October 2021

EDITORIAL

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IHS TATTLER OCTOBER 2021 | VOL. 129 | NO. 2

ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO TATTLE.

Established in 1892 Published Monthly www.ihstattler.com Ithaca High School 1401 North Cayuga Street Ithaca, NY 14850 FREE

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EDITORIAL

Putting Together the “Jigsaw Puzzle” of Scheduling

By THE TATTLER BOARD

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efresh, refresh, refresh. I’ve been staring at this damn page for 20 minutes straight and still nothing. I really need to go to sleep. Maybe just one more time. I say a silent prayer to the scheduling gods, and hit refresh again. My computer chews on the request, leaving me in agonizing spinny-wheel purgatory for a couple seconds. At last, my classes populate the screen! Wait, are those even my classes?

Where’s English? Don’t I need that to graduate?

I could have sworn I signed up for Calc BC, not AB. And how am I supposed to eat lunch at 10:45 a.m.?

I spend the next day frantically texting friends, trying to mentally cross-reference all of our schedules for shared classes. The more I chat, the more panicked I get. Everyone wants to make changes; I have to email my counselor quickly before they get swamped! Wait, who even is my counselor again? And where do I begin with my requests? The ground is constantly shifting under my feet; I don’t know what period anything is offered, I don’t know how many sections there are of anything, and I don’t even know what classes I want to take anymore!

School hasn’t even started yet and I already feel like I’m lugging around a 50-pound backpack.

This thought process is one that’s all too familiar to IHS students at the beginning of the school year as schedules pour in, unleashing a boatload of questions and concerns that only the counselors can answer. The scheduling process at IHS is like a jigsaw puzzle, as counselor Eva Collier thoughtfully describes it. After the Program of Studies is updated and teachers have made their course recommendations by the end of January, students begin the stressful process of selecting their courses for the following year

by February. They go on to work closely with their counselor to discuss their selections and any future plans they may have, and are typically allowed to make changes to their course load through April.

In the next phase, a team of an administrator and department leaders work together to create the master schedule, which lays out the different courses being offered, the periods they take place, and who teaches them, an essential framework. Consisting of several complicated moving parts, the team has myriad factors to consider, including teacher contracts, part-time schedules, career and technical education programs, and graduation requirements, as well as how these

coincide with students’ original course selections. The baton is then passed to the school counselors, who are tasked with the daunting job of perfecting individual student schedules while simultaneously dealing with an intense time crunch. According to Mrs. Collier, this year the master schedule wasn’t locked until August 25, leaving the counselors only eight possible working days before the start of school—which was reduced even further when they had to deal with other commitments. Consequently, many of them ended up working around the clock when they should have been enjoying those precious last few days of summer.

Throughout this process, there is a seemingly endless list of problems that are left up to the counselors to solve. As countless emails from students flood their inboxes, counselors work to eliminate conflicts from schedules. In an “easy” conflict, they may ensure Health fits in a student’s schedule, or move courses like Physical Education (PE) around to alternate with a science lab, making room for another class. In far more complex ordeals, counselors may need to adjust class rosters, make sure students have PE and a lunch period if desired, and communicate with students when their selected courses interfere with one another. With student futures in their hands and the pressure of the clock, counselors work extremely hard to sort out student course loads and schedules. For instance, Mrs. Collier explains that she had about “180 of 270 students with some sort of conflict—if every conflict took ten minutes to resolve and we immediately started the next one, that’d be 30 hours straight of work. However, during this time there’s also new entrants needing courses, emails to answer, requests from admin and department leaders to assist with balancing classes, etc., so that 30 gets MUCH longer real quickly.”

Moving forward, the creation of the master schedule should take place earlier to lessen the likelihood of a mad dash at the end of the summer to iron out the inevitable conflicts. It is vital that counselors be in the loop during this process, ensuring they have as clear an idea as possible of potential conflicts and can notify students early if their course selections need to be revised. Communication between counselors and students is paramount here; students should be told about issues with their course load instead of left in the dark. All individual student

Editor-in-Chief

Jinho Park ’22

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EDITORIAL / NEWS

schedules should be released at the same time, immediately upon completion, so that requests for changes don’t bleed into the start of the school year and are distributed over a wider interval of time. But these changes are limited in scale, as the scheduling process for each year already begins so soon after course selections are in.

Currently, the coalition of people with a hand in the scheduling process frequently changes, creating an added layer of entropy. In the future, the team that creates the master schedule should be as consistent as possible, so that they can develop familiarity with the process instead of having to reorient new people every single year. Finally, in order to alleviate the exorbitant demands on counselors’ time and energy, IHS should consider hiring more counselors to share the workload. Simply having more people to do the vital work of arranging schedules would not only allow each student to receive more individual attention, but allow counselors to build better relationships with students and protect their mental resources from being stretched too thin.

After days of intense stress, my counselor appears at the door

to my study hall, beaming with excitement. “I found a way to fix your schedule!” they say, and relief washes over me. As they show me all the classes I wanted, laid out in a perfect grid, it becomes clear just how much work and consideration they’ve put into making my life easier. They’ve moved other students around, examined every possible configuration of classes, and kept an eye on full sections in hopes that spaces would open up at the last minute. I can’t thank them enough.

Counselors are part of the glue that holds IHS together—without them, the school would surely descend into untamed chaos.

They work tirelessly to address the concerns of each student, and do so under extreme pressure and strict deadlines. It is crucial to not only acknowledge and appreciate all their hard work, but also to alleviate some of their stress when possible through increased communication and improved timelines. The result would be mutually beneficial to both students and counselors, allowing an easier transition back to school, significantly less stress, and a dramatic reduction in the number of frantic email chains crowding inboxes.

The War in Afghanistan and What Comes Next

By MUKUND GAUR

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t 11:59 p.m. on August 30, 2021, a single image emerged from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. A lone American soldier, tinted with the green of a night vision lens, walking on board an Air Force C-17, weapon in hand. That soldier was Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.

His significance? The last American soldier to leave Afghanistan.

But how did we even get to the remote, mountainous country in the first place? The United States’ interest in Afghanistan began with the September 11, 2001 attacks. Hijackers took control of four commercial planes, crashing two of them into the twin towers in New York City, another into the Pentagon, and a fourth, presumably targeting the White House or Capitol, into a field in Pennsylvania after brave passengers on board attempted to retake the cockpit. Nearly 3000 people were killed. After the

attacks, it was determined that they were carried out by terrorists operating out of Afghanistan, which was then under the control of the Taliban. The plot was orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Islamic extremist group known as Al-Qaeda.

After the September 11 attacks, then-President George W. Bush told the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden to the U.S. The Taliban refused, and on October 7, 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom was launched: a United States invasion of Afghanistan.

U.S. and British forces took over Afghanistan rapidly, toppling the Taliban regime that had held power since the Soviet Union left the country in 1991.

Continued on page 4

The Tattler is the monthly student-run newspaper of Ithaca High School. All currently-enrolled students at Ithaca High School are welcome to submit writing and photographs. As an open forum, The Tattler invites opinion submissions and letters to the editor from all community members. Email submissions to editor@ihstattler.com or mail letters to: The Tattler 1401 North Cayuga Street Ithaca, NY 14850 Send submissions by October 15 to be included in the November issue. The Tattler reserves the right to edit all submissions. All articles, columns, and advertisements do not necessarily reflect the views of editorial staff.

To read The Tattler online, visit our website at www.ihstattler.com.

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NEWS

The War in Afghanistan and What Comes Next Continued from page 3

As the Taliban fled, the U.S. soon pivoted to the war in Iraq.

Approximately 8,000 troops remained in Afghanistan, but most large-scale military operations were over. The U.S. propped up a new democracy in Afghanistan, which held elections in 2004.

The government was supported by foreign aid—from 2001 until now, Afghanistan had been the largest recipient of American aid—in 2019, they received 4.89 billion dollars. A new constitution gave the central government immense power, while reducing the power of local authorities. Parliamentary elections were also held, with seats reserved for women to ensure gender diversity. Hamid Karzai, an Afghan politician, was elected as president. His government, however, was plagued by corruption, and he was regarded by many as a weak leader.

Despite the new government, the U.S. was not finished in Afghanistan. The war reached a new peak during Barack Obama’s presidency, with nearly 110,000 troops in Afghanistan in 2011.

At last, in 2010, Navy SEALS were able to find and kill Bin Laden. The original cause of the war, at least, was resolved. But during the many years of the war in Afghanistan, the U.S.’s goals had become convoluted. Obama released plans to scale down the American presence to just 9,800 soldiers by 2014. However, in 2016, President Trump appeared on the world stage. He gave immense power to the Pentagon, and under him, the war took on renewed strength. It would not end until August 2021, when President Joe Biden withdrew all American troops from Afghanistan.

However, the withdrawal had been delayed many times simply because it was not an easy task. Despite years of funding and training from the U.S., Afghan security forces were unable

to hold their own against a strong Taliban offensive. In a span of ten days after the U.S. had begun its withdrawal effort, the Taliban seized control of most of the country, and then the capital, Kabul. As the government that the U.S. had built up for decades crumbled around them, military planes scrambled to evacuate Americans and Afghans alike to overflowing facilities. Photos of people falling off planes, and other chaotic and disturbing scenes emerging from Afghanistan inspired a rare bipartisan rebuke of the president. The withdrawal effort ended on August 30, 2021, leaving behind thousands of Afghans who had worked for the U.S. in unsafe conditions.

With a new Taliban-led government, Afghanistan’s future is uncertain. The war which had killed more than 71,000 civilians is over, but a Taliban controlled government has returned to Kabul. The previous Taliban regime had largely kept women imprisoned in their homes, banned television and music, and held public executions. This government has said that they plan to honor women’s rights, but under their interpretation of Islamic law. It is unclear what this will look like. A Taliban spokesman has also said that the country will not be used as a base for terrorist attacks on other countries (a clause that was part of the 2020 peace deal between the Taliban and the Trump administration). The Taliban, however, is left with a country in crisis. The economy, with many sources of foreign aid cut off, is spiraling downward, compounded with drought and hunger. Afghanistan’s future will depend on the ability of its new rulers to deal with the intensifying humanitarian crisis and govern a country much different from the one they had ruled over before 2001.

The Abortion Ban in Texas

By MARLEY THOMSON

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n September 1, 2021, the fate of everyone in Texas was changed. Governor Gregory Abbott passed a law that prohibits abortion after 6 weeks of gestation, also known as a “heartbeat bill.” This law prohibits having an abortion before most even know they’re pregnant—but that’s not all.

Other states such as Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio have passed “heartbeat bills” in the past, but the bill Texas has passed doesn’t just stop at the heartbeat. A heartbeat bill is a bill that prevents abortions when cardiac activity/a heartbeat is detected. Heartbeat bills are extremely flawed because almost any sound or electrical activity detected can be considered a “heartbeat.” This law also allows any private citizen to sue someone suspected of obtaining an abortion, but it doesn’t stop here: anyone, even those outside of Texas can sue not only someone suspected of trying to obtain an abortion, but even those perceived as helping someone get an abortion. Successful cases will have legal fees reimbursed and the plaintiff awarded up to $10,000.

This law is a direct infringement on the constitutional right to an abortion. Texas is the second most populous state in the U.S. with almost 30 million people. 30 million lives in Texas are affected by these laws. Now, let’s break down the effects of this law.

Abortion clinics are shutting down and going bankrupt, preventing abortions even for people pregnant for less than 6 weeks.

Due to the high risk of being sued and going bankrupt, abortion clinics are denying people abortions for fear of ensuing legal battles.

Access to non-abortive contraception will also decline. Abortion clinics are not only places where people get abortions, but also sites where people can receive contraceptives (which prevent pregnancies and thus prevent more abortions). Due to many clinics shutting down, there will be fewer places where people can go to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Furthermore, sexually transmitted diseases and infections (STDs and STIs) will increase. Just like how many abortion clinics have contraception, many also have STD/STI testing. Planned Parenthood is an example of a place where one can receive an abortion, contraception, and STD/STI testing. With these abortion clinics shutting down, fewer people will get tested therefore increasing the spread of STDs/STIs. In addition, more taxpayer dollars, both state and federal, will be spent on unwanted kids. Due to Texas already having a poor sexual health education system, most people are taught an abstinence only curriculum. Studies such as the one conducted by the Journal of Adolescent Health confirms previous public health findings that abstinence-only education programs don’t succeed in reducing rates of teen pregnancies or STDs. This, combined

NEWS

with lack of access to abortion will further increase teen pregnancy rates. Increase in teen pregnancy leads to generational poverty and lower high school graduation rates. The increase of kids in the foster care system, and people having to rely on government assistance will result in taxpayers from all over the country having to subsidize Texas through federal spending.

More people will die through unsafe abortions. The reality of this law is that it prevents safe abortion. Desperate people will still try to get an abortion any way they can, including “back alley” abortions. Part of the reason Roe V. Wade was decided in the first place was because Norma McCorvey was planning to seek a back alley abortion and conveyed to the Supreme Court how dangerous this practice was.

Climate Change: The Fight for Our Lives

By CAEDMON SETHUPATHY

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limate Change. These two words are used in popular culture so much these days. Despite this, many people still don’t know what this term means. Climate change is the process of the earth slowly warming or cooling over a period of time—not day to day weather, but the overall temperature across the globe on a larger time scale. This doesn’t sound scary, right?

Global warming and freezing events have happened before.

Hello? The Ice Age, right? Well, it turns out that climate change, a process that would ordinarily take a long period of time, is happening much faster than usual. Why? Well, sad as it is to hear, modern humans are to blame. Current lifestyles and high energy consumption, coupled with the rise in fossil fuel use over the past 100 years has led to humans rapidly changing our environment for the worse. Humans weren’t heavily involved in previous warming or freezing events, so the changes in the environment, like increases in carbon dioxide concentration (which causes global warming), occurred much more slowly. But nowadays, technologically advanced humans are changing our environment at a much faster pace, and carbon dioxide concentration rates are rising more dramatically than ever seen in the past 400,000 years.

Global temperatures have risen by 1 degree Celsius since the Industrial Revolution. 1 degree may not sound like much, but it can actually have huge impacts. If the global temperature rises by 1 more degree, we will see a dramatic increase in the rate of natural disasters like hurricanes and forest fires. The polar ice caps will also melt, resulting in sea levels rising another 20 feet over the next century or two. This would have an end result of swamped coastlines and permanently flooded cities. We could start to see the aforementioned problems if we allow the temperature to rise even another 0.5 degrees. Unfortunately, we are rapidly approaching this mark. If we don’t modify our behavior

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and public policies, the earth’s temperature is projected to increase by approximately 2 degrees in the next 80 years, or possibly sooner. This article is about what we as Americans can do to stop climate change, and how current public policy plans claim to do it.

Let’s go back to 2019. The Green New Deal resolution was written and quickly became a hot topic. The main promoter of the resolution was the ambitious young NY congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Green New Deal is a 14 page document that outlines the climate crisis and the need for quick and decisive action. One misconception about the Green New Deal is that it’s a policy or bill. In reality, it’s a call to action on a defined set of goals. The resolution tries to convey two big ideas. The first is that dramatic action on addressing climate change is needed fast, and that incremental steps are no longer effective. The second is that we need to guarantee jobs for people who lose theirs during the transition away from fossil fuel energy. Training for new jobs needs to be provided, along with health care benefits.

The Green New Deal has become extremely controversial.

Some objectors say that it is too vague or that it complicates the issue of climate change by tying in healthcare rights and other proposals. Supporters argue that it is important to bring in linked issues because only then can we figure out a plan that will have less of a domino effect on other sectors of American society.

Recently, substantive climate change policy proposals have been developed. During the 2020 presidential primaries, the Democratic candidates each pledged varying amounts of money towards climate change, ranging from under 2 trillion dollars to more than 16 trillion.

The current federal plan to deal with climate change is the one originally proposed by President Joe Biden during his campaign.

It suggests a government investment of 1.7 trillion dollars—much less than the plans proposed by others who ran against him. He plans to pay for this project in part by doing away with the tax cuts for very wealthy people and corporations that were implemented under the Trump administration. Biden’s plan calls for net zero emissions by 2050 as well as the creation of 10 million new jobs in the green energy sector. The plan is not quite as ambitious as those proposed by the likes of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, but it’s certainly a far cry from the lack of action against climate change during the Trump administration. One interesting difference between Biden’s and Sanders’ plans is that Sanders planned to declare climate change a national emergency, which would provide substantially more executive power to push climate change bills into law. Biden is not intending to take this route, which has frustrated more progressive members of the Democratic party. Moderates, however, are more likely to agree and work together with him.

So what can ordinary citizens do? It’s important to do the small things. Switching to recycling, and using green energy like solar or wind power for your electricity. These changes can have a huge impact if everyone does it together. People also need to listen to the bills being put in place and go out and vote for those who will implement climate saving public policies.

The US needs to take action now. The fate of the world hangs in the balance. But hope is not lost. There have already been repercussions for our mistakes, and there will inevitably be a lot more.

But if we as a society move in the right direction, we can still make the world a better, cleaner, and more healthy place to live. It’s our fight. And what we choose to do will affect not only us, but generations to come.

NEWS

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How the Shadow Docket is Shaping Today’s Supreme Court

By MUKUND GAUR Image courtesy of USA Today

The current Supreme Court s the highest court of law in the nation, the Supreme Court is expected to be incorruptible, principled, and just.

Cases that appear before them can sometimes take years to get there and are high-profile affairs that may last months.

However, lately, more than ever, the justices have been operating in the dark. Decisions that may shape the nation are happening out of the public eye. But how can the most prestigious court in the country be so invisible? The answer to this question lies in a little-known procedure called the shadow docket. It allows the Supreme Court to, in cases of emergency, release a ruling much more quickly. This process is not well known simply because it is used so infrequently. But, in recent months, the shadow docket has been utilized by the court on decisions ranging from immigration to abortion.

But first, what even is the shadow docket? Normally, a Supreme Court case on the ordinary docket will have months of oral argument before a decision is made, and when the court does make its decision, it will release a long opinion on the case.

These cases normally wind their way up through other courts before reaching the Supreme Court, and many of these courts provide full reviews of the case. On the other hand, a case on the shadow docket requires only one litigant to apply to a justice.

The justice can then decide whether to send the case to the rest of the court. If five out of the nine judges grant the request, and the case meets several requirements, it will be addressed by the Supreme Court. These cases collectively are known as the shadow docket. Cases on the shadow docket do not involve any oral arguments and have few briefings. They are usually decided within a week.

