September 2020

IHS TATTLER SEPTEMBER 2020 | VOL. 128 | NO. 1

Welcome back to school IHS! Start your year on a good note by writing for The Tattler. Join us for our online writers’ meeting on September 15th to contribute.

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ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO TATTLE.

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EDITORIAL

ICSD’s Reopening: A Can of Worms?

BY THE TATTLER EDITORIAL BOARD

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nly one thing is certain: the 20202021 school year will be like no other. After a summer of planning by administrators, BoE members, teachers, and staff, ICSD has scrambled to develop a feasible plan to reopen school. With the newly delayed start for virtual learning on September 14 and physical learning delayed to October 5, ICSD has reevaluated the potential risk of reopening its doors amidst the international traffic of returning Cornell students. Their choice to provide students with the options of either in-person or virtual learning accounts for the enormous variety of needs and perspectives that IHS families and teachers have expressed. By offering both learning alternatives, ICSD aims to benefit as many people as they are able with the understanding that satisfying everyone is impossible. However, a barrage of unknowns and logistical issues relating to both virtual and in-person learning options have created many new problems that still lack solutions. Although reopening school strives to return a sense of normalcy to the chaos of the pandemic, the holes in the district’s plan add further uncertainty.

Over the summer, ICSD’s leaders have worked tirelessly to alter the normal education system to accommodate in-person learning during the pandemic. By modifying the structure of the school day and spending $1.2 million on retrofitting its buildings, ICSD aims to make physical school as safe as possible for returning teachers, staff, and students. Assuming that schools reopen as planned on October 5, IHS will be introducing staggered arrivals and dismissals as well as a new block schedule to reduce hallway traffic. ICSD also re-analyzed the ventilation system to make improvements to the air flow before students return in October. With face masks and social distancing becoming a necessary reality, gone are the days of busy hallways, friend clusters, and the five-minute frenzy between classes. When students return to IHS, the structure of the school day will be completely changed.

While these broad alterations to the school day are meant to improve safety for students, teachers, and staff, many specific details were not disclosed until the last minute. Communication during the summer

was vague and infrequent, leaving families and teachers ill-informed to choose between physical or virtual school and unprepared for the school year either way. In an interview at the Ithaca Times published in early August, DeWitt science teacher Liz Quadrozzi said, “The district has provided a broad overview on the plan to return to school. However, it seems there are quite a few details that have not been included. In my case, as a middle school teacher, I still have not been told what my day will look like at the middle school or what the expectations for me will be as an in-person teacher.”

Quadrozzi’s statement is a testament to the many questions that remain unanswered: How will in-person classrooms be modified? How will social distancing be enforced? How will the district transition to full virtual learning, if necessary? The district’s communication on its reopening plans does not account for the problems that will arise from implementing so many changes in such a short time as well as the safety risks that remain.

Beyond questions of safety, there are also logistical problems to consider. For instance, ICSD has announced that students who are able should be driven to and from school, although students in need of a ride will still get bussed. Even with a reduction in the number of students per vehicle, keeping a bus clean and maintaining six feet of distance will be difficult. Additionally, the staggered arrival and departure times will force students to sit on the bus and wait for long periods of time in an enclosed, unventilated area.

Staggered departures between classes will reduce hall traffic, but according to administrators, this means students will have to wait in their classroom for up to 15-20 minutes between each class—an hour or more of waiting time each day. This inefficiency is only one example of the logistical difficulties that will result from the sudden changes in the school day.

Many students have chosen in-person learning because they are ready to return to an ordinary school lifestyle. But in reality, school will not be the same as it was before the pandemic. In addition to having reduced class sizes—decreased by half or more,

students could find themselves sitting in a classroom watching an online lecture from a teacher who chose to stay at home. As of August 7, 32.5% of teachers and 55.9% of students opted to return to their physical classrooms, according to Deputy Superintendent Talcott. This statistic raises another question: will there be enough teachers and staff to supervise students? Allowing students to opt for in-person learning before determining the number of teachers willing to return to their classrooms resulted in a disparity in numbers. Although district administrators plan to honor both students’ and teachers’ choices, the imbalance of the teacher to student ratio presents a problem for ICSD’s current reopening plan.

With so many potential safety and logistical issues with in-person school, virtual learning seems to be the clearest and safest solution, but it isn’t without its faults. For instance, it is simply not feasible for many families who are unable to provide childcare due to work or those with unstable internet connectivity. As demonstrated by Distance Learning 2.0, there are barriers to overcome for online instruction to become an effective learning model. For many students, it can be difficult to connect with peers and teachers over Google meets, not to mention the nightmare of taking tests and submitting assignments online. For teachers, the problems include Zoom fatigue from speaking into the camera, compelling students to participate, and overcoming the technical difficulties of modern technology in order to teach a class through a computer camera.

Given the inevitability of virtual learning for all students at some point this school year, ICSD should have spent the summer focused on improving the online learning experience. Offering students the opportunity to go back to their classrooms has meant sacrificing planning time for virtual learning and signifies that a rocky start is almost inevitable for both virtual and in-person school.

That being said, many of ICSD’s reopening decisions made between June and September hinged on many other factors, including government funding, local colleges’ reopening plans, and the perpetual shifting and spread of the pandemic. Waiting until late July to make last-minute reopening deci-

EDITORIAL

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Staff 2020 – 2021 Editor-in-Chief

Anna Westwig ’21 editor@ihstattler.com News Editor Katie Lin ’22 news@ihstattler.com Opinion Editor Jinho Park ’22 opinion@ihstattler.com Features Editor Frances Klemm ’23 features@ihstattler.com Arts Editor Louisa Miller-Out ’22 arts@ihstattler.com Sports Editor Rohit Lal ’22 sports@ihstattler.com Literary Editor Adowyn Ernste ’22 literary@ihstattler.com Back Page Editor Ethan Carlson ’21 backpage@ihstattler.com Center Spread Editor Dorothy Hamilton ’22 centerspread@ihstattler.com Copy Editor Heewon Ahn ’21 copy@ihstattler.com Photography Editor Hannah Shvets ’23 photo@ihstattler.com Graphics Editor Aidan Hayward Toland ’22 graphics@ihstattler.com Layout Editor Jacob Yoon ’21 layout@ihstattler.com Business and Advertising Adam Saar ’22 business@ihstattler.com Webmaster Alexander Yoo ’21 web@ihstattler.com Distribution Manager Mollie Abelson ’21 distribution@ihstattler.com Archivist Raia Gutman ’22 archivist@ihstattler.com Faculty Advisor Deborah Lynn advisor@ihstattler.com

sions might not have been ideal, but this outcome was only a result of the constantly-changing landscape.

With this in mind, other changes will need to be made in order for students and teachers to be able to interact effectively online. ICSD’s Let’s Talk! portal was a successful method for responding to questions over the summer. Maintaining an active and centralized communication network between administrators, teachers, and families should be continued in order to ensure that everyone is able to stay up-to-date on current information. Individual communication should also be prioritized between students and teachers for asking questions and getting feedback. During virtual class times, students should be given opportunities to interact with peers.

Organizing small group discussions would push students to participate and motivate them to learn.

Rather than focusing on testing (which has inevitably become an honor system in the new, virtual world), teachers should look towards other alternatives for students to demonstrate their knowledge, such as projects and written assignments.

For many students and teachers, choosing whether or not to go back to physical school has been a difficult decision. With strong feelings on all sides, there are still many uncertainties, both in terms of the pandemic itself and the plan ICSD has put in place. Students returning to Cornell from across the U.S. and overseas could potentially cause COVID-19 numbers to skyrocket in our area. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, 97,000 kids were infected with COVID in the last two weeks of July in the United States, making up more than one quarter of the total number of youth COVID cases since the start of the pandemic. As youth infection rates rise across the country, ICSD may be forced to change back to virtual learning at

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 September 22th to be included in the October issue.

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a moment’s notice. Already, reopening schools in Georgia, Indiana, and Mississippi have been forced to shut down in their first week, while other schools planning to offer in-person learning have changed their minds before the beginning of the semester— including the Rochester, NY school district and even our own Ithaca College.

Regardless of the time that has passed since schools shut down in March, the pandemic situation remains unchanged, and large gatherings are equally dangerous now as then. The risk factors affect not only students and their families but also teachers, who might see hundreds of students each day, as well as the staff members who have not been given the option to stay at home.

With safety always in our peripheral vision, modifying the education system to meet the needs of students and teachers poses considerable problems. Ideally, reopening schools should feel like a return to normalcy, but in reality, it will be anything but. ICSD’s plan to reopen its schools has taken into account the needs of our community, but it is far from perfect.

