September 2021

IHS TATTLER SEPTEMBER 2021 | VOL. 129 | NO. 1

Welcome back, IHS! Start your year on a good note by writing for The Tattler! Join us for our writer’s meeting on September 13th in H Courtyard to contribute. Everyone is welcome!

ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO TATTLE.

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EDITORIAL

College Applications Are Scary! Help!

By THE TATTLER BOARD

T

he rising senior, hunched over their laptop at 11:30 p.m., is frantically scrolling through the Google search results for “What is a personal statement?” They pore over the articles that tell them to “be authentic” and “sell yourself to the admissions officer,” unsure what to make of it. They ask themselves—How am I supposed to do that? They continue searching deep into the night—How should I study for the SAT? What majors are there in college?

What activities look good on college applications?

This is a common reality for students at IHS as they begin to look beyond their time in high school. College—or any post-high school pursuit—can be a daunting prospect, and most upperclassmen at IHS receive very little guidance on how to approach them until they are staring college applications straight down the barrel. Perhaps they are aware of Naviance or have heard of a handful of schools, but the vast majority are clueless on the contents of a college application, how financial aid works, or even their options after high school outside of higher education. The experience is even worse for would-be first generation and low-income students, as they might not have access to educational or support resources or any prior knowledge about the process. Beyond the annual fifteen-minute meetings with their school counselors and (possibly) a presentation on BOCES, IHS leaves students to their own devices to navigate the confusing and stressful process of planning for post-high school life.

IHS’s current school counselor system splits the student body among five counselors, depending on the first letter of a student’s last name. Counselors usually meet with a student once a year during the spring semester to talk about course selections for the next school year.

Despite these meetings being quite important, they seldom take up the full one-hour time slot allotted for each meeting. With the current structure, a meeting may look like this: you and your counselor go over your transcript and grades for the year so far, your counselor makes sure you’re on track by checking how many credits you have and how many you need in total, and finally, you look at your course selections.

This typical meeting will usually be half an hour

at maximum, meaning only half of the allotted time is used. While essential topics are covered, many students may still feel left in the dark as they get closer to their senior year and graduation.

While logistically, adding another meeting or changing the time slot would be difficult to achieve as counselors have many meetings to fit into one semester, IHS can take steps to use these meetings more effectively. For example, instead of the current fairly standard structure, counselors could work on shifting the subject matter depending on what grade a student is in.

Although the grades-credits-courses structure may work perfectly for a freshman with three years of high school left, it may not be as effective for a student halfway through their junior year. A sophomore may benefit from conversations about their activities or extracurriculars and an introduction to how they can build a future résumé, while a junior may benefit from a more detailed tour of Naviance and a discussion of the different parts of an application. Counselors could also work on sending out emails to all of their students by grade with resources and general next steps a couple of weeks before meetings start — this way, by the time the first meetings roll around, students will have questions about what was sent to them and what the next steps might be. Creating a foundation for students as early as possible would help immensely come the beginning of senior year where there are suddenly deadlines, essays, and countless other choices to juggle.

Beyond the scope of the guidance office, IHS must offer additional resources to educate and aid students throughout high school. Such resources could include short video tutorials and links to articles and guides on the IHS website, as well as small workshops throughout the year in York (similar to Social Justice Week presentations) and online. Such workshops could be taught by local speakers brought in to talk about parts of the process, or be panel-style discussions with recent alumni with good advice about how to navigate applications. For example, if a student wanted to know more about how the Common Application worked after being introduced by their counselor, they could access a video tutorial detailing how to create a college

Editor-in-Chief

Jinho Park ’22

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EDITORIAL

list and answer essay questions. Further, another student curious about how to study for standardized tests could find additional resources and preparation advice beyond what had been covered in their annual meeting. Occasional webinars covering the college process and options after high school could also be valuable learning opportunities for students and parents as well. In this way, the job of the guidance counselor and added resources would work in tandem, helping students piece together parts of what is a formidable puzzle. While a student’s guidance counselor could help provide a fuller picture of what lies ahead, new resources and opportunities could provide detailed answers to questions that weren’t addressed during their meeting. Additionally, having such resources available would also allow guidance counselors to stay focused on courses, grades, and credits—the core of the yearly meeting—while also providing a good idea of where a student should be at any given moment.

In addition to being thrust into a new and complicated process, students must learn how to write effectively in their college essays. The personal statement and college-specific supplementals require students to write concisely about their own life experiences, something most high school students have little or no experience with prior to starting their college essays. In today’s “holistic” college admissions process, essays are given equal if not more weight than grades, test scores, and extracurriculars on students’ applications, making them vital to any student applying to college. These essays are the section of the application in which students can leave the most lasting impression on the admissions officers, as it is the only section in which they may present their own narrative of themselves and communicate their personality to the AOs. Currently, IHS does not offer readily available support and/or resources to students

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in order to prepare them for and guide them through writing their college essays. Consequently, affluent families often hire private college admissions counselors and tutors to help their children with their college essays, creating a great advantage for kids of wealthy families and perpetuating the segregation of higher education along socioeconomic lines. As such, students without extra resources are left to their own devices to navigate an enormously stressful and challenging process. In order to close this gap, IHS must offer increased support for students in the form of frequent and easily accessible workshops (including but not limited to after school, before school, and during lunch periods) and readily available essay-writing help from teachers and guidance counselors.

The college admissions process is not a level playing field. It can be thought of as a game of advantages—if you have tutors, parents that know the process very well, or friends that have gone through the process already, you’ll have an advantage in the game. Students without such resources are less likely to achieve their goals. A unilateral increase in support could help confused students feel more confident in whatever venture they choose, while also helping those that already know the basic process become even more comfortable in their knowledge.

The skills acquired through the college admissions process will benefit everyone later in life, not only those planning to attend college. Thinking about what lies ahead after graduation can be daunting, but with increased support, students will be much more prepared for wherever their future takes them. Attentive and proactive college counseling throughout high school would truly benefit everyone, ensuring that each student, no matter their unique circumstances or future plans, begins on the same starting line.

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 22 to be included in the October issue. The Tattler reserves the right to edit all submissions. All articles, columns, and advertisements do not necessarily reflect the views of editorial staff.

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

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EDITORIAL

The Case For Green Space

By THE TATTLER BOARD

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fter more than a year isolated inside, this spring, many students began to venture into the great outdoors of the IHS quad for lunch. When we walked outside during those precious 30 minutes, we saw dozens of students scattered around the red tables and on the steps leading down to the grass. The energy in the air was one many of us hadn’t felt in a long time. The warm sun and shade from the trees made spirits brighter as the promise of summer approached.

This was a common experience for students at IHS when many returned to in-person learning and the weather finally became nice enough to eat outside. For many of us, these rare moments were the beginning of a glimpse of life after COVID; they were a sign of the return of the “normal” that we all craved.

Students all over the district felt their mental health begin to improve as they soaked in the sun, and as COVID restrictions loosened, they felt their social lives begin to rejuvenate. In nerve-wracking times like these, more exposure to nature can be a small light in the dark tunnel that is high school during a pandemic. As we return to school and begin to face the aftereffects of our time in isolation, creating more green spaces at IHS is a simple way of improving day-to-day life and reducing potential transmission of COVID as the Delta variant continues to rise.

But what is a green space? Do they really help promote physical and mental health? Green spaces are areas of land that are used for recreation in an otherwise urban environment. These can include parks, trails, picnic grounds, and even your own backyard. Green spaces are generally beneficial to everyone’s mental and physical health. According to The World Health Organization (W.H.O), green spaces do so by “providing psychological relaxation and stress alleviation, stimulating social cohesion, supporting physical activity, and reducing exposure to air pollutants and noise.” NASA even states that having them “reduces the risk for developing an array of psychiatric disorders during adolescence and adulthood.” Now more than ever, students need access to the benefits green spaces provide, for both their mental and physical health.

In addition to the mental health benefits that green spaces and outdoor learning can provide, they can also lower the transmission of COVID and save energy by reducing use of light switches, fans, and air conditioning. Conducting some classes outside will also reduce the concentration of students in hallways in between periods. As well as creating the perfect atmosphere for learning and enjoyment, the addition of trees and small plants would benefit the environment. It’s always valuable to have a bit more nature and growth in empty courtyards, especially considering how low-maintenance they are. IHS also uses a huge amount of electricity to power the entire school, so being

able to turn the lights and fans off in a classroom and go outside for natural light and fresh air will both save money and benefit the environment.

So how do we make green spaces possible at IHS? At the center of both E and G buildings lie existing courtyards that remain unused. While they used to house areas for gardening and benches for students to use during free periods or lunch, they are currently empty and locked to most of IHS. Our proposal is to re-open these to the student body. Although this proposal has already been made by the 2019-2020 Student Council, these plans were quickly put on hold as the pandemic started and school was shut down. The Tattler Editorial Board wishes to revive this effort as students return to IHS. This would provide IHS with a cost-effective way to establish green spaces in IHS. These courtyards could also provide a space for club meetings. Many of the afterschool clubs have been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic because many students, understandably, don’t want to spend more time over Zoom. The green spaces could provide a place to hold clubs in the warmer months without having to worry as much about air flow or transportation. The introduction of these green spaces would also provide additional activities for clubs such as Green Team and Habitat for Humanity, who can help tend gardens and build benches for students to sit on.

Logistically, however, there are complications to implementing green spaces, such as noise level and student supervision in these spaces. A possible solution would be allowing teachers to reserve the space to hold their classes instead of having students “roam free” in these proposed green spaces. Between classes and during lunch periods, there would be a similar sort of supervision as in the Quad and Cafeteria to keep down noise levels and prevent overcrowding. Although there are challenges presented with this project, they are easily overcome.

In conclusion, The Tattler Editorial Board proposes the addition and usage of more green spaces. This would benefit the student body and administration by aiding students’ mental and physical health. Further, it would also help IHS economically and give teachers more options for class locations. Imagine having a beautiful place to take a break from the stress of everyday life and school. Somewhere that you could eat lunch quietly with your friends but also somewhere classes could be held without as many safety concerns. A break from enclosed classrooms is just what we need, and it can be found in the fresh air that green spaces would provide us with. Green spaces could be an essential haven for any and all overworked high school students.

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Ithaca’s Progress On Reopening

By FRANCES KLEMM

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ore than 59 percent of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated, and as of August 26, 66.3 percent of Tompkins County residents are fully vaccinated and 70.5 percent have had at least one dose. Overall, our county’s data show that we are far ahead of most counties in the United States, but you should still continue to tell your family and friends to get vaccinated per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations. In May, the Associated Press analyzed government data and found that cases in fully vaccinated individuals accounted for fewer than 1.1 percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations. According to Andy Slavitt, former advisor to the Biden administration on COVID-19, 98 to 99 percent of people who died from COVID-19 in May 2021 were unvaccinated. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky described these deaths as “entirely preventable.”

Ithaca’s vaccination rates in comparison to other counties are relatively high, but Ithacans still need to do their part in preventing the spread of COVID among the community.

Currently, all residents 12 and older are strongly encouraged to get the vaccination as soon as possible. Ithaca is providing a

surplus of locations for vaccination, with most offering walk-in appointments— this makes it simple to go to your nearest pharmacy and get your vaccine!

Being vaccinated has also become a requirement for many downtown shops and attractions as well as jobs. Shops all across Ithaca are requesting that you be vaccinated and/or wear a mask. All county employees will be mandated to either get the vaccine or be tested weekly starting October 1. Cornell, Ithaca College, and Ithaca City School District have all instituted mask mandates regardless of vaccination status for the school year. Both Cornell and Ithaca College have also instituted vaccination mandates—all students at both institutions are required to be vaccinated to attend classes this fall.

As of August 26, a new surge in cases in Tompkins County— active cases are in the hundreds—is most likely coming from the nationwide spike in Delta variant cases. So be cautious, wear your mask, keep your distance and get vaccinated!

Visit https://tompkinscountyny.gov/health for all new information and updates on COVID-19 in Tompkins County.

How Cyberattacks Are Becoming More Dangerous

By MUKUND GAUR

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hen we put our money in a bank, we trust that the bank will be able to keep our money safe. After all, bank robberies are rare and money is usually insured. But when we give our personal information to an organization on the internet, can we trust that the information will similarly be kept safe? You can’t lock up your personal information online with a physical key, so instead people depend on antivirus softwares, safe browsing habits, and a secure computer. These systems are robust, but it turns out that your personal safety measures may not matter at all.

People’s information isn’t just stored on their personal computers. Banks, network service providers, and websites may all store your data on the internet, and they aren’t always as secure as they may claim; these organizations often lose information in data breaches. These breaches can range from exposing a few people’s personal details to revealing the accounts of millions or even billions of people. The number of such breaches has been increasing in recent years, and in the first six months of 2019, more than 4.1 billion records were exposed to the internet, according to Forbes. So, how do these data breaches and cyber-

attacks happen in the first place? Usually, data breaches occur when hackers gain access to a source of confidential information and steal the data. Data breaches can also be caused by human error or intentional leaks, although these are less common. One of the most common ways that hackers are able to get access to this data is through phishing. Phishing consists of fraudulent emails that claim to be from actual companies. If the recipient of the email clicks on a link, it downloads malware onto their computer, through which the hacker can access data stored on the computer. Attackers may also employ a method called ransomware: in a ransomware attack, attackers prevent owners of files from accessing them unless they pay a ransom. These attacks have wreaked havoc in recent years.

Even as dangerous as these attacks sound, their effects go far beyond what they may seem to be on the surface. In August 2021, T-Mobile was attacked by a hacker who gained access to the data of more than 40 million people, including both current and former customers. Not only did hackers gain access to names, birthdays, and driver’s licenses, they were also able to steal victims’ social security numbers. Even more startling is how this attack was discovered in the first place: the cyberattack was Continued on page 6

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How Cyberattacks Are Becoming More Dangerous Continued from page 5 only detected when a person attempted to sell some of this information for $270,000 on an online platform. This isn’t the first time that T-Mobile has lost customer data. In 2018, T-Mobile lost the personal information of more than 2 million customers due to a security breach. T-Mobile customers aren’t the only victims. Amazon, Apple, and AT&T are just a few of the other companies that have suffered cyberattacks.

Even if you’re not a customer of any of the aforementioned companies, cyberattacks have probably affected your life in some way. For instance, a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States, caused a shortage of gas along the entire East Coast of the United States in May 2021.

The fuel line was eventually brought back up after the company paid a $4.4 million ransom, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Justice Department has since recovered around $2.3 million of the ransom. The world’s largest meat supplier, JBS, was also

held hostage by ransomware—an attack forced the company to shut down several meat processing plants and had the potential to cause a food shortage in the U.S. According to the BBC, JBS also paid a ransom to bring systems back up: $11 million in Bitcoin.

With so much confidential information floating around on the internet and infrastructure at risk of attack, many companies and governments have taken steps to protect people from cyberattacks. President Biden has signed an executive order to protect infrastructure from cyberattacks, and many companies have begun securing their information more robustly. The Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace is one multinational effort to secure businesses and governments against hackers. However, cyberattacks have been increasing in scale and effect, despite the work of private companies and governments to secure people’s information and prevent attacks from becoming dangerous.

What You Need to Know About the Latest COVID-19 Variants

By SAMMY DEOL

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espite hopes that we were in the waning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus continues to ravage communities across the country. The seven-day moving average for daily cases in the United States topped 150,000—the highest rate since January 2021—in late August, and the daily death count is approaching 1,000. With the number of available hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) beds dropping, experts agree that we are on a concerning trajectory, even though nearly 60 percent of the country is fully vaccinated.