What this means is that a case on the shadow docket faces much less scrutiny than a case on the ordinary docket. As these cases have no oral arguments, justices often have much less information about the case and have little interaction with the participants. Rulings are generally released without the majority’s legal reasoning for their decision. These expedited rulings have

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come under criticism from legal experts, many of whom cite them as abuse of the Supreme Court’s vast power. This criticism has intensified in recent years as the shadow docket has been used more and more frequently. During Trump’s presidency between 2016 and 2020, the procedure was used twenty times more often than in either of the previous two eight-year presidencies.

The use of the shadow docket in the past few years has also broken many norms compared to its usage in the past. Consider the success rate of shadow docket cases during the Trump administration. Out of 41 cases, the Trump administration won 28, a 70% success rate. During the sixteen years of the Bush and Obama administrations, just eight cases were filed on the shadow docket, and only four of them were granted. The use of the shadow docket has been a normal procedure within the Supreme Court for many years, but its use during the Trump administration as a method of undoing the actions of lower courts was a major change compared to its use in the past.

These applications of the shadow docket have not stopped with the Biden administration. For instance, the Supreme Court’s recent decision on Texas’s new restrictive abortion law, made on the shadow docket, was surprising in that the decision did not address the constitutionality of the law, but still allowed the law to stand. The majority decision noted, “In particular, this order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas’s law.” Even some of the justices protested this use of the shadow docket. Opposing Justice Elena Kagan wrote, “Today’s ruling illustrates just how far the Court’s ‘shadow-docket’ decisions may depart from the usual principles of appellate process.”

The shadow docket is an obscure process, but in today’s Supreme Court, its use is beginning to look more and more like a norm, rather than a rare exception. The shadow docket’s power to keep the general public in the dark about a decision differs greatly from a normal Supreme Court decision. As the procedures of the Supreme Court continue to evolve into the future, only time will tell what a Supreme Court decision may look like years from now.

Image courtesy of Hannah Shvets

Part of the Beyond Art exhibit on The Commons

by Hannah Shvets

NEWS

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Remembering 9/11 Twenty Years Later

By ADDIE HOULE-HITZ

TW: depictions of violence, islamophobia and suicide

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he most crystal clear skies you’ve ever seen, streaked with smoke.

When asked what people remember so clearly about September 11th, the most common response I’ve gotten is how beautiful a day it was. It was that perfect fall weather where it isn’t too cold nor too warm, where there’s a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Most of my family was in or around the general New York City area, but the first thing that they say when I ask them what they remember is how blue the sky was. Twenty years later, and they still remember that blue sky.

At 8:46 a.m., September 11, 2001, the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan was hit by American Airlines Flight 11 after it was hijacked by five men working for Jihadist terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., the South Tower was hit by hijacked Flight 175. Both towers were 110 stories tall and collapsed within an hour and forty-two minutes of being struck. Passengers and crew members said that the hijackers were armed with tear gas, pepper spray, knives, and what were later, after investigation by the FBI, determined to be fake bombs. All 147 passengers and crew mates aboard the flights were killed, as well as the 10 hijackers. Somehow, stairwell A of the South Tower was left intact, which allowed 18 people from both the floors of impact and the four floors above them to escape. The number of civilians who died in the South Tower was less than half of those who died in the North Tower as a result of many evacuating the building as soon as the North Tower was hit. A combination of thick smoke and intense heat prevented helicopters from being able to approach the towers, leading at least 200 people from the floors above the points of impact to jump to their deaths as can be seen in the famous photograph The Falling Man. The third flight, Flight 77, flew into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., and a fourth flight, Flight 93, was targeted for what is believed to be either the Capitol or the White House. However, the flight’s cockpit voice recorder revealed that the brave crew and passengers of Flight 93 tried to seize control of the plane, and at 10:03 a.m. the plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. There were no survivors from any of the hijacked flights.

The rubble of the towers took months to clear, and was finally finished in May of 2002. However, some buildings, like The Borough of Manhattan College’s Fiterman Hall, remained closed until 2012. Reparations to the city and citizens began almost immediately, and vigils and support were offered from people all around the world as everyone tried to recover. In total, the attacks of 9/11 resulted in the deaths of 2,996 people as well as more than 6,000 injuries. When talking about the attacks, many focus on placing the blame upon who is responsible and the graphic images that many of us were exposed to far too young.

However, I think that it’s far more important to focus on the

citizens it affected; those who lost loved ones or were lost to the attacks and the blatant discrimination that followed.

Twenty years later, the effects of 9/11 are still being felt around the world. Many people of Muslim faith are still experiencing bias and discrimination as a result of the attacks. Crimes such as vandalism and arson were carried out upon mosques and other religious buildings, and the harassment of Muslim and South Asian communities reached terrifying heights following the attacks. Members of these communities are subject to what is said to be “random screenings” at airports, which involve invasive procedures such as Muslim women being forced to take their hijabs off. Nafees Syd, a Muslim, New York based writer and lawyer, said to the New York Times “I have to go an extra hour earlier than anybody else, because it’s not random checking”.

On the anniversary of the attacks, many places across the world fell deafeningly silent to honor those who passed. In London, 67 candles were lit to honor the British victims who passed, and European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen sent her message of support to “those who lost their lives” as well as “those who risked everything to help them.” Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister, published a statement saying “As we reflect on the tragedy of 9/11, let’s not forget all the people who stepped up and met the horror and heartbreak of that day with courage and kindness.”

Although twenty years have passed, the effects of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 are still being felt all over the globe. However, many people would agree that after the attacks, many banded together and tried to lift each other up. The terrifying experience, the effects of which are still being felt by many today, reminds us to “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” - Mister Rogers (1928-2003)

Image courtesy of 911memorial.org

Exterior of the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City

OPINION

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Astrology: What Gives?

Are our lives written in the stars?

IHS students were asked whether or not they believe in astrology and how they feel about its prevalence in modern society.

Here are two different perspectives.

ADDIE HOULE-HITZ

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lot of people know, or have at least heard of astrology.

Depending on the time, date and place of your birth, you can find out what planets were in which of the twelve houses of the zodiac when you were born. Most people know their sun sign, the one that depends on birth month, and a few people know their moon and rising signs on top of that. In addition to all of those, some people (myself included) know their birth chart.

The birth chart corresponds to where you were born, what time and day it was, and where the planets and nodes were at that time. Birth charts can be very complicated to read, but are they really helpful in getting to know a person or is it all a myth?

I won’t go into all the details on my birth chart; it reveals far too much about me and where I was born. However, I will say that I am a Leo. Leos are a fire sign—along with Aries and Sagittarius—and are often associated with majesty and power.

Many people either find that their sign doesn’t suit them at all or find that it suits them a little too well. In the past year (and some change) of getting to know myself over quarantine, I’ve learned that being a fire sign really does reflect me. This isn’t to say that I think you can solve all of life’s problems based on your zodiac sign, but I think they can sometimes be a good indicator of your personality type.

So what are the zodiacs? What do they mean? Well, your sun sign, the one most people are aware of, corresponds to the month you were born in. The sun sign is how you most resonate with yourself, while your rising sign represents how you’re perceived and how you carry yourself. The ranges of birthdays for each zodiac sign vary based on what calendar you use. If you were born on an in-between date (normally around the early 20s of the month), you may have a different zodiac depending on your source. This brings me to another reason why I think that people rely a little too much on astrology sometimes. If you were to blame someone’s actions on them having a certain sun sign, only to discover that you don’t truly know their sign, your argument is highly flawed. There’s no reason to use it as a scapegoat, yet far too often, people do. Instead of basing your opinion of someone on their zodiac sign, It’s much more effective to get to the root of your issue with that person.

Do I think astrology is a myth? Well, the short answer is no, but it really is a difficult question. I think that the people who use it to excuse their issues are missing the overall point of astrology, which is to help find other people like you. However, astrology can help build bonds between people who wouldn’t normally interact, simply because of when they were born. I think it’s something that everyone should look into, if not for the reason of forging relationships, then simply because it’s fun. *** LOUISA MILLER-OUT

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tars massively impact our lives. Well, one star in particular.

It’s called the sun. And as it lives and dies, so will we, just at

a much faster rate. It radiates energy, which cycles through ecosystems and reaches us humans after passing through one or more chemical pathways that evolved specifically to harness it for life functions! It keeps most of the planet at a nice, survivable temperature for humans, which is unsurprising as we did evolve on this planet, and a species can’t very well evolve if it can’t survive. Oh, and it’s responsible for the seasons, and day and night and everything in between too. The sun has shaped our entire history as a species and continues to affect us every single day, distributing everything from vitamin D to seasonal depression.

And the moon deserves an honorable mention for its work on the tides and waves. Remarkable stuff. Great for surfing.

But besides the sun and moon brightening or darkening our mood and telling us when we should probably be sleeping, do the positions of celestial objects have any influence on us? Science says no. In a study of over 4000 participants, researchers concluded that there was no relationship whatsoever between date of birth and either personality or general intelligence. And astrologers performed no better than random chance at predicting personality traits in a famous double-blind experiment published in Nature.

Ironically, this much-disproven pseudoscience has more power over people than the stars themselves. Around 30% of American adults believe in astrology. Most of these believers will make life decisions and judgements about other people based on the position of certain distant constellations or their birth month, thanks to the significance assigned to these random data in the form of horoscopes. Let me tell you a little secret: horoscopes are entirely fabricated. Yes, even the Tattler ones (although you should still read ours, they’re excellent). No one should put any more stake in a horoscope than a stranger’s opinion, because that’s essentially what they are.

The only science behind horoscopes is psychology. They’re intentionally vague, applying to such a broad population that nearly everyone who reads them can find something to relate to.

Thus, people are more likely to accept their horoscope as accurate information, a phenomenon known as the Barnum effect.

Humans also generally like to read nice things about themselves, and horoscopes are often positive to appeal to this self-serving bias. Finally, a lot of people are constantly searching for meaning in this cold, cold universe, and feeling momentarily understood by a magazine or Instagram post can provide a temporary sense of cosmic reassurance, much as religion can. In the same way that some people feel supported by the deities they worship, subscribers to astrology derive comfort from believing that the universe has their back.

Personally, I see no point whatsoever in astrology. My awareness of the psychology behind its appeal prevents me from feeling like my destiny is written in the stars. I can’t access the sense of security that less skeptical people glean from astrology, and that sounds sad at first. But I find joy and cosmic satisfaction elsewhere, from reading about fascinating scientific discoveries to scribbling poems in my journal to simply feeling the sun on my skin. One can self-reflect, feel connected to the universe, and marvel at the intricacies of the human experience without having to construct pseudoscientific explanations for everything, and I’m living proof. ***

OPINION

9

IHS Connects’ Value Needs To Be Reevaluated

By LOKE ZHANG-FISKESJÖ

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ecently, The Tattler Board conducted a school-wide survey via email to assess student opinion about IHS Connects, which had collected 317 responses at the time of writing. While it does not account for every single student’s views and only represents students who took the time to fill out the survey, a majority of respondents (68.4 percent) felt that IHS Connects was not beneficial.

Do you feel that IHS Connects is beneficial/worth having?

The very fact that nearly a quarter of the school’s students disapprove of IHS Connects’ existence signals that something isn’t working here. An eleven-minute video at the end of the day that shaves off valuable class time is something that the student body and some teachers may not be very fond of. Anecdotally, students have been laughing at or fully ignoring the video when it’s turned on. Many reference the subjects’ monotone presentations and content and joke about not being able to film it outside (though this is apparently due to filmmaking constraints).

Although technical aspects such as these may improve (by how much we can’t predict), the amount of time IHS Connects takes up compared to its value is of definite concern.

How would you feel about a 10-15 minute break for everyone between classes at some point in the middle of the day (for eating, study hall, etc)? This would be done by following the Wednesday schedule and in place of IHS Connects (or an alternative IHS connects that allows eating/talking with teachers instead)

Ninety-three percent of respondents suggested that IHS Connects should be modified or even replaced with a midday lunch break. This wouldn’t allow for a universal lunch, as Connects occurs on a single day, but regardless, the overwhelming majority of respondents suggest modifying it.

In a recent Student Council meeting, we discussed IHS Connects and its flexibility and found out that the reason Connects is at the end of the day is to reach BOCES students. The administrators in favor of Connects are very adamant about EVERY student viewing the video they post every week, referencing a rationale of “connecting the students.” But with current attitudes from a significant portion of the student body being negative towards Connects and attacking it with comments like “Trumble is Big Brother” (referencing 1984’s mass propaganda), it’s clear this is only widening the disconnect between students and staff and hurting IHS’ community morale.

As Student Council VP, I’m determined to make Class Representatives a more ideal, human, and flexible source of outreach.

Representatives, now two per class and with new foundations for their work, should be able to host presentations, discussions, and surveys in their class truly pertinent to the student body in a shorter span of time. Sure, this would take time off of social studies classes, but presentations would be biweekly and not remove time from literally EVERY class of the day as Connects does.

We students are the lifeblood of IHS, and students conversing among themselves about what they think and feel is a far more effective and human way of interconnecting a community than any canned presentation. You can’t converse with a video, and it’s absurd to subject students to another lecture that they feel they have no incentive nor ability to participate in.

Another notable change with IHS Connects is the disappearance of morning announcements. They did not demand your full attention and you could talk to friends or keep walking in the halls while having access to quick and relevant information for the present day. One did not have to glue their eyes to a projected video alongside its blaring audio that prevented them from working or resting in the midst of their academic pursuits.

While there are conversations about representing students on IHS Connects, I encourage you to question the form of Connects.

Perhaps it’d be better if it were not every week. Maybe the production quality could be improved to convey all the same points in a shorter amount of time. Perhaps it could furnish and raise awareness for virtual resources that students can access. Perhaps we could have an extra one or two minutes between classes, to get a bite and get to class on time; or maybe even a few minutes to relax, to speak with friends about what’s happening in their lives rather than school-related work for every minute of our waking days. While I do not necessarily advocate for the complete removal of IHS Connects, I do encourage its condensation or conversion into something that’s more productive and healthy for both the students and administration.

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OPINION

Fast Fashion: The Bane of the Modern Wardrobe and How to Combat It

By SIMON COHEN

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s the global climate continues to deteriorate, many have started to question some of their consumption habits.

This has made us aware of various ways in which the industries we participate in wreak havoc on the planet, and one notable culprit remains difficult to tackle; this silent menace in the climate debate is the fashion industry, more specifically fast fashion, which, according to the World Bank, accounts for around ten percent of annual global carbon emissions. It exists to provide clothing that is as cheap as possible as quickly as possible to people who want to follow current trends, which is a highly profitable business model, but by no means a sustainable one.

Younger generations are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of human activity on the environment, and in recent years, industries have been addressed in the sweeping attempts to turn the tide of climate change. And yet, fashion remains an enigma to many in the struggle for an environmentally-sound future. Not only is fast fashion largely unavoidable due to its convenience, but somehow the solutions to it have become largely gentrified. While thrifting has long been the first choice for affordable clothes for many families, as it becomes more popular prices have been steadily rising, not to mention that the best clothing will usually get snatched up by resellers buying in bulk.

This leads us to how another solution has been made more difficult to utilize: buying secondhand online. Depop has been around for a decade, and has undergone many changes since its inception. Originally, it was a network where people could buy items from creatives featured in PIG magazine, going on to be reimagined by Simon Beckerman to reach broader audiences.

From then on, Depop’s reach as a secondhand clothing retailer continued to grow, now reaching 30 million users worldwide, as stated by Depop themselves. But this too became less of a true solution to the pressing issues of the fashion world, and more of a quaint, aesthetic foray into secondhand clothing for privileged young “curators.” A tool meant for the masses became a money-making opportunity for the few as the platform came to be dominated by sellers buying in bulk from thrift stores and selling it on Depop at a massive markup. With the current condition of these once easily-accessible solutions, not to mention the condition of the fashion industry as a whole, it may seem impossible— but at one point we didn’t consume clothing this way.

When the US had a much stronger union presence during the 1940s and 50s, significantly more clothing was produced domestically by workers who were paid fair wages. Clothing was much more expensive, but it was of far better quality, so most people didn’t actually buy clothing that often. Rather, they would purchase items as they needed and put them through a wear-tear-re pair process until it was impossible not to buy a new item. How-

ever, as those unions’ power was regulated away and companies started outsourcing labor to countries with poorer labor protections, the pricing of clothing and its consumption was changed radically, as people got into the habit of buying more cheaply produced clothing for significantly lower prices. Unfortunately, today, buying clothing for 20 dollars or less that won’t last you more than a few months is the norm.

With changes this drastic, it may seem like an uphill battle to combat fast fashion, but given time and effort it remains possible to build a sustainable wardrobe of clothing you love. One way to increase the likelihood of finding well-priced clothing suited to your taste in thrift stores is to start going far more often. Most people go sporadically, find nothing and assume that’s the end, when in reality, consistency is the key to finding the right clothing for you. Once I started going more consistently, I realized how much easier it was to find items I liked for a fair price, and if more people adopt this strategy, they can sidestep the current issues with thrifting.

With second-hand websites, consider them more of a last resort than as a legitimate option to use to build an entire wardrobe. While the prices of their items are high, it’s far easier to find something you like there than in any old thrift store—so with that in mind, shop from platforms like Depop or Grailed when looking for more specific items that you’re much more invested in finding. As rare as they are, there are sellers using the platform as intended, buying and selling at very reasonable prices.

As far as what to do with what’s currently in your closet, getting into the habit of repairing your clothing is a great way to ensure your clothing has longevity. A great example is denim: it being such a strong material means it can be repaired over and over for years to come, with relics of this decade’s long practice fetching a pretty penny on vintage markets. Rather than replacing your jeans when they get holes or rips, find someone who can repair them or learn common methods of repairing, like sewing or patching.

Another great example of mending your clothes are boots. The vast majority of boots are made from leather, a durable material that molds to the wearer over time. With the notable exception of Doc Martens, whose “AirWair” soles are a nightmare to replace, most boots have soles that can be replaced or reinforced every few years with ease, another way in which their longevity can be extended. Because of this, boots are a great example of durable footwear that can serve you well for years on end.

Concerning other aspects of your closet, consuming sustainably really depends on the individual. Some people prefer having one sweater they take good care of and wear every day, while others prefer thrifting ten sweaters they rotate through at random—and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. As far

OPINION as material possessions go, your closet is almost as personal as you can get. Despite what some “minimalists” will tell you, it’s totally possible to have a wardrobe solely of things you love and rotate through regularly. After all, minimalism is more about seeing the beauty in anything and everything than it is about simply having as little as possible. But for those looking to bridge the gap between a larger eclectic wardrobe and a smaller more focused one, buying quality clothing that you love on occasion is a great way to ensure you have a closet of things you know you’re going to treasure and keep for years to come.

