets and drinking fountain, ranging far above the state’s limit of 15 parts per billion and up to 200 ppb. The public’s outrage stemmed more from the fact that a previous test for lead in August that showed lead levels between zero and 15 ppb was not made known to the public until early 2016. The district has put water coolers next to water fountains in all schools.
3. Dwindling special education department Several members of the district’s special education departments presented the current status of special education students under the 504 plan, raising the issues of deficient budget allotment and staffing. In some schools, class aides are forced to go between seven different classes in one day, preventing them from interacting closely with students or connecting with teachers on lesson plans. A survey of parents and school staff in February showed the need for improvements as to how ICSD handles communication and co-teaching within the district. Deputy Superintendent Matthew Landahl explained that his team will hold seminars to address inclusion in class and push for required training for teachers and administrators.
4. The expansion and evolution of TST BOCES There have been plans to update class curriculums, integrate services with the rest of the district, and cross contracts with other schools to increase opportunities for students. There has also been a 3.72-percent increase in TST BOCES’ income—approximately $1.6 million—to outside groups, such as IHS, utilizing their services and smart investments. With this money, BOCES hopes to create more classrooms to service special needs students, expand its middle-school and adult programs, and distribute more grant money to fund class projects. Despite this growth, BOCES has been seeing more loss than usual due to the increase in need for retirement packages and unemployment insurance.
NEWS
PAGE 6 SOCIAL JUSTICE WEEK CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1.
ICSD’S WATER COMPLICATIONS: THE FACTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3.
testing results for school buildings other than Caroline and Enfield are more than 10 years old,” having been done in 2005. Along with Dr. Brown’s letter, the district has publicly released district water testing from 2005 as well as the specific water reports from August for both Caroline and Enfield. The district is also reportedly working with the Tompkins County Health Department and TST BOCES in their efforts. Dr. Brown noted that “safe drinking water is a necessity for our students and staff” and promised transparency throughout the process. This issue is enfolding as questions are raised about water safety district wide, and as of this writing, no tests from other school buildings have been returned. Pay attention in coming weeks, and keep following the news for more information. See related editorial on page 2.
MORE GEAR FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1.
JAMES PARK
place March 21–25, with presentations Tuesday through Friday during all periods of the day. The student-run planning committee has been working since December to compile a list of presenters from Cornell, Ithaca College, employees from organizations like the Food Bank of the Southern Tier or the Advocacy center, and our very own students from Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA). The presentation by SAGA will be comprised entirely of students who will offer an informational segment on gender and sexuality, which will be followed by a panel where members will discuss the personal experiences they’ve had with stereotypes. This panel is always a favorite as many are surprised to realize how relevant social justice is to their daily lives, and how by supporting those around them they can be a participant in social justice. Another presentation that is on the not-to-miss list is by Ross Brann, a professor at Cornell in Judeo-Islamic relations. Professor Brann visited earlier in the year with IHS’ Israeli-Palestinian Peace Project, and in a similar presentation to the one he gave them, he will give a detailed account of how the conflict between Israel and Palestine arose, and he will describe the proposed solutions. The goal of Professor Brann’s presentation is not to share his views, but rather to provide students with an understanding of how the conflict came to be. Students are encouraged to develop their own opinions, potentially conducting their own research, digging deeper in the search for social justice on many of the issues presented over the week. The goal of Social Justice Week is to involve the IHS community in a conversation. During this week, classes are invited to attend presentations, taking a break from global history or biology to focus on the current events that we rarely get a chance to discuss in class. The week’s planning committee hopes that students are exposed to issues and further develop their own definitions of social justice as they find ways to create change in their daily lives.
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
Twenty new cameras were installed mid-February to replace the 17 antiquated cameras. New cameras come with ethernet-powered connectivity and zooming capabilities, district Director of Technology David Lima said.
and locker rooms, in front of the gymnasiums, and H-Courtyard. No cameras are installed in locker rooms, bathrooms, or classrooms. Video recordings, which are kept for a few weeks, better equip the administrators to track down incidents, Mr. Trumble said. The length of time it takes for administrators to search through hours of video to track incidents remains to be seen. In addition to the cameras in the building, there have also been mounted on school buses for a decade, Mr. Trumble said. Just as the cameras in the building allow him to see who broke into a vending machine or stole a student’s phone, cameras on school buses can help identify and track disruptive behavior when the bus driver is focused on driving. As safety remains a pressing concern, administrators are also seeking new ways to provide a sense of safety to students, staff members and parents through technology. Additional security enhancements may include moving away from the hard-key system to a swype-card system for entrance doors. A lost swype card could be deactivated unlike a lost key that may give illicit access to an intruder. Further, such a system would allow a greater degree of flexibility of allowing customized access to teachers and staff. “If I’ve got a teacher who teaches in H-building and does the ping pong club in B-building, he now needs keys to get into B-building,” Mr. Trumble said. “Whereas if we had a swype card we could authorize him to go wherever he needed to conveniently.” Such upgrades would be implemented in a comprehensive plan developed in conjunction with the BoE and the district’s Facilities Committee. Funds would be drawn from the state’s Smart Bonds or the IT budget. Regardless of what new devices or policies the school implements, Mr. Trumble said he would aim to preserve the sense of open community in the school. “I don’t expect to move away from our open-door policy around the school,” he said. “Limiting student movement around the building wouldn’t be optimal.”
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
NEWS
PAGE 7
A DEATH MARCH OR A FIRST WORLD PROBLEM? CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1.
VanKeuren, and Deputy Superintendent Matt Landahl. It was important to start at the beginning: how was the ICSD academic calendar made? “The process includes a lot of back and forth; conversations over a series of months. I’m at the table with the other superintendents in our region who all feed into the BOCES system ... and come to some agreement. Unlike other districts in our region, our calendar goes to the ITA—the teacher’s association—gives us feedback on the calendar, and other bargaining units gives us feedback on the calendar. We gather that feedback through a process. We also talk to parents, young people, and we incorporate that feedback into our iteration of the calendar.” These discussions, featuring superintendents by Candor, Dryden, George Jr. Republic, Groton, Ithaca, Lansing, Newfield, South Seneca, Trumansburg, and TST BOCES, are held every year around this time. Actually, during the writing of this, the 2016–17 academic calendar has been released. But we’ll get to that later. “It’s important to understand that a lot of the calendar is somewhat out of our control,” Dr. Landahl added. “It’s based on when the Regents schedule is happening in June and when Labor Day hits, as our teacher contract is essentially: ‘Our teachers don’t arrive until Labor Day.’ ” Labor Day was late this year, meaning more school, three days of February break instead of five, and fewer options for when to place spring break. ICSD mostly took the lead of TST BOCES’s calendar; however, we have two more school days than BOCES or districts like South Sene-
ca (who use these days as breaks or snow day make-up days). However, the teacher contract requires ICSD’s teachers to have a certain amount of student contact days, and therefore these two possible vacation days must be school days rather than during a break. Additionally, due to the large population of students from IHS going to BOCES, the calendars have to align reasonably well. Therefore, state testing (in the middle of April for some and June for others), teacher contracts, and the needs of the BOCES-IHS student population is driving the late placement of spring break. All the districts in the area—the aforementioned nine—decided not to place spring break at the end of March because “that seems like it would be too early.” “An alternative to the calendar we have now would look like a break being one week sooner,” Dr. Brown told me. Everyone I spoke to, however, hoped to have spring break earlier next year. So let’s check. I am holding the 2016–17 TST BOCES Regional Calendar, approved at the March 2 BoE meeting. The first day for students is September 7, and the spring break rests in the penultimate week of April. The news, take it as you will, is that there will be seven weeks between the end of February break and spring break in 2017. However, February break has been elongated by two days. Regents exams are three weeks before that. Adam Piasecki commented that this calendar has not been approved by our Board of Education, since we are still adjusting the regional calendar and Piasecki is still meeting central office administrators about the 2016–17 calendar. It still might change, but can only change so much due to the previously men-
tioned problems. It should also be noted that due to scheduling difficulties and placements of holidays, some “death marches” must occur somewhere in the schedule. None of the administration seemed to appreciate my referring to the our current ten weeks as a “death march.” They laughed, but skirted around it. In terms of talking to the administration about the 2016–17 calendar, you’re almost out of luck. By the time you read this the window has closed or will close in the next few days. The 2017–18 calendar will be determined around this time next year, though, so feel free to contact them during these next 12 months. They’ve moved away from previous years’ uses of a calendar committee to help plan the academic calendar, instead urging anyone to suggest feedback or recommendations through the “Let’s Talk” tool on the ICSD website, talks with the PTA council, or to have direct conversations with administration members. “We get a lot of feedback that we take into consideration,” Dr. Brown reaffirms. Thanks to state testing, following the BOCES schedule (a decision Dr. Brown will not change anytime soon), teacher contracts, and the fall of holidays, our schedule can be messed up and will be going into the future. However, the administration’s focus is less on the days we’re in and out of school and instead on how we enjoy each day, whether it be studying for the SAT at home or cooking mousse in Food Science. Speak up and speak truthfully in these coming weeks, and hopefully the school will shift in your direction. State-testing times, however, probably won’t.
