September 2019

IHSTATTLER

T A T O T T I F S ’ T A H T S ST W E N E H T L LE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO TAT LL HT AAH TLE T’S FIT TO W E N E H T L L T A .

E L T A T T O T T T I F S ’ T TL A TH E. A L L A LL TTLE. A T T O H T T I E F ATTLE. S ’ NE ASLTLHTAHT W E W N E E W N ST S THAT E H ’S FIT TO H IT TO TATTLE. ALL THE NEWS THAT’S Welcome back to school IHS! Start your year on a good note by writing for The Tattler. Join us for our writers' meeting on Tuesday, September 10 after school in H-Courtyard. Everyone is welcome!

SEPTEMBER 2019 VOL. 127 #1

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

EDITORIAL

Before Subtracting Tracking, ICSD Should Consider Their Order of Operations By the Tattler Editorial Board

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his fall, ICSD is beginning the process of detracking middle school math, meaning that in 2020, all students in sixth and seventh grade will be taught the same content and be grouped in heterogeneous classes. The process has drawn some uproar from parents who believe that doing so will decrease opportunities for their children. ICSD cited concerns over class, race, and gender disparities between accelerated and non-accelerated math as justification for the move. Sure, detracking could be a great solution to these disparities, if the ability gaps between students began in sixth grade. In order for detracking to be effective and not seriously harm students’ education, ICSD needs to bolster the math curricula starting in first or second grade as well as provide improved teacher training. Attempting to detrack without making substantial changes to the way math is taught will ultimately harm students of all abilities and demographics because it ignores the root causes of the ability gaps between students.

The need for a change in the district’s math system is apparent. Since Common Core standards were implemented in 2013, students have been struggling. Accelerated math has traditionally consisted of cramming two years of content into one. With Common Core increasing the amount of content required for a class, students simply aren’t being taught all the knowledge that they need. While mathematics test scores for grades 3-8 don’t show much of a decrease, students have increasingly begun to opt out of those tests. Many students who take accelerated math in middle school become disheartened when they enter high school and drop down to non-advanced levels. ICSD’s solution to this problem was to abolish tracking, claiming that it will actually funnel more students into advanced-level math in high school. The detracked classes will supposedly teach more content and prepare more students for the rigor of advanced high school courses. But students struggling with content isn’t a failure of tracking; it’s a failure of foundation. If students can’t absorb two years worth of new math material in a year, it’s because all the math being taught is new.

Theoretically, the detracked system would teach those math fundamentals to all students indiscriminately. But in practice, this could hardly work.

It would be a fallacy to ignore the disparate abilities in a sixthgrade classroom. Many will know much of the content already, while many will still struggle with basic concepts. The teacher, now faced with a colossal range of abilities, has to cater to each and every single one of them: a herculean task. Inevitably, lower-ability students will be left behind, higher-ability students will be bored to tears, and those in the middle will receive a middling education. In effect, those who started at the bottom will only plummet further behind and those with gifts will be dragged down by a lead balloon.

These differing abilities start much, much sooner, and to mitigate the harm, teachers need to offer support for struggling students in the earliest grades. And in turn, the district needs to offer support 2

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to teachers who are tasked to educate struggling pupils. One can’t expect students to miraculously catch up five years of difference.

The ICSD has brought in teachers from within the state to teach educators “co-teaching with differentiation and advanced math content.” Differentiation is a method that is meant to allow teachers to teach kids of varying abilities. Two teachers are placed in a classroom and instructed to work in tandem. The actual methods are vague. Another method that could feasibly work in a heterogeneous grouping is a discourse method, one not dissimilar to the structure of a college class. But in class sizes of twenty to twenty-five students, differentiation and discourse is difficult. Even two teachers working in tandem would find it difficult to manage a classroom of that size. And while it gives more flexibility for the teacher and some elasticity on the amount of content being taught, it most certainly does not wholly solve the issue of vast ability ranges.

ICSD makes this move much too early and without the proper foundations. Students are struggling: their math skills show a deficit in education, but they need to be taught more and better math in the earlier grades. Sixth grade is not a magical year where students automatically become better or worse at math. Tracking does not impose ability differences, it overlays them, and then, it intensifies them. It can’t happen without a serious restructuring of how math is taught in earlier grades. Therefore, to make this move now is going to do more harm than good to students.

OPINION

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ICSD Implements Changes in Middle-School Math

By JUSTIN HEITZMAN

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tarting this school year, ICSD is phasing in changes to middle school math curricula. Starting in the 2019-2020 academic year, only one sixth-grade math course (Math 6) is offered. Starting in 2020-2021, only one seventh-grade math course (Math 7) will be offered.

In making these changes, the Accelerated Math 6 and Accelerated Math 7 courses are being removed. The changes represent the newest effort of ICSD to reduce the prevalence of tracking.

Tracking has long been a major point of contention both in Ithaca and elsewhere. The term refers to the sorting of students into different classes based on perceived academic ability and/ or achievement. In such a system, groups of students often find themselves on different “tracks” from an early age. In the course programming for ICSD middle schoolers, tracking is usually first experienced in the context of math classes, as students are placed in either Math 6 or Accelerated Math 6. In removing this distinction, ICSD

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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:

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administrators are explicitly acting in accordance with the position that the tracking of math students is problematic; an ICSD press release on the changes cites “research, ICSD data, and anecdotal experiences” to support its conclusions on tracking. According to the press release, the outcomes of tracking math classes include a lack of “social and emotional benefits” and the division of classes by race, socio-economic class, and gender. Such statements fall in line with the views of mainstream opponents of tracking.

When announced, the decision to detrack middle school math courses prompted significant backlash among some parents and community members. Much of the opposition to the move ultimately centered around a petition that has circulated online and gained over 250 signatures.

The creator of the petition cited numerous concerns with the plan, including that it might lead to decreased enrollment in eighth-grade Algebra I and/or an increase in “societal inequality” due to the potential hiring of tutors to make up for a perceived decline in rigor.

Currently, there are no announced plans for similar changes in the course offerings at IHS. The aforementioned press release states that the changes to middle school math will “enhance” the high school math program, citing the effects of detracking Algebra I and various other courses.

Additionally, the ICSD will continue to encourage students who do not take Algebra I in middle school to take two math classes in tenth grade if they wish to take AP Calculus.

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OPINION

Andrew Yang: Give Him a Chance

By JINHO PARK

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ndrew Yang, an entrepreneur, is one of the dozens of Democratic hopefuls trying to shoot their shot at the presidency to reinspire a nation that is frustrated with the current administration. His campaign’s focal point, is best said by Yang himself: “If you've heard anything about me and my campaign, you've heard that someone is running for president who wants to give every American $1,000 a month . . . Why do we need to do it? We already automated away millions of manufacturing jobs, and chances are your job can be next.”

Yang goes on to explain that his Freedom Dividend, which is the proposal that would give all Americans 1000 dollars a month, would be taken from what he dubs as the “big winners of today’s society”, large corporations such as Amazon. He believes that the American people deserve their fair portion of a successful American industry, a stance that should be appealing to all.

Not only is Yang’s Freedom Dividend intelligent, his recognition of the automation of jobs as a threat makes him feel more in-tune with America’s public than the rest of the politicians on stage, who frequently squabble over details and attack each other to establish themselves as the leaders of the Democratic pack.

Unfortunately, Yang’s reluctance to squabble makes it harder to catapult his campaign to front-runner status. Yang’s refusal to debate in a debate makes him stand out in a group of Democratic candidates, but also makes me wonder whether he even has a genuine chance at being the Democratic nominee. Despite his pleasant personality, though, he will not hesitate to denounce the established. In his closing statement at the July debate, Yang delivered scintillating criticism of the modern day election system: “Instead of talking about automation and our future, including the fact that we automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs, hundreds of thousands right here in Michigan, we’re up here with makeup on our faces and our rehearsed attack lines, playing roles in this reality TV show. It’s one reason why we elected a reality TV star as our president.”

He’s right.