For a lot of people, fast fashion is largely unavoidable and the

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obvious alternatives seem more difficult to engage in, but with slight changes in our consumption habits and how we approach various alternatives, we can build focused, stylish, and sustainable closets that are perfectly suited to our tastes. One final note in closing: if some of these solutions are unattainable, we need not blame ourselves for it. After all, why blame ourselves for the climate crisis when the Climate Accountability Institute says that 71 percent of carbon emissions are attributable to a handful of companies? Instead, realize that it’s better to do what we can, when we can, with whatever we’ve got, while still understanding the brunt of the blame does not fall on us as individuals.

When Did the Supreme Court Become Political?

By WILL THOMAS

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hen a group of nine middle-aged to elderly unelected legal experts are charged with determining the scope and constitutionality of the entirety of the nation’s laws, that group will inevitably be engulfed in discourse. In 1803, the Supreme Court gave itself the power of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison, essentially creating a new check on the power of the government and making itself the arbiter of that power. With this new ability, it upheld racist institutions and ensured that white, male hegemony stayed in place. It continually held Black citizens as less than human and upheld the theft of Indigenous land and property.

This dynamic continued until the early 20th century, into what became known as the “Lochner” era of the Court. This era was marked by the Supreme Court striking down any attempts

by President Roosevelt to intervene in the economy, inferring substantive due process rights in the economy, and creating a variety of conflicts with Roosevelt’s New Deal policy. President Roosevelt threatened to use his power to expand the Court to pack it with like-minded justices, which sparked the creation of a new policy: judicial restraint, led by Justice Felix Frankfurter.

That era of restraint and deferral to the legislature continued until the ascendance of the “Warren Court,” which delivered rulings expanding civil rights and bolstering democracy. This Court and many of its members are responsible for our current, somewhat overly rosy, view of the Supreme Court’s history.

For too long, the Supreme Court has been viewed as a way of advancing civil rights without having to go through the political process. That view has been vindicated by cases like Obergefell v. Hodges, but it should be noted that for every major win, there have been two new losses to come with it. Citizens United and the recent holdings about voting rights come to mind. The truth is that the Court rarely acts to drastically create new rights as they did in Obergefell. More often than not, our precedent-dependent system upholds the status quo. That’s the vast majority of what the Court has done in the past; the Court delivers on just enough progress to maintain the facade that it is more reasonable and less divided than our other political institutions, but never enough to alter the balance of power in America.

The Court has been political since 1803. It is not better than

our other branches of government; it’s just better at pretending to be. Due to the general ineptitude of the other branches, it has managed to look calm and competent by contrast. Organizations like the Federalist Society feed conservative judges who deliver rulings that keep a broken status quo in place, and there is no liberal or leftist response. Everyone loves the idea of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but nobody seems to acknowledge her very real flaws and the issues with idealizing those who uphold unjust conditions. We really like pretending that the Court is a sacred and honorable body above the fray of partisan politics, but we desperately need to add court reform to the long list of essential institutional reforms needed in America. Otherwise, we continue to let nine unelected, partisan, political operatives determine what We The People are allowed to change about our country.

An institution reliant on the decision making of other bodies can never truly be better than those bodies. Maybe we take the optimistic view of the Court because its flaws are not entirely its fault, or its responsibility to fix. That doesn’t mean that those flaws aren’t there—pretending otherwise could be the downfall of all hope for institutional reform.

Downtown Ithaca (1) by Hannah Shvets

OPINION

12

Clothing Sizes, Diet Culture, and Capitalism: How Does It All Tie Together?

By HANNAH SHVETS Content warning: mentions of eating disorders, dieting, binge eating

I

t’s the week before school starts, around 20 months after I first began eating disorder recovery, and I open up Shein to look for some new clothes. After years of keeping clothes too small for me as “inspiration,” I feel ready to get a new wardrobe.

For once, I look for clothes that fit my body instead of trying to change my body to fit my clothes. Less than ten minutes in, I discover that none of the “trendy” online websites have my sizes, besides in the occasional plus-size section. For someone with a lifetime of body dysmorphia, feeling once again that my body isn’t “normal” was a huge setback. I come to you today to ask “why?” What is the point of labeling sizes as either “straight” or “plus,” besides to shame (mostly) women, and further promote diet culture?

“Women’s” clothing is already confusing enough; every store has a different definition of a small, medium, large, extra-large, et cetera. More objective sizing methods are based on the actual measurement of clothing. Men’s sizing tends to utilize these much more often, having pants labeled with both width and length, for example. There’s no reason for women’s sizing to be different, yet it usually is. There’s also no reason to have an entirely different section starting at size 12 or 14 labeled as “plussize.” It’s unclear who draws the line between these two sections and why it exists; it would be so much simpler to have all the sizes in one place, where people can select their size no matter how large or small they are. These divisions between the sizes place unnecessary stress and embarrassment on those just trying to buy fabric to cover their body in.

The motive behind these labels is really quite simple: profit.

Let’s examine a common chain of events, similar to something I have personally experienced. A woman walks into a store, excited to buy a new dress for an upcoming event. She searches all over, but her size isn’t there. Eventually, the manager of the store directs her to a small section in the back of the store, with half the selection and nothing she finds even a bit visually appealing: the plus-size section. When this woman returns home, she immediately opens up her computer for one of the following: diet pills, nutritionists, or workout plans/gym membership. Another option—one I myself relate to much more—is to go and buy some food, preferably carbs, and eat the shame away. Whichever one she decides to choose, someone or some company is receiving money they otherwise wouldn’t have received. It is in our society’s best interest—a society run by capitalism, and more specifically, the greed of large corporations—to belittle people every step of the way to make more money.

At the end of the day, the decision on who is “fat” and who

isn’t is not backed up by science—it’s backed up by capitalism. In 1998, 29 million more Americans became classified as overweight by body mass index (BMI) all at once. It’s clear that millions of people didn’t just gain large amounts of weight overnight; the reality is that what is considered overweight based on BMI was lowered. Interestingly enough, the person who made the decision to lower the overweight range was Columbia University professor of medicine Xavier Pi-Sunyer (chairman of the National Institute of Health), who also happened to be consulting for several diet drug manufacturers and Weight Watchers (Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America’s Obesity Epidemic, by Eric Oliver). A very curious coincidence, don’t you think?

Countless doctors have run studies that show that being in the “overweight” range of BMI doesn’t actually put you at a higher risk of dying young—it’s often the exact opposite. As I’m not a doctor or a researcher, I won’t try to summarize these findings and potentially miss important information. Instead, I’ll leave you with this quote: A 2013 meta-analysis by the National Center for Health Statistics looked at 97 studies covering nearly three million people and concluded that those with overweight BMIs were six percent less likely to die in a given year than those in the normal range. These results were even more pronounced for middle-aged and elderly people. This is known as the obesity paradox. ‘The World Health Organization calls BMIs of 25 to 29.9 overweight,’ says Paul McAuley, an exercise researcher at Winston-Salem State University. ‘That is actually what is healthiest for middle-aged Americans’ (Broadwater, Women Advance).

If you have time to look into this, it would be useful both educationally and simply to overcome some insecurities you may have because of your own weight or BMI. This may seem like a big, pointless rant, but it all relates to my original point: the names of the sizes you wear mean nothing, they’re just there to make you feel bad. Everybody would benefit from more objective clothing sizes rather than unnecessary labels stuck onto your clothes to tell you that you’re “petite” or “plus-sized.”

In conclusion, it’s all a scam. You’re not abnormal if you wear plus-sized clothing; the average size of American women actually fits into what most stores classify as plus-sized, or XXlarge. As for being “fat,” there’s nothing wrong with that just like there’s nothing wrong with being “skinny”—they’re just adjectives—but it’s still important to remember how subjective those labels are, and how much they’re influenced by the greed of old, rich, white men.

OPINION

13

Safety vs. Identity: The Moral Struggle of Colleges Reopening During the Pandemic

By NATALIE PATRONE

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he city of Ithaca is predominated by its higher education system. With both Cornell University and Ithaca College (IC) hosting a total of around 29,000 students, countless aspects of Ithaca revolve around college students.

The stores being wiped clean at the beginning of the semester, the hotels filling up around graduation, and the presence of a bustling collegetown all point towards the importance of Cornell and IC to the economy and the community.

Only a few days after the start of the new semester in late August, the Tompkins County COVID-19 active case number spiked to an all-time high, reaching a record of over 360 active cases. The last time the active case count was that high was early January. At the beginning of the school year, 95 percent of Cornell students were vaccinated, and yet hundreds of students tested positive every week. In the first weeks of the semester, the positivity rate was 2.7 percent, and Cornell was a yellow COVID-19 threat level, which is a moderate threat level initiated when certain thresholds are reached, including 25-50 percent of the isolation spaces being occupied, and/or the numbers of new cases per 100,000 people being in the range of 10-49 for a week. Although the number of Covid cases on Cornell’s campus have since dropped, there is still concern that they might rise again.

With fall semesters gearing up and cases on such a significant rise, discussions have started to arise about vaccine mandates in colleges and their rigidity.

In New York State, no public universities grant religious exemptions to the vaccine.

Both IC and some of Cornell’s undergraduate colleges are private, however, giving them the right to allow religious exemptions, which is a right they are both exercising. Both Cornell and IC expect that a very small number of students will plead religious exemptions, letting them

reach herd immunity anyway. But how do the colleges “test” the faith of the students seeking religious exemptions, to make sure that they aren’t dodging vaccination for other reasons?

Most major religions aren’t against the use of the vaccine anyway, except for the religions that are against the pork components that might be included in it.

(Note: many vaccines do use gelatin to stabilize the ingredients in the vaccine, but Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca have all released statements that they do not include gelatin in their vaccine. Vaccines that have received limited approval for release, like Johnson & Johnson, have neither confirmed nor denied the presence of gelatin.) In addition to religions against the consumption of pork, Christian Scientists and Roman Catholics are the main denominations that ask for religious exemptions.

The main belief of the Christian Scientists is that matter is an illusion and that suffering can be most effectively healed by redemption and repentance. Many Christian Scientists therefore believe that COVID-19 is an illusion. In this case, vaccines are seen as unnecessary to end the pandemic and keep people healthy.

For many Catholics, the alleged use of fetal cells in the creation of the vaccine indirectly supports abortion. It is true that several decades ago, the cells of aborted fetuses were used to make the fetal cell lines that were used in the research and development stages of many vaccines, but there were no actual cells taken from aborted fetuses in use during any stage of the process for any of the vaccines.

The issue lies here: If there is no direct link between the support of abortion and taking the vaccine, is the plea for a religious exemption valid? In the end, it has to be. The colleges are not constitutionally able to prioritize one religious belief over another. If a Catholic student does

not want to indirectly support abortion, the college cannot reject their plea on the basis that the student’s belief isn’t strong enough.

These issues are obviously sensitive and personal, which makes dealing with them complex. Institutions have to toe the line between ensuring the safety of the majority of their student population and respecting the identities of their students as well. There is no clear-cut answer to this issue, but the facts are such: this summer, the active case count skyrocketed from around 100 active cases to above 400 in the early days of the fall semester. Currently, the numbers are hovering around 200. The death toll has risen as well. While vaccinations greatly reduce the risk of hospitalization or death due to COVID-19, asymptomatic cases in vaccinated people are dangerous to the members of the community who aren’t vaccinated, including those with philosophical and religious objections.

Cornell and IC have both permitted religious exemptions, allowing some of their students to feel more included and heard within their walls, but they can become a danger to themselves and others. In the end, religion is an enormously large part of some people’s identity, and that fact shouldn’t be taken lightly. Religious exemptions grant many students personal freedoms and validate their identities, but it is hard to gatekeep who and what deserves these privileges. This isn’t the only moral issue. Allowing religious exemptions in the first place is a hard decision.

The fall semester is underway, and the students who have been granted exemptions have already returned to campus. As the year continues, we can only wait and see the results of the choices that both IC and Cornell have made, and whether their risk to allow a small portion of their students to be exempt from vaccination was wise at all.

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OPINION

Should the Covid-19 Vaccine Be Mandated in ICSD?

By MARLEY THOMSON

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urrently, in the United States, 55 percent of the population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and the number is continuing to rise. Despite more than half of the population being fully vaccinated, Covid cases, especially those from the Delta variant, continue to rise. Why is that, may you ask? Well, the answer is simple. The more unvaccinated people who think life is back to normal for them who go out and spread Covid, the more Covid is allowed to mutate into new strains. People who are against vaccination and mask-wearing are the ones you see outside the most, while the people who have taken responsibility for their health and that of others are the most cautious.

As of May 13, 2021, everyone aged 12 and up is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. At almost every CVS and Walgreens you can walk in, say “May I get a Covid vaccine?” and walk out vaccinated. Despite Covid vaccines being readily available in the majority of the country, especially New York, people have various excuses. “I didn’t have time to get the vaccine,” one person told me while I was at summer camp. How can it be possible that you didn’t have time to get the vaccine?

In order to do many things, such as be at camp, a negative Covid test is required. And where do you get a Covid test? CVS and Walgreens. And where do you get a Covid vaccine? CVS and Walgreens. That’s one excuse I’ve just disproven, onto the next.

“I can’t get to a vaccination site such as CVS or Walgreens.”

Well you’re in luck because Uber will drive you to and from any vaccination site for FREE, and then again in three weeks for your second dose! Two excuses down, a million more to go. “I don’t trust what is in the vaccine, I care about what I put in my body.”

If you care about what you put in your body, why were you just eating fast food which contains all sorts of carcinogenic mystery ingredients? Why do you care what goes into your body when it comes to a vaccine, but not when it comes to vaping? Another excuse I deal with a lot (and my personal favorite) is “It’s against my religion.” How come your religion is important to you when it comes to protecting yourself and others, but not when deciding before having pre-marital sex, smoking, drinking, or gossiping?

If you are so confident that “God has my back,” why wear a seatbelt or look before crossing the street? Why have a lock on your door? Why take any precautions when it comes to your health or well-being? These are all questions this country needs to answer.

Back to the original question: should vaccines be mandated in the Ithaca City School District? The answer is yes. For those opposed to this who say “Schools shouldn’t be able to force students or staff to be vaccinated,” various vaccines have been mandated in schools for decades. Vaccines for diseases such as polio, diphtheria, meningitis, tetanus, and chicken pox have been required in all schools, and in New York State there is no religious exemption. COVID-19 vaccines should be just another addition to this list. The COVID-19 vaccine is free and much more accessible than these other vaccines and will help us move on from this pandemic.

This vaccine’s FDA-approved status goes to show how much research and proof there is to support its effectiveness. It is not fair to students and staff to have to go back to school in person and risk getting Covid because ICSD isn’t requiring vaccines or testing at the moment. This puts our whole community at risk, not just students.

We can fix this low vaccination rate by having a vaccination site at Ithaca High School, where everyone is of age to receive the vaccine, and where the most students in ICSD attend. Soon the Pfizer vaccine will be approved for five to eleven-year-olds, and we can then establish vaccine sites at our elementary and middle schools as well. Providing vaccines at ICSD schools will eliminate the “I don’t have access” excuse even more because students will be able to get vaccinated right at their school! In order to improve turnout to these vaccine sites, we can spread factual information about the COVID-19 vaccine, since misinformation is another major barrier.

In conclusion, a Covid vaccine mandate will keep ICSD staff and students safe, as shown with other diseases. The most important thing is keeping us alive so we can continue our education and grow as a community.

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15

Teacher Feature: New Teachers in the English Department

By RAIA GUTMAN

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ast year’s online and hybrid learning—featuring students interacting with students through masks and screens—did not offer much of an opportunity to get to know the new teachers in the building. Even their students, many of whom learned online, built limited familiarity with them. The purpose of this Teacher Feature series is to introduce Tattler readers to the wonderful new teachers who have joined the faculty, whether you sit in their classroom every day or have never heard their name. First up is the English department, welcoming two brandnew teachers and four others who started last year: Ms. Abigail Cole, Mr. Daniel Toronto, Ms. Neha Marolia, Mr. Scott Riess, Ms. Leticia Perez Thomson, and Mr. Steven D’Alterio. I interviewed Ms. Cole, Mr. Toronto, Ms. Marolia, and Mr. Riess to get a sense of what they each bring to the school. I interviewed them separately, and this transcript combines their answers to each of my questions. My questions are in italics, and their answers are in normal text, designated by their names.

Image courtesy of Hannah Shvets

Image courtesy of Hannah Shvets

Mr. Riess Ms. Marolia: Absolutely. My name is Ms. Marolia. I am teaching AP Lang periods 1 and 2, and I teach English 11 R/H periods 6 and 8. And I’m also in the Reading and Writing lab seventh period.

What were you doing right before coming to IHS? Cole: I was teaching at a Chinese immersion school in western Massachusetts. I was there for five years, teaching middle and high school, and the most recent year I taught IB [International Baccalaureate] Language and Literature and IB Theater.

Ms. Cole First, I’d like you to introduce yourself and the classes you’re teaching this year.

Ms. Cole: I’m Ms. Cole. I use she/her pronouns. I’m teaching English 10 R/H and AP Lit and I have a section of the Reading and Writing Lab. Mr. Toronto: Yes, I am Daniel Toronto. I go by Mr. Toronto, and I’m teaching 9th grade English—five sections of 9th grade English this year.

Mr. Riess: Sure. I’m Scott Riess. I teach 11th grade Regents and Honors, which is a new class this year, mixing Regents and Honors instead of having them separated and individually tracked.

Toronto: Well, I’ve worked for [ICSD] a little bit in a different capacity, first. Last year I was a pre-K aide at South Hill Elementary, and I did that for a year and a half. And before that, we lived in Michigan, so we moved from Michigan at the end of 2019. And in Michigan, I worked as a reading and math aid for kids who weren’t meeting benchmarks and prior to that, I taught college English courses on a part time basis. Composition and Writing courses.

Riess: I taught at a prep school in Pittsburgh, PA. A private school. And it was really small, and I actually ran the academic support department there, so I worked with students who had ADHD, other learning differences like that. And then before that I was getting my master’s degree—but I’ve been teaching for a long time.

Marolia: Yes. I was a full time English teacher in Manhattan, New York. So in the city.