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NEWS

Ithaca’s Black Lives Matter Movement

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n the wake of George Floyd’s murder by two police officers, Ithaca, along with the rest of the world, protested against police brutality in solidarity and outrage. The first protest took place on May 31 and protestors, IHS students among them, have not stopped since. After all, injustice hasn’t stopped either. Here are some photos from the protests IHS students attended throughout the summer.

If you want to join them in the fight against police brutality, protests continue every Sunday at 2:00 PM at Bernie Milton Pavilion on the Commons.

Photo by Vittoria Georgiadis on Sunday, June 14 at the Bernie Milton Pavilion on the Ithaca Commons.

Photo by Louisa Miller-Out on Sunday, June 3 outside the Ithaca Police Department.

Photo by Katherine Travis on Sunday, June 14.

NEWS

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Meet AOC: Gen Z’s Political Hero

By KATIE LIN

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lexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known simply as AOC, is many things: the US representative serving the 14th district of New York, a former waitress and bartender, and recently Gen Z’s new political hero. Especially known for her progressive beliefs and will to fight for families separated by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an article by a writer from CNN dubbed her “the future of the Democratic Party.” On the second night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, she spoke for sixty seconds and delivered Bernie Sanders’ symbolic Presidential roll call nomination speech while expressing support for Biden. Many hope to see her run for President in 2024 or 2028.

AOC grew up in both the Bronx and Yorktown, and entered the political scene after winning the Democratic primary election for New York’s 14th congressional district in June 2018. Prior to that, she worked in the office of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. In 2016, she volunteered to help organize Sanders’ campaign. The entirety of AOC’s background has led her to form progressive ideas. While working in Kennedy’s office, she saw the trauma ICE has caused by separating families, and while traveling with Sanders’ campaign, she had the opportunity to stand with indigenous people. AOC also fights strongly for a federal jobs guarantee, influenced by her waitressing job that deeply connected her to the working class. The guarantee, which aims to revitalize the economy by giving all Americans jobs “with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security” (CNBC), is part of the Green New Deal. Written by AOC and Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey, the plan has the ultimate goal of eradicating US carbon emissions and eliminating the dependence on fossil fuels.

The Green New Deal plan has been a long time coming. The concept has existed for over ten years, and has been called “our moonshot” (CNBC) by AOC. It would include massive reorganizing, and the use of government funds to support huge employment projects.

It aims to have the US carbon neutral in 10 years. The large scale of the plan has been compared to FDR’s New Deal, whose purpose was to get America back on its feet after the Great Depression. AOC’s plan for the Green New Deal has reforms that could significantly help families across America and assist in reducing global climate change, but can also be seen as “unrealistic,” as stated by Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn. In response to claims that the plan is too far-fetched, AOC has argued that “even the solutions that we have considered big and bold are nowhere near the scale of the actual problem that climate change presents to us” (NPR). According to Harvard’s 2018 National Youth Poll, the youth of America agree with her, as 56 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 support the federal jobs guarantee, along with the support of 63 percent of likely voters.

Aligned with many ideals from Sanders’ campaign, AOC also supports Medicare for All. Her goal is to eliminate the private insurance industry and instead have a universal insurance system run by the US government. AOC’s plan has potential to protect families in New York and across America. She believes even “passing a watered down version of Medicare for All in a deeply divided Congress would still represent a major achievement for the Democratic Party’s progressive wing” (CNN). Sanders, who introduced the act in 2017,

IMAGE FROM NBC NEWS

AOC delivering her sixty-second speech at the 2020 DNC. believes AOC’s plan is too much of a compromise, especially because Medicare for All “is in a sense already a compromise. It is a four-year transition period” (CNN). While Sanders has expressed his support for AOC and has said he greatly admires her work, he has since distanced himself from this particular part of AOC’s proposals.

In terms of abolishing ICE, AOC recognizes the constant violations of human rights ICE commits, and believes in abolishing ICE instead of reforming it. In 2019, AOC stated, “ ‘Abolish ICE’ is a call to action on several levels. One is the literal interpretation... which I support and I’ve said on multiple occasions I don’t believe that an agency that systematically and repeatedly violates human rights, I don’t think that agency can be reformed” (Washington Post). Her ideas are radical and daring, to say the least.

As seen on social media, AOC and her ideas are widely supported

by Gen Z. Because her largely progressive ideas fit exactly with what the rising generation believes in, she has connected with America’s youth in a unique way. She has a large following on social media, consisting of 6.2 million followers on Instagram on her personal account and 810K on the federal account. By utilizing the platforms Gen Z uses, she has been able to communicate with rising voters daily. Her speaking abilities are also widely admired, being seen as calm and strong, while not holding back. For example, she once called out Trump’s racist beliefs, based on “words that he uses, which are historic dog whistles of white supremacy” (CBS News). Her debate skills attract Gen Z and older generations alike, and have culminated in omnipresent support.

AOC is an outspoken person, and her beliefs and ideas to reform New York and America advocate for change in a confident, unique way rarely seen in politicians. With the support of Gen Z and progressive Americans, she is the ideal politician in the eyes of many.

On the other hand, some politicians argue her plans are unrealistic and in some cases, too much of a compromise, while AOC herself recognizes that serious problems require serious solutions. AOC has a long career ahead of her, which will certainly be filled with ambitious proposals and fascinating debates that will show America what possible changes could occur in the coming years.

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NEWS

Israel, Palestine, and the Controversies

By HANNAH SHVETS

IMAGE FROM ABC NEWS

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he Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been in the headlines frequently throughout the last few months, following the potential annexation of the West Bank, the claims that Palestine was removed from online maps, and an intensification in antisemitic hate crimes. After the genocide of six million Jewish people during WW2, Britain mandated that Palestine be a home for Jews. The decision received a lot of backlash, primarily because of the importance of the land for Muslims, who make up the majority of the Palestinian population. Furthermore, Jerusalem and nearby areas have religious significance for all of the major monotheistic religions. Britain handed over the Palestinian-Jewish conflict to the UN due to controversy, and in 1948, the state of Israel was officially created and further recognized by the US on May 15. Nonetheless, the conflict between Palestinians and Jews didn’t end there. For the next seven decades, wars and violent conflicts raged, along with many common misconceptions and arguments.

The history of the conflict is long and complicated. In 1948 during the Arab-Israeli War, five Arab armies invaded Israel just hours after

its founding. Israel was the victor of this war, leading to the annexation of several surrounding areas. The estimated 750,000 Palestinian refugees migrated to the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Arab nations like Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. In these areas, they were treated as second-class citizens. According to the ADL, The Anti-Defamation League (a Jewish organization that fights against antisemitism by publishing reliable news), “Israel maintains that it is not responsible for the Palestinian refugee problem since it is the result of a war forced on Israel by invading Arab armies. However, Israel has stated that on humanitarian grounds it would participate in an international effort to resolve the situation.” The argument over Palestinian refugees continues to this day, and many Israelis commonly believe that the refugees should be allowed to return to their homes.

In 1995, the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in Washington, DC. This agreement “allowed the PLO leadership to relocate to the occupied territories and granted autonomy to

NEWS

the Palestinians with talks to follow regarding final status. In return, the Palestinians recognized Israel’s right to exist and promised to abstain from the use of terror” (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Hamas (a Palestinian militant organization) and other factions opposed this agreement and many suicide bombings in Israel followed.

Israel began construction of a West Bank barrier in 2002, and attacks on Israel consequentially dropped by 90 percent (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Palestine didn’t support the construction of this barrier because it was mostly on Palestinian land. In the next few years, steps were taken towards a two-state solution but were abruptly ended when Hamas gained political power, as Israel refused to negotiate with Hamas because of its stance that Israel does not have a right to exist.

The conflict in Gaza began in 2008, when Israel responded to rocket attacks on Israeli cities by using bombs. They targeted Hamas bases, police training camps, police headquarters, and offices. Civilian locations like mosques, houses, medical facilities, and schools were also attacked. Israeli authorities claimed that the vast majority of the casualties were Hamas militants, while Palestinian organizations said the opposite. Clearly, this issue has very different arguments and opinions coming from both sides.

Common Arguments 1. Israelis are colonizers A large part of this argument stems from the question, “Are Jews indigenous to the area that is now Israel?” 90 percent of Jews have genetics directly tracing them to the Levant, the area encompassing Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Historical monuments show evidence of the Jews in Israel, like the Temple of David as early as 957 BCE. According to Joan Peters, a writer who dedicated her life to researching the Arabs and Palestinians of the region, “the vast majority of Palestinians are not indigenous to Palestine but rather descendants of the Arab economic migrants who arrived in the late 19th and 20th centuries.” After doing a series of calculations based on population growth and genetic testing, she concluded that “the other 95.7 percent of present-day Palestinians are those Arabs and their descendants who migrated to Israel between 1831 and 2015.” Being colonizers implies that Israelis were sent by a country to another country to establish political control. Because the Jews were supposedly returning to their homeland, some consider the definition not to be applicable.