PEARSE ANDERSON
Superintendent Brown, Deputy Superintendent Landahl, and Director of Human Resources Bob VanKeuren explain the ICSD calendar creation process.
NEWS
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH NORTH KOREA? CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3. IMAGE PROVIDED
2014 hospitalization after fracturing his ankles due to the pressure created by wearing high-heeled shoes, North Korea’s backwards, brutal policies and horrific human rights abuses must be realized for what they are. The nation, its despotic leader, and their national plight are not to be mocked, but must be approached with concern and with legitimate solutions. South Korea has recently gained attention for unconventional tactics for destabilizing the regime. Because military action would be collaterally damaging, and because of the current innate inability to reunify Korea diplomatically, new tactics were developed, incorporating Korea’s zany and vibrant music world. After January’s North Korean Hydrogen Bomb test, the South Korean government decided that they would broadcast K-Pop over loudspeakers over the border. With lyrics such as “I’ll set this place on fire to burn up your heart, I wanna make you go crazy!”, the songs chosen were by no means a method of inspiring the North Korean people to rebel, but instead to de-antagonize South Korea and make them appear as brethren rather than foes. Park Chang Kwon, a leading South Korean defense analyst, commented about the intent of these messages in a press release: “Broadcasts from South Korea can reach deep and far into North Korea’s society, imbuing the minds of its people with the images of a free nation and hurting the oppressive personality cult,” Park said. Other, more conventional tactics
A South Korean soldier configures loud speakers to blast K-pop songs and anti–North Korean propaganda toward North Korea near the Demilitarized Zone.
are also being implemented by South Koreans in order to spread the message of freedom to the repressed people of North Korea. From broadcasting messages detailing the human-rights violations of the North Korean government, broadcasting the positive testaments of North Korean defectors who now reside in refuge in the South, to sending pamphlets with information as mundane as jokes and South Korean domestic news, the ideas seem endless. A campaign in the 1990s to distribute adult content was the most bizarre. The North Korean government obviously doesn’t condone these acts
but views them as a territorial and ideological violation. The government of South Korea periodically decides to turn off the broadcasts in times of peace and cooperation, which realistically have not been frequent or lengthy. But the distribution of propaganda is seen to be a successful policy, one that has been proven to educate North Koreans, or at a bare minimum to alleviate the immense hostilities between the two rival nations. South and North Korea have been in a state of cold war since the end of the bloody Korean War which claimed millions of lives more than half a century ago. The tensions are indescribable, with alarming kidnappings of a South Korean fisherman, and annual shelling of islands close to South Korea’s northern border. However, with the brave patience and willingness to compromise that South Korea has exhibited, the subcontinent appears to be somewhat stable, even if stability means a constant state of readiness for war. South Korea’s clever methods of humanizing North Korea’s perception of them will be instrumental to success in eventual reunification, and South Korea’s broadcasts are leading the North Korean people to question the authority of their dictatorial ruler.
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
OPINION
Censorship, Injustice, and Protection IMAGE PROVIDED
By EMILY HONG, Staff Writer
Censorship serves a simple, practical role: it veils what is not meant to be heard or seen from the public. In some extreme cases, it results in human rights abuses through the limitation of free speech. The most famous case of censorship in ancient times was in 399 BCE during the time of Socrates. He was sentenced to death for spreading information that violated the political and moral codes of Athens. Political censorship from the past has progressed to be, in a way, even more intense in the present, but its circumstances also less extreme, for death is less often a consequence for disobedience. Censorship was seen as necessary by the authorities to prevent changes to the government and to avoid revolts. The elites shaped society and regular citizens were molds of clay in the hands of the government. Political censorship suppressed the public by concealing and even sometimes falsifying information that people would receive from the media. Politics and the media are linked together, as Udo Ulfkotte’s 2014 confession showed. Ulfkotte and his colleagues were forced to create propaganda against Russia by the German and American governments. He was “supported” by the CIA and was named an honorable citizen because he was pro-American. His house was searched six times and went through three house attacks by the government. Ulfkotte’s case is an unusual example of censorship in which not only did the government limit what could be said, it went so far as to dictate what should be said by its citizens. Censorship has been emphasized in politics, but currently in the U.S., it is used most often for restricting explicit scenes and language from getting in the mass media. The press and news networks were, and sometimes still are controlled by the government. As was mentioned before, the government and the media are connected, thus the shift from political censorship to media censorship is not a surprise. Now, censorship is everywhere, and it influences gender expectations. It’s in TV, in movies, YouTube, music, and even our daily experiences. Double standards have been created because of censorship. Violence is shown throughout the media, but parts of women’s bodies that are said to be inappropriate and obscene are cen-
sored out in movies, TV, or in the news. The scene of a topless woman automatically brings the rating of a movie up, for instance to R or NC-17, whereas when men are shown doing something that is said to be inappropriate for women, such as having sex or masturbating, that movie could be rated as PG-13 or even as low as PG, according to Petra Collins in 2013. Thus, it seems that movies or other works of media censor women’s actions more than men’s actions, which creates double standards. The disturbing imbalance in what we do and do not censor is further shown in coverage of domestic violence, such as Rihanna’s abuse by Chris Brown. This was widely covered by news outlets and her injured face spread out all over the news. The unfair prohibition on female nudity in visual media is enforced as real abuse victims are disrespected by the media and violence against women and in general is more leniently censored. This shows that American society fears sexuality far more than violence. Although this discrepancy is frustrating, censorship may still be useful in terms of concealing explicit language and information, and thus there are clashing viewpoints of censorship continue among the public today. Limited censorship is still necessary to maintain the lifestyle we have today, to a certain extent. Although it irks some young individuals, it conceals harmful material that could be offensive or traumatizing. The censoring of foul language and age restrictions on movies seem futile in preserving a stable environment for adolescents in this postmodern era, but as mentioned before, it still masks harmful material. For example, movies that are rated R are restricted to individuals under the age of 17. If a fiveyear-old were to watch an R rated movie with sexual content and violence, then it could influence their innocence in childhood. It is necessary to conceal certain information for moral standards. Various adults now who have witnessed death at a young age carry mental disorders. Individuals who have lost their parents may experience depression, guilt, and fear when they were young. Children could feel that their beloved left because they were “naughty,” or fear that death would be upon them too. Watching someone die leaves countless traumas, especially for younger people. However, extreme political censorship, for example, alters truth and justice. Censorship is simple, yet difficult to define, because it should, in a way be abolished but still used for moral purposes. If the extreme political censorship, or the unfair censorship of women’s bodies and actions goes on to the future, then I as an individual fear the outcome. Injustice would remain in the world. If women are shamed for doing what men are not censored for, then there will never be gender equality. If the government continues to control the media, then the viewpoints of people will remain biased and false. However, if the censoring of violence or other harmful information is shown to the public, it could be damaging. Censorship brings both injustice and protection today in this postmodern world.
OPINION
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
A Brief Commentary on Ideological Extremism in Contemporary America and the Contentious Political Milieu As November looms ever nearer, political candidates are scrambling to refine their positions on various issues and present comprehensive, feasible solutions to societal shortcomings. Many candidates are renowned for their ambitious, perhaps even grandiose plans for addressing controversial issues such as immigration reform, classism, and the pervasive nature of terrorism. Interestingly enough, the proposals of extremists have resonated profoundly with the American public. Significant media coverage has been devoted to Bernie Sanders’ radicalism and his attempts to dispel the stigma of socialism, while Donald Trump’s conservative extremism and seemingly farcical campaign have allowed him to surpass his competitors. Political extremism has become so normalized that Bernie Sanders’ invocations of socialist thought and Donald Trump’s overt racism are considered benign by some people. The preeminence of the bipartisan sys-
By CHARLOTTE PERRI
tem has almost entirely eclipsed third-party interests. Over the past twenty-five years, American voters have exhibited an unprecedented political polarity, with the doctrinal discrepancies between Democrats and Republicans becoming more pronounced. That being said, this phenomenon is incredibly divisive; as candidates become increasingly polarized ideologically, it begins to appear as if reconciliation or compromise between liberals and conservatives is not viable, which perpetuates the perceived mutual exclusivity between the two parties. This lends itself to further political contention. Due to the contrived diametrical opposition between the parties, a staggering percentage of voters have registered as independents, electing not to affiliate with either party. This subversion of the bipartisan system implies that many voters feel alienated by the political binary. The prevalence of extremism within American politics could be attributed to
the general public’s dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs and a desire for a radical reformation of the sociopolitical sphere, upon which both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have insisted, although their protocols have few commonalities. While extremists are able to capitalize upon the public fascination with societal reconstruction, more moderate candidates such as John Kasich find themselves struggling to secure the attention of the media and public favor. Donald Trump has commanded the stage at various GOP debates, and the support that he has received far exceeds that of his competitors. In fact, recent statistics indicate Donald Trump’s superlative popularity among Florida residents; he has managed to surpass Florida native Marco Rubio and has become the predominant candidate in Florida. Thus, the election can be expected to be a turbulent one, as extremists and moderates compete for the coveted presidency.