The dramatic uptick in COVID-19 infections can be explained in part by the emergence of new virus variants. Put simply, RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, replicate using the cells of their hosts. Because viral RNA is used to synthesize their defining proteins, errors in the replication process can change the properties of the viruses themselves, potentially making variants that are more transmissible and in some cases even deadlier than the original version.

The “Delta” variant is currently the most dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the nation, accounting for over 95 percent of new infections. First identified in India late in 2020, it is notorious for its ability to spread rapidly—research cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Infection (CDC) states that the Delta variant may be twice as contagious as the original strain, which is already more transmissible than the flu. Some data suggest that the Delta variant is more likely to cause severe illness and hospitalization in unvaccinated patients than competing variants, though this has yet to be corroborated by further studies.

Other strains of the virus are also gaining traction around the world. The “Lambda” variant, for example, makes up 88 percent of Peru’s cases and is quickly spreading throughout South America.

About 1,500 Lambda infections have been reported in the United States, and it has been marked by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “variant of interest.” A separate strain, “B.1.621,” made headlines in August for killing seven fully vaccinated residents in a Belgian nursing home; B.1.621 now accounts for 9 percent of new

infections in Miami, Florida.

In the wake of the recent—and ongoing—COVID-19 surge, the CDC has strengthened many of its guidelines. After stating in May that fully vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks indoors, the agency has restored its mask recommendation for all civilians living in areas of “high” or “substantial” transmission in July, metrics that applied to almost two-thirds of the nation’s counties at the time. Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has fully authorized the Pfizer vaccine for people 16 and older, a step that will pave the way for stricter vaccination mandates.

As growing evidence suggests that the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines has waned over time, the FDA also approved the use of both Pfizer and Moderna booster shots in immunocompromised individuals in early August; furthermore, the CDC plans to make additional doses available for all vaccine-eligible Americans by September 20th. Some experts, however, argue that these booster shots are not necessary for the general public, and that saving shots for unvaccinated groups—which compose the vast majority of those currently hospitalized with COVID-19—is more vital.

Regardless, getting vaccinated is easily the best way to protect yourself from newer variants. The Pfizer and Moderna shots are still nearly 80 percent effective in stopping infections. Further, even when vaccinated people become infected, they are generally contagious for a shorter window of time, making it harder for them to spread the virus. Most importantly, the odds of vaccinated people experiencing severe illness are miniscule—a recent study in Los Angeles found that vaccinated adults between 18 and 49 years of age were 25 times less likely to get hospitalized from COVID-19 compared to their unvaccinated counterparts. Another study from the same region found that vaccinated adults older than 50 were 17 times less likely to die from a COVID infection. Thus, the ongoing rise in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths should not be used to denounce the quality of the available COVID-19 vaccines; if anything, the current situation should encourage folks to get their jabs.

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The Rise And Fall Of A New York Political Icon

By AITAN AVGAR

Image courtesy of The New York Times

Andrew Cuomo during his resignation speech

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n August 10, a week after an investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James found that he sexually harassed 11 people, former Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation. Throughout the past two years, Cuomo has seen his popularity rise and fall with his distinguished leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, his scandal involving the reporting of nursing home deaths, and accusations surrounding his deplorable treatment of women. The governor had his sights set on running for a fourth term in 2022 before his hasty retreat from office. Cuomo is being replaced by Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, a moderate Democrat from Buffalo, who will be the first female governor of New York State.

Andrew Cuomo, the son of three-term New York State Governor Mario Cuomo, has been part of the New York political scene for decades. He began his career as his father’s campaign manager in 1982, followed by multiple New York City and federal government roles. From 1997 to 2001, he served as President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In 2006, he was elected as New York State Attorney General and in 2010, he became the second Cuomo to serve as governor. His tenure as governor included a mix of progressive politics, like the legalization of same-sex marriage and the increase of the state’s minimum wage to $15, but also questions about his use of power.

Eighteen months ago, it would seem unfathomable that Cuomo would be stepping down from his powerful role as governor.

Lauded for his leadership during the early days of the pandemic, in which New York State saw one of the worst COVID outbreaks in the world, Cuomo became a role model for other politicians through his daily briefings and unwavering composure and confidence in the face of a significant crisis. Nevertheless, his COVID response was tainted by controversy. Last summer, it was reported that the Cuomo administration had undercounted COVID related deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent. Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, admitted to delaying the release of data regarding COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

Cuomo’s political troubles were far from over. The first public allegations of Cuomo’s sexually inappropriate behavior were raised in December 2020 by Lindsey Boylan, a former Cuomo aide and candidate for Manhattan Borough President. Boylan’s description of her time in the Cuomo administration included accusations of sexual harassment and a “toxic team environment.” Her accusations appeared to encourage others to speak out regarding a variety of inappropriate and abusive behaviors on the part of the governor. In response to mounting calls for him to step down due to these detailed accounts, in March 2021, Cuomo addressed his constituents and apologized for his actions but made it clear he had no plans to resign. He chalked the allegations up to his “playful” behavior and warm personality.

After his seemingly performative apology, even more accusations began to surface. Former aides to Cuomo, Ana Liss and Alyssa McGrath, accused him of groping them and making sexually suggestive comments. Others came out anonymously and recounted incidents of sexual harassment by Governor Cuomo.

In an effort to engage in damage control, a Cuomo senior council instructed New York Attorney General Letitia James to launch an independent investigation of Governor Cuomo. Cuomo pointed to this independent investigation when calling for the citizens of New York to let the legal processes determine the truth and avoid rushing to political conclusions. In a twist fitting of a Hollywood political drama, this would be the investigation that forced him to resign. The investigation’s conclusion landed like a bombshell on August 3, providing support for existing allegations and detailing new claims of misconduct. One particularly damaging part of the report included descriptions of Cuomo’s inappropriate behavior towards a state trooper assigned to his security detail. In an initial, recorded statement, Cuomo defended his actions as stemming from a misunderstanding of norms and his own proclivity for affectionate gestures. Most pundits and observers predicted a long and protracted fight with the governor and few anticipated his swift resignation. One explanation for the speed in which Cuomo stepped down is the slew of resignations by his inner circle, including the aforementioned top aide DeRosa and the Chairperson of Time’s Up, Roberta KapContinued on page 8

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The Rise and Fall of a New York Political Icon Continued from page 7

lan, who advised Cuomo on how to discredit his first accusers.

Cuomo’s resignation can also be explained by the overwhelming political pressure from former allies and key Democratic figures including President Biden. Finally, Cuomo’s action was most likely the product of a clear realization of the likely success of the impending impeachment proceedings initiated by New York State Democrats. The consequences of impeachment would include prohibition from serving in any statewide office in New York. The New York State Assembly has decided not to pursue impeachment after Cuomo’s resignation.

With his reign over, many are unsure of what Cuomo is going to do next. There are a number of signs pointing to a potential comeback campaign. Cuomo leaves office with substantial campaign funds and is still popular among certain segments of the New York State electorate. In addition, his resignation statement walked a fine line between recognizing his wrongdoings and minimizing his criminal culpability. Whether or not he is able to wage a successful comeback will speak to the lasting effects of the #MeToo movement in New York.

Hong Kong Dissidents Teach The World

By RUBY LaROCCA

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n June 24, 2021, the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily was shut down. Or rather, its office was ransacked, its journalists jailed, and its mission to be a democratic voice for Hong Kongers subverted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Apple Daily was considered to be the last free, democratic newspaper in Hong Kong—unrestricted, unfettered daily news for the citizens who most needed to hear it.

Apple Daily was founded in 1995 by Jimmy Lai, a sweatshop worker turned clothing retailer turned media mogul turned pro-democracy activist. On June 4, 1989, Chinese government troops fired indiscriminately into a crowd of pro-democracy protestors, mostly university students, gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square; thousands of people were murdered. Lai gives witnessing the Tiananmen Square Massacre as the reason he decided to create the paper—he undertook to say the things no one else dared to say, to uphold “justice, freedom, and democracy.” Apple Daily’s mission—Lai’s mission—was avowed in the newspaper’s first publication: “We are convinced that Hong Kongers who are accustomed to freedom will not stay silent in the face of unreasonable restrictions and unfair treatments, for Hong Kongers are born with a passion for freedom.”

The Hong Kong Basic Law—enacted in 1997, when the British handed over the region to China—established the “one country, two systems” governing principle, by which the practices and policies of the ruling Chinese government (CCP) would not interfere with Hong Kong’s separate, democratic, capitalist system. Now, however, Hong Kong and the world are seeing that the CCP is not abiding by the terms of the accord made in 1997.

The recently instituted National Security Laws, passed in 2020, are some of the most important, most threatening laws to Hong Kong democracy; they outlaw pro-democracy speech and writing in all forms. As a direct result of the CCP commitment to crip-

Image courtesy of Arab News

A massive response to the closure of Apple Daily outside its former headquarters ple the written and digital media of the country by prohibiting pro-democracy language, online outlets have been censored and print newspapers across the city have been discontinued.

This all is not happening to an acquiescent Hong Kong citizenry. For years, dissidents have taken to the streets in some of the largest protests ever recorded. Activists and journalists have been disappeared by the Chinese state. Leaders have been imprisoned left and right, leaving entire movements floundering and headless. Last year, in the spring of 2020, the annual Tiananmen Square Massacre memorial vigil held in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park—an event of great import to Hong Kongers—was banned. This June the same candlelit assembly was banned again and heightened restrictions were put in place. In both instances a crowd gathered nonetheless, although police dispersed

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them after a short period. The CCP claimed these measures were taken to mitigate the spread of the virus, but citizens of Hong Kong see the moratoriums as part of the current trend in the city toward increased targeting of peaceful protests and a larger government crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. The date of June 4 is censored on Chinese social media; a Tiananmen Massacre museum was shut down for not having the proper operation permits; school teachers in Hong Kong were encouraged to consider “curriculum objectives” when studying Chinese history—which prompted many teachers to say they would not be covering the massacre.

In 2014, in direct opposition to the terms of Hong Kong Basic Law (which functions similarly to a constitution), China attempted to subtly recraft the Hong Kong electoral system to favor the Chinese state and Communist Party—with the new system essentially allowing the CCP to handpick, approve, or deny representatives. The citizens of Hong Kong realized the significance of these staggering reforms and their impact on democracy and their civil liberties. During the massive protests of 2014 in Hong Kong that began during the CCP’s attempt to seize electorate control, the Umbrella Movement emerged: a series of protests attended by millions—and led by teenagers. And in 2019, one quarter of Hong Kong’s population (equivalent to 82 million people in the U.S) went to the streets in protest against the CCP’s Extradition Bill—a law which would allow extraditions of arrested Hong Kongers awaiting trial to mainland China. Critics of the bill saw it as a further encroachment on the judicial freedom of Hong Kong citizens and heightened exposure to China’s corrupt legal system. Months of exceedingly well attended (and sometimes violent) protests impelled the CCP to change the policy and revoke the bill. The fact that Apple Daily has become a beacon of democracy and pro-democratic news is surprising given that the paper is not a well-known, mainstream outlet but a tabloid—a style of newspaper typically dominated by large print, sensationalist or inflammatory headlines, stories, and photographs.

But it had evolved to become—because of its position as the last remaining privately owned newspaper in Hong Kong, free from

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CCP’s clear influence—a voice of strong pro-democracy sentiment and an advocate for Hong Kongers who value truth and freedom.

In a fascinating twist, it appears that there are now many examples world-wide of careful, risky, investigative journalism happening in unlikely places or through unlikely outlets. Papers with obscure names, tabloid status, or peripheral subject matter are not paid attention to by governments wanting to silence a story, and are thus able to become unexpected avenues for deep thought and investigation. For instance, no one would have expected the Romanian sports publication Gazeta Sporturilor (The Sports Gazette) to uncover the 2016 public health scandal resulting from the deadly nightclub fire in Bucharest the previous year. Collective, a 2019 documentary film from Alexander Nanau, follows a few incredibly brave journalists as they expose healthcare system-wide corruption—and work out of the offices of a paper that had formerly delivered light (if welcome) sports news.

Jimmy Lai is now imprisoned by the CCP. He is serving a 14 month sentence for “organizing illegal protests” and violating the National Security Laws. Before his incarceration, his house was bombed and his office sacked; he was the victim of a failed assassination attempt. Lai hand wrote an open letter on a scrap of paper from jail to his journalists at Apple Daily and to the world: Hong Kong’s situation is increasingly chilling, but precisely because of that, we need to love and cherish ourselves more. The era is falling apart before us and it is time for us to stand tall and keep our heads high. Defending free speech is a dangerous job now. Please be extra cautious and do not take risks—your safety is important. It is our responsibility as journalists to seek justice. As long as we are not blinded by unjust temptations, as long as we do not let evil get its way through us, we are fulfilling our responsibility.

Apple Daily journalists are exceptionally brave young writers ostensibly running the operation after their bosses and mentors have been jailed or disappeared by the CCP. Writer Bari Weiss, as part of her Honestly podcast series, met with an anonymous Apple Daily reporter in a recent episode entitled “When a Free Society Becomes a Police State.” The journalist did not share her name, for fear of governmental retribution, but offered valuable and moving thoughts about the steady deterioration of democracy in her city: “It’s like a police state now in Hong Kong.

Reporters, especially those who are working in Apple Daily, are now being targeted because our media company is pro-democratic and they think we are trying to do something to destroy the stability of Hong Kong”, adding that although her newspaper was a popular tabloidal publication, she said “under these circumstances, and after [the] 2019 [protests], we really spoke the truth.” The innominate journalist goes on to say that Apple Daily was the first paper she worked for, and that “it is the only media company that [she] would ever work for in Hong Kong” because it was “the only print media that will interview the protesters to let their real opinions show up in Hong Kong.

Continued on page 10

NEWS

10 Hong Kong Dissidents Teach The World Continued from page 9

Clearly frustrated by the injustice of Daily’s closure and fighting back tears, she pleads for the government and the world to acknowledge how “freedom of press is really so important to upholding justice and democracy in our society.” With newspapers shutting down, journalists being attacked in their homes, and online publications being censored, she asks rhetorically, “who can speak the truth and who can monitor the government and the people who are in charge and have power?” Crying now, and admitting her hard-drives and computer (containing a 10,000 character article for the final issue) were stolen by government officials during the recent office raid, her voice cracks as she says, “it’s just so ridiculous. I mean, we are just reporters.

And all the things we did were right.” When asked if she had

anything to say to people who don’t know what Apple Daily was or don’t understand the significance of its closure, the journalist said: “I hope people, not only those in Hong Kong, can understand what happened in Apple Daily and also treasure what they have in their own home country as well.”

While many Americans take democracy for granted and are dismissive and flippant about the undermining of democracy in our country and abroad, young journalists and activists in Hong Kong are dying and being jailed for the right to write news and support the democratic project. Apple Daily’s forced closure is not just another headline about the slow, creeping influence of China on Hong Kong—it is, as writer Bari Weiss puts it, China putting a bag over the head of Hong Kong democracy in broad daylight.

Beebe Lake by Raia Gutman

Napping Kitties by Hannah Shvets

OPINION

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The Glamorization Of Toxic Relationships, Abusive Men, And Literal Sex Offenders In Media

By HANNAH SHVETS

A photo capturing the dynamic between Belle and The Beast from the 2002 version of the movie Disclaimer: In the following article, there will be spoilers for the TV series Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, and Pretty Little Liars.

Content warning: Mentions of emotional abuse and rape.