2. Israel is the only side using bombs and violence Both Palestine and Israel have been bombing the other side. In March 2019, two rockets were launched into Tel Aviv from Palestine.

In May, 600 rockets. In June, incendiary balloons caused wildfires and damaged farmlands. In November, 190 rockets were launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip, wounding several civilians, done in response to the targeted killing by Israel of senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Ata in Gaza. Israel retaliated by carrying out airstrikes and artillery shelling in the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding several militants as well as civilians. Clearly, both sides are engaging in violence. Statistically, fewer Israeli citizens have died throughout this conflict. Israel’s protection against bombs and rockets, the Iron Dome, and the fact that Hamas is known for using human shields has made the number of casualties higher on the Palestinian side. There are many factors that go into the statistics that must be considered.

3.Palestine was removed from Google Maps Recent posts on the internet have discussed Palestine being apparently removed from Google Maps. On the other hand, there are arguments that Palestine was supposedly never on these maps to begin

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with. In reference to a similar incident in 2016, Elizabeth Davidoff, spokesperson for Google Maps, stated there hadn’t been a label of “Palestine” on maps, while there are “West Bank” and “Gaza Strip” labels. These areas are usually separated from Israel with dotted lines to show both borders are not internationally recognized. She then said, “there’s no Google-wide effort to remove Palestine or anything like that” (New York Times).

4. The possible annexation of the West Bank is illegal and inhumane: The proposal for the annexation of the West Bank by Israel has been widely protested throughout social media and news sources.

The West Bank is split into three areas: A, B, and C, the last being the likely area Israel plans to annex. The West Bank contains several million Palestinians, and also has important religious and historical meaning to Israel and its Jewish population. Some believe Palestinians’ day to day life would be improved under Israeli authority. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has been accused countless times of illegally arresting and torturing its citizens. The PA also has control over all Palestinian social media and news, and hasn’t held an election in over a decade. The last presidential election was in 2005, and even though Mahmoud Abbas has finished his four year term and has not been reelected, he still holds power. The Palestinians have limited free speech, democracy, and basic human rights. The lives of the people in these annexed areas could possibly be greatly improved by Israel, and the rest of the West Bank that Israel has expressed no plans of annexing would continue to belong to the Palestinians.

An annexation of the West Bank may be illegal and unfair to the occupants of the area, especially since the UN argues that this would go against international law. According to the Geneva Convention, the West Bank’s annexation is only illegal if it is occupied land, while Israel believes the West Bank should be seen as disputed territory, not occupied territory. There is also an argument to be made that Palestinians should have a right to decide whether or not they are annexed, because for many, the West Bank is their home. In other cases of annexation, like Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the citizens of Crimea were given a vote. In this case, the logistics of organizing a free and fair vote for the Palestinians living in Area C are complicated due to the possible manipulation of the vote by the PA. Recent developments have officially halted this annexation. Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a peace deal in which they agreed to have diplomatic ties if Israel stops all annexation of the West Bank. It is unclear if this will prevent annexation in the future, but the agreement is a step towards peace in the Middle East. The deal is the first peace agreement between Israel and another Middle Eastern country in twenty years, and will potentially benefit both countries economically and socially. However, the PA is unhappy with the peace deal, as the agreement doesn’t guarantee that annexation will never happen.

Another complicated part of the conflict is the disagreement over what Zionism is and how it relates to antisemitism. Zionism is defined as “the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel.” It has no relation to the current government of Israel, and doesn’t mean one completely supports the actions of Israel against Palestine. To many, being a Zionist is understanding how important the state of Israel is for the safety of Jews around the world, and does not mean one can’t disagree with Israel’s actions. The conflict between Israel and Palestine is very controversial and there are many arguments from both sides surrounding it. Overall, Israel and Palestine both arguably have a right to exist, especially because of the historical and religious importance of the land in question. Hopefully, strides towards a two-state solution will be made in the foreseeable future.

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OPINION

AP Testing in the Age of COVID-19

By LOUISA MILLER-OUT

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hile the New York State Regents exams were cancelled this year, AP tests proceeded online. This decision was made in accordance with the 91 percent of AP enrollees who indicated their desire to take the exams through a College Board survey.

Desperate to earn credit for their hard work, AP students opted into these challenging and expensive exams in a heavily revised format.

As the curriculum had been cut short and not all students had been receiving the same rigor of distance learning, the exam was absolutely butchered-it was shortened from 3 hours and 15 minutes to a mere 45 minutes. Needless to say, it was a novel experience for me and thousands of other AP students across the country.

Near the end of my freshman year, I took the AP World History exam in person. My peers and I piled into Q Gym and sat two to a table, with numerous proctors who were well situated to monitor us and available to provide basic support. Since having large numbers of people in a room together for several hours poses a significant risk of contagion, I took the 2020 AP European History exam at my desk in my bedroom, alone.

When the College Board announced that AP exams would be in a significantly truncated format, some amount of dread was alleviated for students who were ill-prepared or simply loathed taking long, grueling tests. For students who had already begun studying or at least considering the skills they would need to ace their AP exams, the announcement was characterized by a strange sense of betrayal. Weeks or even months of careful preparation had to be tossed out, or at least heavily revised. For history exams, only one of four question styles remained: the Document-Based Question, or DBQ, in which students have to develop and defend an argument using a set of written documents and images. Even the number of documents was reduced from 7 to 5. Students had to adjust to the stipulations of a new 10-point rubric and had ample time to speculate about how the score would be converted into a AP score of 1 to 5. Aside from worrying about the new grading scale, many students lamented that their score was contingent on only one essay question, especially those who were more comfortable with multiple choice or had a very wide range of rather shallow knowledge. What if they received the one topic they were least comfortable with, and had no chance to make it up by demonstrating their knowledge in other areas? Additionally, all of the time spent learning how to eliminate wrong answers and select the best one—none of it would matter on this test (although it would surely be helpful on future ones). One upside to the drastic change in format was that it did force me to practice the question style I had the most difficulty with.

Distance testing shares many of the same caveats as distance learning in general, with unequal access to quality hardware and fast internet being the main concern. Since the test is only 45 minutes, it is essential that the student not have to worry about technical difficulties in order to do their best and receive a score that somewhat reflects their knowledge and competence. Some students had pronounced advantages in the form of access to larger monitors, which facilitates viewing more windows, or more ergonomic keyboards, which allow for faster and more comfortable typing. However, others had to rely on district-issued Chromebooks, which have smaller screens and can be extremely slow. In addition, some students had misplaced their chargers or did not have the opportunity to get a damaged Chromebook repaired before school shut down. As with other online tests, submission posed concerns. To alleviate these

worries, the College Board released an online demo which allowed students to practice, but there were still some who had issues submitting and had to retake the test. Having technical difficulties in the last 5 minutes of the test could be stressful and frustrating to the point of agony. Despite the many constraints of an online exam, students did gain the option of typing, which many chose to do. Some slower typers chose to handwrite but were concerned about how long it would take to snap photos and submit them in time—a legitimate worry when you consider that many students had to factor in slow internet speeds or limited bandwidth from sharing the network with other family members working from home. Another incredible advantage was an environment with minimal distractions. For those confined to a smaller house, living with a large family, or simply forced to share space with people who have their own responsibilities and agendas, the online AP test raised a plethora of concerns.

A genuine consideration for educators developing and proctoring online tests is the issue of cheating. As one might expect, academic dishonesty is much easier to get away with online than in a physical testing space—it’s easy enough to make internet activity non-traceable by the proctors, and you’re not being monitored nearly as closely as you would ordinarily. One change that helped to reduce the urge to cheat was making the test open-book. I think this was a prudent decision when considering that students are alone in a room, most likely with supplementary materials available and no one to reprimand or restrain them. The time constraint also helped to reduce cheating—with simple internet searches, falling into rabbit holes is common because it is difficult to find in-depth and pertinent information quickly, therefore resulting in an amount of wasted time that’s not worth whatever information you might be able to glean.

I know people who found it more useful and expedient to refer to a textbook or class notes instead of wasting time frantically searching the Internet. I believe graders focused on major themes, historical thinking skills, and ability to synthesize information and create a historically defensible argument than specific details and dates (although the latter was still considered, just not as crucial), which also helped to discourage cheating. Personally, I didn’t have much time to look things up anyway. I needed to write almost constantly to finish my essay. I will say that I definitely improved my typing speed during this process! And call me a nerd all you want, but the sheer risk of having my score and all my hard work from the year invalidated was enough to deter me from cheating altogether.