Trump was not elected for his brash demeanor or his illicit behavior, he was elected because he was entertaining. In a world driv4

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en by clicks, Trump gets more publicity each time a new scandal comes to light, and for him, no publicity is bad publicity. For him, the more outlandish he becomes, the media will thrive off of the misbehavior, and simply make him all the more popular amongst his supporters. Despite their educated proposals and presidential qualities, I fear that candidates like Yang won’t have a chance against Trump, as perhaps they cannot match the idiotic reality TV that Trump brings.

Yang is probably my favorite candidate out of the bunch; not only are his ideas youthful, he doesn’t lower himself to joining in with the endless barrage of personal attacks on other Democratic candidates. Today, I hear the criticisms on politicians, which are often as repetitive as they are frequent: they’re deceitful, selfish, and articulate, a scary combination. But Yang feels different, in his genuine, selfless manner: I just hope he gets the chance to prove it.

Image from the Washington Post

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

FEATURES

Buy A Nice Pen(cil)

By JINHO PARK

“Can I borrow a pencil?”

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ne of the most ubiquitous questions, and likely one of the most dreaded.

Perhaps you left it on your desk, or you left it at home; this leaves you to wonder whether it has been lost due to your carelessness or from the theft of a fellow classmate.

When you forget a pencil, you probably feel the need to declare a State of Emergency; the reality of high school is such that class moves on even if you aren’t prepared. In this scenario, you are left to rely on a peer, who may or may not have a spare pencil on them.

However, when you are on the receiving end of a request for a pencil, you are faced with a dilemma: If you don’t have a spare pencil, you’ve let a friend down. If you have a pencil, and you choose to lend it, you are doing so with the expectation that you will never see it again. You must come to terms with the reality that after a class period, both you and the receiver of your pencil will forget that the transaction for the pencil occurred in the first place.

Occasionally, a fortunate instance of recollection will allow you to remember that you lent someone a pencil or that the pencil that you have must be returned to the person who borrowed it to you. Unfortunately, this usually happens days or weeks after the pencil switched hands, and in the time that it has taken you to remember, the pencil has already been lost again. Borrowed pencils are lost pencils.

As a solution, I find it helpful to buy a more expensive mechanical pencil, as the monetary value of the pencil prompts you

to not lose it in the future. Strangely, once a pencil becomes a larger investment, I found that I was much less likely to lose it. Something nicer can also allow you to make the claim that the pencil is yours when you misplace it in class, since it is likely not as generic as a standard Ticonderoga #2. Not to mention, with a reliable mechanical pencil, you no longer have to be the student that is annoyingly sharpening a dull pencil in the middle of a critical lesson.

We can avoid the dreaded situation where we ask to “borrow” pencils by taking care of our own pencils. Maybe occasionally make an exception for your forgetful friends.

SEPTEMBER 2019

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FEATURES

Student Feature: Ella Maines

By KATIE LIN

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lla Maines, a sophomore at IHS, is an incredibly gifted artist. During the summer, she attended an animation program at Alfred State, and I was able to contact her in July and ask her about her experience with art.

Katie Lin ‘22: To start us off, how has art influenced your life so far?

Ella Maines ‘22: I feel like it’s expanded what I can create, like lots of people can’t really turn their ideas into art because they feel their art isn’t good enough, or they don’t really like art. I feel like I’m gifted with this talent because I can really put all of my ideas onto paper.

KL: What programs do you use when you animate?

EM: I use this program that has kind of a silly name, “FlipaClip.”

KL: With experience, do you feel you have developed your own personal style of art?

EM: I feel I have, but I’m trying to go for more of a Disney, John Belushi style. It’s a really interesting style because there’s a lot of character to it and a lot of movement, and I just really like it.

KL: Is art an effective way for an artist to voice their opinions and advocate for a cause they care about?

EM: I feel like it really is because you can portray a lot in art that you can’t really do in film or photography.

KL: On April 20, you posted an animation on your YouTube channel, “Freckella,” about the Columbine shooting, and it was very moving. Why did you decide to make an animation on Columbine?

EM: I started researching Columbine in September 2018 because I learned that there were a lot of people out there who were using it to exploit their own political beliefs, had crushes on the shooters, and romanticized the shooting, which is really not that great. A lot of notoriety was going to the shooters, and it’s important to focus on the fact that shootings are usually caused by mental health issues rather than guns. Additionally, not a lot of peo6

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ple really pay attention to the people that were actually killed.

KL: The information in your animation is incredibly well-detailed. How did you research all of the victims and what happened?

EM: I used sites that went in-depth into the lives of victims and their families, and I found lots of home video footage and photographs of the victims that I used for reference. There’s this one scene with a kid named Daniel Mauser, who was one of the people who died, and he’s walking into the frame holding a piece of paper, which was actually from a home video that his dad recorded of him when he was reciting a speech for class.

KL: Clearly, you spent a lot of time making your animation as accurate as possible. How much of the film is your own imagination?

EM: I’d say about 60 percent. A lot of the stuff I thought of in my head. I’m very proud of that shot where one of the shooters is walking out of the door and you can see his shadow. It portrays what his mom thought of him before the massacre and what he was hiding.

KL: I definitely thought the way you used the shadows and the black and white was very emotional and clever. While watching the animation I was very moved that only certain parts of the film weren’t black and white, like the red blood and the bright orange candlelight. How did you decide what was black and white, and what wasn’t?

EM: I wanted to put emphasis on certain parts I thought would really have an impact, like the candlelight, the blood, Danny Rohrbough’s purple face, and one of the victim’s brother’s blue tears while everything else was just in black and white.

KL: What effect do you hope your animation will have on the public?

EM: I’m hoping that more people will stop focusing on statistics and start learning more from actual survivors. One of the things I regret about the animation was

at the end when I said “gun violence will continue to plague our world. We have to change that . . . ” because it makes the whole thing sound like a gun control PSA, which I never intended.

KL: Personally, I believe you found the right balance between providing information about what happened and calling out for change without seeming like a PSA. In your opinion, what do you believe should be done to end gun violence?

EM: In my opinion, for gun violence and any kind of violence to end, people should stop focusing on the weapons and the message of it, and focus more on the people who need to be helped. Many complaints were filed to the police prior to the massacre, and the police didn’t do anything about it. They didn’t really look for warning signs, as it was 1999 and school shootings weren’t really a thing yet. As Randy Brown says, “The things that would now be considered red flags . . . at the time we just excused as ‘teenage behavior.’” We need to really focus on what could cause someone to go down this path and bringing them out of that dark hole.

KL: Are you talking about a larger emphasis on mental health?

EM: Yes, and we are twenty years too late from stopping Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold from doing what they did, but we can stop other people out there.

KL: For any novice artists, do you have any words of wisdom you’d like to say to them?

EM: I’d say don’t be afraid to go as wild as you can. Don’t be afraid to make whatever you want. Don’t let anyone tell you that anime is for losers or that Disney shouldn’t be copied. Don’t follow any of that, and do what you want, as long as it’s not hurting anyone.

KL: Do you have any projects planned for the future?

EM: I’m working on a comic right now, called “An Untold World,” that I’ve been working on since eighth grade. I recently finished page 91 of it.

FEATURES

A Limited Perspective: Advice for Freshmen

By JINHO PARK

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hen I entered my freshman year, I remember being flustered and nervous, just like most of the other freshmen.

I had so many questions, most of which were left unanswered. What would the course load be like? What would it be like socially? What clubs should I join? Would I get lost in IHS? In retrospect, asking questions was my remedy to the uncertainty of high school. While my experience as an apprehensive freshman was certainly unique to myself, the general uneasiness that I felt was representative of my overall class. So this is my insight—which is admittedly limited—as to how to better live through your freshman year of high school at IHS and avoid panic, even when it may seem inevitable.

“Less is more” Attempt to do less, but choose the extracurriculars you are most passionate about. In your life, think about the activities you don’t particularly enjoy. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you didn’t have to go to that rehearsal, play in that game, or complete that assignment?