Please read with caution! here are really no words for how excited I am to share this article with you; it’s one that has been brewing in my mind for years and is now finally being put to paper. It’s no secret that the media we consume has all sorts of problematic elements, from casual racism veiled as humor to blatant misogyny. However, there is one thing I don’t see talked about nearly enough for the impact it has on young, impressionable minds: the glorification of toxic, abusive, violent men and relationships.

There are red flags hidden everywhere in most shows, movies, and books, yet we find ourselves missing or excusing them over and over again. This isn’t to say every relationship in fiction needs to be perfect; that would just be unrealistic. The important thing is not to overlook the patterns and abusive behaviors like we so often do.

Let’s start with the classics: Disney movies. Disney movies are essentially the template for children of what love and life can be at their very best (excluding the magic, of course). You’d think parents would be more critical of these stories considering the impact the fairytales have on children as they grow up, but so many parents (and children) completely overlook their highly problematic aspects. For example, consider Belle’s relationship with the Beast in Beauty and the Beast: there’s nothing romantic about it. It isn’t a tale of enemies to lovers; it’s a tale of Stockholm Syndrome—a disorder commonly seen in victims of kidnapping or abuse when they gradually fall in love with their abuser—and how easy it can be to force a victim to pity their abuser

T

instead of escaping. Of course the Beast hasn’t had it easy, but that in no way excuses his actions and the foundation of his relationship with Belle. Belle sacrificed herself for her father’s life because the Beast couldn’t bear to lose one of the many roses in his rose garden. She is held against her will in the palace, where the Beast showers her with expensive gifts and sob stories to force her to stay. When she finally gets out to see her family, she’s forced to return to save the Beast from dying of a broken heart.

Their relationship isn’t one of overcoming prejudices based on appearance as so many like to believe; their relationship is about an abuser slowly guilting a teenage girl into falling in love with him. Almost every kid who watches the movie or hears this story gets all the wrong ideas from it.

So, why does this even matter? These patterns continue to show up in media we consume as children, teens, and adults.

Throughout the most challenging years in terms of understanding relationship dynamics, kids are given abhorrent examples to glorify. Let’s move on from Disney to an example perhaps more relevant for Tattler readers: Gossip Girl. Only one episode in, Chuck Bass has already attempted to sexually assault two women (Serena, and Jenny, a literal child). The producers quickly move on from this plotline and frame Chuck as a troubled young man who has a bad past but is really a “good” guy inside. It’s clear Chuck doesn’t actually change throughout the show even though he might become friends with Serena and apologize to Jenny. He still shows a constant pattern of disrespect, violence, entitlement, and misogyny towards everyone around him. His relationship with Blair Waldorf is horrible and toxic from the very beginning, yet the criticism of this couple is very limited by viewers. At the end of the day, it’s just the classic “bad boy” and “good girl” and their “complicated, sexy” relationship. (Note: “complicated and sexy” is usually code for “abusive” if you just take off the rose-tinted glasses). Teenage girls gush over Chuck and his dynamic with Blair, so it comes as no surprise how many young women find themselves in abusive relationships before even entering college.

Onto another popular example which is not criticized nearly enough: Pretty Little Liars. Most girls I know watched this show before middle school and overlooked the glaring issue with Aria and Ezra’s relationship. To my great disappointment, I don’t see many adults educating their children on why this show so harmfully normalizes age difference in relationships and abuse of power. Even ignoring the fact that Aria is a minor (16) and Ezra is an adult (22) at the start of their relationship, there are myriContinued on page 12

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OPINION

The Glamorization Of Toxic Relationships, Abusive Men, And Literal Sex Offenders In Media Continued from page 11

ad reasons why a teacher and student should never date. I don’t think it’s necessary to go too far into detail as I’d hope that by high school everyone understands the obvious power imbalance in a relationship between a teacher and a student, an employee and employer, etc., and the dangerous consequences such a relationship can have. Yet just as with Gossip Girl, this couple is very much “shipped” and glorified, and little is being done to stop this.

Moving on to The Vampire Diaries: Damon Salvatore—specifically his relationship with Elena Gilbert. This isn’t to say that 13-year-old Hannah didn’t obsess over their relationship and still finds them a bit impossible not to ship. But when I’m honest with myself, it’s clear just how problematic this relationship was. Just like Chuck Bass, Damon starts out the show by literally compelling (a term for vampire mind control skills) Elena’s best friend into having sex with him. Only one season in and he’s already a sex offender. He then attempts to forcibly compel Elena to kiss him and she only falls in love with him after she’s been turned into a vampire by his blood and is “sired” to him. The whole situation reeks of rape and manipulation. Sadly, this is completely overlooked because they’re both attractive characters and have good chemistry. Once again, teens grow up watching literal rapists being excused as just “bad boys.” Other examples of this include Noah and Allie in The Notebook (not rape but still toxic and abusive), Eric and Adam in Sex Education, Bender and Claire from The Breakfast Club, Danny and Sandy from Grease, and many more.

So what? How do we fix this? First, just like many movies with explicit rape scenes give warnings, all the more subtle examples listed before—including manipuation, intoxication, imbalance of power, etc.—should come with a warning. A guy getting a 15-year-old drunk and trying to take her clothes off isn’t just a scene with a bad main character, it’s a sexual assault scene and should be labeled as such. Content warnings must be given at the start of the movie and before the actual scene. This way, “casual rape” doesn’t go unnoticed by young viewers; it’s clearly pointed out and labeled for what it is. Another important solution to consider is incorporating more talk about consent and healthy relationships into middle school health classes. In high school, health class addresses these things (or so I’ve heard), but the content in middle school is severely lacking. It’s important to teach children about these important topics before they encounter them, so starting as early as 6th grade can be vital. In this unit, it’d be much more impactful to discuss popular fictional dynamics like those discussed above instead of just a few slides with generic names and characters. Such bland examples leave very little impact on students because not only are the people being used as examples completely random and given no background (making it harder for students to connect to them), but the red flags and abuse depicted are usually glaringly obvious.

Often, the beginnings of truly abusive relationships are more subtle and need to be noticed before it’s too late.

Another tool to help educate about sexual assault is the book “No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence can Kill Us” by Rachel Louise Snyder. It’s a memoir

of sorts, following an investigative journalist and elements of domestic abuse cases she looked into (with real names excluded for the safety of victims, of course). Real-life stories of women (and how something as little as controlling what a partner wears out can be the start of a long journey of domestic abuse) are powerful, educational, and definitely worth including in Health or English curricula.

And last but not least, I have a proposition for producers and writers: please stop giving your attractive, dark-haired, sex offender protagonist an amazing redemption arc in which they end up with the person they abused. Everyone needs to be held accountable for their actions and learn that a simple “I’m sorry” or change in character doesn’t wash away the trauma they may have inflicted upon other people. This isn’t to say people can’t change—they can—but I’m sick and tired of people having happy endings with their abusers just because they have chemistry.

Let’s end this cycle of normalizing abuse and raise future generations with better role models in media so they can recognize red flags and protect themselves from dangerous situations.

The Misty Beauty of Ithaca Falls by Rihannon Galloway

OPINION

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Why Apple Isn’t Digging Through Your Photos

By MUKUND GAUR

H

ow would you feel if some faceless entity was combing through your personal photos? Outraged, most likely. But what if it was to protect others?

This debate over personal privacy versus communal safety has come to a head over Apple’s new child protection features to be rolled out in iOS 15. For those who use Apple’s image storage service, iCloud, Apple plans to scan photos on iPhones for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) before the photos are uploaded to iCloud.

If 30 or more photos match a database of CSAM maintained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), then a human expert will check to make sure no false matches were made. If the matches were correct, then the iCloud account will be shut down and Apple will report the account to the NCMEC, which may in turn report the incident to authorities. Apple also plans to scan iMessage texts, although it will handle those slightly differently. And while these changes may sound frightening, they aren’t really violating your privacy.

First, it’s important to consider what changes Apple is actually making. One of the reasons why this update has been so confusing is that there are actually three related features being released at the same time. The first modification is to Siri and Safari. If someone searches for CSAM content via either of those platforms, Apple will instead redirect them to resources for reporting CSAM or getting professional help. So far, there have not been any major issues with this change. The second difference involves Apple’s image service, iCloud Photos. When iCloud Photos is enabled on a device, Apple’s tool, called NeuralHash, will break down photos into a string of numbers that uniquely identify the photo (a hash). The tool compares the hash against NCMEC’s database, and then, if the image matches, it will be flagged if it is uploaded to iCloud. As stated above, if a user has 30 of these flags, their account will be shut down and reported to the NCMEC. The final change is in iMessage, Apple’s messaging service.

If parents of iMessage users under 18 opt in, Apple will scan messages being sent to and from the device for sexually explicit content. If an image is detected, Apple will blur it, and ask the user if they want to see the photo. If they still wish to view the image, it will then be displayed. An additional feature for users under 13 will notify parents if the image is viewed and parents have chosen to enable the new feature.

These updates have come under scrutiny due to various concerns. Apple’s iCloud Photos scanning has been criticized for going through a user’s personal photos without their consent. However, this argument isn’t valid for a few reasons. First, a user’s photos will only be scanned if they are synced to iCloud.

If you don’t want your photos to be scanned, simply disable iCloud photos on your device. Second, your photos aren’t really being viewed by anyone. Apple’s tool, as said above, looks at a series of numbers that represent the photo, not the actual photo. Your photos will only be viewed if 30 or more of them match confirmed CSAM content. That means that it’s extremely unlikely for a photo to be misidentified, since it has to match confirmed CSAM content in the NCMEC’s database (specifically, Apple says that only around 1 in a trillion accounts could be flagged incorrectly). This technology is still flawed, however. If someone sends you CSAM content through a service such as WhatsApp, which, by default, downloads photos into your camera roll, your device may be flagged. However, since 30 flags are necessary for your account to be shut down, it’s unlikely that you will be accidentally reported. Another concern with this technology is how easily it can be repurposed. While Apple, for now, has limited this technology to searching for CSAM content, in the future, it could be used as a weapon by authoritarian governments. Apple has been known to make concessions to governments before.

For instance, Apple’s App Store in China is censored by the government, Apple’s

customer data is stored on servers owned by a state-run Chinese company, and Apple has blocked apps used by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong to organize protests, according to the New York Times. What if China asks Apple to start scanning photos for anti-government content? While Apple has said that it will not concede to the requests of foreign governments with its new tool, it remains to be seen how strictly they will adhere to this.

Apple’s second feature, iMessage scanning, has also come under fire. Critics claim that it breaks end-to-end encryption (end-to-end encryption means no one can read your messages except for the sender and receiver(s), not even the service through which you are sending messages). While many other companies such as Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter have CSAM scanning tools (all companies in the U.S. are legally obligated to report CSAM content on their servers to the government), they all scan files remotely, through tools that are stored on their servers. However, Apple scans files with a tool that is directly on your phone. That means it does have access to otherwise encrypted files, such as messages between you and someone else. However, Apple has repeatedly said that no specific details about messages are shown to anyone, including parents, meaning that your messages are still encrypted. There haven’t been any concerns about breaking encryption on iCloud photos, because iCloud Photos doesn’t have end-to-end encryption (Apple could just as easily scan iCloud Photos on their own servers, just as other companies do).

While Apple’s new tools aren’t violating your privacy or your encryption, they are setting a precedent with these features, which came unexpectedly from a company that boasts their robust user privacy and security protections. Whether this technology is used for good or for bad will depend on Apple, but in the meantime, you can download iOS 15 without any worries of the police knocking at your door by mistake.

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Faith (Or Lack Thereof) IHS students were prompted to write an article about why they do or don’t believe in a god or gods and why faith is or isn’t important to them. Here are four different perspectives on religion from four students.

ADAM SAAR

I

am Jewish. I wear a Star of David around my neck. I speak Hebrew. I am Israeli-American. I attend weekly Jewish youth group meetings with my Rabbi. I don’t believe in God. Or at least in the conventional manner.

My Judaism is a core part of my identity. It presents itself in all arenas of my life. In the language I speak at home, the language of the Torah. In the necklace I wear every day. I am outwardly Jewish and proud of it. I treasure my religious heritage and traditions. My family makes a big deal out of Jewish holidays—perhaps why those who know of me might think I am “religious” or “highly observant,” even though I am nowhere near Orthodox. As a family of immigrants and religious minority, our holidays are our most sacred traditions. They allow for us to take time off of normal life where we celebrate our heritage and culture. They provide a welcome contrast to the disconnectedness we feel from the Christian/American holidays that our “secular” school and work calendars follow. However, my relationship with my personal belief in a higher power is much more complex.

I don’t believe in “god” in the traditional sense of the word. I don’t believe that there exists a sentient being watching over us, deciding our fate, or intervening in any way in human history. I believe the stories in the Bible (or more specifically, the Tanakh) to be cultural legends and retellings of events, passed down through thousands of generations, meant as fables to guide the path of humanity that were at some point written down and canonized. Even so, I find it fascinating to study Jewish scripture, even if I don’t treat it as accurate history. It offers a unique window into Jewish society as it existed centuries and even millennia ago. Beyond just the Tanakh (known in Christianity as the Old Testament), scripture in what is called the “Oral Law,” including books such as the Talmud and Pirkei Avot, offers unique insight into interpersonal and societal disputes in Jewish communities all over the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region in the centuries before and after O CE. These books, made up mostly of compiled debates between rabbis and sages, offer fascinating insights into modern societal issues as well.

I do, however, believe in a holy something. I like to think of it as a spark. The spark of life, of existence, of consciousness. The unexplainable something that allows the universe to exist as it does, that provided for life to exist, that made humans sentient and intelligent. This spark has been given many names in human history—Adonai, Hashem, Allah, God, Brahma—yet I believe the spark to be faceless, voiceless, mindless. It just exists, a form of subtle holy magic, keeping us alive and the world spinning. I believe that spark is present in everything that exists, an intangible force that keeps all matter from vanishing into nothingness.

Beyond my personal connection to Judaism, the Jewish

community has been the most important community to which I belong. As a small child, the elders of the local Jewish community took me in like a grandson, playing with me in the social hall during services and chatting with me during holiday meals. As I’ve grown up, I’ve become a more active member of the community. I read Torah on the holidays, and I occasionally lead services. I do them not necessarily because I believe every word, but because I feel at home in the synagogue, engulfed in my native language and beautiful melodies that have accompanied me all my life. As we sing together and the harmonies ring out in the sanctuary, I feel most connected to that spark—a mixture of gratefulness and awe as I revel in the beautiful sounds and amazing feeling of community and home. *** ADDIE HOULE-HITZ

“N

ow I’d like to say a quick prayer.” I, like many others, heard this phrase a lot growing up. I always found myself wondering why people gave it such significance. Like it or not, religion has played a part in most everyone’s lives. Whether you are exposed to it through the media or in your own home, its effects can be intense.

I was raised a Quaker, by my lapsed-Catholic mother and my Taoist-Quaker father; faith was something that was always talked about in our house. My father has always made it very clear that one needs to “give themselves up to a higher power,” that we are not and cannot be the only cognitive beings in the universe.

That being said, we never strictly followed the Bible—or even really read it for that matter—despite the fact that Quakerism falls under the broad definition of Christianity. We never really referenced God or Jesus as anything other than stories—something to give ourselves up to in order to have faith in something higher than ourselves.

Being a queer nonbinary person, I’ve always felt slightly off in terms of faith. I have grown up being exposed to the fact that I won’t always be accepted because of how I identify or whom I love. Faith has always had a sense of tension around it for me, especially growing up with more than half of my family being strictly Catholic. I stopped attending church with my grandmother when I was around eleven, much to her dismay, and was deeply offended when someone asked me to go. I do recognize how lucky I am that after I came out to my extended family, they were relatively supportive. However, I still don’t attend church with them to protect myself.