For students who detested multiple choice and long tests, I would say that the 2020 AP testing experience was probably favorable to the alternative. For students with limited access to technology and a distraction-free environment, however, the playing field was far less level than it had been in previous years. For me, there was not much of a difference as I was lucky enough to have sufficient time and excellent instruction (thank you, Mr. Prokosch!) in refining my skill set for the new exam format. I had access to pretty optimal technology—a fast computer and a stable and high-speed internet connection. I was also lucky enough to have a quiet and comfortable testing environment, and I type relatively quickly. Even for me, a person with nearly every conceivable advantage, the 2020 exam still felt less likely to be an accurate representation of my knowledge and skill set than the one I took in 2019. As such, it is clear that online testing needs a lot more refinement if schools want to increase equity and make sure students receive the test scores they deserve.

OPINION

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Biden VP Choice, Analysis, and Potential Impacts

By WILL THOMAS

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oe Biden has chosen Kamala Harris as his pick for Vice President. She will be the third woman to have been honored as such and the first woman of color. In the past, Harris has served in the Senate as its first Indian-American and second Black woman. She was also a district attorney general and eventually the Attorney General of California. Despite this seemingly impressive record of public service, there are several problems with her tenure in those positions.

As the California AG, she declined to support ballot initiatives that would have abolished the death penalty, which led many to question her consistency on issues, especially considering that she later came out in favor of getting rid of the death penalty. Further, she also tried to hush the fact that a technician had stolen cocaine from the crime lab, which subsequently led to around a thousand drug-related cases being thrown out. Perhaps her worst misstep was making truancy, the act of being absent from school without an excuse, a misdemeanor and punishing parents for not sending those children to school. Critics say she should’ve recognized the measure as over-punishing and potentially dangerous to the children and to the parents, who might not have been able to afford bail.

The program coincided with an increase in school attendance but there is not strong evidence to suggest the bill was the cause.

However, Harris’ time as a prosecutor has come in handy during several Trump Administration confirmation hearings, including her grilling of Supreme Court Nominee (and alleged rapist) Brett Kavanaugh.

She also displayed the same tenacity in the early Presidential debates, with much of her scathing criticism being directed towards Biden, with whom she is now running. It will be interesting to see how the pair respond to questions about those exchanges.

Harris is not quite as moderate as many of her critics would have the public believe.

She is no stranger to progressive legislation,

as seen in her attempts at police reform as well as her (admittedly clunky but well-intentioned) LIFT Act, which gave working class families a boost of up to 500 dollars in tax credits. It could be described as a watered down version of Andrew Yang’s Universal Basic Income (UBI), which was Yang’s signature proposal that aimed to give every American adult 1000 dollars every month. Furthermore, she supports the legalization of marijuana and as a result, she may be able to bring Biden closer to her point of view on that issue (he supports decriminalization). To conclude, Kamala Harris is not the perfect progressive running mate that the left hoped for, but she also isn’t the elitist cop that many make her out to be.

There is fair praise and criticism of Kamala at the moment, but none of this really seems to be made by those on the right.

Plenty of Fox News hosts and correspondents have been resorting to sexist dog whistles about her being “too ambitious” (which is strange considering that you don’t get into politics without being ambitious).

President Trump’s main criticism of her

was that she was “nasty” to Brett Kavanaugh during the hearings. Although it is understandable why the President would be frightened, his recent propagation of another racist and conspiratorial “birther” remark about Harris is just despicably low.

Ultimately, it’s unlikely that Kamala is going to hurt Biden. While she remains relatively unpopular with progressives, there would have been little that would have had a large impact with progressives aside from the nomination of Elizabeth Warren. Harris is an energetic campaigner that will provide Biden with a governing partner who will be fair but firm in her convictions. Thus, it seems that this pick is fair.

However, I doubt that she will be the future of the party, as it is quickly shifting to the left. Unless she changes many of her positions (which would then likely be seen as opportunism), I can’t see her beating out more progressive candidates. Thus, Harris seems to be a solid pick for Biden, but perhaps a short-sighted one, as it seems likely that she will be a leader for the immediate future, not a standard-bearer to take the party forward.

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FEATURES

I-RISE Interview with Saba Weatherspoon

By FRANCES KLEMM

S

aba Weatherspoon, a senior at Ithaca High School, MC for a student-led rally against racism in ICSD, and a member of the new anti-racism group funded by ICSD and the Ithaca Youth Bureau sits down to talk about the changes she’s hoping to see from ICSD, and what the new group, I-RISE, is doing about it.

Frances Klemm’ 22: So, in June you MC’d a rally at Ithaca High School where students of color spoke about their experiences at ICSD. How did that rally come to be?

Saba Weatherspoon ‘21: J.T. Stone (a class of 2020 IHS graduate) started a group for giving out accurate information about wearing masks and COVID. He asked me if I wanted to be a part of that and I said ‘Sure!’.

So he made a group chat on instagram with other people who had agreed to help and share instructions about the pandemic. So we did that for a little bit and then after the murder of George Floyd… It seems to me that racism in the U.S. was already evident but there was a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. So people on that same group chat wanted to organize a protest. The people who were on it all agreed to help pick a place and set up a date. We agreed that we wanted the people who led it to be people of color so that there wouldn’t be a white savior type thing, but anyone could still help and organize. There were some other people of color who were going to speak at the protest but weren’t able to be there at the start so they were going to speak later. So when I got to the protest I wasn’t planning to speak at all. It was just people waiting around for something to happen. But like I said, they wanted people of color to be the speakers.

And so I was like ‘okay, people have been waiting, we want to get started, the other speakers will come later.’ So I started MCing it on the spot. And more and more people came to speak later on which was really nice.

FK: So at the rally was this your first experience outwardly complaining about ICSD or had you spoken about it before?

SW: That was my first time though I know that there were other people who had spoken with administrators, Cailtin Mallory for

example, but yeah, that was my first time.

After the Rally took place ,an instructor from the Cornell STEP Program who had attended the rally reached out to Saba, telling her that he and Mr. Mitchell [the 9th Grade Associate Principal at IHS] could help the group keep up its momentum. The Cornell STEP program’s goal is to help students of color in the college seeking process.

FK: What happened after that?

SW: At first, Ray, [the aforementioned instructor] emailed me to communicate that he and Mr. Mitchell would support us in any way they could. They also sent me a PDF of a written report about racial tensions in 2007 in the school district and I noticed how many of the problems highlighted in that report are similar to what’s happening now in 2020. Mr. Mitchel then went on to form the I-RISE. FK: So how did I-RISE really begin?

SW: So a lot of us [IHS students] connected through email and chats, specifically students of color from Ithaca High School, we were communicating about things that we wanted to see change to improve our experiences as students of color. And then Mr. Mitchell said ‘let’s move this dialogue to actually form a group, called I-RISE, (which stands for “Ithaca High School Rising, Inspiring, Succeeding, and Excelling).”

He asked if we wanted to be part of it. It’s also an internship partnered with the Ithaca Youth Bureau. So it’s a paid internship and we meet with Community leaders and learn about how race has impacted the Ithaca Area.

The Job Description is this: Interns will participate in a combination of activities, training, research, and google meetings.

These activities will be designed to increase student voice and active engagement at all levels within Ithaca High School. Interns will have the opportunity to support Ithaca High School Peers through ongoing mentoring. Interns will work directly with Ithaca Youth Bureau Staff, IHS administrators, staff department leaders, and classroom teachers as well as district level administrators and community leaders throughout the

length of this project. Interns will be in the position to receive work-based credit from IHS. So basically we have a bunch of meetings with administrators, community leaders and the Youth Bureau so that they can hear what we need as Black students from the School District.

FC: What would you say that is? What would you like to see from ICSD? SW: Well, right now we’re in the process of making video testimonials which I think they’re going to use. I’m not sure if they’re going to be public, but they’re going to show them to administrators I’m fairly certain.

For me personally, I can speak of myself, in my video I talked about how I wanted more Black teachers in the school district because I’m a senior now and I’ve never had a black teacher ever. As of this year, there are zero Black teachers at Ithaca High School. There was one, the art teacher, but she’s an administrator now, she’s no longer a teacher. I definitely think it’s great that there are Black administrators and staff in the district, but it’s also important that we have people to advocate for us in the classroom as well because our parents can’t be there all the time. So it’s really important to have more Black teachers. I also said that when we learn about Black history I want to learn about more than just slavery and oppression, which are very important things to learn but it’s not all that Black history is. I mean, I took AP European history and I was saying, ‘I know more about Europe than my own family history.’

FK: So a typical week of I-RISE begins with an hour-long meeting on Tuesday which serves as a community education meeting with classroom teachers in attendance.

Could you go into more detail about your weekly schedule?