A Basic Guide to Baby Names By MARLO ZORMAN, Staff Writer
A name is a powerful thing; it tells a lot about a person. More importantly, it says a lot about the parents. As a future parent, it’s your job to give your child the best shot in life possible. The process of naming a child can either be the first step in the creation of a “free spirit” or a well-functioning adult. I’ve come up with some basic naming guidelines that will allow you creativity while ensuring that your child does not end up in a commune or a cult for the majority of their twenties. First, if you think a joke name is a good idea, don’t have children. No one that seriously considers Megatron as a name for their child is fit to raise another human. You should do some serious soul searching if you legitimately think that a funny name is a good idea. Another tip: don’t pick names that easily translate into mean nicknames. Children, especially young ones, are not nice and will pounce at the opportunity to make fun of someone. Of course bullying is wrong, but in reality, everyone gets called a mean name at some point in their lives. A name like Anally or Assia does not
bode well for the child’s future on the playground. Before you settle on a name, say it out loud and see if any nicknames immediately jump out at you. There’s no reason to get overly fancy with names. If you like the name Max but want something a little more fancy, Maximilian works. However, you have to be careful not to overdo twists on otherwise normal names. Changing Lexy to Lexxi because you think it looks prettier is a recipe for disaster. Your child will have to forever live with people misspelling their names on Starbucks cups, and it won’t be anyone’s fault but yours. Keep it simple; not every name has to be something completely different. Lastly, don’t give your child a stupid name. Parents that decide Sparkle or Basil is a good name don’t end up with a child in the Ivy Leagues, it just doesn’t happen. If you want your child to have the best shot at a good life, give them a name that won’t immediately get their resumes thrown out. Like it or not, first impressions are important, and naming your child Sunflower is not going to do them any favors.
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
OPINION
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Should Every American be Bilingual? It is no secret that most Americans can only speak English. The resistance and stubborn disposition of our population result in a people who on average are considerably behind the world average in the ability to speak many languages. Today, being bilingual can be a valuable asset. Knowing more than one language has numerous upsides, the most important for our generation being marketability, and when most Americans are monolingual, it would appear to pose a real problem for this nation’s future. But is being bilingual really that important? Is it worth all of the hype? Bilingualism is certainly a valuable skill. Being able to speak Spanish, French or any other language opens countless opportunities for jobs abroad, and because of this, people who only speak one language do not have the skills to be part of the globalized economy and international job market. Because of benefits in industries like customer service and healthcare, companies increasingly favor those who speak multiple languages. The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology has shown that children learning two languages perform better at certain problem-solving tasks than do their monolingual peers and that
By VEDA CHICKERMANE, Staff Writer
they gain “specific cognitive abilities, like selective attention and cognitive flexibility, where they have to focus on relevant information and ignore distracting information.” Overall, bilingualism certainly comes with its benefits. While an important skill, bilingualism should not be mandated in this country. It is overrated, and fluency in a second language is not a necessary skill. Americans may not be getting hired not because of their inability to speak one language, but because of a highly problematic lack of proficiency in the skills necessary to do their job, which is a common trend in America. Most Americans already have a good understanding of English and the ability to speak another language is simply not necessary or useful. Those who think monolingualism is a real problem facing America would be severely mistaken; social and economic issues facing this nation result in far greater outsourcing of labor and unproductivity of companies. The American K–12 educational system is a bigger contributor to economic problems than is the lack of bilingualism. To add to this, studies also show that when a bilingual and a monolingual American are compared, it can be seen that the maintenance
of many languages in the brain involves an additional processing cost, which could be used towards learning valuable trade skills instead of complimentary bilingual abilities. This might lead to verbal skills of a bilingual person to be generally weaker than those noted in monolingual speakers of the language. Bilingualism may not even be a problem for Americans. According to the American Community Survey, over 21 percent of Americans over the age of 5 now speak a language other than English at home. This proves that bilingualism, as well as being an overrated knowledge set, may not even be a problem in this nation. On top of this, the number of bilingual speakers is projected to increase in the coming years, so the misconceptions about Americans are proven baseless and wrong. All the Romance languages you may have taken over the years at school may not even count; as long as you can fluently say “Parlez vous anglais” and order coffee with broken French, you likely will not require greater linguistic understanding. Being bilingual can be an advantage, but it is a unnecessary to promote bilingualism so passionately.
IHS ANNUAL PHOTO CONTEST
The yearbook invites all students to enter our photo contest. Submit a photo of you and your friends at school or around town, as well as any artistic photography. Submit all photos to ithaca.yearbook@gmail. com by December 23.
Prices are rising to $65 in December, buy your book before prices rise further! ybpay.lifetouch.com school code:12224516
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OPINION
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com NOEL BENTLEY
LEAD IN ENFIELD AND CAROLINE WATER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2.
testing in August was conducted after two months of summer vacation, during which the water sat idle in pipes and accumulated much more dissolved lead than active water would have. In discussions since the lead levels became public information, ICSD has cited these misleading results, due to poorly-designed testing conditions, as justification for its lack of further action and communication with the Health Department and the public. Additionally, EPA standards for lead safety do not require that any action be taken if levels are above normal in 10 percent or less of testing samples. After retesting in January, Caroline still failed this rule, with two out of its ten testing samples revealing abnormal lead levels, but Enfield passed, with only one out of ten. It is also unclear how many of these testing sites would be likely sources of direct drinking water, but the probable answer is not many. Despite these fairly unalarming numbers, many parents are clinging to an indisputable fact: that at least one water fountain in each school had over 150 parts per billion of lead when tested in August— over ten times the acceptable level— and neither of these fountains were turned off when students returned to school. ICSD conducted the testing that they were mandated to do, and then even extra steps to test more sites than necessary in both schools; however, it neglected to respond to what the district is calling “anomalies,” and more importantly, it failed to communicate in a clear and timely manner with the public. In Ithaca schools besides Enfield and Caroline, water sources remained contaminated for eleven years before the public was alerted and any test results were published. Breakdowns of communication between public health officials and their communities are rampant—one only has to look to Flint, Michigan to see the harshest effects. It is becoming abundantly clear that the people who are supposed to serve and protect us often hide the truth. Later, when in our harried distress we demand accountability and reparations, we are comforted with scripted jargon of apologies and excused responsibilities. Trust in public officials has all but vanished for parents of Enfield and Caroline students, and, increasingly for the parents of children in other schools as more information is released about the overall 2005 tests that yielded worrisome results. In response to remaining recommendations from the Tompkins County Health Department that parents need not set up lead-testing appointments for their chil-
After ICSD shut off drinking water in all school buildings, water dispensers have been installed in hallways aroudn IHS.
dren, one mother angrily replied, “Do you think that we trust you? Do you think that we would go with that recommendation?” If the Health Department didn’t tell parents what they morally and legally had a right to know six months ago, why should parents trust vague assurances that they are making to them now? It doesn’t take much for a parent’s concern about their child’s health to trump any blind trust in authority, and for many Ithaca parents, that line has long ago been crossed. There was no excuse for ICSD waiting six months to send home a flyer notifying parents about high levels of lead, nor to let eleven years pass before the lead issue in district schools became public. The responsibility of local government is not only to keep people healthy and safe but also to be transparent about issues that affect health and safety (and, in this case, issues that are specifically mandated to be transparent.) It was also indefensible for the initial testing in Enfield and Caroline to be conducted with such disregard for the scientific
method. Excess variables were not removed during the August tests, leading ultimately to confusion, frustration, and potentially unnecessary money and time spent investigating a problem that may have been fabricated purely from poor experimental design. This case can prove the absolute necessity of the scientific method and well-planned experiments to any skeptical middle school science student. Obviously, outdated lead pipes are returning to haunt an aging America. In coming years, the threat to public health posed by high lead levels in water will continue to rise, forming an especially disturbing danger for young children. In Flint, Michigan, and in Enfield and Caroline schools, officials did not adhere to proper protocol of communication and objective evaluation, which led to an escalation of public fear and anger. If the problem of lead-contaminated water can be handled scientifically, transparently, and calmly in the future, we will be able to begin to protect ourselves and our children against these serious toxins.