I was raised as a Quaker—a common practice in a small suburb outside of Philadelphia—and that specific definition is one that I still deeply resonate with. Quakerism is the practice of believing that “god” (as you like her/him/it/them) is in all of us, that “god” presents itself as a light. The peacefulness of Quaker meetings (or services as they are more commonly known) and the community is frankly what I think faith should be about. Not about believing that “god” is or isn’t some big man in the clouds that created us all, but that it’s a presence that is felt anywhere you wish. This brings me to the second part of my “faith” as one

OPINION may call it. When talking to Pagans, Buddhists, or followers of these kinds of practices, you will often find that people call it a state of mind more than a religion. I personally say that I am a Quaker-Pagan, meshing together the peacefulness of Quakerism and it’s practice of reaching out to the divine with Paganism’s ideas of deities and energy.

So do I believe in god? Not in the conventional sense, I suppose. I think that it’s good to have something to look up to, something that is higher than yourself, but not necessarily someone judging and watching your every move. Many people often believe that there is only one “true” faith, but frankly I think that defeats the whole purpose of faith. Faith can exist in many forms, but if you disparage others in their personal choices and beliefs, then what is the point?

I think that religion often gets a bad reputation because people use their own practices as a weapon against others’ preferences. Finding community can be made easier through religious practices, but they can also drive people further apart.

The question of “Do you like religion?” or “What’s your opinion of faith?” is a multi-layered question, one where you have to consider many factors. Do I like having that sense of community and belonging? Sure. But do I also recognize that others are shunned because they do or don’t believe in something? Absolutely.

Personally, I think I do “like” religion—if that is what you want to call it—but when asking yourself such a question, I think it’s important to recognize the complexities that come with it.

AITAN AVGAR

R

***

eligion, or some other belief system, is innate to humanity.

As long as we have lived, humans have tried to understand the world we inhabit by constructing explanations for common occurrences like the rising of the sun, rain, birth, death, and existence. As we progressed, our belief systems evolved and took on deeper and more complex roles. In the name of religion, humans created feats of wonder and achieved new levels of knowledge through experimentation and faith. Religion brings communities together and allows individuals to feel as though they are part of something larger than themselves. However, religion has also served as the primary driver of major conflicts throughout human history, such as the Crusades and other religiously motivated conquests. Today, as science has advanced to a place past generations could never have imagined, our longstanding beliefs involving a higher power and the divinity of nature increasingly come into question. More people are non-practicing or secular than any other time in human history.

Is religion still even relevant?

In my personal experience as a Conservative Jew (an observant but flexible form of Judaism), my religion has allowed me to forge meaningful connections that go beyond those linked to other dimensions of my identity. Even though I do not have fully realized beliefs about the existence of God or treat the stories in the Torah as the definite truth, my Judaism has helped me explore the world and learn about myself in surprising ways.

The shared experiences of Jews around the world makes me feel like a part of something greater and connects me to my heritage.

When I go to synagogue on Rosh Hashanah or light Shabbat candles, I find comfort in knowing that my father, grandparents, and great-grandparents did the same.

Critics of religion may see it as a tool to perpetuate traditional

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hierarchy or as a means of increasing separation in an already divided world. For me, Conservative Judaism enriches my life with different perspectives and experiences, helps me to look inward with the support of a community, and provides a value system that guides me during times of personal struggle. I am not blind to the potentially harmful consequences of religion. Conscious of this, I choose to uphold aspects of my Judaism that are designed to improve our world. These include tikkun olam (repairing the world), tzedek (justice), and tzedakah (giving).

LOUISA MILLER-OUT

***

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was the type of kid who set up cameras in the living room to catch my parents pretending to be Santa, who did handwriting analyses to see if the Tooth Fairy was real. Who even came up with the Tooth Fairy thing in the first place? It’s an extremely unsettling thing to tell kids, once you think about it. The point is, I’ve always been one to deconstruct myth systems, to focus on reality rather than superstition. And just like with Santa and the Tooth Fairy, I never found enough evidence to believe in a higher power, never saw religion as much more than one of the most normalized superstitions of all.

I don’t believe in a soul separate from the physical body, nor do I believe in any sort of spiritual afterlife. The reason for my lack of belief is simply that people who believe in these stories and concepts have the burden of proof, and I have seen no convincing evidence from any of them. If someone could empirically prove the existence of a soul, or god, or heaven, or hell, then I’d reconsider. The problem is that most of these beliefs are subjective and non-falsifiable; “god” means completely different things to different people and you can’t really prove that it doesn’t exist.

But again, I haven’t seen any proof that a god does exist.

There are the anecdotes, of course; people tell me with absolute certainty that their deity has spoken to them, that they have a personal relationship with it. The problem, of course, is that multiple monotheists with completely different beliefs and deities have told me this and they all believe that their god is the only one that exists. They can’t all be right at once, so I have to conclude that none of them are. If there was a way to unequivocally prove that one of them was right, you’d think that everyone would switch over to that belief system. But there’s an immense diversity of religious beliefs, and everyone seems to gravitate towards whichever belief system they agree with the most, whichever makes them feel happy and fulfilled, whichever they subconsciously want to believe, or perhaps what their parents indoctrinated them into, not what they think is the truth. So I picked the belief system that made me the happiest, which also happens to be what I think is the truth, which happens to be a complete lack of belief in the supernatural.

Those who believe in a god or gods are free to do so if it provides them utility; I only take issue when that belief interferes with their acceptance of scientific knowledge or causes them to act in ways that harm others. If someone is hateful and condescending to gay people because they believe their god wants them to be, their faith is harming others. If someone won’t accept scientific realities, like the fact that they share a common ancestor with fish and pigs and monkeys, and that they weren’t Continued on page 16

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OPINION

Faith (Or Lack Thereof) Continued from page 15 specially created by god itself, that person’s harming themself because they have a flawed understanding of the world.

Culturally, my family is half Jewish and half Christian, but most of them are atheist or agnostic and only engage in rituals with religious origins for the utility they provide. For us, holidays are an excuse to spend time with family, exchange gifts, and just do things that bring us joy. This is a major part of the appeal of religion: all the enjoyable cultural practices that come with it. Many religious groups do so much more together than just worship and provide joy to their members through community events like potlucks and choir concerts. However, I see no barriers to simply holding secular versions of the same celebrations.

Charity, too, is often cited as a positive contribution of religious organizations, but I don’t understand why people need a religious motivation to simply help other people. There’s a common myth that atheists have no morals. I’d argue that a morality system grounded in our present reality is infinitely better than one grounded in antiquated scriptures. I consider myself a utilitarian—I want to maximize joy and minimize suffering for as many people as possible, balancing the present with the future.

And as an atheist, I can fully appreciate my brief existence on this planet, because I know that this is all I get. This is all I get to do as much good as I can and derive maximum satisfaction and happiness; I will not waste my one lifetime striving for the imaginary beyond or spending hours praising deities that I have no reason to believe in. Without religion, I can see plainly where humans are in relation to other things; we are not some “chosen species,” immune to the laws of nature. We’re made of the same particles as everything else. We’re just smart apes with less hair than most. We’re not meant to conquer and spread endlessly, but to live in equilibrium with the biosphere. That’s how we can derive the most enjoyment from our lives and ensure the continuation of our species and so many others.

It can be reassuring to feel like “god has a plan for you,” but isn’t it almost more comforting to know that no one has a plan for you? That you’re just a silly bunch of atoms in a vast universe and you can live your life however you want without worrying about getting into “heaven”? That no one is watching you or judging you and no one thinks you’re “living in sin?” That ultimately your life has no inherent meaning, so you are absolutely free to find and create your own? To me, the absence of religion is incredibly liberating and clears up so much mental space to focus on the things that interest me and bring me utility—learning, laughing, and doing whatever good I can.

Do Icebreakers Make Relationships Even Colder?

By ADDIE HOULE HITZ

“Would you rather...what’s your favorite...if you could…”

I

cebreakers are something we have all had to sit through during the first day of class or at a new job, but do they actually provide real benefits? Can they really bring us together?

Or do they make relationships between peers all the more awkward and forced?

According to a study conducted at Drexel University and Goodwin College, icebreakers are incredibly beneficial to building a team that works well together. They help to build empathy between colleagues and give them a sense of community. They also assist with making connections and creating a positive work environment. According to the assistant clinical professor at Goodwin, “Even the few minutes an icebreaker might take can elicit laughter, open dialogue, [and] stepping out of one’s comfort zone.” While this all may be true, it is in the context of a work environment. Among high school students, however, are icebreakers necessary or even helpful at all?

I personally often find myself feeling uncomfortable, if not diminished, during required icebreakers. I am a relatively outgoing person, but I prefer to reveal things to people on my own time, especially when in a new classroom. To me, icebreakers feel like teachers are questioning the student’s abilities to meet and interact with each other on their own, regardless of good intentions.

All of these facts don’t even account for the people who dread icebreakers. Some people find that icebreakers are terrifying and put them on the spot to share more about themselves than they are ready to. Being in a new place can be scary, especially for transfer students or for students with social anxiety, and icebreakers only make these transitions more challenging.

So, what can we do? Continue with icebreakers or remove them all together? Continuing with icebreakers could be helpful with providing introductions for those who find it difficult to do so naturally. However, it is also necessary that we recognize some people don’t feel comfortable participating in these kinds of activities. I propose that we continue to use them in classrooms while also allowing those who are uncomfortable in that kind of environment to opt out. This helps provide people with that sense of empathy and interpersonal connection while also allowing those who feel uncomfortable to take their own time.

OPINION

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Stigma In The Sex Work Industry And Its Lethal Consequences

By HANNAH SHVETS

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t’s no secret that the world has never been kind to those with careers in sex work, a predominately female, POC, lower class, and substance-user dominated profession. There are various reasons one might end up becoming a sex worker, ranging from financial necessity to coersion as a teenager or even human trafficking. Some also go into sex work by choice or even as a way of dealing with a history of sexual assault. Despite all these circumstances that often leave workers with little other choice, sex work is one of the most stigmatized and least respected professions. It’s self-explanatory why all people deserve respect, no matter their profession (unless their profession is actively harmful, i.e., cops or politicians), but even ignoring that point, there are many ways in which the attitudes and assumptions surrounding sex work leave many sex workers with STIs and others dead with little investigation to follow.

In a study by The Scarlet Alliance, an Australian organization that fights for systemic and societal equality for sex workers, it was found that current and former sex workers face systemic discrimination in employment, the justice system, healthcare, and other areas because of the negative societal view of the profession. Sex workers were notoriously blamed for the spread of HIV and are often denied proper health care because of that prejudice, leaving them at a much higher risk of contracting STIs. Another way in which this bias is dangerous is that when sex workers such as prostitutes experience abuse, they are unable to recieve legal protection because their profession is illegal in most places. Some are even raped, harassed, and beaten by police officers or clients (from the book Where Women Have No Doctors, chapter 20). Prostitutition is the riskiest profession, ranking above female liquor store workers (unsurprisingly). However, it has been found that decriminalization of sex work reduces violence towards workers (seen in New Zealand, for example). The Wikipedia page “Violence against Prostitutes” has a shocking chart of percentages of violence experienced by workers for both outdoor and indoor work. And if watching shows like Criminal Minds hasn’t already made this clear, the page also contains numerous serial killers who targeted/killed mostly women sex workers.

Now that we’ve established how much sex workers are forced to endure on a consistent basis, it’s worth discussing steps to destigmatize the profession and protect those involved. Decriminalization is an obvious first step, as well as more thorough checks for the age of every sex worker to prevent child trafficking. Society as a whole needs to learn to respect all people, no matter their hobbies or professions. This could be included in existing anti-discrimination laws, making denying services to someone because of their profession illegal. Providing safe homes for sex workers looking to escape the industry is also vital,

as well as taking preventive measures against STIs like HIV, and generally destigmatizing them. When a sex worker goes missing, instead of labeling them as a “prostitute involved in dangerous things” and assuming they just got themself killed, the investigation must be the exact same as what would be done for, say, a doctor.

Furthermore, looking into the reasons young women in particular resort to sex work and addressing those concerns is just as important. Like with mass incarceration, the solution is prevention, not punishment. Providing education, food, and healthcare for all people no matter their circumstances will put fewer people in the position where they have to take on such a dangerous profession to pay the bills. However, if people want to be sex workers, that decision should also be respected because of the empowerment, confidence, and sexual agency that it can provide. For a woman who grew up in a home where she was molested, growing up and doing things on her own terms and for money is a way she can potentially heal from her trauma. Again, this may not be the solution for everyone, but it’s one worth respecting. To conclude, I leave you with two quotes by Margaret Cho, actress, fashion designer, author, comedian, musician, and past sex worker.

“I don’t like people telling other people what to do. Sex work for a lot of women is really important, especially in countries where women don’t have a lot of power. Here we can have at least some form...of making money.”

“Where do people get off telling people what to do? It’s their bodies. If you legalized sex work and legally protected the sex workers, you wouldn’t see anything like human trafficking. All of that would be obliterated.”

Image courtesy of ShethePeople

A poster demanding rights for sex workers

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OPINION

Gender-Affirming Language Is Essential, And It Must Come From Teachers

By RAIA GUTMAN

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n announcement called “Supporting Transgender Students” sat above the Canvas homepage for several weeks at the end of last school year. Attached was a video by an Active Minds club officer, who told viewers that adding pronouns to one’s name on Canvas is important and gave a step-by-step guide on how to do it. It is admirable that IHS chose to platform this Active Minds initiative, but its usefulness to transgender students is limited. In Canvas, there are only three options for pronouns: she/her, he/him, and they/them. Many non-binary people use a combination of two or more sets of pronouns, such as she/they or they/he/she. Beyond those three pronouns, there are neopronouns, which are used to express a specific gender outside of the binary and may or may not be “gender neutral.”

Unfortunately, Canvas chose to recognize only a sliver of the non-binary experience, and ended up including some and excluding others.

Furthermore, adding pronouns to a Canvas name in no way ensures that teachers and classmates will use these pronouns to refer to a student. When looking at class rosters, teachers view SchoolTool, which marks students as M or F, guiding many teachers’ assumptions about their gender identity and pronoun preference. While we do not currently have the ability to change SchoolTool, IHS needs to do better. We can start by training teachers to ask for students’ preferred names and pronouns and use inclusive language that does not divide students into gendered groups. While the addition of pronouns to Canvas is a step in the right direction, it is meaningless if not followed by more impactful action that takes place directly between students and teachers in the classroom.

What often happens when I speak with a cisgender person around the age of my teachers about pronouns is that they lament their inability to switch to a child or grandchild’s preferred pronouns and tell me that it’s hard to get used to a new name after knowing someone by a different one for many years.

The good news is that teachers have an easier job adjusting their language when interacting with students, many of whom they did not know previously. Yet my non-binary classmates and I have been misgendered by teachers who regularly see the pronouns we have designated on Canvas. Teachers cannot rely on trans and non-binary students to repeatedly correct them in class when they use the wrong pronouns. It is the responsibility of teachers to make all students feel welcome by referring to them appropriately. One way to avoid accidental misgendering is to challenge oneself to place less emphasis on gender. For example, instead of saying “ladies and gentlemen,” say “students” or “ninth-graders.” Instead of referring to a group of students sitting in the front of the classroom as “you three girls,” just say “you three.” It goes a long way to respect gender diversity by refraining from placing anyone in a box they did not ask to be

placed in. Just as an unwelcome nickname or mispronunciation of a first name would make a student uncomfortable in the classroom, misgendering and using rejected names is a threat to trans students’ safety in the classroom. On the flip side, the use of gender-affirming names and pronouns has the potential to reinforce a strong teacher-student relationship and a trans student’s comfort in the classroom.