Now, imagine that you dropped that activity in its entirety. You would have more time. More time to do some of the other things that might interest you more.

Sometimes, this can mean giving up something that you’ve done for a long time. But frankly, it’s much more valuable to do the things that give you fulfillment rather than spreading yourself thin doing activities you don’t care about. Yes, giving up a sport or instrument that you’ve done for a long time can be intimidating, but without that sort of sacrifice, you won’t have time in a busy high school schedule to fit other pursuits in. However, before carelessly dropping commitments, make sure that you deliberate on the value of each of the activities in your life.

This can apply to other commitments as well. The friendship that has dragged on since elementary school might be replaced with someone new you meet in high school. Freshman year is frequently a time of changing friend groups and priorities. Don’t labor to be a part of a certain friend group or adjust your own priorities to the priorities of someone else. Instead, naturally find yourself being part of a community, one that hopefully feels right to you.

High school is full of sacrifice; try to make the right decisions and be fearless with your choices. After all, you’re only a freshman. You have time.

“Stay busy”

As someone who played a school sport last year, I found myself surprisingly more productive during the season than in the aftermath of the season. During the season, I would come home from practice and be forced to immediately finish my homework. However, after the season ended, I would procrastinate, eventually rushing to complete it. The lesson? Feeling overwhelmed actually forced me

to complete my activities in the limited time that I had.

Some of the most frequent freshman advice I hear is along the lines of “take it slow your freshman year; you’re just a freshman.”

However, perhaps the opposite is true. It is only by feeling your busiest during freshman year that you will force your own productivity. As a result, I would highly recommend participating in a school sport, joining multiple clubs, and working diligently on your schoolwork.

“Be genuine” Don’t cheat. Do your work right and never participate in the casual cheating communities that will constantly pop up. Instead of cheating, ask your teacher for extensions. Many teachers give generous extensions without a penalty on your grade for the assignment.

All too frequently, cheating becomes normalized. Don’t contribute to this normalization of dishonesty. Last year, our history class received increasingly difficult assignments due to the surfeit of cheating that occurred in the classroom. By cheating, you not only hurt yourself, but you also hurt others.

“Be healthy”

This is the most cliché advice of all time but is likely the most important. Getting a lot of sleep feels wonderful and your performance and personality will reflect the amount of time spent sleeping. Skipping meals and doing mindless searches on the Internet late at night will slowly sap you over time. Strive to be emotionally healthy too.

Practice basic courtesy towards others, make sure to feel fulfilled with your routine, and make changes as necessary.

“Remember things”

The simplest of mistakes can lead to unfortunate consequences.

Forgetting due dates, small assignments, or even permission slips can cost you. It is incredibly difficult to constantly stay on top of these assignments, so find a system that reliably works for you. Planners or reminders can prove to be helpful in this case. Make sure to be reliable when it comes to meeting friends or gathering for a group project. Show up and make it at the right time.

High school is difficult and there is no easy way around it. It will test your emotional capacity, organizational skills, and your academic prowess to an extent that you, as an incoming freshman, have never experienced before at school. High school can feel suffocating because it is such a constant in our lives. There are no breaks in high school. There is no escape. However, just as the upperclassmen before you, you will endure freshman year. How you endure it, whether you enjoy it, whether you are satisfied, and whether you grow from it is entirely up to you.

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FEATURES

Student-Organized Concert At Kulp Will Support Advocacy Center

By JUSTIN HEITZMAN

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n the evening of September 20, a concert will take place at Kulp Auditorium to support the Advocacy Center. Unlike most performances at Kulp, though, this concert is being planned and organized by students. IHS students Daniel Copeland ‘21 and Leah Wardlaw ‘20 have been working over the past few months in coordination with ACTion (Advocacy Center Teens), the Advocacy Center’s teenage activist group, to put a wide range of performers together on the Kulp stage.

The Advocacy Center is a local nonprofit organization. Its mission, as stated on actompkins.org, is to “increase the safety and reduce the trauma for those who have been impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, and child sexual abuse.” According to Wardlaw, one of the chief goals of the upcoming concert will be to promote awareness of the Advocacy Center and its services. Those involved in organizing the concert hope that it will help promote understanding among teenagers of free and confidential services that may be relevant to them. The variety of such services is wide; they include help with legal issues, assistance with the creation of safety plans, counseling, and support groups. Additionally, teenagers (and all others) are encouraged to call the Advocacy Center’s 24-hour hotline at (607) 277-5000.

Both Copeland and Wardlaw are confident that the concert will have a positive impact on the Ithaca community. As inspiration, they reference Take Back The Night, an annual set of marches and rallies across the country organized around the theme of domestic and sexual violence prevention.

The annual Ithaca rally, which features spoken word poetry and other forms of art, is organized by a “collective” of community members, some of whom are students. In September, ACTion will be bringing similar artistic talent and themes to the familiar 8

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and accessible setting of Kulp to focus on how teenagers are affected by sexual violence. According to Wardlaw, “[The concert] is about lifting up the voices of teens, and this event will literally and figuratively lift up their voices about issues that matter.”

Additionally, Copeland stressed that the concert is a way to get the community more involved in abuse prevention, stating, “We want the world to be a safer place and the community to be a safer place, and this is a good way to get the word out about these issues.” Wardlaw also noted that the concert will be beneficial to the community in that it will help ACTion to grow, as funds raised by the concert will provide the group with the resources necessary to purchase items that are not typically covered by grants, such as stickers and wristbands.

The two also made the point that, in planning this concert, they are effectively reinforcing ACTion’s goals of support and empowerment. Copeland and Wardlaw, with support from Advocacy Center staff, have led efforts to find performers, secure

sponsors, and create promotional materials. Essentially, they have been empowered to support other teens, which is the ultimate goal of ACTion as a group; as Wardlaw states, “Everyone can have the space to empower others and to be empowered.”

Planning this event has led Copeland and Wardlaw to think of future ways in which ACTion can benefit the community. For example, they hope to create toolkits with resources for various awareness months (such as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October) that would be made available to ICSD and Tompkins County students.

Acts in the show will be performed by various students from throughout Tompkins County. Some of the acts will deal with themes relating to the mission of the Advocacy Center, while others will simply strive to provoke thought and to entertain.

While admission to the concert will be free, there will be a suggested donation of $10 at the door. Proceeds will go directly towards awareness promotion, youth services, and youth programs.

ARTS

2019 Back-to-School Playlist

By LELAND XU

“Nobody” by Mitski Imagine this: it’s one o’clock A.M., you have homework for four classes that you haven’t even started, you have two projects due tomorrow, your parents are fed up with your late-night procrastination, and worst of all, you don’t have a song to listen to as the whole world slowly collapses around you. Enter “Nobody,” Mitski’s second single from her acclaimed 2018 album, Be The Cowboy: a song that describes that lonely feeling of schoolwork anxiety and social alienation. A great song to play on loop, Mitski's emotional piano triads and catchy bass lines remind you who can save you from your miseries: nobody.

“It’s All Over” by Johnny Cash An acoustic ballad featured on Cash’s posthumous album, Personal File, the lyrics tell a simple tale of broken hearts and lost love. Cash teaches himself and the listener that when the people we love don’t love us back, all we can and should do is “stop your cryin’, turn around and let her go.” After all, when times get tough, and we lose our way, just remember: Johnny Cash is dead, and soon we will be too. “(Joe Gets Kicked Out of School for Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn’t a Problem)” by Car Seat Headrest Will Toledo, frontman of the band Car Seat Headrest, describes the songs in their 2016 album, Teens of Denial, as “improperly internalized religious thought.” “Drugs With Friends,” one of those songs, synthesizes religious fear and imagery with drug trips Toledo experienced firsthand; in a vision, Jesus Christ chastises the eponymous Joe with 1 Corinthians 4:13 and Joe calls his drug-induced environment “Sodom.”

Toledo believes that any one of us could become or already is a “Joe,” someone who resorts to drugs or addiction in order to fill the void in their heart, but regardless, he ironically comments that “drugs are better with friends; friends are better with drugs.”