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
OPINION
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WHAT THE ITHACA PLAN MEANS FOR US CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2. IMAGE PROVIDED
Discarded used syringes found in front of abandoned home on State Street in Ithaca. For people with fewer material resources or less available social support, the Ithaca Plan states, stigma drives their drug use into dangerous, often-public spaces, presenting a threat to their physical health.
community will further need to evaluate whether it needs this program while also attempting to help people who are still struggling to afford childcare, food, and housing. But as a culmination of community involvement and careful, rational study of Ithaca’s unique circumstances and needs, the Ithaca Plan successfully addresses the nuances of its own realities and needs that nation-wide policies are often insufficient in addressing. The plan’s focus on reducing the stigma associated with seeking help for drug use and mental health issues is its most distinctive guiding principle that has a potential for catalyzing broad, positive change—including in our own schools. Consultation findings from the process of drafting the plan identify boredom and isolation from community as primary motivators for youth drug use. The plan also recognized the importance of discouraging young people from picking up harmful habits early on and helping open more opportunities for youth to make positive social connections with their peers, mentors, and career and education opportunities.
While the plan establishes that prevention of drug use among young people must be a central goal in drug policy, it does not ignore the need for reforming zero-tolerance programs and health classes that merely discourage drug use from elementary school through middle and high school. Abstinence-based programs like D.A.R.E. have been subjected to increasing scrutiny over the years. While their overall effectiveness is still much debated, studies by universities departments of education, and public health institutions have shown that they do little or nothing to combat harmful substance use. The D.A.R.E. program, led by an law enforcement officer from the Ithaca Police Department, has been taught in classrooms to discourage substance use among elementary school students. This school year, the program has been temporarily discontinued after the officer who had taught it was promoted to another job. Should ICSD decide to resume the program, it must be reformed to take a non-judgmental approach that understands that students ultimately make their own choices about drugs and
aims to help students in all points on the substance use continuum. The current elementary- and middle-school health curricula are inadequate in teaching harm-reduction and socially-responsible judgement outside of their message of prevention and abstinence. While the high school health class sufficiently covers these areas, most students are introduced to these ideas in their junior or senior years, at which point it may be too late for some. Just like at the high school, health classes in elementary and middle schools should be concentrated on giving complete information on drugs including specifics such as what drugs are and their effects, keeping personal safety in mind, public policy and the legal implications of use, how to identify problem users, and the significance of personal development and social responsibility. Building rational decision-making skills and reducing the dangers of drug uses—whether it is for alcohol, cigarettes, or marijuana—should be legitimate goals for those who are unwilling to accept abstinence as a solution. The plan also rightfully calls for reform in ICSD to incorporate restorative justice systems and curb rise of suspensions, expulsions, dropout rates. Schools must offer a compassionate alternative to suspension and expulsion and provide approachable resources where students could seek help for their drug problem while remaining anonymous. The conversations around shifting our attitudes and policies regarding drug use happening in the city must also be had in our school district. It is the community’s attitudes that are most influential to the ways students express their own emotional problems and psychological distress and whether they disclose these symptoms and seek care. Fostering a more kind and embracing environment throughout the school is crucial, and people, especially teenagers, must be made comfortable to acknowledge that they suffer from an addiction and to seek help. To better reflect the progressive policies that center on evidence instead of propaganda, and on compassion instead of stigma, the district must adjust its own policies and curricula on mental health and drug use.
Forgotten Justice
As politics hogs the most space in today’s mass media, many social justice issues go unnoticed. It is important to bring to attention the overlooked problems many people face. These are problems IHS students see in the world that they wish would receive more attention. IMAGE PROVIDED
In 2014, members of the Trans Women of Color Collective rallied in Harlem.
Violence Against Transgender Women of Color
By CHLOE WRAY
According to the United Nations, a majority of the 2.5 billion people worldwide who are lacking proper sanitation are women. Along with limited access to water and bathrooms, the taboo surrounding menstruation perpetuates inequality. Women lacking sanitary items such as pads are more likely to miss school or work, and many schools in rural parts of Africa and Asia do not have proper sanitary facilities, reducing attendance of girls by 10–20 percent. Organizations like Days for Girls provide kits including reusable cotton pads, giving girls and women in over 100 countries access to safer, more sustainable hygiene. This allows many the chance to attend school and improve their communities, proving the critical role women must play in moving a country towards development by ending poverty and gender inequality.
IMAGE PROVIDED
By ABBY KATZ The intersecting disadvantages that rampant sexism, racism, and transphobia inflict are perhaps most clearly seen when we examine the realities of violence committed against transgender women of color. Attacks of this nature occur incredibly frequently—more than half of all transgender individuals killed via hate crime in the past two years have been women, and nearly all of those women were people of color. According to Time magazine, this is not only due to explicit prejudice, but also because these women are statistically more likely to live in extreme poverty, often exposing them to high crime rates and flimsy support networks. Despite the progressive times we live in, this problem has actually been worsening in recent years. In 2015, an unprecedented number of trans women of color were murdered, and the outrage this generated was virtually nonexistent. This needs to change: if we keep ignoring this issue, its growth will only continue.
How Proper Sanitation for Women Could Change the World
Girls in an orphanage in Kenya receive Days for Girls packages.
Male Dominance in Medicine By BRONWYN GALLOWAY
In my experience shadowing an assistant physician, although I saw plenty of female and, surprisingly, male nurses, there were no ringing voices of authority within the operating rooms that weren’t coming from the mouths of white men. As a girl with a dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon, I expected this to an extent, but the male dominance in the hospital still made a strong impression. I researched more about this topic and found that only six women have ever held the title of Department Chair of Surgery in American history. This rather daunting fact clearly showed that although women are becoming increasingly welcomed in the medical field, the highest positions of power are still held by men. We’re making progress every year but have a long way to go before equal numbers of all genders are present and accepted in every career.
Social Justice in Mental Health By ALEXANDRA DEROOS
Mental health issues are often overlooked since they are not as apparent as physical illnesses. But mental illness is still a disability and can be crippling to many people. Being mentally ill can range from mild forms of depression and anxiety to severe schizophrenia, paranoia, and post traumatic stress disorder. Many people’s illnesses often remain unseen and others do not treat the victims with respect. The fairly prominent ableism in our society means we need to do more to help the disability community and that work includes the mental health subsection. We must learn as a society to better diagnose mental illnesses, provide needed services, and to treat patients with respect. IMAGES PROVIDED
Lack of Human Rights in Tibet By TENZIN SELDOEN OSHOE
Since 1950, the Chinese government has occupied Tibet to pillage its rich natural resources. And to wipe out Tibet’s rich culture, the government has repeatedly struck with military force against paramount aspects of Tibetan history. Of 6259 monasteries in Tibet before Chinese occupation, only 8 remained in 1976. Human rights are violated every day in Tibet. Peaceful protesters who express their desire for freedom are oppressed with extreme violence. Those who wave the Tibetan flag, display pictures of the Dalai Lama, or spread news about Tibet are in imminent danger of imprisonment, torture, and even death. The families of imprisoned Tibetans are not given information about the status of the prisoner; often one lives without knowing whether a relative is alive or dead. In a desperate effort to gain attention from other nations, Tibetans started setting themselves on fire in 2009. Today, Tibet remains an occupied land, but is grounded in the fact that it is still an independent country. And there is much more to know about its situation. We need to be more aware of the cultural genocide and the people who are willing to sacrifice their lives if it means helping their country move even one micrometer closer on a thousand mile journey towards freedom.
Innocent Tibetans are abused and stripped of their rights every day.
Euthanasia
By SANDRA STROMSWOLD
Euthanasia, or assisted suicide, is the mercy killing of a patient with an incurable illness. Some countries extend the rights to euthanasia to patients with unbearable and untreatable pain or even patients with severe depression. However, in most countries, assisted suicide is still illegal and regarded as homicide. The idea of allowing and helping another person to die is uncomfortable for many people, but to a person with a terminal illness or chronic pain, death can be a preferable option. Allowing that person to seek assistance for their suicide may allow them benefits they might not otherwise have, such as a cheaper and far less painful death. Furthermore, euthanasia offers family members the chance to be present at the death of their loved one. Offering them the ability to reach out to friends and family and make their death a personal and meaningful last moment is irrefutably a more humane option.
In 2015, 24 states and D.C. had introduced euthanasia measures.