A major issue with teachers and pronouns is the fact that it may make some students uncomfortable to be mandated to disclose their pronouns, especially in front of peers. Teachers who ask students to introduce themselves with pronouns out loud put some trans students in a difficult position. Students who are questioning their gender must make a quick decision that may not accurately reflect how they want to be referred to. Trans students may have to choose between unintentionally coming out to classmates and teachers and lying about their pronouns. Instead of putting students on the spot, it’s best to inquire about students’ chosen names and pronouns discreetly. For example, on the first day of school, a teacher might introduce themself with their pronouns and background and then pass out introduction surveys online or on paper, asking students to include anything they want their teacher to know. It is especially important to make a distinction between names and pronouns used at school and those used at home. Teachers have a dual responsibility to affirm students’ gender at school while protecting their privacy if they are not out to their caregivers. This beginning-of-theyear questionnaire should include an option to indicate which pronouns are appropriate to be used in class and if the teacher should refer to the student the same way around parents or guardians.

Supporting non-binary students in the classroom goes beyond respecting their pronouns and privacy. It requires something much more difficult for many cisgender people: understanding that the gender binary presents a limited concept of the range of human experiences with gender identity, expression, and presentation. Confronting the reality of any social construct is a formidable challenge to a brain conditioned to accept long-standing institutions. Non-binary students are not asking teachers to go around asserting that gender doesn’t exist and question their own gender. Instead, breaking down the false gender binary is part of the process of understanding non-binary students’ gender identities in order to better respect them as students. There are books, articles, and TEDx talks on the subject, but the first thing teachers need to know is to keep an open mind and be willing to learn new things from students, some of which may challenge their preconceived notions about gender. This should not be new to IHS teachers in particular, who are exposed to unfamiliar ideas so frequently that it would be outlandish to say knowledge only flows one way in the classroom.

OPINION

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In Defense Of Liminal Art

By ELLIOTT SALPEKAR

interrogative stimuli.

The key, though, is that Liminal Art is not the first offender of that sensibility. More accurately, our concept of art itself is.

We use art as a tool to explore, indulge, and mature; without it, we are restricted to primal reactions. Artworks are designed to elicit a packaged sensation, and thus are our way of expanding our own emotional landscape—the artist’s ultimate ability is to engineer new emotions.

We are not unfamiliar with artworks generating negative emotions. Rather, we find catharsis in them. Crippling suffocation may define the feeling of a piece of music or painting, but that doesn’t simply inject discomfort into us. It leaves us with a matured grasp of the concepts at hand, and the sense of relief that comes with such a growth.

Artistic expression allows a self-developmental voyage beyond the typical. If Seal’s hauntingly unfamiliar paintings achieve the same, through a matching medium of discomfort, can we discredit them for that discomfort? That would be a glaring contradiction. To disparage Liminal Art in particular is to misunderstand our use of art itself. This type of work has more potential than we give it credit for. It is a constructive elaboration of humanity’s capacity for emotion and a catalyst for growth, development, and awareness. As jarring as it may be, Liminal Art merits no discrimination.

Ivan Seal: “eptitranxisticemestionscers descending”, 2016

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van Seal paints unjustifiable objects. Objects to which, by any stretch of the imagination, one cannot assign a purpose, function, or context. These are objects that have no excuse to exist. And yet, they tease recognizable form, offering an identity that’s just out of reach of our frantically churning pattern-recognition mechanisms. We try—and fail—to rationalize it.

Viewing his works unavoidably begs answerless questions, and in turn breeds unplaceable, blurred frustration: a unique experience that some appreciate and others swear against. It’s a hallmark effect of “Liminal Art.” Art becomes liminal by teetering on the edge of our expectations, pushing us into emotionally uncharted territory. It is under no obligation to be pleasurable nor marketable, defies explanation, and most definingly, challenges us. Quite fairly, the position against Liminal Art is grounded in one’s intrinsic distaste for the undefined. We owe that distaste to our existence, after all. Fear of the unknown and its corollary instincts are an indispensable trait in any competitive evolutionary environment, so it’s entirely expected that we are alarmed by such

Cloudy Skies on a Day in July by Hannah Shvets

FEATURES

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Interview With Brad Bostrom, Bangs Ambulance Paramedic

By RUBY LaROCCA

Image courtesy of Ruby LaRocca

Brad Bostrom

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rad Bostrom has been working for the past few years as a frontline worker and, during the pandemic, a Bangs Ambulance paramedic. As a first responder, he handles patients known to have contracted COVID-19 and has been the bridge between patients dying from COVID and their families.

We completed this interview immediately after he got off from working a 17-hour shift—though he was, amazingly, fully-functioning and completely lucid. Brad’s responses gave me a sense that paramedics work very hard, save lives daily, yet get paid little more than minimum wage.

Ruby LaRocca: When and why did you decide to pursue a career as an EMT and then paramedic? I know you have a long history in outdoor education and ran an outdoor program at REI. What about this change of career appealed to you? What surprised you? What horrified you?

Brad Bostrom: I think what prompted me to seek out jobs that have had a service aspect or intermingling of people, finding a way to be useful in a community, is probably rooted in growing up in Detroit as an inner-city kid. My parents instilled in me a pride in my local community and a need to look for ways to give back. There were some communities where you could tell there

was community pride and there were other areas where people were in a rougher spot, areas that were not a priority. My folks helped organize the Detroit Pride Clean-up, where hundreds of people came to pick up trash over a large area. I used to do that as a kid and that was my first exposure to community service and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Most of my younger childhood we were quite poor and we traveled on a budget. We were always traveling around in old cars that would break down and were constantly at the mercy of strangers. The kindness of strangers had a profound effect on my outlook, too.

When I worked in the outdoor industry, seeing the effects of nature on people—the excitement, the sense of refreshment— was also impactful. You settle into a different rhythm and think about things differently; people tend to become creative. I was always looking for ways to provide that for others. A big part of that job entailed taking care of people in wild spaces. I became a Wilderness First Responder and learned first-aid. I learned how to handle the most common maladies that people faced in the outdoors as well as more advanced emergency care. How can I help this person with limited resources? I loved that. It became my job to train staff and run large scenarios involving search and rescue operations, stabilizing people, helping and evacuating people. It was fun. I wished I had the chance to do the more formal EMS (Emergency Medical Service) training. When we moved here to Ithaca, I had a fair amount of time—probably more time than I would’ve enjoyed—in between jobs. I decided I was going to volunteer at my local fire department. The station said that if I wanted to volunteer, they’d put me through the state EMT course. It was something I’d always wanted to do, and I had the time, so I jumped in. I loved the course (I took it up at TC3).

Near the end of the course, before you test out, you have to go on ride-alongs with actual ambulance agencies. There are limits to what you can do, but they want you to be exposed to direct patient care and actual emergency situations. I chose Bangs Ambulance from all the agencies around, because it would give me the most exposure—it’s the busiest agency, they cover the most territory. The first call was a patient who was very, very sick—my very first patient that I dealt with died. That was a very sad experience, but it was also very interesting. This person was probably beyond help and had many months of being quite ill and their system was crashing by the time they called for help. There was not much we could’ve done to save them. What was fascinating was how the teams worked together and how they asked me to help. They said: “If you could give us a hand, and not just observe, we would appreciate it.” That feeling of being useful in that we were giving this patient the best chance at life. A feeling of usefulness has always been really important to me. After just two shifts there, I decided to apply part-time (continuing a small handy-man business I had started on the side). But once I had my interview, they offered me a full-time job based on my previous experiences as a Wilderness First Responder, and I said yes.

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After working for a while, I realized I loved being an EMT and the cohesive nature of having a partner. There is a sense of exhilaration that accompanies overcoming a challenge by working together. After a lot of calls, that’s how it feels, which is pretty cool. Bangs Ambulance is an ALS (Advanced Life Support) agency, so we have basic EMTs, advanced EMTs, and paramedics. Because it’s advanced care, there’s a lot more we can do. I got this hunger for knowledge and decided to go to paramedic school and was doing that during COVID—it was an interesting time to be a student. I’ve never sought out careers that made the most money, clearly. I think paramedics should be paid a whole lot more [chuckles]. What’s important to me is feeling like I’m making a difference at the end of the day. You’re helping people every day in a very concrete way and often saving people’s lives.

RL: Although you’re a very conscientious person and your workplace does what it can to mitigate the spread of the virus, what is it like coming home to your family when you know you might be potentially putting them at risk?

BB: It was very difficult knowing that I had chosen a profession where I was putting myself in danger on a regular basis; I am exposing myself to patients who are known to or suspected to have contracted COVID. My job is literally to go and find the sickest people and try to help them. We’re all supposed to stay distanced and wear PPE (which at my job is available, if it did run a little thin at times, occasionally running out early on) and stay in our homes. The responsibility of knowing that I could go out and do this job that I cared very deeply about but then knowing what I could possibly bring home to my family was terrifying.

I didn’t want to be the guy who accidentally spread it among his coworkers or brought it home to his wife and child. If I get sick, and bring it home, what’s the likelihood we all get sick? I have a daughter in elementary school and we don’t really know what the long-term effects are; it seems as though kids are less affected, less likely to become seriously ill.

Nevertheless, there’s an enormous responsibility. There was a lot of motivation to take every precaution, to wear my N95 with all patient contacts. I feel like I’m fairly suited to this kind of work because I don’t get stressed out easily; the tougher things get, the clearer I think. It was different knowing that my actions could have an impact on my daughter, on my wife. There was a period of several months in the spring of 2020 when I had anxiety like I’ve never had before; I had terrible dreams—nightmares.

At times I felt my body responding to the anxiety—I was having heart palpitations. I was extraordinarily stressed out, and I was not alone. It gave me a lot of insight into how my patients must feel when they’re having an actual event.

RL: You mentioned a little earlier that you’ve handled patients known to have COVID-19. How does that feel?

Can you tell us about those experiences?

BB: At this point, you can’t miss anything, you can’t be lackadaisical. You can’t think, “Oh, I’m vaccinated, I probably won’t spread this.” Early on, going on every single call was extraordinarily stressful. Here’s how the 911 emergency response system works: somebody has some sort of emergency, or someone per-

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ceives someone is having an emergency, and they dial 911. The emergency dispatcher takes information from them, is guided by a series of questions and algorithms. Really, the information is only as good as the source. Just like in journalism, right? [chuckles]. If it’s an unreliable source, we can know what the situation is only when we arrive on the scene. The dispatcher does not provide a full history, just a basic outline. We’re used to that. What we’re not used to is having the proximity between people (which is where patient care happens) be the most dangerous aspect of the job. In EMS, you’re in the close-up, dirty aspects of real life.

A person might be known to be sick and you nevertheless have to go close to them to hear what they’re saying. If they’re unresponsive, you have to touch them to see if they’re still alive, or do whatever you can to keep them alive. It’s very different. There was always this lingering stressor: I wonder if they’re COVID positive.

My first COVID positive patient that I was exposed to was not someone who was even suspected to have contracted the virus.

She didn’t come in with COVID symptoms, but something we thought was unrelated: acute kidney failure (something we found out months later could actually be a side-effect of the virus). We didn’t suspect anything as she didn’t have any of the long list of mostly flu-like symptoms, and we transported her all the way to Syracuse and spent hours in the back of the ambulance with her and found out later she was COVID-positive. When that happened, our first completely surprising exposure, people at work were unbalanced. I thought: I want to do this, but maybe I can’t.

I love what I do, I love EMS, but not necessarily every minute of every day.

One of the things that really helped drive me forward was understanding the unbelievable isolation and loneliness that people were facing during COVID. You’d have a case of an older person not being able to ambulate or someone with a chronic condition; they can’t take care of themselves and they rely on neighbors and friends to bring in groceries. Then, all of a sudden, people aren’t doing that. We’ve seen people who haven’t eaten in weeks, who haven’t seen another human face in weeks or months. To see that isolation and be able to offer some comfort is what inspired me to keep going. Sometimes the best thing we can do is sit with them for a few minutes and offer a human touch. There were cases of the elderly being left home alone, just in a state of utter despair, without family, without care. A patient would often have to be brought into critical care, knowing they might die, and knowing they wouldn’t be able to see their family again before they did. There’s no way to say goodbye, no way to have closure; they are people who lost loved ones who weren’t able to have a funeral until a year later. They died alone. Knowing that, in some of these cases, I might be their best chance at human interaction was a very profound responsibility. I felt honored to be able to be that person for patients or to talk to their families and provide a bridge between them. One of the most meaningful aspects of my job is making that connection between families and loved ones they weren’t able to see.

RL: I know that you have a very intense and sometimes nocturnal work schedule because of the nature of emergencies. Can you tell us what an average work week looks like for you? How much do you sleep and how Continued on page 22

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FEATURES

Interview with Brad Bostrom, Bangs Ambulance Paramedic Continued from page 21

much of your time on duty is spent caring for patients?

BB: EMS is a very interesting job, but very taxing on people who want to have a social or family life outside of work. Your work time and off time are very different from everyone else’s. We don’t get holidays off; there’s no “We’re closed for Christmas this week.” Different agencies work in different ways, but they are always around-the-clock. At Bangs we have 8 hour shifts, roughly from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm, 3:30 pm to 11:30 pm, and then 11:30 pm to 3:30 am. I work six eight-hour shifts every week. According to my preference for the week, I can work eight hours at a time, or combine shifts to work 16 hour shifts, or 24 hour shifts (Bangs doesn’t let you schedule more than 24 hours at a time). In some cases, someone might get kept on for up to 32 hours (only in very rare instances). I have a fair amount of stamina, but don’t feel like being wrung out after every shift, so I work three 16 hour shifts a week. I have 16 hours on, 16 off, 16 on, 16 off, 16 on, and then a couple days off entirely. Yesterday I came in at 11 o’clock at night and worked my overnight shift, then went straight into my day shift, then got off on time today at 3:30 in the afternoon.

But just because you’re ready to clock out doesn’t mean you can leave—you have to chart patient contacts, which are time-sensitive and have to be sent on to the hospitals. If your shift ends at 11 pm, you might have to spend additional hours writing up the charts.

If you’re not a flexible person, you’ll either learn to become flexible or you’ll say “I can’t do this.” It’s sometimes very challenging. Working in EMS is either moments of absolute terror and mayhem or nothing much happens. Depending on the pace of the day, you might even get to sleep during a shift—essentially getting paid to sleep. But there’s always a chance you won’t sleep at all—you learn to get really good at naps. Hey, if people coordinated their emergencies a little better, maybe we’d get more sleep [chuckles].

RL: How much time do you get off? Two weeks paid?

BB: Yeah, two weeks paid vacation time and benefit time (which is a combination of sick days, mental health breaks, occasional family time) which you can use flexibly. Most agencies will offer some sort of paid time off.

RL: It’s interesting to me that public health experts have not been charged with leading the COVID-19 response, while they are arguably the most obvious choice. It’s the CDC, which is above all an academic institution. I even sense that some countries with far less wealth than America have done far better than we have in our pandemic response—countries that have a practical, feet-on-the-ground community-based response.

Have you had any experiences of people who are hyper-educated and deal with critical care patients who are actually unfamiliar with the basics of emergency care, situations where EMTs or paramedics are better prepared to deal with an emergency?