“Nausea” by Jeff Rosenstock As high school students, angst is especially prevalent within the confines of our minds, and that same angst asks questions like:

what am I doing? What am I doing here?

Where am I going to be in ten years? Will everything be alright in the end? With saxophone solos, power-pop piano melodies, surrealist lyrics, and murky vocals, Rosenstock describes his mid-life angst and his desire to better himself both physically and mentally away from a life of late-night drinking and Sartresian dread: an escape from “evenings of silence and mornings of nausea.”

“Longtime Sunshine” by Rivers Cuomo On the same subject of angst, Rivers Cuomo, frontman of the band Weezer, wrote “Longtime Sunshine” to personally reflect on his own angst and to attempt to look optimistically towards the future, a future where he can “build a house with a wood stove or a fireplace” or “settle down with a good woman.” We, as students, as human beings, all have the potential to persevere through our own troubles until we “get someplace where we can truly rest.” Or we can all just give up instead.

“Why Bother?” by Weezer In their 1996 album Pinkerton, Weezer manages to fit a song with an intro, three verses, a solo, and an outro into only two minutes, describing a struggle of sexual frustration and romantic weariness with crunchy guitar playing and confessional and intensive vocal harmonies. No snarky comment necessary.

“Heat Wave” by Snail Mail 2019 is set to be the hottest year ever. But before we face our own extinction crisis

at the hands of climate change, listen to Snail Mail’s love song, the second single from her 2018 album, Lush. Describing a metaphorical heat wave of emotions, the narrator faces and overcomes an unrequited love. The perfect song to listen to as we slowly make our Earth a living hell.

“NO FUN” by Joji The summer is over. But that doesn’t mean the fun has to end there for you. Unless you’re George Miller—under the moniker Joji—on his 2018 album BALLADS 1, in which all of your friends have left you because the summer is over and because you’re self-centered, so now you desperately and hedonistically look for something to distract yourself from your own social anxiety and crippling imposter syndrome. Or maybe that’s exactly how you are.

“Sukiyaki (Ue o Muite Arukō)” by Kyu Sakamoto Despite Sakamoto’s cheerful tone, “Sukiyaki” (named by English-speaking producers because it was easier to say than its original title and it was recognizably Japanese) is a tune filled with dejection and melancholy. In between his carefree whistling, Sakamoto laments that “I look up when I walk so that the tears won't fall . . . I am all alone tonight.” Reaching the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1963, Sakamoto provides a great lesson for young freshmen today walking down the halls this year: keep your head up, so everyone can see you cry.

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/ playlist/7nNsEZlXeeX7FavCHIpW8N

NEW SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING CLUB ** Learn to apply computer coding to solve problems in ALL scientific fields ** Learn how graphics are done **Manipulate and write code **NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY **Work with BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY professional **Contact Ms. Lynn in room E25 for more info. Stay tuned for announcements early in the school year.

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Jake Myers Interview

By RAIA GUTMAN

W

hat's it like to spend a day with the producer of Mission: Impossible? In my experience, it included listening to Tegan and Sara in the car, buying ice cream at Purity, having brunch at the State Diner, and lots and lots of puns. After all, he is my uncle. I was lucky enough to drive around Ithaca with Jake Myers ’91 and his family this summer, talking about his experiences back in high school as well as his current job.

During high school, Jake Myers was a self-proclaimed “jock by day, AV nerd by weekend.” He was a wrestler at IHS and produced a cable access television show with his friends, claiming that the show was a better film school than NYU. He wrote an article for the former IHS Press and remarked that the current name for the paper sounded like a little “whistleblower.” Today, Myers has produced high-profile films including Interstellar (2014), The Revenant (2015), Dunkirk (2017), and most recently, Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). His upcoming movie is the seventh installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, which comes out in 2021.

Sitting across from him in one of the armchairs in my grandparents’ living room, I recounted what had happened earlier that day. I had watched Titanic with his wife Kea and one of his children, learning that they were both a lot more downto-earth than I had anticipated. The rest of his children were fun as well, splashing around Buttermilk Falls with big, dimpled smiles. He had pointed out his childhood home, and I took myself back to the Ithaca he grew up in. I imagined the TV program he and his friends produced as teenagers, their classes at school, and IHS itself, which his father graduated from in 1958 when it was still in the DeWitt Mall.

I laughed out loud when, over brunch, 10

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our grandmother wondered if Jake’s kid and I were talking about Monet instead of Monáe.

Raia Gutman ’22: First question: could you describe your job?

Jake Myers: Could I describe my job?

My job is to put together the logistics and plans for how to turn a movie from a script into a final product. But mostly I spend all the money. I take money from a rich company and have to not spend too much or too little but exactly what they give me.

RG: Okay. What is the weirdest thing you've ever done for your job?

JM: Every day there’s a weird thing . . . You become an expert in all kinds of random things, whether that is what it takes to pilot a helicopter, whether it’s the science of traveling to outer space, or the logistics of moving a piece of equipment and/or set over a mountain or onto a glacier, or the weather patterns of some part of the world that you have not been to . . . I always find it weird when you’re doing . . . something very casual: you’re eating your lunch on a plate on somebody’s stoop in a city where you would never be doing that if there was no movie set around. Or maybe you’re in the middle of nowhere in a field and everyone’s talking, gathering, having a water cooler type conversation, in some environment that's completely foreign to a workplace but treating it like it’s the office.

RG: Do you feel there is a meaningful difference between franchise films and original films? Do you think there's any obligation to create art over more empty movies?

JM: Well, that’s a judgmental question because it implies that franchise films are empty on some level, but I would say that I understand the equation. I personally prefer original content because it has

some more power to make [than] original content and to make things people haven't seen before. But you can do things in franchise films that are also new. When we’re making a film like Dunkirk, it’s an original piece, and we’re putting something to the screen that people haven’t seen before, but also war movies are quite common, so in a way, you're doing something that has been done before. In the case of making Mission: Impossible, the conversation of “we want to do something that's never been seen on film or that nobody’s ever done before” happens every day. That’s a very driving factor in making those films, so ultimately you actually have the same drive to do something new even in a franchise film, at least for me, and I can't speak for what it's like in Fast and Furious. I do think it's important to try to make financially viable original content because it shows the financiers in the movie business that we can make movies that are meaningful and have them make money. But on the second part of the question, although film is an art form, like painting or writing or anything, it exists in this country as a business, and so all of these are commercial endeavors.

It's really finding a marriage between artistic endeavor and commercial viability that is the producer’s job at its core. We don't get to make them if they're just artistic, at least in the financial model that the film industry is based on.

RG: And finally, what are some of your favorite films?

JM: Well, I always say that The Best Years of Our Lives is my number one favorite film, but it could be anything. I love Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, Hitchcock is a big favorite . . . I like an eclectic group of films. Everybody has their own taste.

There were great movies that were made in my generation.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Shakespeare in the Park

By ADOWYN ERNSTE

F

or those of us who have only read Shakespeare line by line in English class, the experience can be monotonous, not to mention confusing. This could form a negative association with Shakespeare that can linger throughout high school or even a lifetime. But Shakespeare’s plays were never meant to be experienced as mere texts. The entire essence of the plays are breathed into being by the actors’ interpretation and performance of their lines. Attending a production put on by the Ithaca Shakespeare Company (ISC) proved this point by managing to excite even the most skeptical of viewers. Each year during their summer season, ISC performs several of Shakespeare’s plays in Ithaca’s scenic parks, creating an ambient backdrop for an exciting evening. Attending a live performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed in Upper Treman park, brought Shakespeare’s classic play to life.

For those unfamiliar with A Midsummer Night's Dream, the comedy follows three pairs of conflicted and troubled lovers. Characters Lysander and Hermia are forbidden to be together. Helena loves Demetrius, though his heart is set on Hermia. Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, hold Hermia’s life in their hands, insisting that she must abide by her father’s wishes and marry Demetrius. Meanwhile, the king and queen of the Fae, Obernon and Titania,

have their troubles as well. Using fairy magic, King Obernon and his faithful but mischievous servant, Puck, try to set things right between Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, and even the fairy king and queen themselves. However, after an error of mistaken identities and a great deal of mischief, characters fall in and out of love throughout the course of one wild night.