Continued on page 16

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Teacher Feature: New Faces in the English Department Continued from page 15 Tell me about your decision to teach or specifically to teach English.

interesting for them usually. So that’s more of a structure thing than a specific topic, but that’s my favorite.

Cole: Yeah, so I’ve wanted to teach for a really long time. I had an eighth grade science teacher who I really respected [...] and had a lot of fun with. And I found it seemed like a meaningful line of work to go into. As I continued on with my secondary education, I had a range of teachers who both inspired and de-inspired me. So I got a little bit of an attitude and wanted to be like, “I can do better,” but now, you know, I know how hard teaching is, and my attitude is substantially less intense. Yeah, so I studied Comparative Literature in college and then went to grad school—well, went to Guatemala to teach for a while and then went to grad school for teaching English, and here I am.

Toronto: I mean, I like it when I get to teach a novel. So when we’re looking at literature, particularly novels, because I like writing fiction, I like helping students understand fiction and some of the ways that I understand it being a writer myself.

Toronto: Well, I was looking for a variety of jobs, and the department head, Mr. Reiff, got in touch with me and said, “You might be interested in this job,” and he looked at my qualifications and he felt like I should apply, and it worked out. I’ve enjoyed teaching—this is my first time teaching high school English, and I guess the first time I taught came about when I started my Masters in Creative Writing, and part of my assistantship was teaching freshman Composition. So it sort of came with the territory—I was interested in getting the Creative Writing degree, and that came with teaching, which seemed like something I would like to do. But it wasn’t necessarily something I was always aiming for. It just sort of developed, and it was the thing that I enjoyed doing.

Riess: My decision to teach and to teach English was made when I was in college, sophomore year. Freshman year, I was not an English major—I was a Communications major. I wanted to go into coding and then I didn’t, and it fell through, for some reason I couldn’t transfer. And I said, “You know, I’m going to change to be an English teacher.” And I realized, holy crap, this is actually something I’m really, really good at. I think for a long time, I was pretending that I wanted to be something cooler—I wanted to work in a skyscraper. And I was denying the inner English nerd in me, but then I fully embraced it. And I’ve been a teacher mostly ever since.

Marolia: Yes. So I’m actually bilingual, and I really struggled with English when I was growing up. I slowly got better with vocabulary, reading, writing, and then by the time I was in high school, I was taking Honors and AP English classes, and I always say English kind of became my superpower. I think English is so powerful because it helps us communicate, so I’m really passionate about language.

What is your favorite topic or unit to teach?

Cole: [pauses] Interesting. That’s hard to answer. This is sort of a sidestep of the question, but I think my favorite process is when students develop their own projects. This is something that I’ve done with To Kill a Mockingbird in the past as well as non-literary texts, so students working with albums or visual art or movies, video games, that kind of thing. And I always find that’s really interesting when students sort of take the lead from the beginning because it’s less work for me and [laughs] more

Riess: I don’t know that I have just one. Right now, I’m really excited because we’re starting the book Brave New World—it’s not a text that every junior reads, but we’re going to be reading it. And it’s all about questioning the reality that you live in and questioning the social norms and conditions that you’re being given, specifically the ones that are trying to force you to act and be a certain way that maybe you don’t want to. I think it’s really applicable to everybody’s lives; my students’ lives. It affects everything from institutional racism to sexism, to dress code.

So students just get really energized, and that’s what makes it exciting to teach.

Marolia: Wow, I love it all. I really don’t have a favorite. No, everything I do during the year is very purposeful, so I do not have a favorite. They’re all different, but all just as meaningful, in my opinion.

What do you do outside of the classroom?

Cole: I used to play roller derby, but now my knees are really bad, so I don’t know that I’m going to go back to that. I play a lot of D&D [Dungeons and Dragons] and [...] I listen to a lot of podcasts.

Riess: All sorts of stuff. I do a lot of photography and film developing, which is really fun. I do a lot of outdoor stuff, biking, skiing. I went on a nice week-long bikepacking adventure this summer, that was really good. A lot of woodworking. I grew up working construction with my dad, and my grandfather and my uncles are all in the carpentry business. So I do a lot of carpentry, stuff here and there, and just explore around Ithaca, mostly.

Toronto: Well, I have two daughters. I’m married, I’m a family guy, so I like hanging out with them. I like to hike. I love the outdoors. I’m a bird watcher. I’m also a writer. I write fiction.

Marolia: I love to nap. I do love to read outside of the classroom. I like to travel, watch movies, hang out with friends, and just relax. I love going on walks, too.

Do you have a favorite author?

Cole: My go-tos are Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and N.K. Jemisin.

Toronto: I’ll say Virginia Woolf. She’s probably my favorite literary author. I really like To The Lighthouse. I like the way she conveys emotion and the way she conveys relationships.

Riess: Ooh, great English teacher question. We all get asked this. No, I don’t, because I love so many authors that it’s really,

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really hard to pick just one. So I’m just going to say no.

Marolia: I have a favorite book and a play. So I really like A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, and I really like Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler as well as Rupi Kaur!

What are you currently reading or if you’re not reading anything at the moment, what did you most recently finish?

Cole: Oh, my friend just gave me this—I don’t remember the title. It’s another book by the person who wrote Red White and Royal Blue. It’s like a— [cut off] [to Ms. Cole] Wait, are you reading One Last Stop?

Cole: Yeah, One Last Stop.

Oh my God, I just read that!

Cole: [Laughs] Okay. Yeah, my friend gave me that for my birthday a couple weeks ago, and, uh, so I just started that. I didn’t remember the title or the author.

It’s by Casey McQuiston.

Cole: That sounds right.

Toronto: I recently finished [Project Hail Mary] by Andy Weir, it’s sci-fi, and I am currently reading—oh, I forget the title. It’s in the Robert Jordan series. It’s a fantasy book. It’s the fourth one. [looks up title] The Shadow Rising. So it’s the fourth book in the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series.

Riess: Yeah, let’s see. I’m always reading a lot of different texts.

I just worked my way through Mary Oliver’s Upstream. [sound of mild disapproval] I just finished Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s [Wind, Sand and Stars]—he wrote The Little Prince—this is a nonfiction text about flying in the early 1900s. And I’m reading a book on Black Marxism by Cedric Robinson.

Marolia: Personally, the latest book I was reading this summer was a nonfiction text, and it was just talking about solitude and how America views it and why we kind of critique being alone and why we’re forced into these groups to always be social, basically.

Do you have a goal for this school year?

Cole: I’d like to make myself indispensable. I’m here on a oneyear position. My goal is to be awesome so that they keep me [laughs].

Toronto: Hmm. I guess my goal is to get students to engage in literature in ways that are meaningful for them.

Riess: Yeah, maybe. I have a couple. I think for one, I want students to feel comfortable in school again, and that involves a lot of social dynamics and also being comfortable learning, especially after the past year. So that’s one major goal. And the second major goal I think is for myself—to be more integrated into the

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school since last year I was hired in the middle of a pandemic.

I didn’t get to know a lot of other adults, a lot of my students, I even didn’t get to know them in person. I’d like to be more involved in the school community than I got to be last year.

Marolia: Just to be better than I was last year.

What was your English class experience like in high school?

Cole: I’m going to plead the fifth on that. ‘Cause I went to high school here.

Toronto: I guess I liked it. I liked reading books, and I liked talking about them, so it was enjoyable for me.

Riess: I was incredibly lucky to have predominantly fantastic teachers, I think, who pushed me to be better. Every single one of them, not just English teachers, but especially English teachers.

I was always a decent reader, decent writer. And so when a student is pretty good, it’s really easy for a teacher to just kind of let them pass—like I was a B student and I had teachers who would critique me and push me and tell me they knew I could do better than that. While still, you know, giving me good praise on things I did well, but not letting me rest. That was incredibly important. So yeah, it was a lot of the same things we do here—talking, taking AP tests.

Marolia: I loved it. I think the English department at my high school was very engaged. I took AP Language—now I’m teaching AP Language, so that’s kind of funny. And I took Syracuse University Project Advance English, so I took a class straight from Syracuse, so I got English credit for it. And I was just really passionate because I watched Crash [(2004)] senior year of High School, which I really liked, and we started talking about race and privilege. We had a whole Disney unit, and it was just really engaging. And then after the AP test junior year, we read No Exit, and I was never exposed to philosophy, so now I try to make room and space for 11 R/H to be exposed to philosophy through the play, No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre.

If you could create a class at IHS or teach a different one, what would it be?

Cole: I think my ideal class would be, like, Human Sexuality Through Literature. Which, you know, is not necessarily a class that—I don’t know if that would fly here or not. That would have to be something that I’d have to work pretty carefully on with existing stuff, and administration and all that. But I would like to take a look at that ‘cause I think—not only looking at queer authors, but also like how—I read a lot of romance novels, and I think that that’s been a really interesting site of feminism and empowering of one’s sexuality for those who don’t otherwise have a lot of access to that. If that class is too much, I don’t know, maybe a podcasting class. I’m not that good at it, though.

Toronto: I’ve taught creative writing before and I enjoy teaching creative writing, so I would enjoy that opportunity.

Continued on page 18

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Teacher Feature: New Faces in the English Department Continued from page 17 Do you have any pets?

Toronto: No, not right now.

Cole: Yes. I have an Australian cattle dog. Her name is Yuzu, which is a Japanese citrus fruit, and she is an absolute pain in the neck, but she’s also the cutest animal on this planet. So I tolerate her for that reason.

Riess: No, but I want to be.

Toronto: We have two guinea pigs, Pinecone and Sushi. [...] We got them during the pandemic. We needed a little more company.

Riess: I don’t have any pets, no. I like pets; I like cats, I like dogs. [...] I thought about it last year, like, “I’ll get a dog.” I was like, “what am I going to do with it?” I have plants, and I live on nice land. I take care of that land and grow things and have gardens and make maple syrup out of the maple trees. It’s not a pet, but it’s kind of like that. You’re tending it in some way.

Marolia: I don’t at the moment, but I am thinking about getting one in the future.

[To Ms. Marolia] What kind of pet would you get?

Marolia: Ok, so ideally I would love a Yorkie, which is a breed of dog, and I would name it Metaphor Marolia—so it’s actually alliteration. And then if I got a cat, I’d name it Fur-shadowing.

What do you like most about Ithaca?

Cole: I like the balance of the sort of pace of life and amount of things there are to do. Like, there’s a lot going on here with various people coming through from around the world and various interests that are sort of fleshed out of the university and the college. And at the same time, it’s not like a great deal of the ambient anxiety that you get in a big city.

So I like being able to also go, you know, sit next to a waterfall.

Toronto: I like how easy it is to access places of great natural beauty around here. The hikes and the waterfalls and the gorges.

Riess: Let’s see. I like the fashion. I’m going to say that. Between Cornell kids and IHS kids and LACS kids. For the size of town we are, we’re looking good around here. That’s what I’m going to say. Also, we have beautiful water, blah blah blah.

Marolia: Everyone is just so unique and down to earth, I think—inside the school and I’ve seen outside the school, everyone is passionate about something. Everyone—I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this—but pretty liberal and pretty accepting.

And I’m really grateful for that. And it’s also a college community! So like, it’s cool to see when the students are in town—and you definitely see the difference when they’re not here.

Are you involved in any other activities in ICSD? Cole: No—since I just started here, I’m just trying to keep my head above water with learning two new curricula and doing those adequately.

Marolia: Yes! So I am part of the Biliteracy Committee and we haven’t officially started, but basically it’s just promoting awareness and discussing and really bringing up the bilingual and the multilingual students in our community and kind of bringing awareness to how much they’re doing and how they grow and how they learn. I am also the new IHS Drama Club advisor, so I’m really excited to take on that, and our first meeting is tomorrow [September 23], so I’m excited to see how that goes, and learn and grow through that as well.

How and Where To Wear a Mask (P.S. Not on Your Forehead)

By RUBY LaROCCA

O

n January 20th of 2020, two full months before ICSD schools shut down, an email by internationally renowned epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm—the director of CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy)— was circulated to his colleagues, containing the following quote: It is clear now that we will see global transmission of the virus in the next week to 10 days. In short, I’m certain this will cause our next pandemic. There are just too many infections in China and in a highly mobile society to not expect the potential global reach of this virus. .....

Back in January of last year, Dr. Osterholm’s prescience was met with criticism, disbelief, and inaction by our institutions of public health. In the cacophony of voices telling us how to best protect ourselves from Covid, Osterholm’s is among the most knowledgeable (and, arrestingly, the most humble). He is meticulously non-partisan. Or, as he says, he’s rather unfashionably committed to leaving all politics aside and, as a scientist, “calling balls and strikes.” Now, with more information known about SARS-COV-2 and data emerging about the prevalent Delta variant, his guidance should figure centrally in the decisions we have to make about the ongoing pandemic and our future. The critical idea to mine from Osterholm’s warning is to be proactive,

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instead of reactive. Currently, the U.S.’—and ICSD’s—policies are reactive and are putting our children and students at risk.

The biggest challenge we face today is keeping students and their families safe while returning to in-person learning and re-opening the country. Unfortunately, one of the grossest mistakes we’ve made is to assume we can. At Ithaca High School, twenty to thirty students sit less than three feet apart in cramped classrooms with (at best) three windows open on one side. These rooms are not cross-ventilated—meaning they do not have two sides of windows open. There are few classrooms with fans and it remains unclear whether these rooms are being consistently filtered by HEPA installations. And, crucially, the majority of our students are not wearing adequate masks in an appropriate fashion.

The first thing to address is how one should wear a mask— any mask. To be effective, a mask must be positioned above the nose—which is (surprise!) a part of the respiratory system and can release and inhale infectious particles. Therefore, it is essential that the mask you choose to wear has a nose-piece—a piece of metal inserted into the mask that can be molded to fit the bridge of your nose. Your mask must be tightly secured around your face, leaving no pockets on the sides or bottom.

Image courtesy of Olmsted Medical Center

The next key step is knowing which masks we should be wearing. Admittedly, this is complicated by many factors—availability, finances, community culture, and even comfort. Instead of convincing any of you to buy a certain type of mask, I will simply present the facts: which masks are proven to be most effective, and which ones offer little in the way of protection.

Dr. Osterholm notes that any mask is better than no mask.

However, “cloth face coverings demonstrate very low filter efficiency for the smaller particles generated during breathing and talking, and even a well-fitting [cloth] face covering would not be very effective at lowering the emission or inhalation of small infectious particles.” According to the CIDRAP website, 239 W.H.O scientists have, in a recent letter, described the importance of small particle inhalation as an important mode of transmission.

Additionally, there is a very high proportion of presymptomatic and asymptomatic transmissions; in other words, infections can be and have been caused without large droplets from coughing and sneezing. On his June 2 episode of his weekly podcast on Covid, The Osterholm Update, Dr. Osterholm commented again on issues with cloth masking:

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[The general public] should be made aware that [cloth] masks may provide some benefit in reducing the risk of virus transmission, but at best it can only be anticipated to be limited. Distancing remains [one of the] most important risk reduction actions they can take...The messaging that dominates our COVID-19 discussions right now makes it seem that—if we are wearing cloth masks—you’re not going to infect me and I’m not going to infect you. I worry that many people highly vulnerable to life-threatening COVID-19 will hear this message and make decisions that they otherwise wouldn’t have made about distancing because of an unproven sense of cloth mask security.

In terms of efficacy, merely consider the amount of time certain masks provide protection from an infected individual in close proximity. According to Osterholm and studies confirmed

by CIDRAP, an unmasked individual may get infected within 15 minutes by the concentration of viral particles in a room. If you add a cloth face covering, it will only afford you an additional five minutes of protection. An N95 respirator, on the other hand—the only mask that protects yourself as well as others—can confer protection for hours on end. With a properly fitted N95, you can actually spend 25 hours in that same room and still be protected.

A step down from the heavy-duty N95 is the KN95—the respirator’s less effective, but more affordable and more comfortable cousin. Think in terms of your school day, which is about eight hours long. Think of how many people you come in close contact with during the day. And now consider that this news—about how little protection cloth masks offer—was alarming when we were talking about the pre-Delta variant viruses. All the data that the CDC is using was recorded before the emergence of Delta—which is a faster, stronger, and more transmissible virus. In Osterholm’s words, “it’s a whole different ball game.”

Osterholm notes that prior to the Delta variant, Covid among children was not too dissimilar to influenza. Now, he says, Delta is changing those trends. To deny that—as our country and school district are—is to deny what we must do to safely protect our kids. For his podcast, Dr. Osterholm has consulted education expert Dr. Teresa Thayer Snyder, who has recently released an important letter to the public. Snyder told Osterholm privately that she is “more worried about students this year than [she] was last year,” adding that she has “serious reservations about having students in school this year.” In addition to addressing specific educational problems involved in various reopening attempts, Snyder points to a much broader issue: “We act as though we are done with the virus and don’t seem to realize it’s not done with us.”

SARS-COV-2 is aerosolized, and we should be wearing effective masks and thinking about how and why we wear masks in accordance with that brutal fact. Just ask yourself: would you feel comfortable farting, with other people wearing poorly fitting masks sitting within three feet of you? Could you smilingly fart in such a crowd, and feel yourself safe from discovery? If not, you might want to reconsider your masking policy. Thinking about how odor travels in the air, a fart or cigarette smoke for instance, helps us remember how an aerosolized virus works.

Mask accordingly!

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From the Archives: Excerpts From The Tattler Issues of Yesteryear Curated by ALICE BURKE

D

eep within the halls of IHS, at the end of the E-wing, one can find a very small, very pink room. This room is hidden to most—the number of students who have stepped foot in the room can be counted on a single hand. Although small and overlooked, this room holds some of the most enticing and unknown secrets of our school. For within these walls lies four average-looking filing cabinets that contain the annals of IHS Tattler history, dating all the way back to 1892. Here follows a small selection.

Read more online at https://tattlerarchive.wordpress.com/

honestly believe that a person should adopt the attitude of love, service, magnanimity and co-operation, or “school spirit.” Then he will carry away the most material fruit from Ithaca High, and retain the pleasantest memories of days passed there.

“Tattles” Eng. Teacher―“You say this theme is entirely the result of your own efforts?”

Student―“Absolutely. I spent two days trying to find someone who had written it up.”

Note: The current Tattler does not necessarily endorse the opinions published in historical Tattlers.

He― “Your teeth are just like pearls.”

She―“My gosh, they are just like her’s, I’ll have to give ’em back to her.”

October 1973

“SCHOOL BELL” Sitting in our black tunnels before the wide eyes of the Leader, we wait.