BB: I want to be careful when I talk about this because I have an immense amount of respect for other care providers (doctors,

nurses, physician’s assistants, practitioners, technicians, aides).

But it is interesting that when people specialize, they get comfortable within their routines. Even if you’re a generalist, you get used to being a generalist in a certain context. Even though you’ve had training in providing immediate care at some point during your career, you may not necessarily be used to dealing with someone who comes to your practice with an emergency or knowing quick, simple, rescuing solutions—physicians tend to be on the side of maintenance care, and not always on the medical emergency side of it. When patients have a problem, they usually call 911, not their doctor’s office. But sometimes they do go to their doctor’s office, and then sometimes the doctors call us because they are not set up to handle some emergency situations.

There was a cardiologist who I was a little frustrated with, who I have great respect for, of course; I don’t want this to come across as trashing someone else in the profession. Doctors get comfortable with the role that they play and the situation they’re in. I’m never going to have the knowledge and experience that the cardiologist has (who probably went to school for twelve years); doctors will always know so much more than I do. And yet, this cardiologist had a patient in his office for almost an hour in an emergency situation—someone who was known to be having a cardiac event (a myocardial infarction, or heart attack)—who hadn’t been treated yet. He had a good idea of what was going on, but hadn’t thought to start an IV or administer aspirin—a simple but life-saving medication that most people take for granted and something we always do at once when there is a cardiac event. It’s a really important lesson to learn that it takes a team to get work done—a cardiologist to diagnose, and then people who know how to stabilize the patient and transport them to the place of care where they need to be.

RL: We all know cases of the Delta variant are on the rise and that an increasing number of children are being admitted to the hospital (300 a day, as of August 19). Is the new rise in Delta infections evident in your daily work?

BB: Ithaca is just isolated enough. There were fewer summer tourists than there have been in other years. We don’t have as much exposure as other cities do. Is it out there? Yes, absolutely. We just had another COVID death a week ago (our first in a number of months). Hospitalizations have increased, numbers of people requiring critical care have gone up. And of course all the college students are about to come back to town. It’s hard to tell if and when Delta’s going to affect this community, but it’s definitely here. Everyone at Bangs has either been vaccinated or has had COVID. Starting today, there’s a new mask mandate—everyone must wear masks inside the office as well as when among coworkers. It used to be, recently, after the CDC announced vaccinated individuals didn’t have to wear masks indoors, that Bangs employees would wear masks in the ambulances, but not in the operation center. But the need is back, and we’re feeling it.

RL: I know you have a child in elementary school. Are there any particular concerns you have with unvaccinated children under 12 returning to school in the fall?

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BB: Being a parent and loving kids, I have a lot of concerns. For a long time all the studies said that kids weren’t really getting it and it’s a very low percentage of that number who become very ill or die. But the longer it goes on, a small number of a large pool over time is still a large number of children who are getting sick. Explain to that one parent who has a child die in the community that it was only one kid. I will be very relieved when vaccination is available for younger kids. But vaccination has become so politicized. I try to not get angry with people who are against vaccination. I understand reticence and fear, but it makes sense to get vaccinated as a community. I know people who have been very careful and still contracted the virus; a young coworker of mine in his thirties had a stroke related to COVID complications. He was extremely ill, but is mostly recovered now, just by chance.

I can’t wait until vaccination is available for children under twelve. I think it’s scary that people are making decisions based on the assumption that kids won’t get sick in the numbers we’ve seen in adults and the elderly. It’s clear now that Long-Haul COVID [symptoms that persist after the period of contagion is over] is showing up now in a lot of kids and many are asymptomatic. The prospect of having a whole segment of the population that is not covered at all is quite scary. These are not decisions we can make lightly. There’s no way out of this unless we all pitch in.

Would Delta even be an issue if the whole country had shut down for a period of six to eight weeks back in March? It would have been difficult to do, but would we be where we are today if we had done things a little differently early on? Maybe not.

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RL: Any last thoughts you’d like to share with IHS students?

BB: When you see the lights and hear sirens of an ambulance wailing, you know there is a patient inside or a team of paramedics on their way to a time-sensitive emergency situation.

However, a lack of lights and sirens does not necessarily mean there is no emergency or patient who needs to get to the hospital as fast as possible. In fact (and I think this is something many people don’t know) much of the time patients are being transported and require immediate care in ambulances that do not have their lights and sirens turned on for safety reasons. (They are distracting to drivers and might cause even more damage.) When the lights are on, it is both serious and time-sensitive—meaning going any slower than the fastest safe speed risks permanent injury or death.

Remember, the ambulance’s response all depends on how the call comes in, how the witness tells the story to the dispatcher. The most dangerous thing EMTs do is drive with lights and sirens. Understandably, people driving on the road are distressed by flashing lights and wailing noise and become bad drivers. There are many times, even, when care is being administered on scene in the ambulance when lights and sirens are not going. Although you don’t legally have to yield to the ambulance when there are no lights and sirens, please don’t cut the ambulance off or speed ahead. Let it go first.

Seneca Lake by Hannah Shvets

Advice To Incoming Freshmen And New Students Curated by FRANCES KLEMM

et l 't l tel n e o s l D e ol. ne t's co s o i y an wha cool ne u eo s ' o v u t y ha at . yo ha W hat cool nly d th o n w s r e ei ou sp othe cid nd y e to t e e. d da ha lif am t w l n r h u ow as wo bo ur t. It's ng a your o i e yi sy d. is i ce in worr . Liv love h T re e e an nk ch anc e thi u ar Moo h l c Yo aia op pe -K

Develop a weekly or daily routine for checking, reading, organizing, and responding to emails! Use labels and stars. Manage the amount and type of emails you receive from Canvas by adjusting its notifications.

- Ms. Benenati, Science Teacher

Do n wr 't be on a lea g. T fraid h e b of un rn i be st es de an o d c rsta be t wa ing y n o w gr ow rrec d th ron to s in t it ee g, r . co bre resp You ror, r ak rre o br n kn d ow ction own se to ain led thi , a s ge and nd t i h sec s sa en ve ur d m ew e M Mr. ly. or ath K e Te irk ac he r

sh I wi nts ude t s re at mo w th e n k ere y w just the han s re t mo r grade i the the and of AP t oun that am ses clas take. y the

Don't forget that a lot of us are parents, and have (or have had) our own kids in school; we know there are a lot of things, from trivial to major ones, that may be bothering you. Let us know. We may be able to help! All of us chose this profession, after all, because we love young people.

-Suzanne Nussbaum, Latin Teacher

Don't be so worried about being late to class, especially in the first week or two. Teachers ne rmi a h understand that the building can be confusing , -C er rrin a to navigate, and if you have a good excuse if W ool Sch lor you're late later in the year, you often won't be nse marked tardy. Take your time and don't Cou forget to go to upstairs K. - Anonymous, Senior

to ourself Hold y ut high (b b a le) reason ds, and standar rt, he effo put in t 't beat but don you lf up if yourse ol rt. Scho fall sho ur , and yo is hard NOT a GPA is our on of y reflecti rth. self wo , ymous - Anon Senior

n't l is r o ou ho Sc rth y l a wo ent you m . If e 'll h im u t t l o f s a i he ink y off d les l th tter pen u fai ck, o lu be rs be ass o t. If y ood cl .G oi p a ng, d t's ok :))))) o r e i a u d tudy g, th to di yo s t in o y eth try n - Ja m so

Sign up for clubs (and write for The Tattler)! You'll meet so many cool people and get to experiment with new activities.

- Louisa Miller-Out

Graphics by YASMEEN ALASS

The teachers and administrators really do care about you and they know what you are capable of and they are people who you can really count on if you need someone.

- Anonymous, Senior Brin g a wat er bott le to scho ol!

Get to know your teachers. A mistake that I made as a 9th grader was barely talking to my teachers about things other than the classes they taught. You’ll find that your teachers are kind people and knowledgeable beyond the subject they teach.

- Ad am Ber kow i Mat tz, h teac her

Jo in or I t is cre co at m i fo m r a mp e a c i t o or m lu r to ll st e cr ud tant b. fe ea nt. T e en te l o wi yo here f th a pa ts ur e r lli ar IH t n o m ak g to wn e so S en a m b ew e th nd f an yt i e -M frie ad nd o a v n a iso sta cho rth ds As o f r so a cia a Ha nd . Yo f me se fr u h o r te m be m, Pr dest ave wil l r in fu cip y, n! al

- Daniel Zawel

Do n't sup be af r the er be aid t og ne re fic ot are i o a s - A uper l and labs! no T ny swee the te hey mo ta are a ch nd us, he ers Se nio lpfu r l.

Learn to be happy by you rself and tr y to ta k e media social break s. Rea book, da learn do som to crochet, ething doesn that ’t invo lve yo phone ur . It wil l mak your o e verall high schoo l expe rience better if you learn how to be sat isfied with b eing a lone.

- Anon ymou s, Senio r

1) Check your inbox regularly.

2) remember that there are allies everywhere, so let us know what you need.

-Arti Jewett, Science Department

The best advice I would give to incoming freshmen and sophomores is to be yourself.

Don't follow the current trends just because you want to be cool, but because you actually like it and it makes you happy and confident.

Don't change yourself to please other people!

-Anonymous, Senior

ot al s l ei er wel et h t o rg h d fo ug e to t ' o th r on ur en ress lly, d you v E fp nd re ain ica o m aint ips a se a e o d et h a m h ac to ends s. T ou g are t fri ship elp y tha n s h d io l ek lat t wil we ul an f the re e f a o s h wh gh t tres eks e s u ro ore ng w . or th ni r m ngi e a ye us, S e all o h c ym n no -A

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FEATURES

My Internship At The History Center: Exhibits, Archives, And Oral Histories

By RAIA GUTMAN

T

he first historical society in Tompkins County was founded in 1863 by Ezra Cornell and was known as the Ithaca Historical & Scientific Society. The second came at the end of the century and was named after Simeon DeWitt, a city planner of Ithaca and the namesake of a mall, park, and middle school.

The first historical society only lasted one year and the second did not last much longer, but their aims were popular, and the idea was revived in 1935 by members of prominent local families.

The DeWitt Historical Society housed its artifacts, books, and exhibits in a room in a local bank until 1936, when it moved to the county courthouse. The Society was open to the public for much of its time at the courthouse and published local history books on its own press. The DeWitt Historical Society moved for the second time in 1973 to the Clinton House. Its third move, in 1992, opened a museum space in the renovated former Dean of Ithaca Building on State street. In 2004, the DeWitt Historical Society changed its name to accurately reflect its changing purpose. The new History Center in Tompkins County remained in the Dean of Ithaca (now Gateway) Building until 2019, when its fourth move took it to its current location, the Tompkins Center for History & Culture, where The History Center shares the space with 11 partner organizations.

My first engagement with The History Center was the year it opened, when I participated in an intergenerational oral history project known as HERStory. The project was led by former History Centerstaff member Julia Taylor, who trained a group of six young people in conducting and processing an oral history interview. We conducted mock interviews, learned about prominent women in local history, and wrote down our local history interests on index cards, which the staff used to find narrators for our interviews: women in the community who wanted to participate in the project. I interviewed Ned Asta about her participation in the Lavender Hill Commune in the 1970s and 80s, and she told me about art school, the life of a hippie traveling West, and her closest friends on the commune, whom she still sees several times a year when they celebrate holidays together.

The interview and its presentation to an audience at The History Center were a wonderful introduction to the local history work of The History Center. But I had only witnessed the early months of The History Center’s new location, and there was much more in store.

I came back to intern at the Center in January 2021, when information on volunteering and internships reappeared on the website. The museum had reopened to the public in August but allowed only one group at a time to explore the exhibit and required everyone who entered the space to sign a health declaration affirming they had no symptoms of and had not come into

contact with COVID-19. For the next six months, I spent most of my time at the front desk in the atrium of the Tompkins Center for History & Culture with Zoë Van Nostrand, the Marketing and Visitor Experience Coordinator, and Claire, another intern and history minor at Cornell. My time was split between greeting visitors and answering their questions, sanitizing the exhibit hall after each group left, and making progress on the projects Zoë had assigned me based on my experience and interests.

My work has largely been in the area of the two-year Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant obtained by The History Center to expand virtual accessibility to its oral history collections. Since I was familiar with the HERStory project, I began building a collection of oral history interviews with women that drew from those six interviews. In addition, I gathered a collection of oral history interviews on the theme of Black history in Tompkins County, from community leaders discussing the historic community of the Southside neighborhood to Black public officials, teachers, and non-profit directors discussing their work.

I built two other collections as well: Asian Diaspora and Indigenous Experience of Tompkins County. To expand the accessibility of these interviews online, as was the purpose of the grant, I created metadata for each interview by collection, including accompanying photographs, summaries, and dates and lengths of interviews. The metadata would be used to put the interviews on New York Heritage and SoundCloud, where researchers could explore local stories without having to schedule an appointment with the Research Library. Through a combination of listening to interviews and reading their transcripts, I learned a significant amount of contemporary local history, especially that of marginalized communities whose voices are often left out of local history. The stories of these local people surprised, delighted, and inspired me. My work at The History Center shifted beginning in the last two weeks of June. Firstly, the Center was planning an exhibit change that would open the Breaking Barriers: Women’s Lives and Livelihoods exhibit at the beginning of July.

Secondly, I was assigned to The History Center through Youth Employment Service (YES) and would receive payment for my work beginning in late June. While the museum was closed to set up the new exhibit, my supervisor went on vacation. I decided to continue working while she was away—this time with Cindy, the curator and mastermind behind the Breaking Barriers exhibit.

My work with Cindy had little to do with the oral history work I was doing before. The only oral history-related task I did during those two weeks was create video clips of interesting tidbits of oral history interviews about women’s lives and livelihoods, combining collection logos with photographs of the narrators.

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The rest of the time, I followed Cindy and the other volunteers around, helping with whatever was needed. I dusted a 100-yearold plane, chose badges to place in drawers, and voted on which artifacts to display on the wall. I did research on artifacts and wrote captions to be placed beside them. The day before the exhibit opened, I tore down the flyers that covered the doors and glass walls, keeping the new exhibit hidden, shoving trains of paper into overflowing recycling bins. The next day, I sat at the front desk, congratulating visitors for being the first to explore the new exhibit.

In addition to working on the Breaking Barriers exhibit this June, I began my work with The History Center’s archivist. An opportunity to work in the archives initially drew me to apply for the internship, and when my supervisor finally announced that it was time to begin, I was thrilled. My first task was to build a bridge between my digital oral history work and the paper archives, which contain everything from genealogical records to World War II propaganda posters. I printed out the transcripts for each oral history project and organized them into an oral history collection, folder by folder, following the rules of archiving materials I had just learned. When that was done, I worked on something a little less familiar. Just as I had created finding aids (documents detailing the contents of a collection and where specific information can be found) to detail the contents of the new

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oral history collections for researchers to locate the interviews they were interested in, several collections in the paper archives needed finding aids as well. I started with the Community Activism Collection and continued with each of the world war collections. For each finding aid, I rearranged folders chronologically and by topic, typed up each box and its folders, and wrote a scope and contents note to describe the historical context behind the collection and the value of its contents in research. During the summer, I worked on these archival tasks and my digital oral history projects simultaneously.

My work at The History Center has been incredibly beneficial to my personal knowledge of local history and the development of my history, museum, and archive-related skills. My path is not the only one that can be taken, though. Other interns have worked on projects such as watching documentaries about Tompkins County, reading and writing about local history books, transcribing oral histories and census records, making The History Center more accessible to disabled visitors, and researching topics in local history for The History Center’s social media feeds. Each internship provides an opportunity to develop new skills, learn about local history, and interact with others who want to learn about Tompkins County. If you’re interested in getting involved with The History Center, visit https://thehistorycenter.net/Volunteer.