While the original Shakespeare plays were performed only by men, the Ithaca Shakespeare Company casts both men and women.

Additionally, they cast some roles with opposite genders, such as the characters Lysander and even Puck. As an allusion to the original Shakespeare plays, the choice melds a past of all-men acting with a present sense of gender equality.

The actors in A Midsummer Night’s Dream were excellent, each one able to embody their character’s personality and how they might interact with other characters. The performers brought life to their lines using actions and emphasis, turning Shakespeare’s language into something that could be understood and enjoyed by all ages. In particular, actress Erin Lockett did a remarkable job as Puck. Playful in her lines and actions, the humor associated with her role was clear in every line.

Throughout the course of the play, it was intriguing and amusing to watch the disaster unfold and wonder if the lovers would ever

Kyle Beltran, Kristine Nielsen and Shalita Grant in The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park.

Image from Time Magazine

resolve their conflicts. Perhaps the most entertaining part of all was when the group of characters playing the acting troupe finally put on their play within a play to Duke Theseus and Queen Hippolyta after many hours of tireless but unproductive rehearsals. For their production, the performers pretended to be terrible actors, taking liberties to include ridiculously overdone drama and death scenes as well as unconventional characters, such as a wall with a small peephole. During the rehearsal for these scenes, the ISC actors used improvisation and cues to direct their actions. The result provided a satisfying laugh after the mischief has unfolded and been resolved.

Comedic elements aside, there were also several subtle details that added much to the performance. For example, the actors playing Duke Theseus and Queen Hippolyta, as well as their servants, were mirrored, played by the actors who played the King and Queen of the fairies and the fairy servants. This connection was played upon at the end when Puck, in an act of mischief, removed her servant costume to reveal the deer-horns atop her head, identifying her as a fairy. Another interesting detail from the performance was the lack of interaction between fairies and humans: even while only feet apart, humans were unable to see or hear them. This detail was upheld so well that there were times when it was easy to imagine that the performers themselves were unable to see the fairies. As a result of this lack of interaction, the play seems to ask the viewer if any of the events that happened during the night were real at all, or only a very elaborate dream.

Throughout every scene in the play, audience members were invested in the characters, laughing at both the lines and the actors’ interpretations. Within individual lines and the storyline itself, it was remarkable to see that Shakespeare’s humor still appeals to a contemporary audience. At the end of the performance, one younger audience member even asked, “Did Shakespeare really write that?”

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Spoilers: Orpheus Looks Back, A Hadestown Review

By ANNA WESTWIG

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rom the moment I walked into Walter Kerr Theatre on a humid August day, I knew Hadestown was going to be incredible. The stage itself told a story.

The pit was no longer a pit. Instead, all the musicians were up on stage, the behindthe-scenes instruments of production laid bare: two accordions on the side, a piano on one side, a series of stands on the other.

Everything about it was intimate. Despite having won eight Tonys, including Best Musical, Hadestown didn’t feel like an impersonal performance. It felt like a story.

Deftly intertwining myth and politics into a complex metaphor, creator Anaïs Mitchell manages to use the influence of a story drafted thousands of years ago to make a series of commentaries on climate change, isolationism, and capitalism. But the human proclivity for storytelling dominates it all.

Hadestown retells both the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the ancient story of Hades and Persephone. The story takes place in a Depression-era New Orleans where the Underworld is a factory town run by Hades (Patrick Page) and, for half the year, by Persephone (Amber Gray). For Eurydice (Eva Noblezada), times are hard, and she struggles from place-to-place, pushed to and fro by the wind, which is personified by the three Fates (Jewelle Blackman, Kay Trinidad, and Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer) Then she meets Orpheus (Reeve Carney), a naive boy, who is working on a song that is “going to bring the world back into tune.” Each of the crew gets their own moment of introduction in the rowdy opening number “Road to Hell.”

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is a tragedy. We are told this by Hermes (André De Shield) as he seems to drag the entire stage into his orbit in the very first song.

Just like the original myth, Eurydice dies and is taken down to the underworld. Orpheus, distraught, sings to the gods in order for them to help him go into the underworld without dying, which they agree to do. While there, he begs Hades to get his wife back and Hades, after hearing him 12

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sing, allows him to bring Eurydice back with one condition: Eurydice must follow him and Orpheus must not look back. It’s a tragedy, so, of course, Orpheus looks back.

Eurydice is taken back to the underworld.

We enter the musical knowing this and still, we forget. That’s the miracle of Hadestown. It takes an old song and makes us not only watch it, but live it. In the era where plot twists are often the major appeal of entertainment, it’s impressive that spoilers mean nothing. Spoiler: Orpheus looks back. Everyone knew this entering the theater, but in the enveloping silence following his fateful glance, I hear a gasp.

The true heart-wrenching beauty of Hadestown isn’t in its ending; it’s in everything that comes before.

From the get-go, the world of gods and men is broken. Persephone, the goddess of spring, brings about winter by going down to Hadestown. But jealous and fearful Hades has been keeping her longer and longer, prolonging deadly winter. “When’s the last time you saw a spring or fall / I can’t recall.”

In this incarnation, Persephone was not abducted in a glorified rape. Instead, she and Hades were in love until their relationship fermented and Hades built his “neon necropolis” of Hadestown. Persephone distracts herself with a “river of wine” and an underground speakeasy-esque side business for the workers. When this business is revealed in “Our Lady of the Underground,” Gray staggers and growls across the stage with unparalleled performance.

She breathes life, not only into the world, but also the stage.

Because of her absence, the seasons have become harsh and brutal. So brutal, in fact, that Eurydice is driven down to the underworld. Here, the beautiful juxtaposition of old and new stories comes to life. The shake of the coin-bag for Eurydice’s ticket to the underworld mimics the deadly rattle of the asp that killed Eurydice thousands of years ago in Ancient Greece. These parallels add richness and depth to Hadestown. Every medium it has been performed on shim-

mers through. Mitchell’s rough folk music, sleek New Orleans jazz of the off-broadway performance, and showy Broadway charisma all blend together into a potent, emotional, and yes, intimate performance.

But the music is hardly the best part.

The choreography stole my breath away. In fact, the lighting itself made me cry. When Orpheus sings, the trees bend down for him and the chorus mimics the weighted boughs, buoying up Eurydice with tables.

The chorus sometimes doubles as the set.

The main players’ voices are the controls for the very walls themselves and the world seems to suspend belief and bend and break and morph to the rules of music. Everything adds depth.

In the highly-charged “Wait For Me,” the lighting steals the show. A musically-simple number, it’s heightened immeasurably by swinging lights, the swooping Fates’ lanterns, and the headlights of the workers. Every prop is a motif. A large center pit in the middle of the stage is the road to Hell itself and is used in conjunction with the lyrics so beautifully. Hades and Persephone watch from the pit in the masterpiece of “Chant” as workers crawl around them in spinning, useless circles. The set, which at first seems simplistic, is a marvel and is used to the fullest.

If anything about this show fell short, it was in Eurydice and Orpheus’ relationship. Compared to the nuanced, rich, and compelling Hades and Persephone, Eurydice falls a little flat when she falls in love with Orpheus. A sweet but isolated song, “All I’ve Ever Known,” sweeps us through the stages of their relationship, essentially asking us to take on faith (and vocal prowess) that these two unlikely candidates have fallen in love. Part of this is no fault of Mitchell or Noblezada. The original myth leaves Eurydice quite voiceless, and Noblezada, if nothing else, has a stunning built-for-power-ballad voice. This leaves her belting out a story of self-sufficiency that falls somewhat hollow. We are told about a fiery girl who falls in love with a stumbling awkward prodigy seemingly the

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Amber Gray as Persephone in the musical Hadestown. minute she sees how he can sing a flower into existence. But even if we doubt their love in the first act, it doesn’t detract from the heartbreaking monstrosity that is their reunion and subsequent loss.