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
FEATURES
The Art of Cybersleuthing
IMAGE PROVIDED
Cybersleuthing—stalking people online— is a true art. It takes a lot of different skills to do: one must have persistence, a knack for making inferences, and an ability to make connections quickly. I can’t say much about the history of this field, because I believe that I am one of its earliest propagators: it’s not something that you hear about often as an actual practice, but it can be considered a criminal offense if the stalker uses the target person’s material to harass or taunt them. However, if one doesn’t use the material harmfully and does it with consent (as I do), it is a force for the good. I have spent about two years honing the art of cybersleuthing. I know exactly which websites to use, and what information they reap. I have stalked friends, parents, and some of my high school teachers, finding everything from their relatives’ occupations to their own high school photos. Now, I would like to share some of my top secret methods and favorite websites so that you, too, may become a super sleuth. My first go-to website for getting the most basic information is the U.S. Whitepages site. If you type “U.S. Whitepages,” it will be the first link that appears. I use this site to get information such as age, address, past addresses, relatives, and sometimes phone numbers. I have found that the information on this site is almost always reliable. However, sometimes it doesn’t give me as much material as I need, so I look to similar sites for supplementary materials like Switchboard.com, 411.com, Peoplefinders. com, and Spokeo.com (note that I only use free sites—often, they will ask you to pay monthly fees if you want to uncover deeper information on a person, but they give you some for free). Spokeo (or, as my dad likes to call it, “Spookeo”) is particularly interesting because it gives you information such as zodiac signs and marital status (however, this information isn’t always as accurate as U.S. Whitepages’). Its home screen used to read, “Not your Grandma’s Phonebook,” and the site has gotten into some trouble because it is, indeed, much more than your grandma’s phonebook. Spokeo’s invasiveness has led to cases that have gone to the Supreme Court, notably Spokeo v. Robins in November of 2015. A man named Thomas Robins sued the website because he found an entry that had inaccurate information, although it isn’t clear whether it was surely intended to be about him or a different Thomas Robins. His “case” has also been disputed because the Supreme Court defines “cases” as situations in which “a person or group can show a specific
By STERLING WILLIAMS-CECI, Staff Writer
injury”. Regardless of whether Robins holds a strong case or not, Spokeo and the other sites are still great resources for cybersleuthing. After using the above sites, I’ve usually only gathered minimal information on a person, so I have found other sites with deeper tracking abilities. My first is used for finding a person’s relatives: Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com allows you to search the actual 1940 U.S. Census (as in, the actual documents have been scanned) for a person’s name, along with information about his or her spouse(s) and locations. It also provides vital records on many people. Usually, I have been able to find my relatives and relatives of people I know in the Census, which I find intriguing. The Census has a lot of interesting facts, including families’ exact addresses, ages of family members, and their occupations in 1940. You’re looking back at a piece of history that has been digitized. Sometimes, I like to check old newspapers for mentions of a person. Usually, people whom I am stalking were on a sports team in high school, won a competition, or made it onto their schools’ honor rolls. These are all things that usually get newspaper reception, so I seek them out. For this purpose, I use Fultonhistory. com, a website dedicated to digitizing thousands of historic New York State newspapers and allowing the public to search them for free. This site has been one of my favorites; like the Census, you are looking at a piece of online history, but the newspapers usually give more interesting information (maybe even pictures, if
you’re lucky). If you are stalking someone who has grown up/lived in New York State, then this is the site to use. The last site that I’ll share with you is Classmates.com, a true gem for finding high school photos and information on a person. This site displays hundreds of high school yearbooks from almost every state. As long as you know a person’s high school, you can use one of the earlier sites to find people’s ages and calculate their graduation years (usually the year they turned 17, plus or minus 1 year). This site doesn’t have every single graduation year’s book from every single school, but it does a fairly good job. Besides, even if the graduation year’s yearbook isn’t available, you can always check the previous few years to see pictures of the person as an underclassman. You’ll never believe how different a person can be in high school. With all these sites, and many more, you have a lot of power, and I have learned that you must use it wisely. Remember that not everyone enjoys being stalked online, so you should always be careful and get to know the person before you stalk them. Keeping that in mind, you have the potential to bring back good memories for your targets, memories that they could have forgotten. This is the beauty of the emerging world of technology in which we live: parts of the past and present are being digitized constantly, for all generations to enjoy. With the art of cybersleuthing, we all have the power to surprise and enthrall our peers.
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
FEATURES
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On What I Learned from Recipe: Applying to College Angel Food Puffs I thought I had months or years until I really needed to buckle down. It wasn’t until the summer after my junior year that the time of apprehension came to me. I commenced the rite of passage. Lack of sleep, headaches, and anxiety were the terms of initiation. The goal was narrowly-defined: a fat envelope from a specific college. College admissions is a monumental ritual, or so my own educational context has it seem. Filling one requirement after another, I realized that my grades, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, and personal essays would be due in the matter of semesters. I felt the assistance from my high school guidance counselor was not enough. I sought books that urged me to find the school that’s most in line with my “personality.” I stared at lists that put numbers on each college based on its alleged reputation and number of students it rejects. I signed up for letters that promised to judge me as a person based on “holistic” measures. I studied the pamphlets that told me to share “my story.” Based on numbers and two essays, they told me, they’d make some inferences about my personality and identify “the real and complete me.” They’d dig my guts out in search for some extraordinary thing—the “compelling story” that would distinguish me from the others in my demographic. I panicked a week before the deadline as my essays still remained as rough drafts. It was painful even to see others completely shell-shocked by the SATs. People around me squeezed themselves for each decimal of their GPAs. I hated the self-induced mental pressure for thinking of an essay idea that would astound the admissions committee. I hated the fact that every seventeen-something is prone to associating their success in life with the name recognition of the college the attend. I did question my choices and my place. If I were somewhere else in the world, the application process would’ve required me no more than to submit a single transcript to a centralized system, like in Canada, the UK, Australia, India, or Thailand. In some places like Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium, I would’ve enrolled in any public university after simply passing the high school exit exam.
These thoughts, however, were fantasies. There was a line to be drawn between occasional doubts and sustenance of a low self-esteem. Education is indubitably necessary for all, but the role of the rite differs from one individual to another. For some they believe it to be an obvious next step; for many it is a stepping stone into adulthood; for others it is a threshold out of poverty. As I prepared myself for judgment, I undertook a ritual of reconstruction as I shred myself and my past into pieces and stitched them back again. I was afraid I would become a Frankenstein monster; I feared that I would lose sight of the purpose of the undertaking. The experience was intimidating, because it dwelled on myself. I was asked to share my passions, my inner values, and even to verify my authenticity, but they were, at best, shy of being an insipid reflection of who I supposed I was. But I still clung to writing those essays due to the blissful feeling of introspection. The writing was scrappy, but I learned to embrace my thoughts and feelings—not to the basis of their beauty but that they were valid and mine. It was strangely empowering to explaining my passions and to confirm my will to pursue my dreams. As the frenzied season winds to a close, I waited patiently for judgment. College admissions in the U.S. has turned into a game of admission in which students tacitly compete in the form of numbers and achievement records, from who attained the highest standardized testing score to who possesses the most impressive extracurriculars. Yet I didn’t detest the existence of the college application process. After all, the admissions process is what you make of it and it was, for me, a chance to move upon the next chapter of life with meaning. It was an opportunity for self-awareness and a discovery of what is meaningful and valuable for me. I took away a better understanding of my interests, values and how I would serve them with higher education. In retrospect, the fire and brimstone are just blurs. I was only afraid of confronting my past and my limits. The real judge was me.
By CHLOE CRAMER
IMAGE PROVIDED
By JOHN YOON
Angel Food Puffs: they have the light, sweet, and fluffy taste of angel food cake with the shape of a cookie and an awesome fruity flavor. Ingredients • ½ cup cake flour • ½ cup granulated sugar • 3 oz. fruit punch jello • 6 large egg whites, room temperature • ¼ teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
Directions 1. Preheat oven to 325°F and grease a muffin tin. 2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and the sugar before setting it aside. 3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg whites, salt, and extract. Beat until the mixture is frothy, then add the cream of tartar and continue beating until they form glossy peaks. 4. Add the jello, then fold in the dry ingredients. 5. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, about halfway, and bake for about 12 minutes or until the cookies appear done.
FEATURES
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
Hall Monitor By NOEL BENTLEY
Where’s your favorite place to eat in Ithaca?
“CTB and Viva.”
Bri Muscente ’17 and Anna Wallace ’17
“Viva or CTB. I can’t decide.” Ana Luisa Brady-McCullough ’18
“Waffle Frolic.” Megan Hay ’19
“Viva.”