At The Berkshires by Hannah Shvets

FEATURES

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From The Archives: Excerpts From The Tattler Issues Of Yesteryear

By ALICE BURKE

D

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

Here follows a small selection: Read more online at https://tattlerarchive.wordpress.com/ Note: The current Tattler board does not necessarily endorse the opinions published in historical issues of The Tattler.

September 1898 SEPTEMBER At eve, cool shadows fall Across the garden wall, And on the clustered grapes to purple turning; And pearly vapors lie Along the eastern sky, Where the broad harvest moon is redly burning.

Ah, soon on field and hill The wind shall whistle chill, And patriarch swallows call their flocks together, To fly from frost and snow, And seek for lands where blow The fairer blossoms of a balmier weather.

Yet though a sense of grief Comes with the falling leaf, And memory makes the summer doubly pleasant, In all my autumn dreams A future summer gleams, Passing the fairest glories of the present!

THERE’S A RIFT IN EVERY CLOUD The rainbow with its spectrum of colors, as it spans the arc of heaven, is brightest after the hardest storm. So it is with events of history, momentous as some of them have been, fraught with danger to life and happiness, yet from them arose a better appreciation of life and man’s duty to man. The most powerful nations have passed through wars so bloody that scarcely enough male population survived to withstand the hardships which naturally fall to a nation decimated in numbers.

Armies that have won the greatest victories have endured suf-

fering and hardships beyond description. I have but to mention the suffering of the American army, during the winter of 1776-77, called the dark period of the Revolution. But those heroes passed on with a fortitude and determination almost super human and by their victory lighted the everlasting torch of liberty, which blazes from a pedestal as high as the heavens and toward which the nations of the earth looked with admiration.

CHOOSING A PROFESSION The choice of a profession is a more serious undertaking than the average young man realizes. Indeed many young people choose one as a diversion from the routine school life, not thinking there is routine work in business of every kind. Upon the choice their future depends. And if this choice be an unwise one it will undoubtedly cause discontent in after life.

A college education is not always necessary but should be had if possible, as it is the systematic cultivation of the mind which is needed as much as the study. A mind is like the ground, although good things may grow yet with a little cultivation the results will be increased several fold.

Each profession has an individuality that is common to no other and so one must feel the spirit of his profession. The last years of study should be saved for the specialization of the chosen profession so that at first one may get the general principles and later the details. When a profession is chosen other professions should not be entirely ignored.

September 2008 DEAR GENGHIS: FRESHMAN TROUBLES AND FRESHMAN TORTURES Dear Genghis, I’ve had a pretty terrible first day in high school. A gang of upperclassmen threw me into a trashcan, shut me in a locker, and then threw the locker in the trash can. They proceeded to dump the locker and trash can into Fall Creek, with me and what appeared to be a Burmese Python (as I judged from the scale pattern when it was slowly squeezing the life from me) locked inside, leaving my serpentine companion and me for dead. After somehow floating up to Aurora and dragging my half alive, water-and-venom-logged carcass back to school, I faced an even worse disaster: I got lost in G-Building and couldn’t find my way to History class.

Is high school always this bad? If so, how do I deal with problems like this?

-Troubled Freshman

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Dear Fresh Meat, Frosh, Pansy etc.,

10 WAYS TO SURVIVE IHS

The answer to your first question is yes. Ithaca High School is a desolate locale; at times as cold and frigid as the Onon river valley; at others as skin meltingly hot as the Gobi desert. Here, only the most cunning and cruel survive. The upperclassmen attacked you because in a few seasons’ time you’ll be able to threaten their yurts and goat herds. It is to your credit that they consider you a potential threat and not a worthless excuse for a filthy wretch, barely better than the lowliest beast. To answer your second question, you must be as cunning and cruel as those who humiliated you. Raid their camps for women and plunder. Trample their livestock’s grazing ground. Utterly destroy them, and teach them to fear your very name. If they come groveling to your hut, begging for mercy, food, and a place within your tribe, offer them the most degrading position (perhaps yak groomer). As for your second dilemma, you should burn G-Building to the ground and forget History. It’s pretty much useless.

1. Set goals for yourself for the school year. Have a plan of what you want to do.

2. Don’t procrastinate! Work piles up quickly, so try and get ahead.

3. Ask teachers and guidance counselors for help when you need it. It’s their job to help you―don’t be afraid to ask.

4. Join clubs and after school activities to have fun and get to know new people.

5. Try making friends with people you don’t know, maybe the person sitting next to you in math class could be your new BFF! 6. Don’t get too stressed out over schoolwork! Set aside some free time to relax, play sports, or watch your favorite TV show.

7. Go to fun school events like games, plays, and dances.

8. Make sure you get enough sleep at night, so you’re energized for the next day.

9. Take classes you like and don’t be afraid to try new things!

10. Remember to HAVE FUN!

-Genghis Khan September 2010 CONFESSIONS OF THE MONTH My friend and I were at a convenience store. I had bought a Gatorade. He begged for me to buy him a drink, but I only had enough money for myself. On the way home, he whined for at least a sip. I said that I wanted to save the rest of the drink for later. Five minutes later, I entered my bedroom only to find him finishing my Gatorade. Well, joke’s on him; I’ve got mono. - bbcool

I was sending this embarrassing photo to my boyfriend. However, I accidentally sent the email to my grandparents, my mom, and my boss. Say hello to the hurricane. - Emma

There was this one time where I was taking my history test. I was really nervous, and I had not slept well the night before. I was half-sleeping while taking my test. Somehow, I marked all the right answers on the wrong lines on my scantron. I managed to get 23 out of 50 questions correct; not bad for someone who was in the wrong class. - Anonymous

Life Up Close by Rihannon Galloway

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ARTS

Summer Book Review

By HANNAH SHVETS

A

s the summer after sophomore year approached, my ToRead List grew longer and longer, and my anticipation of days reading in the sun peaked. This summer, I found myself visiting a hundred different universes, meeting thousands of people, and learning about myself and the world, all within the confines of my room (and occasionally, a spot in the sun on my deck). The following books were just some of my favorites: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami There are few words that do Murakami’s writing justice, and this book is no exception. After reading his bestseller, Kafka on the Shore, Murakami quickly became one of my favorite authors, and this beautiful, heart-wrenching, and magical novel was not a disappointment. Like all of Murakami’s books, it includes aspects of fantasy along with real-life problems and philosophical questions about humanity. The book follows a young man named Toru Okada on his journey to discover the secrets of his wife’s disappearance and explore life, death, and everything in between. On this two-year-long adventure all done inside of his home and an abandoned house with a dried-up well, Okada meets all sorts of interesting characters that challenge his viewpoint of reality and life purpose. This book leaves you in a confused daze—on the edge of an existential crisis. Do yourself a favor, and put this book on your To-Read List.

Paper Towns by John Green Unpopular opinion: I didn’t like Green’s The Fault in Our Stars at ALL. The only other book by him I had read was Turtles All the Way Down—which I found mediocre at best. When Paper Towns kept coming up on my TikTok For You page, I gave in and checked it out from the library. There was nothing that could have prepared me for how much this book would affect me. It was a quick read, and I finished it within two days. Paper Towns is one of those books that leaves you staring at your ceiling in awe, trying to wrap your head around what you just read. The novel was full of adventure, amazing character development, and romance so much more genuine and beautiful than the kind I’m used to seeing in Young Adult books. This was the perfect book to start off summer vacation because of the nostalgic feeling it gave me. My favorite scene was one of two people who had loved each other their entire lives, standing on top of a tower and looking down on their childhood city, “a paper town full of paper people.” Paper Towns was a 10 out of 10 read, and definitely enough motivation for me to give Green another chance.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo Ninth House was the eighth book by Bardugo I had read. She was already near the top of my favorite authors list, along with Murakami, Donna Tartt, and Marie Lu. I had exclusively read YA Fantasy my entire life up until quarantine, when I decided to expand my taste in book genres to Magical Realism, Adult Fiction, and more. While reading fantasy novels by Cassandra Clare, Rick Riordan, J.K. Rowling, and others, I often get this nagging

feeling that I’m wasting my time, staying trapped in my childhood and not maturing as a person and reader. However, I never get this feeling with Bardugo, who writes fantasy novels with relatively simple concepts in a way that makes me feel like I’m reading a book written for an adult, one that might even show up on an English class reading list (in a good way!).

Ninth House currently stands alone, but Bardugo has mentioned on her Instagram that she’s working on a sequel. The novel follows a freshman at Yale named Alex Stern, who has the ability to see “greys” (ghosts stuck between life and death, never fully reaching the afterlife), and the unraveling of the homicide of a young girl. Alex belongs to a society called “Lethe” that exists to keep the other societies (the eight houses that practice different sorts of magic) in check. She senses that something is being covered up in the murder, and takes it upon herself to investigate all while dealing with flashbacks from a darker time of drug addiction, loss, and sin. The writing is beautiful, the mystery is captivating, and the concept has more depth than the beginning of the book belies. I urge you to read it, as well as Bardugo’s other bestselling series Six Of Crows, Shadow and Bone, and King of Scars.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab After patiently waiting on my To-Read List for almost five months, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue had a lot of expectations to live up to—and it’s safe to say that it did not disappoint. This heart-wrenching novel begins in a small town called Villon, where Adeline LaRue struggles with the responsibilities of what it means to be a woman in eighteenth-century Europe.

Almost every other chapter, the novel skips to modern day New York City, where Adeline, now Addie, is somehow still alive. A 300-year-old in the body of a young woman may seem like a dream life, but Schwab quickly reveals the downside of this “miracle”: Whenever Addie leaves a room, everyone inside forgets her existence entirely. No matter how much Addie tries to plead with the people in her life and remind them of things only she knows, they can’t remember her—besides one person who changes Addie’s entire existence.

This enthralling YA book had me up until 2 a.m. and left me with the sort of bittersweet feeling only a truly amazing book can.

Unlike many readers on TikTok who recommended this book, I did not cry, but that may have had more to do with my state of sleep deprivation than the content of the actual book. A story of selling your soul to the devil, living through centuries of history, and loving till death do us part, this novel has quickly risen to the top of my favorite books and recommendations list.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry If there is one book on this list I would call a quintessential summer read, People We Meet on Vacation would undoubtedly be my choice. After seeing it recommended online time and time again as THE book to be read during summer 2021, I gave in and placed a hold on it at the library.

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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

The timing couldn’t have been better: the novel arrived right before I left for a trip to a nearby lake with my family. I had high expectations because of the amount of attention the book was receiving online, but the synopsis on the back made me quickly decide it would be some cheesy, cliché romance. Not to say that it wasn’t—it most definitely was—but it was also a story that left me feeling a little lighter inside after months of reading depressing, dense books.

The main character, Poppy Wright, seems to have the perfect life: the dream job as a travel blogger and journalist, an amazing best friend, a supportive family, and a lifetime of adventure to look forward to. Each chapter rotates between past tense (slowly counting down summers starting from 12 years ago) and the present day where Poppy finds herself in a writer’s slump, lacking any inspiration or passion for her profession. Poppy and her best friend, Alex Nelson, seem to have had a falling out after a trip to Croatia two years ago, referenced frequently but with little detail. Determined to reconnect and rediscover her passion for traveling, Poppy sets out on a low-budget trip with Alex, planning to visit his brother’s wedding at the end.

The tension and awkwardness between Poppy and Alex is often unbearable as we see them wrestling with their emotions, teetering on the line between best friends and more. As predictable as the love story was, these 361 pages of flashbacks leave you with that bittersweet feeling one has after an amazing vacation when it’s finally time to come home. If you decide to read this book, I highly recommend you read it at the end of a vacation to get the premier experience.

Here are the other books I read with a rating out of 5 stars: Sisters by Daisy Johnson, 3 stars: great plot twist, although I’m not a fan of the writing style.

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth, 4 stars: an absorbing book with an enemies-to-lovers arc and an interesting plot, but typical for a Fantasy/Dystopian novel and felt too similar to other novels in the genre.

Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen, 4.5 stars: an absolutely beautiful and heart-wrenching queer coming-of-age story.

Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare, 5 stars: very nostalgic reads because of the significance Clare’s books had for me as a child; good plot and writing and well-developed relationships and characters.

Looking For Alaska by John Green, 5 stars: had a similar feeling to Paper Towns and was beautiful, emotional, and well-written.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 3 stars: an eloquent classic, but a bit confusing and slow at times.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding, 3.5 stars: an over-hated classic, but enjoyable nonetheless.

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Nine Essential Antiracist Books For High Schoolers

By TANIA HAO

T

he last two years have brought about massive waves of social change, especially regarding racism and police brutality. Reading antiracist books is a valuable and effective way to learn about racism, how it relates to you, and how to combat it. Here are nine powerful antiracist books to add to your reading list, listed in order of my preference: Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt Stanford psychology professor and social researcher Eberhardt unpacks the social science and neuroscience behind racial bias and its impact on law enforcement, housing, education, and more. Eloquent and thoroughly researched, Biased is a combination of the author’s personal experiences, statistics, and research studies (many of which were conducted by Eberhardt herself).

The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph In this humorous and interactive book, Joseph takes the reader through race-related experiences in his life and utilizes them to teach antiracism and spread awareness. Joseph uses jokes and research prompts to keep the reader engaged, and each chapter includes interviews with notable artists and activists such as Angie Thomas, Joel Leon, and April Reign.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong The Asian American experience takes center stage in this collection of essays that revolve around “minor feelings,” the author’s term for the shame and sadness caused by the internalization of racism and stereotypes. Hong blends memoir with history to explore racism and its connection to education, friendship, feminism, mental health, and art in an inspiring and honest book.

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo Each chapter of this book addresses a race-related question such as “What is the school-to-prison pipeline?” and “What are microaggressions?” that Oluo clarifies and answers using personal stories, opinions, and statistics. Clear and bold, this book covers a wide range of topics and perfectly explains what they are and how to talk about them.

Continued on page 32

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32 Nine Essential Antiracist Books for High Schoolers Continued from page 31 When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele Black Lives Matter co-founder Khan-Cullors’s poignant memoir tells the story of the experiences that shaped her life and influenced her to create the organization and movement. Daunting yet hopeful, this book is both a tribute to the struggles of Black people across America and a call to action for a better future.

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi Look up any antiracist book list and this title will likely be on it, and rightly so. Kendi’s powerful book reveals the truth about racist policies, reflects on his own journey to becoming antiracist, and presents ideas and possibilities to help readers truly understand antiracism.

How to Be Less Stupid About Race by Crystal M. Fleming Unique and thought-provoking, this book dissects and analyzes the many issues with our current view of race. Fleming employs witty satire, personal anecdotes, and hard questions to teach readers how to recognize and fight racism.

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad Derived from Saad’s #MeAndWhiteSupremacy Instagram project—a month-long online challenge for users to understand their relationship with white supremacy—this book is an excellent step-by-step guide for white readers to identify their privilege and learn to combat their own racist ideas. Each chapter addresses a different topic (including white fragility, racial stereotypes, and cultural appropriation), speaks directly to the reader, and ends with reflective journaling prompts.

The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love, & Truth, edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson This anthology contains stories, poems, and art from thirty renowned writers and artists, including Nikki Grimes, Grace Lin, and Adam Gidwitz. Each piece is beautiful and unique, features a discussion about race and identity, and calls for change.