SW: We had a meeting with the principal, Mr. Trumble, where he asked us about different ideas for reopening so his decisions are more informed and inclusive. We also have a meeting every Wednesday for an hour where we meet with more administrators for anti-racism strategic planning.

Later that day we’ll meet with a community

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IMAGE PROVIDED

Saba Weatherspoon speaking at the student-led anti-racism rally at IHS. leader, for example we’ve met with a professor, Sean Eversley Bradwell [Board of Education member]. He talked about the history of Black people in Ithaca, which would be quite informative to learn about in school.

Another community leader we spoke with was Eldred Harris, a lawyer, who informed us on just how much New York State and The United States rely on the prison industrial complex. All this stuff I had never learned before. And then on Thursdays we meet for a second session with the community leader. We’ll have four meetings a week.

There are 15 people, and normally since not everyone can come to every meeting there will be about 10 people at each meeting.

FC: So what is I-RISE for? What is the primary goal of the group?

SW: So it’s mostly about educating ourselves on the history in our local area and when we’re not meeting with community leaders, we’re discussing with ourselves.

So I wouldn’t say it’s much like ‘you learn about the history and then collect research to do a project’ or something. It’s more just to educate ourselves. It’s a platform where we can openly speak about our experiences and then talk about what we can do based on those experiences to make it better for younger students so they don’t have to go

through the same things that we did.

FC: Has ICSD made any specific actions to address your complaints?

SW: One thing my English teachers told me is that they want to incorporate a more diverse English book curriculum [An article will be coming out shortly about this process].

Many thanks to Saba Weatherspoon for agreeing to this interview and I will continue to follow up on the changes ICSD is making to diversify its curricula, teachers and more.

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A Back to School Guide to Online Learning

By Dorothy Hamilton

Section A: SUPPLY LIST

One of the biggest parts of the back to school season has been so sadly taken from us: showing off our pretty new school supplies to our friends. While you probably won’t need a color-coded binder for every class and a new North Face backpack this year, there are a few new items to include on your list.

1.

Blue light glasses: Because you’ll be spending so much time on your computer, blue light glasses can save you a lot of headaches.

The blue light from your computer can strain your eyes, and it’s part of the reason that it’s so hard to put your phone down at night.

Blue light glasses can be cheaply bought at Target, but you can also try and replicate their effect by setting your computer to turn on night mode following a specific schedule.

2. Noise cancelling headphones (or really any pair of headphones): Noise cancelling headphones are extremely helpful, but the best pairs are also extremely expensive. If you’ve spent the summer working and are looking for something nice to treat yourself to, the hefty price tag on the best-rated pairs might be worth it (they make working from home much easier, especially if auditory distractions tend to really derail your focus).

3. A lap desk: Since you won’t be spending the day sitting at desks in school, you might find yourself doing work in places you wouldn’t expect. A lap desk that you can carry or put in your car allows you to do your work even if there isn’t a surface to write on.

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Section B: STAYING ON TOP OF COLLEGE APPLICATIONS Hey seniors! While many pillars of the “Senior Year Experience” may very well be lost—Prom, Casino Night, leaving campus without being punished—one thing hasn’t changed: your college apps are still due!

They might be the least of your worries right now, or they might be your biggest source of anxiety. Regardless, if you don’t know how to actually make yourself finish those forms without the constant discussion of deadlines with your classmates, the tips below can help you out.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Sadly, it’s looking like most of us won’t be able to tour campuses in person before we have to submit our applications. You could probably just show up and walk around, but a lot of schools aren’t offering in-person tours. Virtual tours give you the chance to visit a lot of campuses (probably more than you would have normally) without leaving the comfort of your bed. Both Naviance and the Common Application websites have direct links to virtual tours of the schools of your choice. Some of them require or recommend registering in advance, while others give instant access to videos of their campuses. While you won’t be as immersed in the campus, virtual tours allow you to get a feel for the schools on your list.

Speaking of lists, you should probably finalize yours. The biggest step to complete before you actually start your applications is to have a cohesive, organized list of prospective schools. Typically, whether you’re applying to 5 or 15 schools, you should try for a range of schools, including safeties, targets, and reaches.

Naviance allows you to compare yourself to previous admits, which can help determine the likelihood of your admission. If you need help finding schools that are the right fit for you, reach out to your guidance counselor to ask for recommendations.

Make. A. Spreadsheet. You can use a spreadsheet to organize everything you need to do for each school. This can include every essay, form, and supplement you need to complete. Most importantly, you can easily color code your spreadsheet to give yourself a visual reminder of any impending deadlines.

A lot of colleges are now test optional, but a good score on the SAT or ACT can’t hurt your chances. If you haven’t signed up, you need to do that as soon as possible. Seriously, close out of this article and open the Collegeboard website right now. Spots are filling up fast (I’m looking at you, class of 2022) and many test dates before application deadlines are already filled. If you’ve already signed up, make sure you’re practicing, because you most likely won’t be able to take it again before your submit. Websites like Khan Academy offer great, free resources for test prep.

Don’t forget about letters of recommendation! Because it’s obviously harder to connect with new teachers through virtual learning, it’s probably a good idea to ask your junior year teachers for recommendations. If you haven’t already, reach out to at least two of your previous teachers to ask them to write you a letter of recommendation. Most teachers are willing to do this, but be sure to ask them early, because you don’t want to submit a letter that’s clearly been hastily written.

Section C: ONLINE NOTE TAKING TOOLS & STRATEGIES Most teachers don’t allow computers out during lectures, but this year, that’s impossible. Therefore, we’ll now be able to take notes online, instead of just on paper. While we apparently encode information better when we hand write it down, online note taking is often faster, more convenient, and easier to fix. Outlined below are a few of the best-rated tools for typing notes.

1.

Notion: Personally, Notion is my favorite tool for this. It’s essentially a glorified spreadsheet, allowing you to create “operations” within a note page, such as inserting a calendar, countdown, task list, or link, and then to “nest” pages within each other. Notion also allows you to view your notes like a Pinterest board, with each block of text appearing as a separate cell. It’s customizable and offers a free plan that’s basically the same as the paid version ($8/month).

2. Evernote: Evernote tends to rank the highest on most lists, and for good reason. It includes various types of media for your notes, including audio and video embedded directly in-text. The free plan is great, and the paid plan is $7.99/month.

3. Google Keep: Since our Chromebooks work within GSuite, Google Keep notes are an excellent and easy option. While these notes aren’t quite as customizable as some other programs, Google Keep is accessible and convenient to use with your school account.

Alternatively, you could also keep it classic and just use Google Docs and Drive to organize your class notes.

4. Simplenote: As expected, Simplenote is a straightforward and minimalistic tool. There isn’t really the option to include images, videos, and functions, but if you’re looking for a plain and simple notebook that just happens to be on your computer, Simplenote is the way to go. Also, it’s free, so you might as well try it out.

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FEATURES

Speeches to Go Watch Right Now

By FRANCES KLEMM

L

et’s get something clear, I’m not comparing any of these speeches because I think they are all fantastic. These are in absolutely no particular order except for all being number one on your need to watch list. If you made the colossal mistake of missing the Democratic convention then you need to be watching these speeches.

Really, it’s the least you can do if you can’t vote.

Speech 1: Barack Obama Barack Obama is known for his powerful and eloquent speeches, and as a result, his moving address on August 19 came as no surprise to anyone. Obama’s oratorical style fits perfectly with the quarantine venue, as he speaks straight towards the camera and does appear to be waiting for applause. Politicians often rely on applause during their speeches to keep them centered but Obama’s years of giving oval office addresses to empty rooms was evident in this address. The moment where you could feel him becoming emotional was when he talked about what inspired him to fight for this country. Obama recalls talking to an early civil rights leader, “On the very day that I was born, he was walking into a jail cell.

Trying to end Jim Crow segregation in the south. What we do echoes through generations. Whatever our backgrounds, we are all the children of Americans who fought the good fight. Great-grandparents working in fire traps and sweatshops without rights or representation. Farmers losing their dreams to dust. Irish and Italians, and Asians and Latinos told, ‘Go back where you came from.’ Jews and Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs. Black Americans chained and whipped and hanged. Spit on for trying to sit at lunch counters. Beaten for trying to vote. If anyone had a right to believe that this democracy did not work and could not work, it was those Americans. Our ancestors, they were on the receiving end of a democracy that had fallen short all their lives. They knew how far the daily reality of America strayed from the mitt. And yet instead of giving up, they joined together and they said, ‘somehow, some way, we are going to make this work, we are going to bring those words in our founding documents to life. I have seen that same spirit these last few years.’”

I might have tears in my eyes as I type this. There’s a reason his speeches are legendary.