Maddie Block ’16
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
FEATURES
“Viva, because of cheap prices.” Helena Pence ’17
“Chili’s.”
PJ Rausch-Moran ’16
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“Lincoln Street Dining.” Emily Izzo ’19
“Taste of Thai.” Sophia Maranca ’17
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FEATURES
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
Music Production Club IMAGE PROVIDED
By AJ STENSLAND and JAMES YOON
IHS Music Production Club: Max Fink ’17, Jasper Minson ’16, Luca Greenspun ’17, Cam Mitchell ’17, Gavin Waight ’16, AJ Stensland ’17, James Yoon ’17, Ms. Nicole Benenati, Aidan Peck ’17, Luc Wetherbee ’17, Andrey Shakhzadyan ’17, Luc Wetherbee ’17, Mr. Ben Eckley, Elijah Dalt ’17, and Abe Phelan ’17. Not pictured: Harman Benipal ’17, Jacob Cummings ’17, Jonathon Hawthorne ’16, Lukas Hermann ’17, Tucker Loucks ’17, and Jesu Pinckney ’19
We listen to a lot of music. Track by track, album by album, we listen and just cannot stop. And we often catch ourselves wondering: “Why did this song reach number 1? Why is this album so terrible? How did they make this song sound this way?” As common as these questions are, they show how much we care about the way music is produced, from the songwriting, the composition, the samples and synthesizers used, to the mixing and all the way to mastering. The technicalities, the creativity, and the character of a track can make the difference between a file for bankruptcy and a top hit in the charts. Once in awhile, you might hear the whimsical, melodic sound of synthesizers streaming down E-hallway. You might hear the charmingly disorienting vibe of breakbeats. You might also hear trunk-busting 808s. Whatever it is, it’s probably coming from us. At Music Production Club, we explore the same questions and try to find our place in each of them. We are a thriving community of producers with dreams big and small, and during our meetings, we critique each other’s work, show new techniques we’ve learned, update each other on the latest news in the industry, play with gear, and more. The club is insanely chill and fun, but at the same time, it’s a productive learning experience for everyone involved.
In the club, we have many plans for growth. With software freebies we received from Ableton and a grant from IPEI, we plan to expand our activities by acquiring several workstations with industry standard software and hardware which students will be able to borrow for their own use. Gaining these tools will also allow us to collaborate in-club on tracks in real-time, something we’ve never been able to do until this point. In regard to the community, we have been flirting with the idea of running a show with the local music organization Ithaca Underground. This would open up opportunities for students interested in live performance to reach audiences they’ve never played to, and give first-timers a convenient doorway into the art of live performance, something that many other clubs simply can’t offer. The IHS Music Production Club meets in E45 every Thursday after school, with Ms. Benenati and Mr. Eckley (call him Ben). If you need musical inspiration, want to start producing your own music, or just want to be in a chill environment and talk about music, feel free to join us. Anyone is welcome, regardless of experience or musical tastes. If you would like to hear some of our work, scan this QR code above, which will take you to our SoundCloud page.
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ARTS
Hamilton : A Musical for a New America IMAGE PROVIDED
By LIZ ROSEN
Hamilton has been dominating the Broadway scene from its home at the Richard Rogers Theater
What is there to say about Hamilton that hasn’t already been said? The hip-hop musical (although it might more accurately be deemed an opera) is a pop-culture phenomenon, breaking barriers and setting records at a breakneck pace that leaves few other examples with which to compare it. Composer, writer, and star Lin-Manuel Miranda’s magnum opus Hamilton greatly influenced the MacArthur Foundation’s decision to bestow one of their “genius grants” upon Miranda. The Hamilton cast album, recorded with the aid of the Roots, debuted as a no. 1 cast album, no. 3 rap album, and no. 9 top current album. The musical has been ruling the Broadway box office, taking in as much as $1.8 million some weeks, and for the first time, the Grammys had a live broadcast from New York City during the ceremony, as the Hamilton cast performed the opening number, “Alexander Hamilton” (later that night, Hamilton also won a Grammy). The musical has transcended the somewhat closed Broadway community to become a cultural marvel, as its stars frequent the late show circuit and hardly a week goes by without a high-profile article showering critical praise on the show or noting the charitable efforts of Miranda.
All of this success initially seemed improbable; the musical, which chronicles the life of Alexander Hamilton as he rose through the military, established the U.S.’s financial system, and fought with the other Founding Fathers, fuses the distant past of the American Revolution with the vibrant music of modern America. Jefferson and Hamilton rap battle over states’ rights. There’s a tribute to Destiny’s Child. It gets wild. However, the hip-hop influences enable the music to fully convey the fervor of the revolution and the excitement of the new nation, through explosive sound effects (and obscenities). Moreover, hip hop is conducted much more quickly than musicals usually are. This allows Hamilton, which clocks in at around 20,000 words, to proceed in two and a half hours. If the musical were performed at the speed of other Broadway musicals, it could take as long as eight hours. Contemporary music helps tie the past to the present, but progressive casting decisions have also allowed Hamilton to stand out from the crowd and capture the frenetic energy that America has always had, as a nation formed primarily out of immigrants. The only major character played by a white person is
King George III; the rest of the main cast is extremely ethnically varied. As the question of diversity becomes more pressing in the entertainment industry, it is thrilling to see a production that so highly values representation, and that can partially thank such diversity for its success. Although the album comes close to replicating the magic of the show, nothing can quite match a live performance at the Richard Rogers Theater, not least because one never knows who else might be in the theater. I, along with Kanye West, Kim K., and Paul Giamatti, was lucky enough to see the February 12 performance and have described it to anyone who would listen as “the best three hours of my life.” Hamilton’s cast has an incredible rapport and familiarity with the music, which allows them to ad-lib during the tightly plotted first act and have some fun during the dark second act. Ultimately, while the foundations laid by Miranda’s writing, the excellent choreography, and the thrilling lighting design have contributed greatly to the show’s success, it is Hamilton’s cast, with its stunning, emotionally vibrant, immensely current performances, that have guaranteed the musical’s legacy.
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
Lyric Visions: When Artists Piggyback On Valentine’s Day, the national day of love, I attended a joint poetry reading/ art show at the State of the Art Gallery in downtown Ithaca. There I witnessed a shared love not just for art itself, but for creation and collaboration. Community artists had come together from the shadows of reclusive studio apartments and Gimme! corner tables to give and receive inspiration. The myth of the brooding, isolated artist holds intrigue for many, but just as our elementary school teachers advised us, piggybacking off the ideas of others often expands your own thinking. The art created through direct inspiration and collaboration could never have been creat-
By EMMA KARNES
ed with only one mind at work. Here’s how it worked: local poets were invited to submit poetry to the program, and local visual artists who had agreed to participate chose a poem to use as personal inspiration. The program was based heavily on ekphrasis, which is essentially a device in which one medium of art attempts to relate to another medium by catching its form and essence through description. At the event I attended, the poet-artist pair presented their work together: the poet read, and the artist introduced his/ her piece, explaining in detail why the poem appealed to them and how they
tried to include its theme, voice, imagery, etc. In most cases, the artist and poet engaged in a heartfelt dialogue up in front of the audience, thanking the other for his/ her unique interpretation. Publically, they excitedly relished their shared fascination with teacups and their symbolism, (poet Zee Zahava and photographer Terry Plater), or a common personal tie to Cuba that leaked into both of their works. The whole undertaking, organized by former Tompkins County Poet Laureate Tish Pearlman, is in my opinion both an example of Ithaca’s rich artistic culture, CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
Dadaism: Celebrating the Centennial A hundred years ago, it would have been very difficult for someone to conceive of going to a museum or an art gallery and seeing a urinal turned upside-down and signed with the fictitious name “R. Mutt.” This is Fountain, by Marcel Duchamp, produced in 1917. It was rejected from the exhibition for the Society of Independent Artists after a vigorous debate about whether or not it was, in fact, art. However, now, there’s no question—of course it’s art. So is a canvas, painted white, by Robert Ryman. A shark floating in a 23-ton glass tank of formaldehyde, by Damien Hirst. Iconic movements of today have their roots in a movement spearheaded by men like Duchamp: Dadaism. Dadaism came into being exactly a century ago in Switzerland, where a group of painters, sculptors, poets, and other artists, disillusioned with World War One and the fervent nationalism that it had encouraged, met in the Cabaret Voltaire. There, they decided to fight the status quo that had been brought about by bourgeois society in the early 20th century. In order to do this, they were willing to ask uncomfortable questions that no one had before considered: what is the role of the artist? what is and what is not art? These kinds of questions are a major premise of Dadaist philosophy and have influenced numerous famous movements such as abstract expressionism and conceptual art. Indeed,
By CASEY WETHERBEE, Staff Writer
a hundred years later, one can see the vestiges of Dadaism in modern politics. No one agrees on how the name originated. Some believe that it originated from the Romanian word for yes (“da”), repeated multiple times for sarcastic emphasis by some Romanian Dadaists like Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco (sort of like how we say “yeah, yeah”). The more widely accepted theory, however, is that someone selected it at random from a French-German dictionary. In French, it means “hobbyhorse,” and it also common as a universal baby-talk word. These suggestions of childishness and naivete appealed to the Dadaists, who wanted to separate themselves from the rigidity of society. A urinal certainly didn’t conform to societal formality, and it wasn’t considered art by many critics of the period. Fountain is an example of a ready-made, which is an everyday object that is stripped from its usual setting, slightly modified—though not always—and presented as art. It violated all precedents concerning its production and presentation. A mere thirty years earlier, John Singer Sargent was embroiled in one of art’s biggest scandals when he depicted a woman with only one shoulder strap on her dress in Madame X. However, what Duchamp was implying had much deeper implications than the image of an aristocratic woman who might have just had sex. The title evokes images of ornate
fountains designed by great Renaissance or Baroque sculptors and mocks them. However, it was and still is difficult to defend the proposition that Fountain is not art. There is no operational definition of art. In 2004, a poll of 500 art critics named Fountain the most influential piece of art of the 20th century. The reason for which pieces like Fountain are seen as so influential is clear in modern society. Dadaism is perhaps one of the most significant inspirations of other famous movements like surrealism and pop art. Pieces in almost every major art museum have found inspiration in Dadaism. However, outside of the museum, Dadaist ideas have remained entrenched in our minds whether we consciously acknowledge it or not. Recently, the anti-establishmentarian view of government bureaucracy and aristocracy that took hold in 1916 has caught on in the minds of thousands of Americans. The popularity of candidates like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump is mainly the result of mistrust in government and a new desire to redefine politics. As time progresses, we will perhaps see that the nature of politics in America will change, much as the nature of art was completely altered by Dadaism a hundred years ago.
THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
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Czech This Playlist Out By DANIEL XU and DAVID SHENG, Staff Writer Despite the modern-day stigma directed toward younger fans of classical music by their peers—let’s face it, you’re going to be called a nerd—it is our earnest aspiration that adolescents branch out a bit and learn to enjoy all varieties of music. In the spirit of that, we set out to create playlists for those who enjoy classical music, as well as those who may want to give it a shot. This playlist of exclusively Czech music is split into shorter, more accessible works and pieces of larger scale for your listening convenience. Antonín Dvořák may be a familiar name for most musicians, but it is likely that you have never heard of any of the other composers featured on this list. This does not make their music any less good. A certain rhapsodic Bohemian spirit is captured in every one of the compositions we selected, causing them to stand out to classical music aficionados and neophytes alike. All of these recordings should be available either on Spotify or YouTube. We hope you enjoy.
Shorter Pieces: 15 minutes or less
Thunderbolt P-47, Scherzo for Orchestra: Bohuslav Martinu (Vronský conducting the Brno Philharmonic) David Sheng ’18: The P-47 Thunderbolt may have been one of the heaviest and largest fighter aircrafts developed in history, but it was still equipped with most of the Allied Air Force during World War II. At that time, Martinu had already begun to live in the States and was inspired by the many pilots’ legacies that he heard; this very work was thus born in 1945. It was composed as a tribute to the pilots who had fought in the war and is full of imitations of battle scenes and fanfares—all using Martinu’s very own, unique musical language.
Piano Trio in F Minor: Zdenek Fibich (The Smetana Trio) Daniel Xu ’17: To even the most dedicated devotees of classical music, Fibich is an unfamiliar name who is seldom mentioned in the context of great composers. His chamber music definitely deserves some attention, though: this trio is on the short side for a composition of that type, and manages to remain refreshingly dolce even throughout movements marked “con fuoco” and “vivacissimo.” Pohádka (Fairy Tale): Leoš Janácek (Ericsson and Malý) DS: My first encounter with this piece was in a recital given by Eastman professor Steve
Doane alongside Cornell pianist Xak Bjerken. Although it wasn’t the best performance of this sonata-like fantasy, the piece definitely delighted me. The duo I’m recommending here isn’t very well-known; it was a very recent discovery on YouTube. The rawness and spirit of their playing, however, is definitely a highlight, and on that point, it outshines the many other existing recordings. In any case, one should also not miss the recording by Isserlis and Adés. “Die Moldau” from Ma Vlast: Bedrich Smetana (Kubelik conducting the Czech Philharmonic) DX: This excerpt from Smetana’s magnum opus is a piece that many have heard but may be unable to name. Its famous melody, evoking the image of Bohemia’s most prominent river, flows brilliantly in Kubelik’s recording, where the magnificent swells and cadences are at their most musical. “Die Moldau” is one of the best examples of tone painting in music I have listened to.
The Noon Witch: Antonin Dvořák (Talich conducting the Czech Philharmonic) DX: A symphonic poem, The Noon Witch becomes much more intense once the story behind it is known. The piece depicts a misbehaving child who, along with his mother, is pursued by a boogeyman-like Czech folk monster, building to a frightening climax where the mother herself accidentally kills the child. Like the more famous Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev, the orchestration uses specific instruments designated to represent each character.
Marathon Pieces: 20 to 40 minutes
String Quartet No. 1 “From My Life”: Bedrich Smetana (Emerson Quartet) DS: As the title of the work implies, this piece is an autobiographical work. My first few encounters with this quartet resulted in great disgust, as I could not stand the viola solos (I do not mean to offend any violists), and I actually listed this piece as one of my least favorite quartets. However, as time passed by, I began to appreciate this piece more for its dramaticism, heroism, magical quality— they all come together and form this wonderful piece.
Cello Sonata No. 3: Bohuslav Martinu (Isserlis and Mustonen) DS: Steven Isserlis has really become my favorite cellist, and one must not miss this recording with Mustonen, which received a
Grammy nomination last year. The piece itself is full of syncopations, tuneful melodies, and surprises. If you aren’t acquainted with Martines music yet, this is a great piece to start with; not to also mention the inconceivable partnership between Isserlis and Mustonen.
String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters”: Leoš Janácek (Hagen Quartet) DS: “You stand behind every note, you, living, forceful, loving,” began one of Janácek’s more than seven hundred letters to his spiritual friend, a married woman 38 years his junior. This exact quartet was inspired by those 700 or so letters, providing us a glimpse of some of Janácek’s more personal characteristics, and bearing witness to this unusual relationship. As a matter of fact, when Janácek met this woman, Kamila Stösslová, in 1917, he quickly fell in love with her despite the age difference and the fact that both were married people. Sinfonietta: Leoš Janácek (Mackerras conducting the Vienna Philharmonic) DX: I didn’t know of this piece until I read Murakami’s 1Q84, where it plays a significant role. Thankfully, the high expectations that I had coming into my first listening experience were not disappointed. This is a great piece. Its main selling point is the energy that permeates all 25 minutes of it; it’s a military fanfare, not one of those dull classical pieces that will put you to sleep. Although Sinfonietta was dedicated to the armed forces of Czechoslovakia, while sounding rather victorious, a certain sadness flows through the piece, somehow reflecting World War I: “The war to end all wars.” Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”: Antonin Dvořák (Kubelik conducting the Berlin Philharmonic) DX: For many this piece needs no introduction. Each one of the four movements is a veritable masterpiece; there are so many memorable tunes from this symphony that even two-to-three minute segments from it have been adapted to other mediums. The spiritual cor anglais solo in the Largo, the fiery intro to the last movement, the pining melody of the first—the New World Symphony as a whole is probably the most famous of all Czech compositions and my personal favorite symphony. If nothing else on the marathon segment of this list, you should czech this one out.
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
British Tunes for American Goons By CORINNE HILL-JAMES and AMALIA WALKER, Staff Writer
Are Queen Latifah, the Lovin’ Spoonful, and Guns ‘n’ Roses sounding like a broken record? Are the Eagles, Drake, and Smokey Robinson just too familiar? Well Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie ... the levy was dry, so we handpicked a collection of songs evocative of a stroll through the basement of Great Britain’s finest musical museum. So put on a knees-up with your mates, or just bum out on your own, to gen up on some brilliant pop-rock-reggaefolk-psychedelia-soul-country from our fellow English-speakers across the pond. “Dreadlock Holiday,” 10 cc, Bloody Tourists Wish you were on that holiday with those tourists?