The Fates are a three-part girl-group with immense vocal power, expression, and otherworldly presence. In a world of gods and men, they are above gods. They are inevitable. They swoop like vultures propelling the story along with glee and regret, nudging and pulling and grabbing. They mock Eurydice and Hades alike. They are the story itself, the inevitability of it; they are Fate.

Though they pale somewhat in comparison to the 2017 version of Hadestown, these Fates are polymaths. They go onto stage, accordion, cymbals, and violins in hand, and play out their laughing melodies with sneers etched onto their faces.

Blackman’s voice, in particular, is unforgettable. Her rich contralto resonance fills the stage whenever she parcels out quips.

Everything about Page’s performance as Hades was impeccable. His sleek business suit, snakeskin shoes, leather jacket, and brick tattoo seemed like a second skin. He was the power-grid for the show.

Every musical number was electrifyingly terrible and he was practically gleaming with greed and jealousy. Any number of parallels can be drawn between Hades and the current political administration, particularly with the eerily prescient song of “Why We Build the Wall,” written a decade before Trump’s election. But to compare Hades to Trump is an insult to Hades. The King of the Underworld, at least, has a rich gravelly bass which brings to life a perfectly evil character,

Image from The New York Times an archetype made realistic. If Orpheus falls short as the stereotypical musical wunderkind, Hades succeeds as the king of Evil, with a capital “E.” As all shows must, Hadestown, the musical, ends. But Hadestown, the story, never does. The repetition of the performance itself is a part of the story. After all, in a quick summary, Hadestown is a musical about a story about a poor boy writing a song about a story.

If that’s dizzying, wait until you try and comprehend every inch of depth, motif, and characterization on the stage. Hadestown was more than a decade in the making, giving it a depth and a richness that we are privileged to explore. After Hadestown, who knows where Orpheus and Eurydice will lead us; if we’re lucky, Anaïs Mitchell will be with us, too.

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Into the Woods at the Hangar Theatre

By KATIE LIN

D

isney’s live remakes and childhood stories have put fairytales back on our minds. Into the Woods, a musical by Stephen Sondheim based on the James Lapine book, is a classic production that centers around classic fairytale characters, including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack with his beanstalk. The Hangar Theatre Company in Ithaca’s production of Into the Woods, directed by Michael Barakiva, was innovative and featured highly talented actors.

To briefly sum up the storyline, a baker and his wife are cursed with infertility by a witch who is cursed herself with old age. To lift their curse, the baker and his wife must hunt for four items throughout the woods, each of which happens to belong to Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack, who are all also facing their own problems. Their stories become intertwined, and together they face a vengeful giant, learn about life, and experience love.

Upon first entering the theatre, the set was immediately eye-catching. Made up of a collection of diverse items that included cords, a dinosaur toy, lights, and multiple other items, the set resembled a mystical junkyard. Complete with upside-down green umbrellas hanging from the ceiling and a ladder reaching up to the catwalk above, the set was clearly thought out in detail.

Untraditionally, the musicians were part of the set, on stage with the actors, creating an up-close and personal experience as the audience was able to see the musicians laughing along with the actors.

Image by Rachel Philipson

The cast of Into the Woods at Hangar Theatre in Ithaca.

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Even the costumes lived up to the high standards the creative environment had set. The Hangar Theatre decided to make their costumes out of recycled items, creating eccentric costumes that made the production all the more interesting. Seeing Cinderella’s rags made out of plastic grocery bags and a shirt intrigued the audience. The witch’s cape and head were even decorated with fairy lights, displaying the uniqueness of the costumes.

I admired the sheer talent and devotion of the actors. They were able to smoothly sing the complicated songs complete with challenging beats while harmonizing with others, and their ability to convey the development their characters were going through was heart-warming to watch. The actors had to portray innocence in the first act when all the characters believed their journey into the woods would be short and easy while also showing how devastating loss and loneliness could be as their characters experienced life-changing events. At the same time, however, the actors were humorous, playing off the audience’s laughter and keeping the production light-hearted, displaying the actors’ palette of abilities.

The commitment to their roles stood out strongly. At many points in the production, the actors had to pretend as if something was in the distance, whether it was a looming giant or a tall tower. The actors put it all on the table and showed professionalism and dedication to their roles.

The roles that the actors had to play were challenging. Each character in the production symbolized bigger concepts. For instance, Little Red Riding Hood symbolized the loss of innocence when one is exposed to the real world. Explained in Little Red Riding Hood’s song, “I Know Things Now,” it is a small snippet of how the actors were able to convey difficult concepts while simultaneously giving emotional performances to which the audience could relate.

One of the most memorable parts about this production was the interaction of the actors with every part of the stage. Actors were running in from every door around the theatre, sometimes even walking through the aisles right next to viewers, and utilizing every platform in the audience. The audience was even playfully cautioned by the director before the production began to watch out for fast-moving actors. There was never a dull moment throughout the entire experience.

The Hangar Theatre’s production of Into the Woods was an immense joy to watch, from the intricate set and environmentally conscious costumes to the unforgettable acting and singing.

The Hangar Theatre has many more productions planned for the summer, and if they are anything like Into the Woods, they will be exceptional.

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Dead Poets Society: Emotions from 1959

By JINHO PARK

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ead Poets Society, a movie released in 1989, is set in Welton Academy, an academically rigorous all-boys high school with conservative attitudes that are reflective of its 1959 setting. In the film, we enter the lives of Neil Perry and Todd Anderson, two graduating seniors and roommates. Neil, a charismatic leader with a passion for acting, is unable to pursue acting because of his father. Todd, a timid student who has lived his whole life in his talented brother’s shadow, searches to express himself. These two are inspired by their newly-hired English teacher, John Keating, whose love for Walt Whitman’s poetry, insistence for independent thought, and dry humor serves as the catalyst for the film’s plot.

In Keating’s first lesson, he instructs his students to tear the introduction of their textbooks out, calling the section “excrement,” due to its overly pretentious analysis of how one should objectively measure a poem’s “greatness.” It is in his bravado where Keating shines brightest; his unique teaching methods create questions, questions that inspire both the general audience and his students in the film.

In another lesson, he instructs his students to stand on desks, proclaiming that “just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in another way.” Keating prompts his students to question accepted authority and find passion, all while encouraging a general love for poetry. Keating’s teachings, done in the narrow scope of an English class, transcend generation.

The film, set in 1959, feels plausible today. Dead Poets Society’s accurate description of high-school life gives it rel-

evancy that many older films have now lost. Welton Academy’s four pillars of “Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence” feel eerily similar to the four “core values” at IHS. The expectation and ambition to get into elite colleges and the difficult coursework loads that accompany such expectations hold true both in 1959 and 2019. Additionally, the immature and spontaneous behavior on the immaculate lawns of Welton is definitely comparable to behavior on the IHS campus.

While Dead Poets Society is the story of Neil’s struggle to become an actor, Todd’s dynamism throughout the film is perhaps its greatest plot point. Todd’s evolution from a quintessential shy boy to a passionate outspoken leader is basic on paper, but Dead Poets Society is well-crafted around Todd. His reluctance to read something out loud during class or engage in discussion even while in the company of friends feels so familiar; all of us know someone like Todd. Ethan Hawke’s performance of Todd is incredible, and Todd’s development through his friendship with Neil and teaching by Keating evokes one of the most heart-wrenching final scenes in cinema.

Unfortunately, Dead Poets Society is a couple of cuts and additions away from being a much better film. The romance that occurs between Knox Overstreet (Neil’s friend) and Chris Noel (a cheerleader from a different school) is unnecessary.