Speech 2: Michelle Obama Michelle Obama’s speech felt like talking to a friend in time of need. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen because it felt like she was talking to me, just to me. She was sitting on a couch by a fire, looking you straight in the eye, and saying that she hated politics but loved this country and that was why she was here. Her messages were an urgent call to voters that this was a time of need. She detailed how Trump had failed over and over again, frequently using his own words against him. Her speech lasted around 20 minutes but it felt shorter than other political speeches simply because it didn’t feel political; it felt like a friend telling you the cold hard facts. Here is an excerpt I found memorable.

“So let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head.

He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.”

Or as President Trump said to the thousands of people dying everyday to a virus he has released no plans to get a hold of after more than half a year, “it is what it is.”

Speech 3: Joe Biden Biden was opened by his son and daughter, Ashley and Hunter Biden, and an old video of his late son Beau Biden. The opening felt more touching and heartfelt because we’d just learned of Biden’s loss of not one but two children. As such, seeing only two out of his four kids still alive(at least for me) was emotional.

Right from the start, he broke it down—what he would be doing the moment he stepped into office to fight the virus that has taken more than 175,000 American lives. He did what a lot of political analysts have been begging him to do, to explain what he could do to protect Americans better than Trump. Undecided voters might not like Trump but they don’t know what Biden would be doing better, but in this speech he made the line between his and Trump’s action plans very clear. The primary theme of the convention, one might argue, was the focus on Biden’s profound empathy and being able to truly relate to grieving families because he held that same grief from the death of his wife and two children. Republicans hyped this speech up to be a big failure and to watch out for “Biden gaffes”’ but the gaffes didn’t arrive and the criticism from the right wing that served as a prologue to the speech only aided it. Biden hit everything he needed to and for the first time reminded us of what it was like to have a president who didn’t talk about random things like his inability to climb a ramp, didn’t ignore heavy topics or didn’t possess decent empathy. Biden demonstrated in his speech that he was the president that we deserve, someone who would take the job seriously and really truly listen to the people.

“And after all this time, the president still does not have a plan.

Well, I do. If I’m president on day one we’ll implement the national strategy I’ve been laying out since March. We’ll develop and deploy rapid tests with results available immediately. We’ll make the medical supplies and protective equipment our country needs. And we’ll make them here in America. So we will never again be at the mercy of China and other foreign countries in order to protect our own people.

We’ll make sure our schools have the resources they need to be open, safe, and effective. We’ll put the politics aside and take the muzzle off our experts so the public gets the information they need and deserve.

The honest, unvarnished truth. They can deal with that. We’ll have a national mandate to wear a mask—not as a burden, but to protect each other. It’s a patriotic duty. In short, I will do what we should have done from the very beginning. Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to this nation. He failed to protect us.” #TeamJoe— that wasn’t part of the speech, that was just me.

Speech 4: Kamala Harris We knew Kamala from running in the Democratic Presidential Primaries, so we knew her on the debate stage, we heard some bad press about her but we didn’t really know her. At least I didn’t. That’s why this speech was so important. It introduced us to the first Black woman and person of Asian-American descent on a major party ticket. The first ten minutes really detailed her upbringing as a child of immigrants, her family and her step children who call her Moma-

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la. She talked about the movements that made it possible for her to be standing on the stage. Harris remembered her friendship with Biden’s late son Beau and how he helped her get to know Joe Biden on top of what she already admired about the former senator, specifically the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act). Last but not least I would argue that her most powerful moment on stage was when she mentioned Breonna Taylor, who was 26 when she was shot and killed by cops because of the color of her skin and has yet to gain justice. The acknowledgement of the structural racism coming from a black woman accepting the Vice Presidential nomination shined in comparison with Trump’s response to the protests on racial justice around the country, which was to protect confederate statues. Harris voicing the names of victims of police violence reminded us what it was like to have a president who openly talks about these issues and works hard to change them.

“And while this virus touches us all, let’s be honest, it is not an equal opportunity offender. Black, Latino and Indigenous people are suffering and dying disproportionately.

This is not a coincidence. It is the effect of structural racism. Of inequities in education and technology, health care and housing, job security and transportation. The injustice in reproductive and maternal health care. In the excessive use of force by police. And in our broader criminal justice system. This virus has no eyes, and yet it knows exactly how we see each other—and how we treat each other. And let’s be clear—there is no vaccine for racism. We’ve gotta do the work. For George Floyd. For Breonna Taylor. For the lives of too many others to name. For our children. For all of us. We’ve gotta do the work to fulfill that promise of equal justice under law. Because, none of us are free...until all of us are free.”

Speech 5: Bernie Sanders Bernie, the last democrat left in the race after Joe Biden won, someone who has a specific and dedicated fan base that has been widely accused of not showing up for Hilary in 2016, spent his speech illustrating the very real humanitarian crisis that was happening and will continue to grow if Donald Trump is reelected and urged his supporters to vote for Biden and against Trump. One of Sander’s most hard hitting moments was when he described a few of the many events that would end a presidency normally but were now the new normal. He went in on Trump, at one point outright calling him an authoritarian, a word many have been skipping around but have been hesitant to use publicly as it has such a dark and weighted meaning. However in my humble opinion this is exactly what Trump’s presidency has descended into, an autocracy. In case you aren’t aware what authoritarianism means here’s a google definition, “favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom.” Sound familiar? Also it’s worth talking about how the DNC made the interesting decision to put former Republican governor John Kasich, who holds many far right views, speaking on the same night as Bernie, a symbol of the left side of the democratic party. However, many argued that this choice was made to illustrate a real all-hands-on-deck situation - the right and the left coming together to vote out a so-called authoritarian regime.

Bernie’s speech was a powerful plea to vote Trump out before it’s

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too late. To hear Sanders recount some of Trump’s shortcomings was a good refresher on how dangerous the current president really is. Some of Bernie’s best moments (in my opinion) are below.

“Under this administration, authoritarianism has taken root in our country. I and my family, and many of yours, know the insidious way authoritarianism destroys democracy, decency and humanity.

As long as I am here, I will work with progressives, with moderates, and, yes, with conservatives to preserve this nation from a threat that so many of our heroes fought and died to defeat.”

“At its most basic, this election is about preserving our democracy. During this president’s term, the unthinkable has become normal. He has tried to prevent people from voting, undermined the U.S. Postal Service, deployed the military and federal agents against peaceful protesters, threatened to delay the election and suggested that he will not leave office if he loses. This is not normal, and we must never treat it like it is.”

Honorable mentions - which were also amazing, fantastic, incredible, and made me cry and were beautiful moving keynotes - included Jill Biden and Elizabeth Warren, so go watch those too. And don’t judge me for crying so much while watching this, I just get emotional when I feel like democracy might have a chance after all.

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FEATURES

Admissions Amidst Uncertainty: Interview with Admissions Officers at Local Colleges

By ANNA WESTWIG

T

he fall in which students apply to colleges is a fraught period in any high schooler’s life, but complications due to coronavirus have multiplied that stress.

Students are not only unsure if they’re investing their money in the right thing, but if in-person school will be happening at all— and if it is, do they even want to go?

Most of the stress arises from the uncertainty of admission. Getting into a school is never a guarantee, but students can generally tell where they stand based on grades and test scores. Not this year. Since March 13, students’ lives in terms of applications have been black holes: no full-fledged grades, no extracurriculars, no community service, no standardized tests. To help students in this year’s application process, I reached out to admissions officers at the three local schools IHS graduates attend most frequently and received responses from two of them: Cornell University (CU) and Ithaca College (IC).

I asked both of them the same six questions about the admissions process this year.

Anna Westwig ‘21: What has been the percentage of student deferment for the 2020-2021 school year? Do you expect this to significantly affect the acceptance rate for students applying this fall?

Cornell University: As you might expect, like many colleges and universities, we indeed have more first-year students requesting deferrals this year due to the myriad and far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. And we won’t know what direct impact the pandemic will have on our application numbers for a few months (The Spring 2021 transfer application deadline is October 15, 2020. The Fall 2021 early decision application deadline is November 1, 2020. The Fall 2021 regular decision application deadline is January 2, 2021. The Fall 2021 transfer application deadline is March 15, 2021).

Ithaca College: At this time we have about 5% of our incoming class deferring for either one semester or two. While this is, unsurprisingly, a higher number of deferrals than

a typical year, this is of course not a typical year for any student or institution. That said, we do not expect this to have a significant impact on the way we review or admit applicants for the 2021-2022 academic year.

ipates an increase in financial aid demand, resulting from the current, ongoing crisis.

We remain fully committed to meeting the financial aid needs of our students, even in this challenging time.

AW: If a student applies Early Decision to your institution, can they choose to defer admission? What is the likelihood that a deferment application will be accepted and by what date do students have to decide to defer?