“Atrocity Exhibition,” Joy Division, Closer Partially inspired by the 1970 J. G. Ballard collection of "con densed novels," bassist Peter Hook describes the guitar part as making “it sound like somebody strangling a cat”. “Getting in Tune," The Who, Who’s Next Completely improvised in the studio. Pete Townshend was one of those people to document his daily life in song. “The Ghost in You," Psychedelic Furs, Mirror Moves We all have one.
“Frankly, Mr. Shankly," The Smiths, The Queen is Dead Another narration on the sad life of fame. LYRIC VISIONS: WHEN ARTISTS PIGGYBACK CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20.
as well as its strong value on community and working together. It was an exciting reminder that while art is often deeply personal and esoteric, it can also be a helpful vessel for human connection. Of course, art isn’t the only thing that benefits from sharing and piggybacking. Ideas of any kind need other ideas to bounce off of, new minds to filter through. I left the Lyric Visions art show pondering the collaborative (or, conversely, the anti-collaborative) nature of school; high school feels like a highly personal journey, with most tests and assignments graded on the basis of your completely individual and isolated intelligence and merit. But, of course, life is much more teamwork and interaction, and much less solitary ability. Watching the poets and artists thank one another for what they each made it possible for the other to create, it was clear to me that education and achievement are much more directly and easily reached when the undertaking is made together. Unfortunately, there are no more presentations of the Lyric Visions show, but I encourage all students in Ithaca to look into other collaborative projects with local artists. The art is beautiful, thought-provoking, and refreshing, and the same can be said of the web of shared ideas and inspiration.
“Win," David Bowie, Young Americans Seems you’re trying not to lose.
“I Believe," Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair I can’t deny that I, sadly, am not a Virgo. ;) “Ascension Day," Talk Talk, Laughing Stock L8r. I’m out.
“Lucifer Sam," Pink Floyd, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn Be a hip cat, be a ship cat, ooooo-oh ... “Shine a Light," The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street (Just don’t listen to the Phish cover.)
“White Room," Cream, Wheels of Fire Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves. At least you won’t be alone.
“Ballad of Big Nothing," Elliott Smith, Either/Or This song really makes a statement. We hope it inspires you. “Hateful," The Clash, London Calling Hate the system (but keep up your grades, kids, and don’t forget to go to college and get a degree with a promising prognosis for your career).
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SPORTS
By MARLO ZORMAN, Staff Writer
With top athletes easily making over tens of millions of dollars a year, a debate on whether athletes are overcompensated has been heating up. Arguing that professional athletes are overpaid, someone I heard said what pro-athletes do is nothing more than entertainment. They do not actually do anything “important” for society and thus shouldn’t be paid absurdly high salaries. After thinking about it, I concluded that the idea of athletes being overpaid a fallacy and wanted to explain why I think that there is nothing wrong with the way athletes are compensated. It’s hard to define what “importance” actually is. One could argue that the ability to provide entertainment to an entire nation is important. Although certainly not all the time, many athletes can act as good role models for children. But how important athletes are is debatable and the idea that athletes do not provide anything “important” to society isn’t inherently a bad argument. Where, then, do I believe that this argument falls short? First and foremost is ability. While people in other careers, say, mechanics, require skill and knowledge, the job pays far less than the average NFL player. Why? Because more people are able to become mechanics than are able to play in the NFL. There are currently more than three-quarter of a million mechanics in the U.S., as opposed to the two thousand or so active NFL players. It is simply harder to play in the NFL than it is to be mechanic, and fewer people are actually able to do so. While some executives and CEOs do receive ludicrously high salaries, jobs, for the most part, pay on a scale of how many people are able to do them. Because of that, the fact that NFL players make an average of two million dollars a year is fine. Only a tiny percentage of the nation’s population can play in the NFL whereas a much higher percentage can become mechanics. Despite all of these arguments, none of this really matters. Ultimately, the NFL and all of the companies that endorse athletes, are businesses. A business must make a profit, and if it doesn’t then it must change something. Nike, Adidas, the NFL, the NBA, all of these companies would not be signing contracts that pay athletes tens of millions of dollars a year if they did not yield results. Because of that, nothing that we say or do is going to stop a company from doing exactly what it should: making money.
Matthew Dellavedova: The Thunder From Down Under
IMAGE PROVIDED
Are Pro Athletes Overpaid?
By JACK POWERS
Never count out Delly.
When you think of basketball in Cleveland, what is the first thing that you think of? I’m betting it’s Lebron James. And I understand why, but I’m here to change your mind. When someone says Cleveland Basketball the chosen one himself should come to your mind: Matthew Dellavedova. Dellavedova, or “Delly” for short, is the backup point guard for the Cavaliers and he has done nothing but impress fans of the NBA everywhere. One of the eight current players from Australia, or the “land down under,” as they say, he is everything that a coach could want. He hits open shots, plays spectacular defense and always gives his maximum effort. Strangely, Delly’s effort for Cleveland is disputed. Just recently, he was voted the “dirtiest player” in the NBA—one of the most ridiculous accusations ever. Has Delly ever been involved in a scuffle? Sure, just like almost every other player in the NBA. Has it ever been because of a dirty play that he performed? Never. Delly is also known to perform well in clutch situations. In game 6 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Delly led the Cavaliers to the series’-clinching win. After All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving had to leave the game due to a foot injury, Delly stepped in and finished the game with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Even more clutch than that was that 11 of these points were scored in the first quarter. Then came game two of the 2015 NBA Finals. Delly, once again playing significantly more minutes due to another Kyrie Irving injury, stepped up. He had to guard Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, the reigning NBA MVP. And boy did Delly shut him down. When Curry was guarded by Dellavedova, he shot 0 for 8 from the field. Yup, you heard right—Mr. “It-seems-like-I-never-miss-a-shot-Curry” shot none when he was guarded by Delly. But the key moment in the game was with 10.5 seconds left in overtime, Cavs down by one, James Jones missed a go ahead three pointer, but in came Delly. Delly grabbed the offensive rebound and got fouled. He stepped to the line for the two biggest free throws in his life, and in the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He cashed both free throws. Then with five seconds left, Dellavedova was guarding Curry one on one with the game on the line and Curry went up for the mid-range jump shot. Nothing but air. The Cavs won game 2, in large part due to Delly’s’s extreme effort and hard work. So the next time that someone says that Delly is “horrible,” just ask them why they think he is bad. Delly in the 2016 season is having a career year. He is shooting the ball lights out. He is 7th in the NBA in 3 point percentage with a mark of 43 percent. He is above such names as Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Paul George. We will possibly see Delly and the Cavs matchup with Steph Curry and the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. Most people will be betting against the Cavs, but if there is one thing I have learned it’s this— never count out Delly.
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ANNOUNCEMENT
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Any IHS student can submit writing for The Tattler. But, if you want to become part of our editorial staff, please look out for editorial board application forms for the 2016–17 school year, which will be available late March online, in the library, and the main office. Editors are responsible for editing articles, working with writers, taking photographs, designing the layout, maintaining the website, and attending editorial meetings every Friday. If you’re interested, we’d love to recruit you. Please visit groups.google.com/group/tattlerwriters to subscribe to our writers’ mailing list, where we will announce more information about the requirements and deadlines. Until then, as always, new writers are welcome! Articles should be sent via email to a section editor or the Editor-inChief by the writers’ deadline as an attachment, as body text, or as a Google document. Contact information can be found on the inside front cover of this issue. Information on the monthly writers’ meetings, potential article topics, and submission deadlines will be sent to the writers’ mailing list linked above.
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THE TATTLER • MARCH 2016 • ihstattler.com
MONTH IN PICTURES
Winter Formal Over 250 IHS students gathered on February 27 in the Statler Hotel ballroom at Winter Formal, organized by the Class of 2016 officers.
DEBORAH LYNN
DEBORAH LYNN
IPEI Spelling Bee Ms. Karen Seifert, Mr. Karl Mellander and Mr. Benjamin Kirk pose at the Ithaca Public Education Innitiative’s 18th annual IPEI Spelling Bee, held on March 5. The event was held to raise grant funds for projects in ICSD.
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THE TATTLER • March 2016 • ihstattler.com
BACK PAGE
Taken by Student iPhones
The COOLNESS SPECTRUM
ELEANOR PEREBOOM
ELEANOR PEREBOOM
By ELEANOR PEREBOOM and NORA LITTELL
COOL ≤ 15 days of winter Tuori’s chicks ELEANOR PEREBOOM
NORA LITTELL
Buying Tuori’s chicks for $5 Coming home to chicken wings You middling kids Your English teacher, when shaven Deserted desserts
6 3
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SOLUTIONS TO FEBRUARY’S SUDOKU
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Slow death Spraying water at your campaign supporters
UNCOOL