Locked up in our hum-drum, tick-tock cages, breathing in each other’s brain waves, hiding within ourselves, we wait.

Drifting on the edge of our sanities, mumbling the inaudible and the irrelevant, ducking to the motion of the Leader, we wait.

We live only for the signal and our ears beckon until… it comes.

Then we float through the faces to the next square tunnel.

October 1921 “SCHOOL SPIRIT” A phrase used continually by students everywhere is “school spirit.” Does everyone who uses this catching sprirt have a definite idea of his own as to its real meaning?

What is school spirit but love for the people of the school, a desire to devote your time, energy and money towards bringing some good thing to them, and readiness to appreciate and applaud with real heartiness the efforts of others in the same respect.

This school is a good school and the people in it are good people. And to benefit most from the school and its associations, we

Cuk―“You say he died of consumption!”

Cukoo―“Yes, the cannibals got him.”

October 22, 2010 “Literary Linguist: Words to Know in a Globalized World Commonly Used Words of African Origin” Jumbo (from Swahili jambo/jumbe or from Kongo nzamba, meaning “elephant”). Perhaps from slang “clumsy, unwieldy fellow,” which itself is possibly from a word for “elephant” in a West African language.

Juke, jukebox (possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah). Black English slang from “juke,” joog (wicked, disorderly) in Gullah (the creolized English of the coastlands of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida).

Mojo (from Gullah moco “witchcraft,” Fula moco’o “medicine man”). The art or practice of casting magic spells; magic; voodoo.

An object, as an amulet or charm, which is believed to carry a magic spell.

Voodoo (from Ewe and Fon vodu “spirit”). Religious witchcraft of Haiti and Southern U.S., ultimately of African origin.

Zombie (from Kikongo zumbi, Kimbundu nzambi). Originally the name of a snake god in Central Africa, later meaning “reanimated corpse” in voodoo cult.

October 2007 “Ask the Pessimist” Dear Pessimist,

FEATURES I am so stressed out. It is my senior year, and I am taking eight classes and I run 10 miles a day on the cross-country team and I am applying to colleges and I barely have a spare moment to think, let alone find time to eat proper meals or sleep. Please help me―I’m desperate!

- Stressed Dear Stressed, You are making me stressed out. This is not good. As an advice columnist, I have to work very hard to maintain my nonchalant yet cruelly cynical views, and you are throwing my little world off balance. For that reason, I am going to focus on a minute aspect of your problem, which of course will be utterly unhelpful, and you will surely hate me forever. The topic is, of course, proper hygiene. From the information that you run 10 miles a day and do not have time to eat or sleep, I can logically conclude that you also do not have time to shower. A word of advice: although everyone probably hates you anyway because you’re such an overachiever, smelling like a pile of dirty socks allows them to express this hatred publicly. Do everyone a favor and force us to hate you quietly. As for the rest of your problems, I would advise―whoops, looks like I’ve run out of space for this one. Perhaps you’ll have better luck next time (wouldn’t get your hopes up though, if I were you). Ah, c’est la vie.

October 2006 “The Pumpkin on the Clocktower—A Local Mystery” On October 8, 1997, many spectators beheld a mysterious pumpkin placed on top of the McGraw Clocktower, much to the disbelief of Cornell’s students and staff. The pumpkin was a symbol for the upcoming holiday of Halloween.

Many people wondered how the pumpkin, estimated to weigh around 60 pounds, had been carried to the top of the 173-foot tower that overlooks the Cornell campus. One theory suggests that a couple of rock climbers had secretly hidden the pumpkin in the top of the clock tower and waited for nightfall, then carefully placed the pumpkin on the tower’s tip. Fearing the harm the pumpkin could inflict if it fell down on unsuspecting pedestrians, local authorities taped off the area around the clocktower. It was decided that the pumpkin should sit on the top until it crumbled down, due to the expense of removing it.

The pumpkin remained on the McGraw Clocktower for the better part of five months and received a huge amount of publicity.

From sporting exposure in the New York Times to features on MTV and CNN, the pumpkin story spread across the United States, still with no definitive perpetrator.

Finally, on March 13, 1998, the pumpkin fell down after being hit by a basket sent up to retrieve it. It was found that the pumpkin was hollowed out so that it could balance properly on top of the tower, and was considerably lighter than the estimated weight.

The pumpkin shell was freeze-dried and put on display at Day Hall, but mold was found soon after, and the pumpkin could not be saved from decomposition. Though the shell rotted, some of the insides of the pumpkin have been preserved and can still be found at Uris Hall as part of the brain collection.

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Commentary on the 2007 Tattler: The Harry Potter Controversy

By ALICE BURKE

I

n September 2007, an IHS student named Robert F. wrote an article for The Tattler titled “Potter’s Return,” in which he excitedly discussed the then-recent release of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Robert was not alone in his love for the series―millions of others around the world shared his admiration for its characters and worldbuilding, as well as the author who brought it all to life. In his article, Robert briefly described the publishing success and basic plot, but primarily aimed to persuade others to read the series by praising the story and author J.K. Rowling: The final volume (in my opinion, the best of the seven) of J.K. Rowling’s epic tale is truly in a league of its own.

The long wait for the series’ finale helped to make the novel still more enjoyable, but even without the hype it would have been a masterpiece. If you have not yet read Deathly Hallows or the series’ previous installments, you have a great journey ahead of you. And if you’ve already devoured every page of Rowling’s prose, I know you’ll reread it all in the future.

Fans of the series admired the attention it brought to anti-discrimination, the importance of teamwork, and the hard-fought triumph of underdogs. Rowling’s books brought joy to readers and made misfits and outcasts feel as though they belonged.

Neville’s bravery at the end of the final installment was especially impactful to many, because readers were able to see the bullied, lonely kid become a hero. Similarly, when Hermione―nerdy, know-it-all Hermione―was desired by a famous Quidditch player in the third book, fans felt as though they could be loved as well. Another example is Luna’s courage in defying social norms throughout the entire series: through Luna, the author showed readers the importance of being yourself and doing what makes you happy, regardless of others’ opinions. Fans who were drawn to the positive messages within the pages of the Harry Potter books were all the more disappointed and even angry when J.K. Rowling made statements that contradicted the inclusive and Continued on page 24

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CENTERSPREAD

October Confessionals Curated by FRANCES KLEMM

As a Junior, meeting people again after like two years was quite the spectacle. Aside from the noticeable growth spurts everyone had and the deeper voices, I liked the reunion. As of week one, it's been hard getting used to this in-person work environment but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I still feel like a freshman. The pandemic robbed a whole year of our education.

During the first day of school I didn't know my pants were ripped.

So I was walking around school with ripped pants. I would try to hide the ripped part of the pants I was wearing by crossing my legs.

Nothing really exciting happened but I broke up with my boyfriend for a lot of reasons, mainly because our relationship was toxic and I want to focus on school. I also made a lot of friends.

Just the classic "you say hi but they were really talking to the person behind you."

Within the first week of school, I believe it was either Thursday or Friday when I made a terrible mistake. So I was just getting used to some of my classes, you know, where they are and such, but on this particular day, I was tired. Like I was completely drained of my energy and I wanted to go home. Well, I went to photography class with my friends that day, and not thinking, after the class was over, I went to where the buses usually pick the students up. Mind you, I have photography class 7th period—So this was 8th period starting and I had no idea. I was walking out to the buses and I noticed that there wasn't a lot of people. Then I checked my phone...I had a huge reality check. I was so tired I didn't notice that I still had one class left. I quickly turned around hoping that no one saw me, and made my way to my class that was on THE COMPLETE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING. Luckily I made it there only being one minute late. That was so embarrassing :(

CENTERSPREAD

23 Graphics by YASMEEN ALASS

The Tattler sent out a survey to the IHS student body, asking students to share stories or confessions. The ones included below are a selection of some of the most amusing.

I re-learned how to open a locker last week, since I haven't used one since sixth grade. I then proceeded to lock all my homework and food and my sweatshirt inside the locker. I still haven't gotten it open again.

Someone broke up with me, and then, 6 days later, I got a crush on some kid and I asked them to do something that practically anyone would see as romantic, but I didn’t even notice until he pointed out how wanting to watch the sunset with him alone was odd. I also haven’t played video games at all yet, even though I used to play for like, 8 hours a day. So fun...

I had a sub for AP Lang who literally was wearing a mesh mask...the entire class was quietly fuming.

It can sometimes be hard to tell people apart when everyone is wearing masks. Recently I was in the Quad and thought I saw someone I knew, so I started walking over to them. As I got really close, though, I realized that I had no idea who they were, so I quickly turned around and walked away... I hope that person didn't notice me, and if they did, I must have looked super weird!

A teacher I have ignored the information given to her and jumped right into the curriculum the first day. She also informed us that our oral exams, which used to be 2 minutes, would be lengthened to 3-6 minutes this year. Despite this, she is my favorite teacher, and is a favorite teacher of many of her students. She is the most intense teacher I have ever had, yet is clearly very dedicated to her subject. Honestly, I wish more of the teachers would be like her and just jump right in on the first day (and grade all of our tests within 24 hours).

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24 Commentary on the 2007 Tattler: The Harry Potter Controversy Continued from page 21

inspiring nature of the series.

Startlingly, in the past few years, J.K. Rowling has used the massive platform she gained through her success with Harry Potter to spread hurtful ideas about transgender people. The controversy surrounding Rowling’s transphobic ideas gained traction last summer when she responded to an article titled “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.” Rowling took issue with the headline and tweeted, “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” “People who menstruate” is increasingly the language used to be inclusive of transgender men and nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people, all of whom would not identify with the word “woman” but may still menstruate. Rowling went on to write a 4,000-word blog post in which she stated that transgender women should be barred from single-sex areas, such as bathrooms, in order to “protect” cis women and girls. Her new novel, Troubled Blood, also portrays a cross-dressing man as a serial killer, seemingly furthering the idea that biological males who dress like women should not be trusted. J.K. Rowling’s statements and recent work have cemented her as transphobic in many Harry Potter fans’ minds.

Her singling-out of and discrimination against a vulnerable minority such as the trans community has left fans who were drawn to messages of inclusivity feeling betrayed―and unsure of how they should now view their favorite book series. These fans face a dilemma: do they focus on the joyful memories and

epic story that Harry Potter brought to them, despite knowing that the consumption of these books and movies helps to expand Rowling’s platform? Or do fans give up Harry Potter altogether, even if it used to be an important part of their lives?

For some, the outright cancellation of Rowling and her work is the only answer to this question. She has written problematic and hurtful words that have negatively affected many of her fans, and to some this is unforgivable. To others, though, the matter is more complicated. Art is art, and disregarding Rowling’s books may be shutting out beauty and insight that could have real meaning and value. Many of our revered and great artists have developed works of profound humanity, and yet have held ideas far from tolerant or inclusive. If we abandon all of their work, what art would be left to appreciate?

Fans of J.K. Rowling aren’t the only people facing questions like this one. Information about the views and behaviors of admired artists and celebrities has long raised questions about how to think of the work they created or legacy they left behind. For example, should Madonna’s use of the N-word on Instagram change how we think of her music? Should we be watching movies starring Chris Pratt despite his membership in an anti-LGBTQ+ organization? The examples go on, including egregious cases of assault and other criminal acts. How we reconcile our love of art with the views and actions of the artists is a difficult question. Whether we can and should separate the art from the artist is a dilemma that each of us needs to resolve for ourselves.

She Kills Monsters: The IHS Fall Play

By ADDIE HOULE-HITZ

Image courtesy of IHS

The poster for She Kills Monsters

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rief does funny things to us all. Whether you’ve lost a family member or a close friend, in times of need, we can’t help but put ourselves in that person’s shoes for a while.

IHS’ beloved drama department returns after being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and confined to Zoom. In a tale of loss and acceptance, She Kills Monsters is the perfect way to welcome the department back after a break that has lasted for far too long.

Agnes Evans is your average highschooler: she’s 18 and a cheerleader with a loving boyfriend named Miles, and a best friend named Vera. But her whole world is turned inside-out when her younger sister, Tilly, dies devastatingly young in a car crash. Wracked with grief, Agnes finds herself trying to piece together what Tilly was like when she wasn’t home. She discovers that Tilly was, in fact, a very popular Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) player, and through her little sister’s D&D book, she decides to learn to play in order to better understand Tilly when she was alive. Agnes recruits dungeon master, Chuck, to help her on her journey.

Not only is this story a thrilling adventure, but the team put-

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ting it together is sure to bring their own special touch to it, too.

With Margaux Deverin directing and Neha Marolia advising, they will most definitely bring new ideas and fun surprises to the table. Although Ms. Deverin’s last in-person show at IHS got cut short, she was also in charge of Boynton Middle School’s production of Into the Woods (which I, frankly, cannot speak of highly enough). Both are also going to be in charge of the spring musical, along with Jonathan Fleischman as the music director, Gabriella da Silva Carr as the vocal coach, and Paige Winn as the choreographer.

So how and when can I see it? Where will it be? And the

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question we are all thinking: will it be on Zoom? Show dates are currently set for November 19, 20, and 21, and tickets and entry details are currently TBA. Although it is only a few months away, it is important to remember that everything, especially in a Covid-safe theater world, is flexible and subject to change. However, it is the drama department’s hope and utmost priority that the play takes place in Kulp Auditorium’s very own blackbox theater! No longer on Zoom, and with live performances, our drama department here at IHS is back in full swing, and there isn’t a better team—nor a better play—to get us started.

The Reason Behind The Rhyme

By CLARA WEBER

I

f you’ve ever tried writing poetry or songs, you’ll have experience in the world of rhymes. Sometimes you’ll know exactly what you want to say in your composition, but don’t have quite the right words to say it with. Maybe your original phrase doesn’t fit your rhyme scheme, or seems awkward. This is where near-rhymes, or slant rhymes, come in handy. Near rhymes are defined as words that sound similar (or the same) but don’t perfectly rhyme. To “perfectly” rhyme, two words have to both have the same stressed vowel and matching following syllables (you can see how this would be tricky to do, especially in songwriting).

The most common place we see slant rhyme is in pop and hip hop music. Naturally, there are only so many words that fit the criteria for a perfect rhyme, and when you’ve got instrumentals and a melody along with your words, slant rhymes generally go unnoticed.

When looking up the most common rhymes in songs (which I did), you’ll find that many word pairs on the list aren’t perfect rhymes. Combinations such as mind/time, mine/time, and around/down all make frequent appearances in popular music.

One example I found particularly entertaining is from the song Oranges by the band Lawrence: “It’s funny how nobody sings about oranges/The reason’s no rhyme, I’m starting to mind…”

(They’re rhyming about rhyming with a slant rhyme…). Another subset of deceptively rhyme-like word combinations are called “identities.” Falling into this category are examples I found on a list of common rhymes such as gone/on, and leave/believe.

Now, I’m sure you’re captivated by this incredibly specific information, but why am I sharing it with you? As someone with an interest in music, I seek out new ways of looking at it. Knowing how certain phrases tend to be followed and what words can passably be rhymed with others lends a new dimension to the listening experience. It’s fun picking out patterns in rhyme schemes, and trying to predict what will come next in unfamiliar music is always an interesting game to play. Having tried writing songs myself (keyword here being tried), knowing how many common imperfect rhymes there are takes a lot of pressure off of the writing process.

However, I have to admit I’m taking a little bit of an “If I had to see this, so do you” angle on this. Once you know the difference between true and slant rhymes, you start noticing them ev-

erywhere, and if you’re a perfectionist like me, the slant rhymes become hard to ignore. You’ll be listening to your favorite song, and you’ll notice that that one super catchy line you’ve heard everywhere lately has a slant rhyme, and suddenly that’s all you can hear. If you’re not a perfectionist, I’d still encourage you to listen more carefully to your music. Maybe you’ll notice things you hadn’t before, and maybe you’ll find new interest in songs you’ve heard a million times.

Downtown Ithaca (2) by Hannah Shvets

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The Johnson Museum Reopens!

By CLARA WEBER and LOKE ZHANG-FISKESJÖ

A

fter being closed for 18 months, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art has finally reopened its doors to the public, and several new exhibitions are already up and running! In this article, we’ll do a tour through current exhibitions with curator Andrew Weislogel. We will present an overview of each exhibition and then discuss it with Mr. Weislogel.

Loke Zhang-Fiskesjö, ‘22: Andy, could you introduce yourself to the readers and your role at the Johnson?

Andy Weislogel, museum curator

Andy Weislogel: I’m the Askin Curator of Earlier European and American Art at the Johnson. So, I oversee the museum’s collection of Western art starting from the ancient Mediterranean up to 1800 in Europe—in all media. I’m also in charge of the museum’s collection of Native North American Art. “Art and Environmental Struggle” Located on the first floor of the museum, the “Art and Environmental Struggle” exhibit is visible from the lobby. From above, the first impression one gets from the exhibition is startling. A polar bear skin, half-stuffed, sits in the center of the room. Haunting sounds from the video exhibit, “Stitching My Landscape,” float up through the open space. On the floor of the exhibit, pieces hung on the walls explore extinction, food production, and resource depletion, among other effects of colonization and climate change. “On the Road”, an acrylic painting by Uuriintuya Dagvasambuu, boasts incredible detail, depicting a lone shepherd crossing the painting to the left as a column of figures painted in gold ascend to a small group of clouds at the top of the canvas. “Calling Me Home”, by Meryl McMaster, pictures a figure in black holding a length of rope that recedes into the lake behind them. The figure is adorned in a massive mask, covering nearly half of their body. Of the face, only the eyes can be seen.

These various and integral pieces create a new understanding of the discussion the exhibit, regarding climate change and our relationship with it. Each piece holds new meaning, and the collective exhibit, while encompassing several topics and many artists, becomes cohesive.

LZF: For the exhibition “Art and Environmental Struggle,” could you summarize its purpose and what it investigates?

AW: It’s a culmination of a multiyear collaboration between various artists that documents their relationship with land and water, and resilience of a community particularly in the face of climate change. Many groups across the globe are very disproportionately affected by climate change relative to their actual contribution to climate change. Many of the pieces focus on humans’ ideas of distinguishing themselves from nature, when in reality, we’re part of it. The piece “We Dream Deaf” by Nicholas Galanin, an indigenous Alaskan artist—the polar bear in the center of the exhibit—was shot by a white trophy hunter in the 70s in a small town in Alaska. This piece, among others, focuses on the agency that all animals have.

LZF: How was the exhibition curated to achieve its purpose?