It doesn’t further the plot and is not particularly well-done. Perhaps it is simply there to check off the “romance” box. In addition, the eponymous “Dead Poets Society” seems rather misused. Although it was started “to suck the marrow of life,” it

eventually degrades into little more than a comedic meeting between Neil’s friends to illustrate their immaturity. Also, the lack of Keating’s character development leaves the viewer to make inferences and question his intrinsic motivation. After all, there has to be something more raw to Keating besides all the elegant Romantic prose that he continuously spouts. Dead Poets Society is a tragedy, despite all of its positive messages, and the manner in which the film deals with its most tragic moment feels insufficient. The carefully orchestrated scene of grief is barely believable, and it is pitiful that the film cannot reconcile with its tragic aftermath.

Another criticism of the film is how the film romanticizes student life. Student life is not filled with the eloquence of brilliant English teachers or the pursuit of true passion; instead, students largely exist on a survival basis, struggling to complete assignments by the due dates that always seem far too close. Frankly, our lives are methodical and usually far from passionate. While we do have artistic inclinations to pursue, existential questions to answer, and meaningful friendships to keep up, not all of that is possible within a mere twenty-four hours. When watching the film, there is a moment when Keating assigns a poem for his class to present. Unfortunately, that single instance is the only moment where the film stays grounded in a more believable reality.

Despite all of these faults, Dead Poets Society is emotionally gripping. It touches on moments of elation, grief, and regret from a high-school perspective in a manner that few films can match. Dead Poets Society’s greatest flaw, that it feels incomplete, is representative of its characters at both the beginning and end of the film; they still have much to grow, and Keating’s teachings seem to be a beginning. This feeling that growth is inevitable, that one will find and express one’s passions, is its greatest message, delivered best by Keating: “Life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.

What will your verse be?”

Write for the Tattler!

Join us for our writers' meeting on Tuesday, September 10 after school in H-Courtyard.

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ARTS 2.0

A New Year, A New Shmoop

By adowyn ernste

Another year, another bag of Mrs. Fizzer’s Whizzing beans…

You’re not getting my candy this time! Ha! This

(except me…)

ear Last y

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yea

r

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Visiting the Ithaca Art Trail

By ADOWYN ERNSTE

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n the first Saturday of every month, the Greater Ithaca Art Trail hosts dozens of local artists, allowing the public to visit studios, enjoy great artwork, and ask questions about the artists themselves. After reading through the profiles of the forty-three artists, I thought that it was remarkable how many artists there were in Ithaca, each with their own unique style. On Saturday, July 6, I was lucky enough to visit two studios, coming away inspired and impressed by what I learned.

When I arrived at the studio of artists Mary Ann and Steve Bowman, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself at a cheerful dual studio filled with colorfully decorated figures, clay statues, and imaginative multimedia canvases on every wall. With large windows letting light into the rooms, bright flowers lining the drive, and every statue, sculpture, and canvas placed carefully in its place, the Bowman studio was refreshing and inviting in every way.

Ms. Bowman’s wing of the studio was filled with whimsical statues made from a combination of clay and wood. Some were made from chicken wire with fabric hardened by glue overtop to create a ruffled effect. All of her clay pieces were hand-sculpted using a kiln located in a side room. Although all of her statues are one-ofa-kind, my personal favorite was a statue of a clay frog sitting atop a box and fishing. Just by talking to Ms. Bowman, it was clear that she found joy in not only her work but the joy it brought to people, adding that putting a frog on a shelf could really brighten anyone’s day. Ms. Bowman, having spent nearly all of her life as an artist, lets her imagination take over to create fun and one-of-a-kind art pieces.

As I entered Mr. Bowman’s area of the studio, I found myself in the realm of digital masterpieces. Mr. Bowman works with nearly five hundred applications to create images stretched into a circle or warped in any way imaginable. Throughout his career as an artist, Mr. Bowman’s work has taken a variety of forms, blending woodwork, painting, and photography. From colorful wooden flowers popping out of canvases to multimedia canvases highlighting both

painting and photography, each work creatively uses different mediums of art in ways that I had never even considered. Mr. Bowman’s studio also includes a gigantic printer, which he uses in his art and also in a small printing business.

Feeling inspired but still curious, I left the bright Bowman studio and ventured to downtown Ithaca, where I visited Barbara Mink’s studio. In the pouring rain, I braved my way to the entrance, rushing past a well-trimmed and charming garden into a cozy yet professional show studio featuring Mink’s art. Right away, I was intrigued by her vibrant abstract canvases and was excited by her energy and enthusiasm. As I observed her paintings, I was struck by the intricacy within the abstract. As someone who normally focuses on realistic painting, taking a moment to look at Ms. Mink’s work made me realize the many underlying complexities of abstract paintings. Ms. Mink explained that some of the techniques she often uses require more than one type of paint—oil, watercolor, acrylic and sometimes also colored ink for added texture. Offering words of wisdom, Ms. Mink said that the best way to improve as a painter is simply to keep doing it. She explained her beginnings as a painter, learning to paint the basics to prove to herself that she could do it. From there, she moved on to landscapes and then removed the horizon from the painting, letting her imagination take her where it would. Many of her paintings take on the hint of a landscape, while still providing enough abstract to let your imagination take you anywhere.

While the Mink and Bowman studios were quite different, each of the artists’ styles and ideas left me with something to ponder and to potentially even try in my own art. Having lived in Ithaca almost all of my life, I was amazed to discover the world of artists living not far from my own house. There are many options for all tastes, and each of the featured artists is welcoming and excited to talk about their work. To anyone who hasn’t paid a visit to a studio, I highly recommend spending part of your Saturday afternoon on the Ithaca Art Trail.

Images provided

The Mink Studio.

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The Bowman Studio.

SPORTS

2019 Trade Season: A New NBA

By ROHIT LAL Image provided

An image of Anthony Davis to the left and LeBron James to the right.

T

he NBA has seen some of the wildest player trades and free agency decisions this summer, leaving many specialists dumbstruck when asked about predictions for the upcoming season. With some of the biggest names in the NBA, such as Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook, moving to new teams, the entire structure of the league has changed. Superteams have been replaced by dynamic duos, but will these tag teams replace the superteam as the new trend in the NBA or will they fall flat? Let’s take a look at each of the most prominent duos that are set to play in the upcoming 2019-2020 basketball season.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis: Los Angeles Lakers The trade that has been the most talked about has been Anthony Davis’ trade from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Lakers, which will create a very powerful partnership with the best player of all time, LeBron James. Despite James having more points, assists, and rebounds than his career averages last year (which was his first year with the Los Angeles Lakers), many have considered last year a “bad” year for James because he failed to bring the Lakers to the playoffs. However, the reason why the Lakers were unable to make the playoffs was their need for a lockdown center that could play quality minutes. Who could be

the answer to this problem? Anthony Davis. Averaging a double-double every game, including about twenty-six points per game and, more importantly, twelve rebounds per game, Davis is a definite asset to the Lakers.

Combining LeBron’s passing and scoring skills with Davis’ offensive plays, the two have the capability of taking the Lakers to the very top.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George: Los Angeles Clippers Coming off a championship as a member of the Toronto Raptors, Kawhi Leonard is no doubt in his prime, showing his prowess

Continued on page 20 SEPTEMBER 2019

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SPORTS

2019 Trade Season: A New NBA Continued from page 29 through his scoring, rebounding, and defending. Now, after being named the 2019 Finals MVP, he has been moved to the Los Angeles Clippers. Also coming to the Clippers is six-time all-star and all-defensive team member Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Together these two players could create something truly amazing. With their stealing and blocking abilities, scoring becomes nearly impossible with both of them on defense. The two are also very complementary on the offensive end, which could transform the Los Angeles Clippers into a juggernaut. Kawhi Leonard uses mostly a mid-range game to control on offense, which pairs nicely with the mostly three-point offense style that Paul George uses. It’s important to realize that even if it takes a little bit of time for Leonard and George to get used to each other’s offensive games, they will still be dominant defensively, solidifying the fact that they will be a force to be reckoned with even for the best teams this upcoming season.