IC: At this time we do not have information regarding if and how financial aid may be impacted in the future by the effects of COVID-19. What I can share is that our Office of Student Financial Services has been working closely with students to reevaluate aid packages in light of families’ financial situations changing as a result of COVID-19 in order to support our students in funding their education as best as possible.

CU: Early Decision admitted and enrolling students are indeed able to request a deferral of enrollment. The deadline for early decision enrolling students to submit a deferral request is March 1.

IC: Yes, any student can request to defer their admission regardless of which application process they choose, including Early Decision. We don’t know what our ultimate deferral deadline will be for 21-22, but typically the deadline would be a few weeks before classes start (so early August). Ithaca College is supportive of students who wish to defer their admission for a range of reasons, including pursuing activities that contribute to their development and preparation for college. Reasons for postponing enrollment that would be granted may include: volunteer or community service opportunities, civic engagement, pursuit of specialized training, travel opportunities, assisting family members, participating in internships, and conducting research. We also support students who wish to defer for reasons related to COVID-19 including but not limited to health and safety considerations or not wanting a hybrid or virtual learning environment. In the majority of cases listed above, we are able to grant the deferral request.

AW: Will your institution’s ability to offer financial aid be at all impacted by the coronavirus?

CU: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the university is already planning for and antic-

AW: Standardized testing scores are being deemphasized in this year’s college admissions process, due to testing schedules being interrupted by coronavirus. How can students reveal the skills tested by the SAT/ ACT in other areas of their application?

CU: When reviewing applications during the 2020-2021 cycle, when test scores are not available, Cornell readers will consider with increased scrutiny other application documents, looking for different evidence of excellent academic preparation, including: • Challenging courses and excellent grades (including pass grades) in each secondary school (high school) context • Evidence of commitment and effort to pursuing other challenging learning experiences • Results from other kinds of secondary, college-preparatory, and university-qualifying testing where available and verifiable • Care, craft, and authenticity in their writing submissions • Wherever practical and available, details, insight, and analysis from secondary school counselors and teachers.

IC: Ithaca College has been and continues to be standardized test-optional. Instead of using test scores to determine a student’s potential for success on our campus, we consider applicants through a comprehen-

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sive and holistic review process. This means that a student’s high school transcript(s), letter(s) of recommendation, personal essay, and anything else they choose to share with us all carry equal weight and we are confident that combination of materials provides us with the best picture of who a student is, if they’re a good fit for IC, and if IC is a good fit for them.

AW: Since high schools around the country shut down mid-March and, as such, most grading systems changed to accommodate, will you be still be considering students’ grades for the second semester of junior year or discounting them?

CU: We regret that learning opportunities and momentum have been disrupted

by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and we want Cornell applicants to know that we will honor their efforts and the success they had earned prior to school closing or transition to online learning. There will be no negative interpretation for schools and students applying to Cornell who have had only pass/ fail or similar grading options during 2020.

IC: We are committed to being flexible by working with students and their high schools to support them in their college search and navigate this new territory together. This means that we will work hard to accommodate whatever academic information schools are able to provide over the next several years. It will also mean the way we engage with applicants and their schools will likely look a little different in that we’ll

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be connecting with them even more to discuss each unique circumstance as necessary.

AW: Has the coronavirus affected your consideration of an applicant’s state of residence?

CU: No. We will continue to welcome applications from all interested students throughout the US and from around the world.

IC: No. If there are still restrictions on certain states in the future due to COVID-19, we will not consider that in the application review process. We remain student-centered in our approach by working to provide equal access to admission for every qualified applicant.

Review Bad Feminist: Still Worth Reading

By FRANCES KLEMM

I

have been a fan of Roxane Gay since fifth grade and I don’t actually remember why; I just remember starting sixth grade and when I realized there were Roxane Gay books in the library, I got happy. I held off for a while to read her most famous and influential piece, Bad Feminist, and it was amazing when I finally got around to it.

Bad Feminist was published in 2014 and is a novel about race and gender, topics that make the date of the book glaringly clear over the course of the memoir. The world was far from perfect in 2014: our country was still under the illusion that racism was gone now that there was a Black president in office and that sexism wasn’t a real presence anymore. Much of this book attempts to educate the reader on the full reality of race and gender in America and how there is so much work to do. But reading this in the year 2020 felt like poring over a historical document. If I were to read text from the 1800s describing what life was like then, certain parts of Bad Feminist would seem equally alien, simply because in the last six years, our country’s discussion of race and gender has changed astronomically.

This book was fantastic, page turning, and I was left wanting to hear more of Gay’s opinions, observations, and reflections, but it was also a fantastic commentary on how we’ve changed as a society when talking about race and gender since 2014—and how we haven’t.

Reading the essays, I thought a lot about how the Trump presidency has opened white liberal’s eyes—opened anyone’s eyes who wasn’t screaming with their ears plugged in—in a way that Hilary Clinton’s presidency never would have. America has a lot of scars that the government doesn’t want to address because they’re not the ones who are suffering; the open wounds festering from years of mistreatment Trump’s presidency has put every one of those flaws on full and relentless display. Back in 2014, Gay urges us to address the hidden

wounds of America. Those wounds are no longer hidden in 2020, thanks to Trump, but they are still very much there. Many Americans needed a presidency as controversial as Trump’s to become aware of the atrocities happening at the border, to notice the realities of women in America, to realize how far away the LGBTQIAP+ community is from full and just human rights, and to even scratch the surface of systemic racism.

Don’t read Bad Feminist for the statistics or the information on how racism and sexism are still prominent issues in America, just look at a modern day news report. Read Bad Feminist for the stories Gay tells and the stories she analyzes. Gay spends the course of the book critiquing novels, movies, and televison shows, so often the book reads like Roxane Gay’s goodreads review page. Gay dives deep into feminist fiction and non-fiction from the past twenty years and uses the pros and cons of each piece of work to highlight specific issues in the way gender is portrayed in the media and how this impacts women and girls today. She discusses Kate Zambereno’s Green Girl and Joan Didion’s Play it As it Lays to express the humanism women are often denied both in media and the world around us. She writes about the link between how we respond to and react to characters in a book, and how we treat, stereotype and degrade women and girls around us.

Roxane Gay takes on race, feminism, white feminism, pop culture, scrabble, body weight, sexual assault and sexual violence using her own stories and breaking down over 30 novels and books to explore the specific issues she speaks of. Gay writes fearlessly about her experience being gang-raped as a tween, constantly being the only non-white person in a room, and what it took for her to finally accept the title of feminist. Roxane Gay does have a Goodreads account.

And it is everything.

18

ARTS

Folklore: A Thoughtful Album By Taylor Swift

By JINHO PARK

I

n a tranquil corner next to the windows of my fifth grade classroom, there were comfortable beanbags, where my friends and I dawdled. There, away from the lazy eyes of our teacher, we argued about trivialities, played flash games, and listened to music. Fancy, Call Me Maybe, Shake It Off—the vibrant pop of the mid 2010s.

Even then, many of us scoffed at Taylor Swift’s music, with the impudent confidence that 5th graders tend to have. We called her lyrics cringey, her voice annoying, her songs meaningless. But even as we ridiculed her music, we’d sing along to her hits: we were a group of squeaky sopranos belting the high notes of 22 or I Knew You Were Trouble or Style in the corners and hallways of our school.

But then we grew up, our piercing soprano voices changing to comforting tenors, our music preferences changing from pop to rock or rap or jazz or classical.

Folklore, made over the quarantine and released on July 24th, is Taylor Swift’s latest album. Folklore veers away from the pop that Taylor is famous for from albums such as Red, 1989, and Lover. She embraces some new genres—Folklore has been described as indie folk, alternative rock, and chamber pop.

Even as she changes genres, however, much remains the same.

The evocative storytelling, clever lyricism, and elegant vocals are so characteristically Taylor, along with the album’s romantic themes.

Yet, despite these similarities, the Taylor on Folklore feels markedly different from anything we have seen from her in the past.

Here, she feels more reserved, more thoughtful, more mature.

On Should’ve Said No, the final single from her debut self-titled album in 2006, she harshly criticizes a lover who cheated on her, saying that “even now just looking at you feels wrong,” The hatred towards her disloyal lover is palpable and complex, as if she is screaming not only with disgust for his infidelity, but for the regret of the relationship that could have been. A decade later, on Getaway Car in Reputation (2017), she talks about infidelity from the perspective of the cheater, comparing her thrilling deceit to leaving a crime scene in a getaway car. And although she halfheartedly expresses regret for her infidelity, the experience is characterized mostly by the thrill.