AW: I curated the exhibition with two of my colleagues here, Ellen Avril and Kate Addelman Frankel, and got input from Professor Rickard and Professor Karim-Aly Kassam from the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell—we actively sought out artists that fit the theme. It was a lot of fun looking literally around the globe for artists who were expressing ideas related to the theme of climate change (but not just that), the more complex idea of how you respond and build, how you respond, and express community in order to help us collectively move forward.

LZF: Definitely, and it relates to who this exhibit represents.

That’s its philosophy, right?

AW: Exactly...I’m so glad that you asked that question, because our chief organizational principle (as curators) is to let the artist’s voices speak most strongly and let the art speak for itself.

“Art and Environmental Struggle”

“Visions of Dante” Fittingly at the bottom of the museum, “Visions of Dante” reveals itself. The exhibit, despite its title relating to Dante’s Inferno (a classical work about how hell could be organized), places a lot of focus on the life and career of Willard Fiske, the first Cornell librarian. Fiske started the university’s Dante collection almost unwittingly, sending a manuscript full of bookworms (yes, the real thing) to the library. Fiske later resolved to collect

ARTS a copy of each edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy. As a part of “Visions of Dante,” photographs of Fiske, his family tree, and his office are displayed. Though Fiske is a subject of the exhibit, it is also dedicated to items and artifacts related to Dante. Depictions of Dante, such as “Dante and Virgil in the Bark of Charon,” “Inferno 3,” an ink piece by Italian artist Felice Giani (1758 - 1823), as well as more recent depictions like the 2017 work by Kara Walker titled “Dante (Free from the Burden of Gender or Race),” are also featured in the exhibit. An interesting exploration of more classical art and literature as well as its contemporary reflections, this exhibit encapsulates a wide range of eras and movements through the lens of Dante’s Inferno.

Looking at Sandow Birk’s contemporary metropolitan depictions of Dante’s Inferno, Zhang-Fiskesjö and Weislogel discussed: AW: They’re about to enter the gate of hell right here...In Dante’s original retelling, the gate of hell has this famous slogan over the top that says, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” because they’re going into the mouth of hell. But, in Birk’s retelling here, it says, “through here, ceaseless agony awaits,” and there’s a Walmart sign. The way into hell—A, it’s a parking ramp, and B, there’s a Walmart sign right above the entrance to hell—he’s sort of playing on the evils of American consumerism, you know, triumphalist architecture and engineering projects that he sees as hubris.

So one of the great things about contemporary artists like Sandow Birk looking at a 14th century poem is that Dante was really kind of a contemporary, ground-breaking presence in his time. Because he was one of the first poets to write freely in the Italian vernacular instead of the classical language of Latin, his fellow poets at the time poked fun at him a little bit, because he made bold to use words like “merda” in Italian, which means s***. He uses a wide range of language, which is why Sandow Birk is really interesting, as he uses a wide range of culture, vernacular, and slang, which really paints a picture that we can relate to as contemporary people.”

“Women Making Their Mark” “Women Making Their Mark,” a very recent exhibit at the museum, is a marker of last year’s 100th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment. The exhibit follows women’s self-expression through art since the 1800s. Pieces featured range from an art-deco Liqueur Set made by Eva Ziesel (1906 2011) to a 1988 quilt titled Seven Passages to a Flight by Faith Ringgold (b. 1934). The wide range of artistic movements captured in this exhibit include pieces that have no purpose outside the aesthetic, and pieces that are full of deeper meaning and stories. Although this collection may seem disconnected in the pieces it features, it is tied together through the theme of women’s expression, and holds even the most simple pieces to the same level of importance as the more intricate ones.

LZF: “Women Making Their Mark” is an important exhibition for the sake of recognizing the cultural transformations female artists have made on our world. What other exhibits, that represent cultural groups of artists, have been at or will be at the Johnson?

AW: Well, I’d have to do a little thinking to come up with spe-

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cifics. But you know, quite often we’ll do either small exhibitions or full-fledged exhibitions that are devoted to looking at certain groups of artists. Like for example, even last year during the pandemic when we were selectively open by appointment to individual classes, we had an exhibition of contemporary printmaking

by Latinx artists in this exact gallery.

LZF: So, would you say the Johnson is committed to representing various cultural and ethnic groups?

AW: Oh yes, absolutely, we’re very committed to that. That is really at the core of our mission. We’re a university museum, a community museum, and a regional museum. We want to, to the greatest extent possible, going forward have the museum represent the people who come to the museum. And, on Cornell campus and our town, we do our best to work with faculty and the overall community to come up with exhibitions that represent themes and ideas that are of interest to our community and to people on our campus. “(Re)collecting Southeast Asian Art At Cornell” On the fifth floor of the museum, just an elevator ride away (or several flights of stairs, if you so choose) from the downstairs exhibit, you’ll find “(Re)collecting Southeast Asian Art At Cornell.” Placed within the permanent Asian art section of the museum, this exhibit combines several works. “Ruth’s Pots,” a collection of porcelain creations all donated by Ruth B. Sharp with exquisite detailing among various combinations of glazes and forms, contrasts with the exhibition of donated pieces from Alexander Griswold, “The Buddha Doesn’t Hold a Cigar.”

The latter collection holds various Buddhist statues, generally monochrome and undecorated outside of their intricate physical forms. Yet another facet of this exhibit is found within the Shadowlines collection: “Shadowlines” encompasses wayang, a form of shadow puppetry. The puppets themselves move on joints and sticks, and are incredibly intricate, with exquisite carving and painted details. Overall, the entire exhibition is a marvel of detail and precision, and explores amazing facets of Southeast Asian history and culture.

Scan this QR Code to see more photos of the Johnson Museum!

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: California Dreamin’ and Martial Arts

By LOKE ZHANG-FISKESJÖ

A selection of shots from Shang-Chi, courtesy of The Guardian, Marvel, and Variety (l-r)

I

’ll start by saying this: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is justice for what Mulan (2020) was. Instead of stereotyping and invalidating identities, it attempts to respect and develop them authentically. Instead of trying to redefine identities, it draws from them with care to create something new.

Shang-Chi is absolutely epic. In the film, we travel from an action scene where Shang-Chi, the movie’s protagonist, fights a one-armed dude on roads that mirror those of the Californian Vertigo (1958), to a neon-colored Macau fight club featuring characters from Doctor Strange (2016), to a fable-like Chinese world with faceless winged dogs. Shang-Chi is a visual and narrative cultural melting pot in which worlds simmer together to create a deeper and more recognizable narrative for varied audiences.

Clear inspirations from Hollywood and East Asian crime cinema act as the driving point for the plot. Shang-Chi surrounds himself in a world disconnected from his traditional identity in San Francisco, and his best friend, Katy, is a happy-go-lucky, third-generation Chinese immigrant who only speaks English.

Katy and Shang-Chi are seen as car valets at the beginning of the film, wanting to stay in a comfort zone in which they don’t have to question their purposes or larger aspirations. When ShangChi is forced to confront his past, Katy tags along with him, as he’s the only person who’s quite similar to her.

The journey that follows reveals deeper truths about their past identities, their contrasts with contemporary Chinese culture, and more, while other characters from the Eastern side of the world confront the same issues. Shang-Chi and Katy’s desires and trauma are linked to the modern transformation of pan-

Asian identity, and their paths lead them to find and question their understandings of their pasts (both cultural and present identities), and construct new understandings that challenge social norms.

Of the fantastical worlds found in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), there’s strong reason to believe that Shang-Chi is the most culturally authentic and intersectional, alongside Black Panther (2018). Its fantasy is grounded in real cultural conditions, not isolated from various perspectives or as generalizing as other MCU films have been. Shang-Chi is what Disney and Marvel need right now: authentic representation.

Downtown Ithaca (3) by Hannah Shvets

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An Icon Revisited: Denim

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Donda

By WILL THOMAS

Image courtesy of Rolling Stone

By SIMON COHEN

J

eans are some of the most ubiquitous pieces of clothing imaginable. They’re a wardrobe staple, worn worldwide by millions of people, creating a market that is estimated to be worth around $87.4 billion, according to Statista. Yet we haven’t really stopped to think about where denim clothing came from, or how we got this universal fabric that has shaped pop culture for decades.

The story of denim starts in the mid-19th century in the French town of Nimes, which had been producing fabric for decades, and had earned quite a reputation for creating sturdy, long-lasting garments. Denim, which was originally produced only in Nimes, actually got its name from the French phrase “serge de Nimes,” meaning “sturdy fabric from Nimes.” As for how this newly invented wonder fabric reached America, we can turn to Bavarian businessman Levi Strauss, who, while in France, came across the fabric and saw its potential in American markets, specifically as a workwear product.

With the Gold Rush well underway and Strauss already maintaining a steady presence on the west coast selling dry goods, there was a perfect opportunity for Strauss to meet the high demand for well-made clothing. The final piece in creating jeans as we know them today actually came from one of Levi’s customers, a tailor named Jacob Davis. Levi Strauss and Co. has said that the wife of a local laborer asked Davis if there was any way to strengthen her husband’s pants, and after some trial and error, Davis found that rivets at points of strain helped make an item of clothing significantly stronger and longer-lasting. This technique exploded in popularity, and Davis turned to Strauss to help him patent the technique. The Levi’s brand was born, selling true blue jeans to the American public with a fabric they claimed one could put between two horses without it tearing (hence the well-known Levi’s back patch depicting this very scene).

From there, the Levi’s brand grew rapidly, sparking the Lady Levi’s line in 1934 and leading to the now iconic red tab in 1936, a little patch of red fabric on the back pocket of Levi’s made to distinguish them from competition. It went on to become an American staple both in wardrobe and on the silver screen through the 50s, as icons such as James Dean and Marlon Brando donned them in some of the biggest films of the era. Denim also became an essential part of the greaser uniform, a highly influential subculture born out of biker culture and expanding to the rest of the American middle class. It was through the blazing hot popularity of denim in this era that the place of blue jeans in culture was firmly established.

Kanye West performing on a floating stage during his Saint Pablo tour

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elayed and demonized, put off and on a pedestal, Kanye West’s latest album, Donda, was released on August 29.

To say the reviews were mixed would be an incredible understatement—critics of the album were quick to dismiss it as mediocre, while fans are ranking it among West’s best work. The album’s title is a tribute to his late mother, who passed away following complications from plastic surgery in 2007. Throughout the album, West features his grief and subsequent struggle with his faith heavily. He has made it clear in the past that he feels responsible for his mother’s passing, and since then, his behavior has become less consistent than ever before.

West has long been the object of heavy criticism for his strange personal and political views, catching well-deserved flak for his public rants in support of Donald Trump. He’s seemed to lean into the crazy and exasperating, bringing artists Marilyn Manson and DaBaby on stage at a watch party. Both artists are facing heavy public criticism, one for public homophobia and the other for myriad sexual assault allegations. At the very best, this constitutes a misguided attempt to highlight a belief that all can be forgiven through faith, but more likely than not it’s a public platforming of people who use that belief to say and do awful things. It’s this inconsistency, in both tone and music quality, that causes the extreme reactions to Donda, but there’s an argument to be made that this is central to West’s message. A devout Christian, West seems to resent and feel anger toward God for the loss of his mother, while also venerating and loving God for all that he does. Many religious people can empathize with this struggle: how can a God that loves us allow us to lose and go through so much? Nobody has an answer, least of all West or a high schooler, but it helps us understand his struggles and inner conflict. You can love or hate his music, tolerate or ridicule his public behavior, but at the end of the day, he’s a guy who lost his mother.

Donda is a longer look behind the curtain, a lyrical documentation of the struggles and failings and triumphs of West, and the music is genuinely good as well. A fair bit of it is filler—“Donda Chant” is bizarre, “Tell The Vision” is a poor use of a Pop Smoke verse, and “Jail Pt. 2” features problematic artists in an overdramatic attack on cancel culture. At times the inconsistency of Continued on page 30

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Donda Continued from page 29

the album makes it feel like a marathon, a test to see if you can make it through an hour and a half of West at his best and worst. However, “Heaven and Hell,” “Moon,” “Hurricane,” and “Come to Life” are all great songs with interesting themes, struggling both with faith and grief foremost among them. The album is not without lighter songs that contain less to think about but are excellent nonetheless, like “Off The Grid,” “Ok Ok (Parts 1 and 2),” and “Junya.” Most of the features are great, some are mediocre, but you have to take the good with the bad. Just as with West’s personality, so with his art.

Donda is unequivocally good, has interesting and mostly

solid themes, and inconsistent but overall high quality music.

It’s not the greatest album of all time, or even the best Kanye West album, but a mostly excellent look into the mind of one of our generation’s most interesting and controversial artists isn’t something you should pass up just because you’ve heard it was mediocre, too long, or overly religious. This album might be able to put you in his shoes—it won’t exonerate him, but it’ll lead to a more complete vision of who he is. Any album that does that is worth a listen, or at least a skim-through, especially with such a compelling artist as Kanye West.

Songs to Get You Through the School Day

By ADAM SAAR

T

o me, no school day is complete without a soundtrack.

Whether it’s the same song on repeat or just my playlist on shuffle, music is often the only thing that keeps me going through the slog of school. I’ve compiled some songs I think are fitting to the high school experience and some specific points in the day to hopefully make school a little more pleasant—enjoy!

Period 1: “Good Morning” by Kanye West My absolute favorite morning song, “Good Morning” wakes you up from your sleepy daze and hypes you up for the day. After a punchy, attention-grabbing intro, Ye beckons, “Good morning!

Wake up Mr. West, Mr. Fresh!” already putting a bounce in your step. “On this day we become legendary, everything we dreamed of” Kanye raps midway through the song, continuing to hype you up for the day ahead.

Period 2: “It’s Not All About You” by Lawrence Period 2 has started, and the hype from “Good Morning” is already wearing off. You sit there, bored, as that same person in your class rambles on tangentially over and over again, raising their hand for every question the teacher asks. “It’s Not All About You” is the perfect song to get you through their drone. Lawrence bemoans, “It’s not that I don’t care about what you say, but it’d be nice if it won’t take the whole day!” Which, honestly? Mood.

Period 3: “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” by The Scissor Sisters As your gym teacher is taking attendance, you can’t fathom actually doing anything active that period. The first mini-energy crash of the day is sinking in, and you just don’t feel like doing much at all. “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” perfectly encapsulates the feeling of just not being up to doing much at all, but it’s infectious, upbeat production and melodies will no doubt give you the energy boost you need to get on your feet, and maybe even dance a little.

Period 4: “Nothing” by The Cat Empire Sitting down in your study hall, all the intention you had to actually get work done that period dissipates. You sit there staring at your notebook, straining to even reach for your water bottle. The lyrics “Nothing, oh, sweet nothing. Today we’re doing nothing at all!” couldn’t hit harder. You continue to stare off into space as the time crawls by, and your stomach starts to growl in anticipation of lunch next period.

Period 5: “New Romantics” by Taylor Swift Lunch has finally arrived! You sit outside with your friends, laughing and bemoaning all the annoyances of school and life.

“New Romantics” serves as the perfect soundtrack—the epitome of a Bop™, but with lyrics that so aptly describe the teenage experience. I mean, we can all relate to “We’re all bored, we’re all so tired of everything.../...heartbreak is the national anthem” at some point in high school.

Period 6: “Paris In The Rain” by Lauv Oh, boring sixth period. As the teacher drones on and on you find yourself staring out the window, reminiscing over the jokes you made with your friends at lunch and sneaking glances at your crush from the other side of the room. Listening to “Paris In The Rain” through one earbud, you’re transported to a world of romance and bliss, getting lost in your daydream. Before you know it, the bell rings, taking you out of your dreamland and back to IHS. Period 7: “Don’t Lose Sight” by Lawrence The daily Seventh Period Crash™ is setting in, and you desperately need a pick-me-up. Well don’t you worry, “Don’t Lose Sight” is exactly what you need. Its infectious energy will surely give you a boost and motivate you to get your mojo back—even if only to get through the day. Before the song even ends, you’ll have “This sh*t’s gonna kill me but I won’t let it.../...

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so I tell myself when I sleep at night, don’t lose sight, baby, don’t lose sight!” stuck in your head and the pep in your step from when you walked into first period will be back.

Period 8: “Tennis Court” by Lorde “Don’t you think that it’s boring how people talk? Makin’ smart with their words again, well, I’m bored”: I don’t think any other lyric can describe the feeling of eighth period so accurately as the opening lines of “Tennis Court”—when the clock couldn’t move any slower and you’re just waiting for the final bell to ring.

This song—and the entirety of Pure Heroine that follows—is relatable for any high schooler.

Final Bell: “Sunday Candy” by Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment The final bell rings and you’re free! Need a lighthearted tune to distract you from the mountain of homework waiting for you as you walk out of school? “Sunday Candy” is the song for you!

Even though I’m most definitely not Christian, and my grandma lives on the other side of the ocean, “Sunday Candy” has me singing along, “I should get my butt to church!” excited to get hugs from my grandma that are so sweetly described in the chorus.

The brass-heavy instrumentals and the impeccable chemistry between Chance the Rapper and Jamila Woods on the vocals make for a wonderfully happy song that’s guaranteed to cheer you up, no matter how your school day went.

Bonus—Late Night Homework: “Don’t Forget to Breathe [Interlude]” by Stormzy feat. Yebba As the night gets later and the homework pile doesn’t seem to get any smaller, sometimes you just need to be reminded to breathe. Stormzy’s soothing baritone and gentle plea to take a few breaths and count to three have gotten me through many late night stress bouts and panic attacks.

Honorable Mention: “Sleep Deprived” by Dreamville with Lute, Omen, Mez, and DaVionne Because, I mean, aren’t we all?

Scan this code to see the full playlist on Spotify!

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The Case for Original Pronunciation

By RAIA GUTMAN Image courtesy of Blogging Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Globe performed Macbeth in Original Pronunciation in 2014

I

f you go to the theater to watch a performance of one of Shakespeare’s plays, you will likely hear a specific accent used by the actors, no matter where the theater is located. This accent is known as Received Pronunciation (RP), and it’s similar to what you might think of as “Queen’s English.” It’s posh, classy, and has an upper-class feel. It doesn’t quite sound how real people speak—in fact, only three percent of the UK population speak it, according to the British Library. It can be found in the phonetic transcriptions of official British English dictionaries, and it’s what Siri, Alexa, and Google Home speak when you set their accents to British English. The problem is, when performing Shakespeare, it isn’t accurate, and it only serves to further remove Shakespeare’s modern-day audience from his plays. RP is not an heirloom from Shakespeare’s day—it’s a modern dialect that has little to do with theater performance. What accent is more suited to the performance of Shakespeare’s plays? One viable option is whatever accent the actor comes into rehearsal with. After all, Shakespeare’s own actors came from all parts of the British Isles. The other option is closer to how the plays were written—it’s known as Original Pronunciation (OP).