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant: Brooklyn Nets Over on the other side of the country, a new tag team in the Brooklyn Nets has been formed. The legendary point guard and ball-handler, Kyrie Irving, will come from the Boston Celtics to pair up with one of the best volume scorers the league has ever seen in Kevin Durant. While both of these players are some of the best players we have seen in today’s game, it’s hard not to think of some problems that might arise from the partnership. First of all, Kevin Durant is out the entire next season due to a ruptured Achilles tendon he acquired in game five of the NBA finals, making it so that Durant cannot give the Brooklyn Nets instant results. There is also a problem even when Durant does return to play with the Brooklyn Nets; both Durant and Irving are very ball-dominant, meaning that they both tend to stick to the ball and shoot a lot. In the 2019 playoffs, Irving averaged around 24 shots per game, while Durant had the ball 61 percent of the time before he got injured last year in the playoffs. How will Durant act when there are twenty seconds left in the game and someone needs to be clutch? Will he give it up to Kyrie or will he take it himself? Nets coach Kenny Atkinson has been known for developing a team based on the team’s passing ability. Will Kyrie or Durant share the ball and follow the game plan on which their coach has built the team? If they don't, this combination of signings that seemed spectacular might just go down as one of the worst decisions in basketball history.

Russell Westbrook and James Harden: Houston Rockets The last prominent trade that took place was the move of triple-double averager and 2017 MVP, Russell Westbrook, to the stuck-in place Houston Rockets. After an early first-round exit, Westbrook’s critics were quick to point out flaws in his game, namely his shot selection, emotions, and his tendency to be ball-dominant, leaving many to wonder: “is Russell Westbrook actually good?” I think this is a completely valid question and there is one clear answer: no. He’s great. He is one of the best players in the league with brilliant passing skills and is an amazing rebounder for his height.

Not to mention the fact that he scores more than ten points almost 20 SEPTEMBER 2019

every game, which would bring change to a Houston Rockets team that desperately needs to change. After the 2018-2019 season, it was clear that the pairing of multiple all-star guards James Harden and Chris Paul was not going to work for a championship, as they lost back-to-back to the much better Golden State Warriors in the playoffs. As mentioned before, Russell Westbrook brings the change that the Rockets desperately need to get past superstar teams like the Warriors. With this said, it’s still important to realize that the likes of Harden and Westbrook are both pack leaders and may cause a conflict over who gets the ball in tough situations or even in just the regular game setting. Westbrook is not the best defender, a trait that the Houston Rockets needs, a team that gave up a high points-per-game (ppg) at about 109.1 ppg. However, Westbrook will fit excellently into the offense, setting up isolations and spot-up threes as the main source of point generation. He brings an open-court offense with amazing speed and ball-handling that will make the Rockets a better transition team, a part of their offense that has often been lacking. Westbrook, with his passing ability, could take some of the pressures Harden has faced as a passer and allow for Harden to score even more than the 36.1 points he averaged every game last season. In summary, the match could have the possibility to be an unstoppable pair that could give the Rockets the push they needed to win a title.

This trade season has changed the whole dynamic of the league, but despite the numerous super duos that have been formed, anything can happen. One thing is for certain: nobody’s thinking that the Warriors are about have a runaway season. For the first time in a long time, we might have a season where there is no clear dominant team, something fans of basketball want to see. We don’t know how it’ll turn out, but it’ll be an interesting season.

LITERARY

moon

By Anna Westwig it sits there like a dinner plate, that moon yellow and wide-eyed on the horizon. mute and studying a girl who is nothing but a snaggletooth and a palm. a beacon of fireflies is caught in her hand, her cupped fingers are the source of all light in the universe. glutted on purple sunshine, moth-powder settles on her, feeling like how butterscotch tastes. she is in throes of a non-emotion emotion, whose soft edges can only be chipped at, who is only a translation. everything is a translation, translation is not passive, translation is the act of living. she is staring at a moon with a waning smile. she is bored, she is bottomlessly entertained, she is empty, she is full, time is running out, time is yawning and forever, it is, it is not, the moon continues to orbit. the abstraction of language is solved only by the moon. (moon) (moon) (moon). loses its gravity when perched on the tongue; don’t worry, it’ll find it again. the girl does not know anything but the seam of her feet and the hot grass. and the moon, she knows it, the only changing thing in an endless riptide of summer days. the girl floats out circles, drifting to a white catch net, seeing the whisper of a june daymoon, delicate as the spidersilk tugged to the sky. moon. moon. moon. empty in the solitude. it is the moon (moon) (moon) who fills her up, who reminds her of the sluggishness of the days as they whirl by in a humid dervish. it is her, a yellow dinner plate, just something born from the hand of the girl, who is nothing but a snaggletooth and a palm.

Regrets

By Raia Gutman Modeled after “This Is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams

this is just to say i'm sorry I didn't take it your hand, every time a risk with you forgive me for hesitating when I should have been more than eager to touch to be with you

Acrostic

By Raia Gutman Heaven and Hell, you said, two options I blinked, I breathed, I Decided not to choose quite yet, Earmarked the conversation for a later date Freakish men and wayward women were Returned to order by God for a reason Of course He had a reason to Make women and men as parallel opposites My poor, wayward heart shuddered Even these freakish men I had to love?

Villanelle

By Raia Gutman I didn't hide until you taught me I learned to live before I knew shame White flame gave me another key Unlock the room you did not see The door shut with fear and blame I didn't hide until you taught me You silenced the thought I didn’t know to flee My kind of love you want to defame White flame gave me another key You didn't tell me there was another way to be Your truth, my lie, it was the same I didn't hide until you taught me It froze in winter, your giving tree Its roots ice until you came White flame gave me another key You want from me a harsh green fee With aching hands I set it aflame I didn't hide until you taught me White flame gave me another key SEPTEMBER 2019

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LITERARY

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SEPTEMBER 2019

PENULTIMATE

Surrealio

By Ethan Carlson

September Sudoku 1

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SEPTEMBER 2019

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Don’t Know What Supplies to Get? Let This Horoscope Help You Out!

By Ethan Carlson

Virgo (Aug 23 - Sep 22):

Pencil case: Whether expensive or cheap, you always need a reliable place to store your excessive number of colored pens.

Binder tabs: Have you ever mixed up your notes with your homework? It’s very frustrating to reorganize that. Could take hours.

Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 19):

Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 21):

Taurus (Apr 20 - May 20):

Binders and folders for EVERY class: It can be surprisingly easy to end up with a mass of random papers in the bottom of your bag.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21):

Watch: So that you don’t need to keep asking the teacher for the time during a test.

Don’t think that the clocks in your classroom will help, some of them are pretty messed up.

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19):

Notebooks: Much easier than managing a bunch of loose-leaf paper.

Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18):

Loose-leaf paper: But then again, some things you do in class are not worth taking up space in your notebooks.

Computer: This school literally gives one to you. Don’t sweat it.

Sticky Notes: These can be incredibly useful when it comes to marking and analyzing quotes in books and articles.

SEPTEMBER 2019

It’s finally getting cooler.

Meeting all of your friends after summer break.

Fall sports beginning.

Meeting your new teachers.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20):

Pencil sharpener: It’s a lot more convenient than walking about every period looking for one.

Cancer (June 21 - Jul 22):

Water bottle: This lead problem is not going away anytime soon, and the school can't just keep giving them away. It's for the best.

Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 22):

Whiteout: Everyone makes mistakes, even those who write using only pens. Don’t be the one who has in-class essays filled with scribbles.

The IHS Comedic Writers Contest: The Tattler will accept comedic writing from students in IHS through September 20. Each student can only submit one writing no longer than 300 words to the Back Page Editor at backpage@ ihstattler.com. The winning piece of writing will be featured in the next issue.

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Cool

Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 20):

Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 22):

Calculator: So that you don’t need to keep asking for one in your math class.

The Coolness Spectrum

Returning to the familiar taste of the cafeteria food.

Having to figure out a new route around the school based on your new classes and locker.

Going back to your school sleeping routine.

Realizing what you didn’t do this summer.

Summer break ending.

Uncool