She has never been as eloquent about infidelity as she is on illicit affairs in Folklore. On the track, she describes cheating as a “dwindling mercurial high”, comparing it to a drug. She approaches the destructive nature of it too; “For you, I would ruin myself, a million little times.” If her previous songs about infidelity were characterized by their focus on one feeling, be it hatred or thrill or misery, this one is best characterized by its maturity to capture them all, by its willingness to look through the intricacies of cheating and conclude that it is both thrilling yet destructive, and that it ultimately leaves everybody hurt.

The entire album feels similarly eloquent. It’s as if Taylor, free of the nonstop tours and pressures from the paparazzi, has finally had time to really ruminate on what she writes.

She writes about fictional love triangles, reminisces about old lovers, and even expresses her gratitude for essential workers, all with wonderful success. It is evident that despite this album’s surprise release, its making was attended to scrupulously during the sedentary life of the past few months. And many tracks on this album truly shine as a result: the last great american dynasty, mirrorball, my tears ricochet, epiphany, betty, and peace can all proudly stand

IMAGE PROVIDED

The album cover for Taylor Swift’s new album, Folklore. alongside the best music Taylor has ever made.

However, there are a few criticisms one could make. One could criticize the lethargic pace of the album’s first single, cardigan, but it could also be argued that the song’s reminiscing nature benefits from a relaxed tempo. Similarly, the washed-out vocals on august or this is me trying sound jarring, but perhaps that is the point—the melancholy lyrics are amplified by this unconventional production choice.

Finally, the tracklist could have been made more concise, perhaps with the removal of seven or hoax, however painful it would have been for Taylor and her fans.

During the pandemic, I have found myself longing for the familiar. I have reread the books of my childhood, played soccer in the worn-down fields of my elementary school, and played board games I hadn’t looked at in years. But some of the greatest comfort I have found has been in music, in the melodies that I unconsciously hum during early mornings and late nights.

Taylor’s legacy will be consequential, if the metric for legacy is in the melodies we remember. All of those who grew up in the 2010s will remember her music inseparably intertwined with memories of our childhood. I speculate that when we fondly listen to the music of the past, we will listen to Taylor, not the rap that dominated the tail-end of the decade.

But most excitingly, it seems that Taylor’s music is getting better as she enters her 30s. If this trajectory continues, perhaps some of her long-time haters will stop branding her music as shallow pop meant for privileged girls. Certainly, I will be waiting patiently for whatever she comes up with next, regardless of its genre or style.

And while I’m waiting, I will sing all of her songs in tranquil bedroom corners, ruminating about the past and looking forward to the uncertainty of the seemingly perilous future.

ARTS

19

An Anti-Racist Reading List

By LOUISA MILLER-OUT

R

ecently, the Black Lives Matter movement has seen a surge in visibility and popularity. If you’re a supporter interested in educating yourself and keeping up the anti-racist momentum in order to achieve a more just and equal society, read on! Conversely, if you doubt the existence of systemic racism or aren’t educated enough on the topic to form a coherent opinion yet, I highly recommend keeping an open mind and checking out these powerful and highly informative books.

So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo This book should be required reading for everyone, especially those who benefit from white privilege and are just beginning to discover the severity and insidiousness of racism in America. It discusses the systems of racist oppression deeply woven into our political, economic, and social systems and empowers the reader to recognize and dismantle the system of white supremacy. This brilliantly written book is an excellent primer to begin your anti-racist education and provides the tools to articulate these issues more effectively, engage in productive dialogue, and confront racial prejudice everywhere.

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad Another great book, subtitled Combat Racism, Change the World and Become a Good Ancestor, encourages readers to learn from hideous history and gives them the tools they need to create positive change in their own communities. This book is an incredible guide to help privileged people be-

gin combating their own unconscious biases, and do their part in dismantling systems of racist oppression.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone For lovers of gripping and emotional fiction, this powerful coming-of-age story is a perfect fit. It is centered around high school senior Justyce McAllister, a good kid navigating issues ranging in severity from school bullies to police brutality. Although fictional, it clearly reflects personal experience with racism and reflects painful realities that far too many Black Americans are forced to undergo. Angie Thomas, bestselling author of The Hate U Give, called it “A must-read!” I agree.

How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi This bestselling guide to uprooting racism and inequality both within ourselves and our communities compels readers to go further than neutrality. Rather than be simply non-racist, and therefore silently complicit in white supremacy, he urges and equips everyone to actively dismantle their racial biases, thereby ceasing to contribute to the racist systems which we’ve put up with for far too long, and to help others be actively anti-racist as well.

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander Subtitled Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, this volume is packed with painful truths about the shortcomings of our nation. Even though the rights won in the Civil Rights Movement have been nominally granted, racial discrimination runs

rampant in the so-called “justice” system and is completely legal in most cases. Due to disproportionate incarceration rates, an astonishing portion of the African-American community has been put behind bars and thereafter stripped of basic rights. As Michelle Alexander herself eloquently argues, “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper An autobiographical work from a bold (and, indeed, eloquent) intersectional feminist, this book not only tells her own stories, but addresses race in America and focuses on the power of Black women to harness frustration at the white supremacist patriarchy and use it as a source of energy to continue fighting for true freedom. Brittany Cooper took a heavy, painful topic and made a sharp, funny, empowering book out of it, and that is certainly no small feat.

On the Other Side of Freedom by DeRay Mckesson In his stunning literary debut, the host of Pod Save the People utilizes his own experiences as an activist, organizer, and educator to make “the case for hope”, as the subtitle of the book reads. He calls on Americans to work towards the most just possible future by dismantling racist systems. It’s a beautiful read, brimming enough with hope and insight to spare for those who may have lost it.

These are just a few of the amazing anti-racist books out there, so I urge you to read on!

20

ARTS

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By adowyn ernste

With Norma Jean off to Germany for a half-year foreign exchange program…

Maybe this is the year I finally get to Oh he no, he com re es!

Blend into the background.

Step aside peasants, and Make way for your king.

No crazy friends, no competitions…

greetings Seymour!

Long have we awaited this day.

It overjoys us to be reunited with our beloved master once more!

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hat

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22

LITERARY

Ten Prompts to Beat Writers’ Block

By Adowyn Ernste • Write a story inspired by a favorite song, using specific lyrics, ideas, or the mood.

• Contrapuntal poems combine two (or more) separate poems by alternating lines from both poems to create a single cohesive poem.

• Capture a quiet, autumn evening.

• Write a poem that features the colors black and gold in some way.

• Write something meaningful about a topic that you don’t know anything about.

• Loud noises keep waking you up as you try to fall asleep, but try as you might, you can’t figure out what’s making the sound...

• Write a poem or short story that ends where it begins.

• The first line of the story is: It was the best (and worst) idea I’d ever had.

• Write a short story using the following words: rhetorical, jelly, abracadabra.

• Write about something in an unexpected environment (ex. snakes in outer space, lawn chairs set up in a crunched closet).

Rainforest Syllabary

By Louisa Miller-Out Aboriginal birds call, daylight erupts, Feeding green herbs in jungles.

Kinkajous leap, mandrills navigate opportunistically.

Panthers quite relish sunlight that unlocks vivacious worlds, Xenophilically yearning zestfully.

September Haiku Contest Haiku

By Anya Kramer The birds aren’t aware Of quarantines or COVID They just look for worms

Haiku

By Ava Norman laughing or crying i don’t know how to tell them apart anymore

PENULTIMATE

23

Surrealio

By Ethan Carlson

September Sudoku 3 4

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6

The Coolness Spectrum What Did You Do This Summer? Perhaps This Horoscope Will Know!

Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 22): You read so much that you pondered whether or not it was possible to read too much?

Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 21): You were stuck in an endless cycle of mobile and console gaming.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21): You learned a new instrument just to flex on your friends when you got back to school.

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19): You thought you could learn a new language during quarantine.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that.

Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18): Wishing school would come back because there’s nothing else to do.

Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 20): Watching the days meld into weeks and months… while watching Netflix.

Wearing a mask Registering to vote

By Ethan Carlson Virgo (Aug 23 - Sep 22): Admit it, you stayed at home. We all did.

Black Lives Matter

Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 19): You spent a lot of time getting reacquainted with your older sibling returning from college. It’s awkward, we know.

Taurus (Apr 20 - May 20): You rearranged the furniture in your room so much that you ended up sleeping in a different room than when you started.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20): Losing all sense or resemblance of normal eating habits.

Cancer (June 21 - Jul 22): Losing all sense or resemblance of normal sleeping habits.

Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 22): I AM SOOOOOOOOO BORED! I’M GONNA GO INSANE! Oh, sorry.

I was talking to myself. How are you?

Capybaras Sweater weather Everyday is pajama day Homework No back to school shopping Not seeing friends at school SAT canceled No directing freshmen to upstairs K College students partying All Lives Matter