There are academics studying every niche of every subject area. Research on OP, which deals with understanding, listening Continued on page 32

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The Case for Original Pronunciation Continued from page 31

to, and performing Shakespeare’s works as they would have been experienced in his time, has been going on for over a century.

Before the modern field of linguistics emerged, 19th century scholars sought to recreate the pronunciation of Shakespeare’s works. They were tentative in their study, and the pursuit fell out of favor due to the lack of a phonetic alphabet at that time. Contemporary linguists, armed with the tools the field of study now has to offer, have taken up the torch. The main scholars behind the modern OP movement are a father-son pair, linguist David Crystal and actor Ben Crystal.

But how do scholars know how Shakespearean actors would have pronounced their lines in the 17th century? The evidence is divided into three categories. The first category consists of the commentary from people writing about the language at that time—people like Ben Jonson, English dramatist—who wrote about what rhymed and how different words sounded. The second category of evidence is how words were spelled, as spelling in the era of Shakespeare was not yet standardized and proved to be a better indication of pronunciation than it is now. The third kind of evidence is in Shakespeare’s text itself. There are rhymes and puns buried in his plays and sonnets that work in OP, but not in Modern English. For example, at the end of Sonnet 116, “proved” and “loved” were originally meant to rhyme, but in Modern English do not.

The first experiment in OP was Shakespeare’s Globe’s 2004 performance of Romeo and Juliet. The Globe, which opened in 1994, is known for its commitment to performing Shakespeare as close to how it would have been performed 400 years ago. The Globe has stayed true to this commitment with original costume, original music, original instruments, and original movement.

When they attempted OP in 2004 with the Crystals’ guidance, their concern was that audiences would be unable to understand the play, and that it would therefore be unpopular. On the contrary, the production was met with enormous success, and the next year, the Globe did an OP performance of Troilus and Cressida, another of Shakespeare’s plays. OP plus original lighting—the Globe lights the theater as if it’s daylight—makes the experience of watching a play an interactive one. The audience feels closer to the story when it’s performed in an accent that is less posh and more relatable than the standard RP, and with the house lit up, the actors can appeal directly to the audience.

Not only was the OP production popular, but it also changed the play. OP is significantly faster than RP, cutting ten minutes off the show. In one notable incident, the dialogue during a choreographed dance between Romeo and Juliet ended long before the actors had finished dancing, leaving them with nothing to say. As the Shakespeare’s Globe performed two versions of Romeo and Juliet that year, one OP and the other RP, its actors were able to perceive a difference in the experience of performing each version. Jokes were exposed. Actors used their lower registers and connected more with their bodies, a powerful acting tool. They did not, however, have to erase their native accents. According to the Crystals, the 2004 Shakespeare’s Globe production of Romeo and Juliet featured a Scottish Juliet, cockney nurse, and a Northern Irish Peter, all of whom retained their regional accents while pronouncing their words how Shakespeare did.

Since the 2004 OP performance of Romeo and Juliet, the practice of performing Shakespeare’s plays how they would have sounded has been replicated by numerous theater companies in the UK and the US, such as the University of Kansas, which performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2010, and the American Theater of Actors’ performance of Twelfth Night in 2012.

In addition to performance, work on OP takes place in schools— particularly in theater and English programs. RP should not be treated as the standard for proper Shakespearean performance, especially to American actors who are often encouraged to mimic an entirely foreign accent. How many times have you said or heard someone say, “I don’t understand Shakespeare?” Much of the confusion around Shakespeare has to do with language, and proponents of OP believe that introducing students to OP would make Shakespeare’s works more accessible. In addition, OP reflects the diversity of accents that we see today but often neglect to apply to 17th century England. Shakespeare’s London, too, was a medley of regional accents.

The sound of OP is difficult to relate in written form, but it can be described as a low, earthy combination of English, Irish, Scottish, and Southern American accents. The sound of the letter “H” is usually dropped, and “war” rhymes with “star.” Actors have described it as coming from a lower place in the body than RP, which sounds and feels heady or throaty. Audio recordings and videos of OP performances do it much more justice than a written description. There are many videos of Ben Crystal’s demonstrations of OP on YouTube, including Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” monologue, the prologue to Romeo and Juliet, and Sonnet 116.

The Crystals have also produced a CD of scenes from Shakespeare’s plays and several of his best known poems performed in OP by Shakespearean actors.

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WRITE FOR THE TATTLER Are you interested in contributing to our school newspaper, The Tattler?

Here's your chance!

Write an article, take photos, or submit your small sketches by October 15 to be included in the November issue.

Email editor@ihstattler.com with any questions or if you want to be added to our mailing list.

SPORTS

35

Student-Athlete Highlight: Cross Country Runners Silas Richardson and Daniel Zawel

By AITAN AVGAR

T

he Ithaca Boys Cross Country team is off to a great start with two star runners leading the way. Silas Richardson and Daniel Zawel are Ithaca’s first and second runners, both of whom have sub-17 minute personal records in the 5K, which puts them in an elite class of high school runners. In September, shortly before a meet, I spoke with Richardson and Zawel to ask how their seasons were going so far. Both are seniors and have been running for Ithaca since middle school.

“The first meet felt terrible but I ran well,” Richardson recalled of his race at the Oneonta Invitational in which he ran a 16:50 5K and placed second, “and then my second meet felt very good…I finished just behind the second guy in the state.” Zawel reflected on his general feelings of this season compared to previous ones, stating, “I honestly feel like this is the first season where I feel under control and relaxed during races. It really took me four years to learn how to pace myself properly.”

In practice, both of Ithaca’s top runners have felt stronger than ever. The team runs 10-12 miles on Mondays, workouts on Tuesdays at threshold, steady, or race paces, 4-8 miles at an easy pace on Wednesdays, midlevel mileage with an easier speed workout on Thursdays, a pre-meet run of 3-6 miles on Fridays, and races on Saturdays. Richardson and Zawel ran personal records in practice time trials this season as well with Richardson running a 4:29 mile and Zawel running a 10:08 two-mile. Both athletes have high expectations for the rest of the season. When asked about their aspirations, Richardson and Zawel agreed they wanted to perform well at States and try to get the team to Federations–a large postseason meet that provides a chance for New York’s top runners to earn a spot at the national competition.

When I asked the runners what their favorite part of running cross country is, both gave meaningful answers. “Running centers me. I love running through the woods and usually find peace 5 miles into a run,” Richardson responded. “I like seeing how my training pays off in competition,” Zawel added.

The team’s third meet of the season was the Baldwinsville Invitational, a highlight of every cross country season for athletes in Upstate New York. With a relatively flat course, runners can almost taste a possible personal best. All the hours of training are a distant memory. There is nothing more that can be done. All there is left to do is run a smart, strong, and quick race.

When the day arrived, as the runners stepped off the school bus, they took in a field cluttered with tents of all colors and swarms of runners in sweats, stretching and warming up for their races later in the day. Coaches gathered their teams in messy huddles to discuss race strategy and the course map. The morning air was brisk but the heat of the sun assured them that the coolness was temporary. Athletes lined up next to the brick high school to buy concessions and t-shirts from booths run by parents and volunteers. The team headed across the field to go

set up a base for the rest of the day. There was a little chatter, but the general mood was saturated with intensity. Everyone was ready to race.

In the afternoon, about an hour before their 2:30 p.m. race time, the Varsity boys began to warm up with a 15 minute run at an easy pace. Once they returned, the team took a few minutes to drink a couple more sips of water and take off their sweats.

Then, spike bags in hand, they jogged to the starting line to do some drills and strides before they were told to get in position.

The official unholstered his gun. “On your mark, set…BANG!” A stampede of runners pummelled the grass with every step. Spectators felt the ground quaking as they passed, the mass thinning out as the race continued. Richardson soon found himself in 5th place and stayed there to finish with a personal record of 16:34 for a 5K. Daniel Zawel was shortly behind as he dropped a 16:58, his first race with a sub-17 minute time, and carried with him Forrest Kingsley and Everett Shaw, Ithaca’s third and fourth runners. The Boys Varsity team as a whole finished in third place, just shy of Fairport and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, two of New York State’s top teams. With clear improvement at Baldwinsville, the runners are looking forward to their next race, the McQuaid Invitational, the largest meet in Upstate New York. There is still more than a month left of the season for Ithaca Boys XC, and they show no signs of slowing down.

IHS Varsity football game on 9/24 (1), Taken by Hannah Shvets

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36

A Tribute to Carli Lloyd: One of Soccer’s Greats

By ELLA AVGAR

Image courtesy of slate.com

Carli Lloyd

I

t’s 2015, and the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) is facing off against Japan in the World Cup Final. The stakes are as high as they’ll ever be, especially after Japan’s win against the U.S. in the previous World Cup final. Carli Lloyd, after already scoring two goals, finds the ball near the halfway line.

She sees Japan’s goalie off her line and seizes the opportunity.

With perfect technique and strength, she strikes the ball—it soars across half of the field, arching over the goalie who manages to get a palm to the ball, but nothing can deter its descent into the glittering net. The U.S. went on to win the game 5–2, with Carli Lloyd contributing three of the U.S.’ goals. Her performance that day cemented her as a permanent force in women’s soccer, and, in light of her upcoming retirement, I’m taking a look back on her decorated career.

Born on July 16, 1982, in Delran Township, New Jersey, Carli Lloyd began playing soccer at the age 5. Instantly in love, she played club soccer throughout her childhood and played college soccer at Rutgers, where she studied Exercise Science and Sport Studies. She worked her way up through the ranks of U.S. women’s soccer and, in July of 2005, she made her international debut against Ukraine. This game kicked off a 16 year career with the USWNT in which she became a two-time World Cup winner, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and two-time FIFA Women’s Player of the Year. Carli Lloyd has been a fixture within the USWNT for my entire life. I can’t imagine the team without her presence. Her work ethic, sheer motivation, and desire to win has propelled her to long-term success. Her book, “When Nobody Was Watching”, highlighted the way she never stopped working. Even after winning tournaments or scoring goals, Carli Lloyd was running sprints, going over plays, thinking of ways to become a better player. Most players approach their 30s and see the end of their career—Lloyd upped her game. No female player has scored more international goals after the age of 30 than Lloyd. She has endlessly impressive statistics: oldest USWNT player to score a goal, over 20,000 minutes in a USWNT jersey, 128 career goals, the list goes on and on. After playing with over

100 teammates and appearing in 312 international games, she has done it all. Yet, her career success was not easily achieved.

In 2002, Lloyd was excluded from the under-21 Women’s National Team roster, which was a huge blow to her career aspirations. Carli Lloyd considered quitting; she thought that being cut from the team was a sign to stop playing, that success would not be achieved. But, looking at all the different types of player Lloyd has been over the years—midfielder, forward, captain, sometimes even bench player—she has never been a quitter. She decided to work harder, get faster, and improve her playing. She chose the harder path and made the necessary sacrifices. Every time that Carli Lloyd has failed, she has gotten back up and succeeded. You can see it in her game face, in the way she plays every game like it is her last. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with more drive and commitment. In the face of doubt, Carli Lloyd rose to the top.

In 2019, Lloyd gave a talk at Cornell. I was beyond excited to see her speak and couldn’t wait to be standing in the same room as someone I so greatly admire. She spoke about her career, her experience as a women’s soccer player, and her plans for the future. I remember her quiet confidence, her humility, and the way she spoke about her achievements with pride, but with the hint that she wasn’t quite finished yet. I was in the room with one of the greatest female soccer players of all time. I was in the room with someone who found what they loved and kept on doing it.

I was in the room with a girl who worked tirelessly to make her dreams come true. While her time on the field is coming to a close, her impact on women’s soccer will continue to be felt for many years to come. I can’t wait to see what she does with her life post-soccer. She can finally take the pedal off the gas and relax, but knowing Carli Lloyd, I don’t think it’s possible for her to stop striving for greatness. If there’s one thing that Lloyd has taught me, it’s that effort is everything. As Lloyd herself said, “If you have a dream, it’s definitely achievable through hard work, dedication, sacrifice, everything.” Lloyd simply reminds the world that you can do it, and once you believe that, the world is yours.

IHS Varsity football game on 9/24 (2), Taken by Hannah Shvets

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37

Calm

By Tania Hao AMELIA I haven’t had an interaction this uncomfortable in a long time.

We’ve made all the small talk we can think of, including some passive-aggressive comments from my dad about my grades.

Lily, sitting across from me, pokes at her pasta and avoids eye contact. My dad has a plastic smile on his face and reaches to take Lily’s mom’s hand in an exaggerated gesture. I begin to roll my eyes, catch Lily doing the same, and stop.

I know the look on my dad’s face, behind his plastered-on grin: frustration with a hint of desperation. It’s the look he wears whenever my grades drop, or my mom calls, or when I quit whatever extracurricular he’s signed me up for. He bugs his eyes out a little, but I refuse to acknowledge it. I will not help him get out of this awkward situation he created. He looks away and begins talking about something with Lily’s mother.

We leave quickly after dinner. It’s drizzling, and everything feels muffled in the rain—even the chatter of the city in the evening seems subdued. As we walk the four blocks to Lily and her mom’s hotel, I focus on avoiding puddles and ignoring Lily, who is trying to make conversation with me.

“The city is so loud all the time,” she says at one point. “I could barely sleep last night. It’s never like this at home.”

I nod but don’t reply. I don’t know why I resent her so much.

Maybe it’s because she’s the exact opposite of me: patient and calm, two qualities my dad has tried to get me to learn since I was a toddler. Maybe it’s because she skipped a grade and is acing the same classes I’m failing. Maybe that’s it—maybe I’m just jealous.

The thought that I could be jealous of Lily infuriates me to no end, and we walk the rest of the way in tense silence.

When we get to the hotel, we go up to their room, where Lily’s mom reapplies her makeup and I watch her from my perch on the bed. She dabs on lipstick and wipes at the corners of her lips until everything is perfect, not a smudge out of place. She’s a perfectionist like Dad, everything about her neat and precise. She suddenly glances up and catches my eye in the mirror; I blush and duck my head and don’t look at her again.

Lily’s mom comes out looking pristine and my dad announces, “Barbara and I are going to the Met for a bit.”

Lily and I stare at him. “What about us?” we say simultaneously. I look sideways at her expression and for the first time, I feel a twinge of something almost friendly.

“That’s up to you.”

I gape at my dad, who’s always been so overprotective. Going shopping? Forget about it. A party? He would probably kill me. I practically had to beg him to let me start dating my girlfriend two years ago. And he’s suddenly letting the two of us do whatever we want?

“You’re letting us do anything?” I ask in disbelief.

My dad grimaces. Lily’s mom cuts in. “We thought some bonding time would be good for you two.”

I’m still shocked as they say goodbye and leave, the hotel door shutting with a resounding thud.

LILY The second our parents leave, I turn to Amelia. My excitement about exploring the city trumps my resentment of her coldness right now. “Well?” I ask. “Where are we going first?”

Amelia blinks at me and I repeat my question. “How about a museum?” I add. “Or a pizza place? Central Park?”

“My friends are going to a concert today. That’s where I’m going.”

“Okay...,” I say, disappointed. “I can come too, if you want. Or I can just stay here.”

Amelia is halfway to the door before she stops and looks back at me. “That’s a good idea,” she says slowly. “My friends don’t know I’m coming. If I can’t find them or something, we can stick together.”

Relieved, I hurry after her, my heart pounding a little in excitement. On the sidewalk, Amelia moves swiftly and fluidly.

She weaves through crowds of strangers until we reach a corner, where she waves her hand around for a taxi. When I finally catch up to her—I keep getting stuck behind people—she’s already in the taxi and telling our driver where to go.

“You must do this a lot,” I comment, sliding in next to her.

“Actually, no,” she replies. “My dad is kind of annoying about it.”

“Ah.” “Yup.” “So…which friends are you meeting?” I glance over at Amelia, determined to keep the conversation going. I hate awkward silences. They always make me worry that I did something wrong.

“Well, my girlfriend Bailey will be there,” she says. “Maybe my friends Felix and Lia. I’ll introduce you to them once we get there. Oh, here, I have pictures.”

I lean over as she swipes through her phone and settles on a selfie taken in front of a school. “That’s Bailey,” she says, pointing to the redhead standing next to her. “And Felix and Lia are on either side of us.”

I can’t help the small twinge of envy that I feel as she chatters on about what each of her friends is like. My mom might not be as overprotective as Amelia’s dad, but I’ve only ever had one or two friends. It’s why I was so excited to meet Amelia three months ago and why I was so disappointed when it seemed like she didn’t like me, though that was really my fault. A month ago, when our parents roped us into “new family bonding” when I was having a particularly bad day, I made a few snide comments about her that I still feel horrible about, though I’m not sure if Amelia even remembers. It was right before our parents announced their engagement.

“What about you? What do you and your friends like to do?”

I realize Amelia has asked me a question and try to remember what we were talking about. “I don’t really… I mean, I’m in coding club, and debate club,” I stammer. “But I don’t really do that with my friends.”

“That sounds fun,” Amelia says, her voice flat. I nod and stay silent, worry blossoming in my chest. Why does she seem angry all of a sudden? Has my mention of coding club reminded her of how mean I was about her struggling in school? About how I Continued on page 38

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Calm Continued from page 37

never even apologized? The guilt rises in my throat like bile.

The rest of the ride is silent. When we get to the concert, which is on an outdoor stage, Amelia has paid and is out of the car before I’ve even opened the door.

“I think I see Bailey,” she says. “Come on.”

I try to follow her, squeezing through the crowd of bodies already pulsing to the loud music, not wanting to accidentally shove anyone. Everything looks gray and brown in the night, and I squint to see Amelia. Just as I catch up with her, she stops suddenly and claps her hands over her mouth. “What’s wrong?” I yell over the band’s crooning and the crowd’s screams.

Her eyes fill with tears. Something is really wrong. I follow her gaze and see a boy and a girl on the edge of the crowd, dancing and kissing. A redhead girl.

“Is that—?” I begin to ask, but I already know the answer.

Amelia pushes past me and through the crowd, but not before I hear her sobs.

AMELIA I’m so, so stupid.

I should have noticed when Bailey began spending less and less time with me or when she stopped coming over as much. I really thought she was the one, that what we had was real.

I swipe at my tears and run blindly through the concert crowd.

When I finally burst through, I find myself at a bench under a tree, the concert and Bailey far behind me. I crumple onto the bench and cry, choking out sobs even though I know it won’t do anything to ease the weight on my chest or the sorrow writhing in my stomach.

At some point, Lily joins me on the bench. She doesn’t look at me and I don’t look at her. She doesn’t ask if I’m okay, which I appreciate. Instead, she asks me if I want to go.

“I want to sit here for a bit,” I say quietly. She nods, and we watch people trickle past, probably heading home. It’s almost nine-thirty. If this were any other day, my dad would flip out.

But it isn’t a regular day, I think, and my eyes begin to sting with tears again.

“I’m sorry I was mean to you a month ago,” Lily blurts out suddenly. I’m so surprised I forget Bailey for a moment.

“What?”

“A month ago, before our parents got engaged?” She looks at me, her face made of shadows. “We were eating dinner. You were talking about your friends, and I got so… jealous that I was mean to you about school stuff.”

“Why are you saying this now?”

“I’m sorry!” she says quickly. “I know you just had your heart broken. I just felt so bad about it, I had to say something.”

I laugh even though it isn’t funny, and Lily gives me a small smile. We’re quiet for a bit, but it feels comfortable.

“It’s so peaceful here,” I say, looking out at the still night, the city’s commotion in the background. My heart is still tossing and turning, but sitting here on a bench in the dark with Lily, I feel calm.

Weak

By Jordyn Baker You give me glasses, so I can see You give me your word, so I can speak You give me a bandage, so I won’t leak You untie my ropes and set me free Seasons change and it’s getting quicker But, the ice we’re standing on is getting thinner You give me a hug, but look at your phone You have two dollars, but won’t give me one You say we’ll be together, but leave me alone I can’t escape your endless abyss For these aren’t the lips I used to kiss I used to look in your eyes and feel safe and weak But now, I fear, you have strangled me so I can hardly speak

Automatic Writing

By Alice Burke

Automatic writing is a claimed psychic ability to produce words without consciously writing. This piece was written with this term in mind; the author attempted to write without deciding what to put on the page in the spirit of automatic writing.

There were only two people she hated in the world: her dad and herself. She never really knew which one she loathed with more of a dark, burning passion, but it was definitely one of the two. The hatred rose out of her very being, a great torrent of detestation that flooded her body and left her mind stranded on floating thoughts, anchored only by wisps of reason.

It wasn’t as if she wanted to feel this anger or think such horrible thoughts, but it was just so easy to hate. Far easier than trying to forgive―and some people weren’t worth forgiving anyway. Like her dad.

She couldn’t remember a time when her dad had shown her any love. It was only anger and dismissal. His words were a verbal battering: each curse was a slap in the face, every passive-aggressive muttering a jab in her ribs, the yells and all the screaming were repetitive punches and kicks until she was curled up on the ground, drowning in her hate once again.

His anger filled the room like smoke; it oozed out of his pores and filled the room, slowly suffocating her and stinging her eyes with unshed tears. It was dark, heavy smoke, smelling of alcohol and lies, strangling her. And his face was the definition of grotesque: puffy and red, with glaring eyes that stared her down until she cowered in fear with him towering over her.

The fact that he thought he could help her, save her from her one other enemy―well that was just laughable. No one could rescue her from the demons in her own mind, and if anyone could, it would never be her dad. Not in a million years would he care

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enough about her to even try. What he was doing wasn’t helping―it was just another excuse for him to control her.

Her hatred for her dad was so strong that when she retaliated, it turned her home into a battlefield. Her family cowered as she hurled missiles at her father, with him fighting back in kind. But he always won. He always had the last word, the last blood-curdling scream as she lay on the ground sobbing. He never gave up or gave in. He never lost, and she was always left broken: a failure weeping on the floor.

Maybe that was why she hated herself so much. She was a failure. To everyone else, she might have seemed perfect: she was good at school, good at sports, good at everything… But she was a failure. She could never succeed when it mattered most. She could never succeed at being happy, and she hated herself for it.

The most mundane thing, and it was out of her grasp.

It had been unreachable for years now. She was used to it, this feeling of despair that lingered like a fog in her mind. She hated it so much and wished she could take a torch and burn her mind to the ground. Maybe that would destroy the good in her life, too, but there wasn’t that much good left. It would be easier if she just cut her losses and moved on.

That would probably be better anyway. Then she wouldn’t have to live with herself, who she hated with the same intense loathing that she did her dad. She wouldn’t have to wake up every day wishing she was someone else, someone who wasn’t so disgusting, so easy to loathe. She wanted to be more like her brother, who actually cared about people and wasn’t an emotionless shell wandering through life without a care for anyone at all.

But she could never be a good person like he was; she was stuck with an ugly soul, just like her dad.

Maybe that was why she hated herself so much: she reminded herself of her dad, and it filled her with a hideous fear that she would turn out like him. She would become a menace to those she was supposed to love and they would hate her with the same fire that she hated herself. And she already hated herself enough; she didn’t know if she could handle more.

One day, maybe, when her dad was finally out of her life, then perhaps she could begin to heal her relationship with herself and start to be happy and live life again. But that day would not come for years. Now, it was just a waiting game to see how long she could survive with the boiling hatred she kept buried within her.

Maybe it would be long enough for her to survive her dad―and herself. Or maybe she’d perish under the burning flames of her own hatred.

Fall leaves by Rhiannon Galloway

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Anatomy of the Nautilus

By Louisa Miller-Out

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org

Nautilus belauensis, the Palau Nautilus

The nautilus is a soft ocean creature with almost a hundred tentacles. It’s the last surviving type of externally shelled cephalopod. Mesozoic seas used to swim with their ancient cousins, the ammonites, but they lost their lives to the cataclysmic extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, when ocean pH levels went haywire. The largest ammonites were several meters in diameter, many times larger than the nautilus. They were highly specialized for feeding on plankton near the surface, whose numbers were severely depleted by the deluge of acid rain after the asteroid hit. Not only did the ammonites lose their main food source, but the shells of their young kept dissolving in their hostile new environment, crippling the next generation. A mighty lineage, gone in geologic seconds.

Why, then, does nautilus still trawl the ocean today? For one, they could survive in deeper waters, where the acid rain failed to penetrate. They could decrease their metabolic rates to adapt to food scarcity, living at a slower pace, waiting out the storm. And they weren’t picky. They scavenged for a variety of organic matter, both living and dead, leaving them less vulnerable to decline with the loss of any one food source. They may have lurked in obscurity for millennia, smaller and less frilly than the ammonites, farther from the sunlit surface waters, but now they are emblematic of their family. Their exquisite shells populate bookshelves, mantelpieces, and museum display cases all over the world.

There are countless boats, seafood restaurants, and hotels named after them. By sheltering in deep waters, slowing down, and lacking specialization, the nautilus survived one of the greatest mass extinction events in Earth’s history and became one of the most breathtakingly beautiful living fossils in existence.

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LITERARY

Anatomy of the Nautilus Continued from page 39 Nautilus lives several times longer than other cephalopods on average. They take their time, growing slowly and constructing their idiosyncratic tiger-striped shells lined with mother-ofpearl, chamber by chamber. They spiral outward until they die, making their way along that golden path so abundant in nature.

Is there no end to their sacred geometry? Given peaceful waters and ample food, could the nautilus keep moving into new chambers and building itself outward until it reached the epic proportions of its ammonite ancestors, and beyond? It seems possible in theory. The only immortal species we know of so far is a fellow denizen of the deep, a jellyfish that can age in reverse. There’s a certain symmetry about it—in the ocean, where life likely originated, life has no end. But limitless growth would probably have eventual consequences for the nautilus, the sheer size of its shell becoming unwieldy over time like the overextended Roman empire. Sooner or later, the creature would have to fall, to sink.

Wouldn’t it?

Why does the nautilus die? Overwhelmingly, the answer

seems to be “humans.” Anthropocene habitat loss is a major factor, as is overhunting. These slow, gentle creatures are coveted for their magna opera, the striking shells they build, their life’s work. They cannot easily escape our greedy hands, nor can they quickly replenish their numbers as more and more of them succumb to the shell trade. Because the nautilus lives life at such a leisurely pace, because its armor is such a stunning commodity, its survival seems fundamentally incompatible with that of the frantic, aesthetically focused human hunter. How long would the nautilus live if it weren’t so pleasing to the human eye, if it wallowed in ugliness and filth rather than serenely gliding through the waves like a huge decorative marble?

No one seems to be researching the natural causes of death of the nautilus. Is it because no one cares? It’s an esoteric subject, yet I feel the need to know. Neither because it’s relevant to any of the pressing global issues at hand, nor because it’s personally relevant to me, but out of sheer simian curiosity.

Magdalena’s House

By Raia Gutman

Bessie stopped short, and Alphonse’s furry legs quivered in the air from the momentum that had built up over his owner’s brisk walk. Staring at the new inhabitant of 211 Ramone Avenue, she nearly forgot she was no longer in Europe. In the old country, an appearance like her neighbor’s would be laughable, a cause for mocking conversation with her peers. Here, she would be the one ostracized if she were to comment. But truly, this twenty-something tenant’s outfit was atrocious. Her patterned shorts resembled boys’ swim trunks, and she had the poor taste to pair them with a fraying denim vest. How she thought herself presentable to the neighborhood in such an ensemble Bessie had no idea.

“Bessie!” The neighbor called, waving frantically as if Bessie were looking over her head.

“Hello, Magdalena,” she responded, already regretting leaving her house.

“Maggie,” the neighbor corrected. “Aren’t you hot?”

Bessie looked down at her outfit. She was, in fact, quite warm, especially with Alphonse’s warm body pressed against her chest.

Before Bessie could reply, the neighbor was waving her hand in another flamboyant gesture that confused Bessie.

“I just remembered my lemonade’s in the fridge! That’ll cool you down!”

The neighbor turned her back and headed inside through the open door. An orange cat rose upon seeing her and brushed against her leg. It approached the door and caught sight of Alphonse. For a moment, they just looked at each other. Then, perhaps simultaneously, as Alphonse started barking, his tail wagging powerfully and his feet paddling the air, the cat hissed and arched its back. The commotion was enough to ruffle Bessie, who dropped the terrier in her indecision about her neighbor’s invitation. On one hand, she liked lemonade even less than she liked her neighbor. On the other hand, it would be rude to ignore the invitation. However, as she was weighing the options,

Alphonse had leapt toward the orange cat and was now inside the house, his high-pitched yips reverberating out the open door.

This was rudest of all, so Bessie stepped up to the front door to retrieve Alphonse and defuse the situation. She heard a shrill shriek and searched for Magdalena, who had probably spilled the lemonade or made some other mess, but, in fact, the shriek had come from Bessie.

Bessie was almost distracted enough to ignore the interior of her neighbor’s house, but not quite. Magdalena was clearly morally opposed to minimalism. Her walls crawled with flimsy posters, crooked frames, and stacks of books in the corners. Her furniture was mismatched and tasteless—she combined bright, sunny oranges with cool grays and deep greens. Bessie willed herself not to groan and turned her head sharply to catch a paw disappearing under the floral sofa. She lowered herself to an unseemly position on the floor, peering beneath it. The orange cat had cornered Alphonse into the wall and was raising a paw, claws outstretched, to scratch him.

“NO!” the two women shouted in unison, their voices matching in their mutual panic. Magdalena was also crouched on the floor, and Bessie tried not to think about the view she was giving her from the back.

Magdalena was balancing a pitcher of lemonade in one hand while dangling with the other a handful of small brown pellets shaped like pretzels. She made a clicking sound with her teeth and tongue, and the cat slowly turned its head to watch her.

Magdalena wiggled the treat in the air, her eyes wide and intense. The cat, paw still raised, looked thoughtful. With the cat’s attention diverted, Alphonse dashed out from under the sofa and collided with Bessie, who scooped him up and made a sound of relief. The cat looked back from the treat and, bewildered, batted at the air in front of it. Magdalena came closer and offered the treat to the cat, who took it grudgingly.

Sighing, Bessie raised herself to a more proper position.

LITERARY

“I am so very sorry.” She thought perhaps Magdalena should be the one apologizing.

Magdalena shook her head and smiled, clearly drained by the experience. “No, don’t worry about it!”

She looked around for a moment, dazed, before her hands found the pitcher and glasses and handed them to Bessie, who, despite having her hands full with Alphonse, did her best to hold onto them.

“We can just drink it in here. I’ll clear the table. I don’t have air conditioning, but—” She gestured around her. “—I’ve got lots of fans going.”

Bessie turned to the sofa again and set down the pitcher, glasses, and Alphonse, who sat neatly, still quivering in fear. The coffee table was far more cluttered than a coffee table should ever be, in Bessie’s opinion. There were magazines with colorful names strewn across the wood surface, sheets of stickers with bubble letters spelling out unfamiliar phrases, and a particular book that caught Bessie’s attention. She read the title as Magdalena sat down and began to pour the contents of the pitcher into the cups: Sappho in Translation. The familiar cover startled

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her—the deep purple of it, the woman’s long, lean nose and downcast eyes, looking sadly upon an unknown object. Bessie almost didn’t recognize it, so far from the context in which she knew it. Here, it was proudly splayed out on the coffee table, with hints of annotation within its pages. She almost expected Magdalena to reach out a hand and sweep it off the table or tuck it into a drawer, out of sight.

Bessie’s hand had paused on the magazine beneath the book, and Magdalena looked over her shoulder curiously.

“Have you read Sappho?”

She looked over at her. Magdalena’s hands were clasped in her lap and her legs were uncrossed, the light-blue fabric of her ridiculous shorts riding up to expose the chafed red skin of her thighs. Bessie stuttered, reaching haphazardly for the glass closest to her to avoid answering the question. She downed the yellow liquid and forgot to regret it. It was cool as promised and just sour enough to satisfy her. At that moment, the door swung open with a whine, and the most beautiful woman Bessie had never expected to see again walked in.

The Girl With the Outstretched Hands

By Addie Houle-Hitz

Her reflection changed each time she looked at it: one time the girl of glass who looked so fragile that if you were to touch her she might shatter, another the girl of bones, whose skin seemed to hang off her in such a contorted way that the girl couldn’t quite put her finger on what seemed so wrong with her.

The girl with the round face who looked as though she may burst from the inside at any given moment, the girl of stone who if you told her you loved her would not respond. These faces began to spin faster and faster until they became a blur, and the girl could not tell the others apart.

“Well, which face is mine?” asked the girl.

“None of them,” her reflection replied. “You’ve spent so long avoiding me you’ve forgotten what I look like.” As the image said this, her reflection began to melt so that in a matter of seconds it had become distorted and drooping. She tried to pick up her face, to rearrange it so that it would eventually look similar to what she thought to be herself, but every time she tried to lift up her eye or set her lips into a plump smile, they would only sink further into her head, leaving what the girl wished would remain there in a thin line.

Scrambling to piece herself together, she ran from the room.

She wanted nothing more than to be the ideal, and while she ran down the hall it seemed to stretch its length tauntingly. The only thing she could hear was the laughter of her reflection, coming from the bathroom, mocking her for wanting to be perfect.

“You have to face me at some point!” her reflection cried. “You can’t hide from me forever!”

The girl screamed; she wanted nothing to do with this. She hadn’t meant to take it this far; it hadn’t been intended to get out of proportion. How she wished for a simpler time, for a time before the girl with the outstretched hands, offering to help while

tears streamed down her face and her eyes wailed for help—for a time before the girl of porcelain, cracked and chipped but still to be used nonetheless. She waited for her reflection to show her who she was. She needed someone to tell her who to be. She was crying now, not getting any farther from the mirror no matter how hard she tried, so she sank to the floor in defeat.

Her reflection leapt at this moment of weakness, enveloping her and bringing with it its different faces, passing through the girl in one swift motion so that once it had finished, the only thing the girl could hear were her thoughts. Loud as they were, she didn’t want anything to do with them anymore. She couldn’t stand her reflection mocking her each time she passed it, reminding her of who and what she used to be. Those simpler times were gone now; she needed to grow up. Maybe that’s how she would rid herself of the reflection, the girl in the mirror whom she once recognized.

IHS Varsity football game on 9/24 (3), Taken by Hannah Shvets

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(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(1) Abdul Alturkestani (2) Blythe Hodgson (3) Kadek Naiwana, all by Loke Zhang Fiskesjö; (4) Kaia Moore by Kadek Naiwana

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Flowers by Adina Wilensky

Fall tree by Adina Wilensky

Students enjoying the last few warm weeks on the Quad by Adina Wilensky

The Coolness Spectrum What IHS Course Offering Fits Your Vibe?

By Raia Gutman Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 22): AP Psychology. It’ll take you one step closer to figuring out everyone around you— and maybe even yourself.

Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 21): Fractals and Chaos. This math elective is elusive and an acquired taste, just like you.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21): Film Study. It’s a semester-long course, and it revolves around films that you get to watch in class. You can even choose your own to discuss!

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19): Driver Education. It’s practical and will certainly pay off when you get your license and can drive yourself to school next semester.

Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18): Independent Study in Art. You’ve got the artistic ideas—all you need is the time and motivation to follow through with them. Surely 40 minutes a day and a fine arts credit will help you accomplish that.

Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 20): Readers Workshop. The only thing holding you back from actually reading the stack of books on your bedside table is your lack of time and desire to maintain a healthy sleep schedule. Good news: this class is all about reading!

Students featured on IHS Connects

Cool :) @sihstyparkingjobs

Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 19): Introduction to 3D Printing. Just picture it: you can hold in your hand whatever you desire and can design using compatible software. The possibilities are endless.

Taurus (Apr 20 - May 20): Food Science. You are already a gifted chef with a cultivated palate, but wouldn’t it be awesome to use your gifts for credit while learning more about the chemistry behind food and flavor?

Gemini (May 21 - June 20): Speech and Debate. Your argumentative skills may be sophisticated, but you need to refine them if you ever want to make money off of them—which, let’s face it, who wouldn’t?

Cancer (June 21 - Jul 22): Yoga and Self-Care. Oh, Cancer, you need a break from stressing about everyone else. Set aside some time to take care of yourself.

Weekly COVID testing

A Beginner’s Mind

Underclassmen Bell

Fire Alarms

Upperclassmen Bell

Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 22): Media and Video Production. You’ve always wanted to host a podcast—here’s your chance!

Longer Bus Routes

Virgo (Aug 23 - Sep 22): Forensics.

It’ll satisfy your interest in psychology and reward your attention to detail.

Congested G Hallways

Shifting Study Halls

Uncool :( IHS Connects