SOUR: A Jubilee Of Teen Angst

By LOUISA MILLER-OUT

brutal Rodrigo starts her debut album off with this short, punchy pop-punk tune, an anthem for today’s youth. The lyrics resonate with all too many teenagers as she rap-sings about hating the way she’s perceived, dealing with anxiety, and not even being able to parallel park. Energetic guitar and bass pound out a beat that just makes you want to jump up and down and scream along with Rodrigo: “They say these are the golden years, but I wish I could disappear, ego crush is so severe, god! It’s brutal out here.”

Cover art of Rodrigo’s record-breaking debut album, SOUR Warning: this article contains spoilers for SOUR, so go listen to it first if you haven’t already!

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livia Rodrigo’s meteoric rise to fame at the ripe old age of 17 has been paralleled by few artists, albeit well-known ones—Avril Lavigne, Justin Bieber, and Lorde come to mind—and I wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes a fixture in the pop culture pantheon just as they have. Her debut album, SOUR, showcases impressive range, production, and composition. Not only are her songs catchy and elegantly produced, but her lyrics capture the sentiments of a generation. In her signature emotive soprano, Rodrigo voices the yearning, betrayal, and anxiety that inhabit the minds of today’s teenagers and young adults, making her already-compelling melodies all the more appealing.

traitor Rodrigo segues from the mellowed-out ending of “brutal” right into a soulful ballad with some of the most powerful vocals on the album. She starts out more reserved, recounting how she knew her boyfriend was being unfaithful but kept quiet so she could stay with him. As the song builds, she recalls the gaslighting she endured from him: “Ain’t it funny? Remember I brought her up and you told me I was paranoid.” “traitor” reaches its zenith with beautifully belted high notes, then leaves the listener with a few more delicately sung lines, saying, “god, I wish that you had thought this through before I went and fell in love with you.” drivers license Rodrigo’s best known track, “drivers license” is another song steeped in emotion as she struggles to let go of a relationship.

She voices her insecurities from her past relationship, especially surrounding the girl her ex is dating now, but acknowledges that she still loves and misses him. She questions his sincerity: “guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me, ‘cause

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you said forever, now I drive alone past your street.” As the gorgeous bridge hits, Rodrigo is tormented by memories of her ex, feeling as if she can’t go back to their favorite spots without “seeing his face” and feeling intense pain.

1 step forward, 3 steps back This quieter song is a candid expression of the frustration and confusion Rodrigo experienced in her previous relationship.

Over soft piano chords that interpolate Taylor Swift’s “New Year’s Day” and samples of chirping birds, Rodrigo examines how much her ex made her doubt herself and comes to realize that the discord between them was his fault all along. Rodrigo sounds close to tears as she acknowledges her own attachment to the relationship despite her ex’s volatility: “I’d leave you, but the roller coaster’s all I’ve ever had.” deja vu Another well-known track, “deja vu” starts out almost sweetly, as Rodrigo recounts happy memories with her ex, only to reveal that he’s recreating them with his new girlfriend. After the first breathy, ethereal chorus and aesthetically pleasing beat drop, more instruments are woven into the song, building to a crescendo with the vocals as Rodrigo’s resentment becomes more and more audible. She puts more force behind the second chorus and the bridge, leaving the listener with a contemptuous, self-assured, “I know you get déjà vu!” good 4 u This song feels like the embodiment of the word banger. “good 4 u,” packed with sassy, sarcastic lyrics, makes you want to headbang, stomp your feet, sing at the top of your lungs, or all of the above. Rodrigo questions how her ex could be doing so well when she’s still broken up over their, well, breakup. She also alludes to feeling gaslit and realizes maybe she’s not too emotional, but rather that maybe her ex had too little compassion. She clearly expresses that sentiment with her highnote at the song’s pinnacle, on the phrase, “like a damn sociopath!”

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jealousy, jealousy Here, Rodrigo broadens the subject matter from her past relationship to a general commentary on her tendency to compare herself with “girls too good to be true,” and how it’s destroying her bit by bit. Like so many of us, she knows it’s a toxic habit that she wants to break, but just can’t quite escape. This song, like “brutal,” conveys sentiments that are almost ubiquitous among teenagers these days, in the age of social media and undetectable photo editing. favorite crime Rodrigo reflects yet again on the issues with her previous relationship—this time using the metaphor of a crime. She emphasizes the lengths she would go to for her ex, comparing their tumultuous past to the wicked thrills of illicit activity. In one of the most melodically superior moments of the album, the bridge combines satisfying arpeggios on the lines, “it’s bittersweet to think about the damage that we do, ‘cause I was going down, but I was doing it with you” with stunning harmonies and layers through the rest of the bridge that spill over into the final chorus. hope ur ok Rodrigo closes out her debut album with a caring message to fans: whoever you are, she loves you and just wants you to be happy. She flits between melancholy and hope as she weaves in stories about LGBTQ+ people she used to know who faced hostility and abuse from their families, extols their ability to survive and “unlearn all of their hatred,” and wishes them the best wherever they are.

enough for you Perhaps the best lyrics on the album and some of the strongest vocals alloy to create this masterpiece of a track, in which Rodrigo delves deeper into some of the feelings she brought up in “1 step forward, 3 steps back” and taps into new reservoirs of emotion. At first, she recalls altering her appearance and personality to please her ex, only for him to eventually leave her for “someone more exciting.” She laments how his apathy left her in tears, wondering what she did wrong. But gradually, Rodrigo realizes that she just wants herself back and she isn’t to blame for failing to live up to her capricious ex’s impossible standards. happier In this bittersweet track, Rodrigo is still struggling to let go of her ex. She still can’t quite handle seeing him thrive with his new girlfriend, singing, “I hope you’re happy, just not like how you were with me.” Her vocal tone shines through exquisitely in the verses. Her harmonies and layers on this song are particularly artful, creating perfect little moments of auditory bliss, like on the line, “she probably gives you butterflies.”

Napping Kitties at Alley Cat Cafe by Hannah Shvets

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A Short Ode To Sara Berman’s Closet

By KATIE LIN

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he first time I visited New York City was in middle school. I remember the overwhelming crowds, the signature Broadway showing of Wicked, and shopping in huge department stores. However, the part I remember best and most vividly was an exhibit my mother brought me to in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Called “Sara Berman’s Closet,” the display featured an open closet that showed off meticulously folded white shirts, perfectly aligned shoes, several matching watches laid out side by side, and other daily items. Each piece clean and pristine— without a single thing out of place—the exhibit radiated purity, appealing to museum visitors like myself drawn to order and organization.

According to the Met, Sara Berman was a Jewish émigré who lived from 1920 to 2004, and traveled from Belarus to Israel to New York. Eventually, she settled in a small apartment in Greenwich Village in 1982, and it was in this apartment’s closet that she organized her clothing and belongings colored “cream, ivory, and ecru.” As stated by the New York Times, Berman loved her life in NYC, faithfully watching “Jeopardy” and gazing at the Empire State Building through her window. Maira and Alex Kalman, her daughter and grandson, recreated the closet, providing a window into Berman’s life and a glance into history.

A significant moment in Berman’s life was when she left Tel Aviv after 38 years of an unhappy marriage, leaving behind both her husband and any possessions that didn’t fit into one suitcase.

In an interview with NPR, M. Kalman was asked if she thought the closet was an expression of Berman’s negative thoughts or a fear of chaos, to which she confidently replied, She had enough darkness in her marriage. It wasn’t as if her life was this beautiful fairy tale.

She really had a tremendous amount of sorrow and conflict. But when she started her own life again in New York, it was all about the nature of the love of your life and the love of what you can do in your life and how you make your own decisions and beauty and the aesthetic of all of it. That was really an important part of it. So it wasn’t about control so much as it—as about an expression of joy.

No piece of art has quite spoken to me like Sara Berman’s Closet, perhaps because it has become a happy memory of me and my mother, or because it was the first time I can remember enjoying a museum. But, in a single word, Sara Berman’s Closet is special. In my opinion, this exhibit shows more about a person and their life than any portrait or piece of abstract art ever could.

It’s often daunting to think about how every person you pass on the street has a life just like you—one that’s just as puzzling, just as complicated, and just as eccentric—but this specific exhibit has shown viewers who Berman was and how she lived: a woman bold and brave enough to start anew in a strange city, and open to appreciating the little things in life.

Few exhibits have showcased life and personality as clearly and uniquely as Sara Berman’s Closet. The viewer can tell exactly what kind of person she was simply by looking at it —“chic, but not at all vain,” and a “cracker-jack ironer and closet cleaner,” as the NYT describes her. The display truly tells a story, and it has been said by the NYT to reflect her upbringing in Belarus and Mandatory Palestine, where she and the other women in the family dedicated themselves to taking care of their loved ones through cleaning and baking. The exhibit combines a rich backstory with an incredibly satisfying display that draws the viewer in, complete with a singular red pompom attached to a pull-cord light switch, perfectly contrasting the white colors and tying the display together with a neat bow.

Image courtesy of The New York TImes

Alex and Maira Kalman in front of Sara Berman’s Closet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Shmoop’s Scoop Continued from page 35

Refereeing At UEFA Euro 2020: Improvement And Regression

By MANU BOSTEELS

E

very suspicion you’ve had about referee bias is probably true. In a game full of fast-paced action, quick skills, and countless rules, the head referee and their two assistant referees are bound to make mistakes. A missed offsides here, a Hand of God there, mistakes are common and bothersome.

Watching a high-stakes final only to see your team lose due to a dubious call is not just disappointing but also infuriating. Moreover, the coaches, assistants, players, and others whose livelihoods depend on the result of these matches expect a fair chance.

But soccer is plagued by something worse than innocent mistakes—referee prejudice. It’s one thing for one bad call to affect the outcome of a soccer match. It’s another thing entirely for a game to feature improper officiating that favors one side.

One excuse often used to explain questionable officiating is the intense pressure involved in the job. For instance, when officiating at Old Trafford, a referee is more likely to favor Manchester United since they are the home team and most of the fans in the stadium would support them. This advantage manifests itself as more fouls and cards called against the away side. This makes the playing field uneven.

To investigate referee bias, the University of Richmond cond-

Image courtesy of USA Today

Raheem Sterling falls controversially in game against Denmark ucted a study on Major League Soccer (MLS) penalty kicks. As summarized in the abstract, they found that “referees display a considerable bias favoring the home team when awarding the initial penalty kick of a game.” Separately, a 2006 University of Bath study on the Premier League found similarly troubling referee bias. The analysis, spread over 2,500 Premier League matches, revealed that referees are harsher in disciplinary action against the underdogs in a match. It also found that referees are

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less hesitant to give out bookings in high-stakes games or those with more fans in attendance. In addition, this study corroborates the MLS study finding a bias in favor of the home team—it showed that away teams face disproportionately more yellow and red cards.

In 2016, the introduction of VAR (Video Assistant Referee), was hailed by its proponents as an end-all for officiating mistakes and the solution to unwanted bias. VAR seemed like a great way to reduce the number of errors made by referees, allowing for instant video replay (from multiple angles) of contentious moments. Despite employing VAR in full force, the officiating in the 2020 Euros (played in 2021, but still called Euro 2020) proved that no amount of video replays will be able to counteract bad referees.

Being Belgian, I was excited to be watching my team and was hopeful that they would finally, finally win a competition, especially now that the unique crop of players Belgium has enjoyed in recent years is getting older. In fact, the officiating started strong—in the 68th minute of a match against Denmark, striker Mikkel Damsgaard dove in the penalty box to try and get a spot-kick (penalty) but was quickly reprimanded with a yellow card for pretending to have been fouled (simulation). That was something I had never seen a referee do before, which piqued my interest in how the refereeing would continue.

Then came the round of 16 match between Belgium and reigning champions Portugal. Belgium’s striker Romelu Lukaku was nastily fouled throughout the game; fouls which, for the most part, went uncalled. After one particularly obvious yank on Lukaku, even ESPN’s commentators were calling it out, one of them exclaiming, “The referee didn’t seem to see an infringement…a clear tug on the back of Lukaku’s shirt,” and the other, simply, “That’s ridiculous.” Portugal midfielder Renato Sanches also received multiple tugs, yanks, and clear shoves that the referee didn’t seem to see or chose not to address.

These fouls are different from handballs or fouls in the penalty box in that they aren’t contentious enough to warrant VAR review, meaning that the referees in these situations are still on their own. In this case, specifically, the uncalled fouls are strange in that they went uncalled for both teams, meaning that the referee’s mistakes can’t be chalked up to bias. In soccer, players who are pushed or obstructed in some way by players of the other team will often let themselves fall or clutch their limbs as if to indicate an injury. Such demonstrations alert the referees and can get fouls called, even if they aren’t always warranted. In the match between Belgium and Portugal, Lukaku and Sanches did no such thing—when fouled, they did their very best to play through the obstacles. Disappointingly, this led to blatant fouls against them going uncalled. This kind of behavior by referees justifies the aggravating and tiring exaggeration of fouls. It shows that playing without dramatics leads to evident rule violations being ignored.

Then again, this game showed no signs of bias toward one team. Both sides had uncalled fouls. However, anyone who watched the match between England and Denmark would have witnessed explicit prejudice. Let’s start by considering that England played six of seven games in London; even though eight

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countries hosted the Euros, England managed to enjoy a home side advantage for approximately 86% of their matches. In their semifinal match against Denmark, England won after Raheem Sterling fell down in the penalty box and ‘won’ a penalty. Despite extensive VAR review, the penalty call was upheld, and England progressed to the final (both the Denmark game and the final were in London, although the trophy did not stay there). ESPN’s commentators agreed that it was not worth the penalty, and Mark Clattenburg, who refereed the 2016 Euro final, said that he would not have given a penalty in that situation. Furthermore, Kasper Schmeichel, Denmark’s goalkeeper, had a laser shone in his eyes by English fans during the penalty, but the penalty and ensuing goal stood.

The fouls against Renato Sanches and Romelu Lukaku show one failure of VAR—referees can’t consult video replays for every minor foul because that would interrupt the game’s flow too often. These fouls affect the game and can cause injury; the game still relies on the abilities of the referee on the pitch. VAR has a second weakness, too, which was neatly demonstrated in the Euro semifinal, specifically in Raheem Sterling’s penalty. In those instances, a bad referee will never become a good referee with the use of VAR. I will admit that the alleged foul on Sterling in that match (the one which led to the penalty) was difficult to call. From every VAR replay angle, the foul was debatable. But that’s the point: in the semifinal match of the European Championship, a referee shouldn’t give a penalty for a debatable foul. And this is the second failure of VAR, which is that it can’t make decisions for referees. Ultimately, the head referee makes the decision themselves. Bad referees will remain bad referees unless there is a change in the approach to refereeing.

If we are to avoid future moments like this, the idea of “winning” a foul or a penalty needs to be abandoned. A player should not be able to intentionally make a run with their primary aim being to obtain a foul or penalty, because fouls and penalties should be seen as punishments, not rewards. Luckily, this idea is not new and is already being put into practice in leagues worldwide. For the 2021/2022 Premier League season, BT Sport reports that “the threshold for awarding a spot-kick will be increased and referees will no longer deem any contact in the box as an offence…if the attacker has used said contact to look to win a penalty rather than being fouled, this will no longer result in a spot kick and instead will come down to the officials’ judgement of the incident.” These new Premier League rules seem to be in response to the record number of penalty kicks awarded last season. With these changes, softer penalties like Raheem Sterling’s penalty in the Euros would no longer be awarded. This is a clear step forward.

Naturally, doubts remain. Determining a player’s intent when fouling someone in the penalty box is incredibly subjective, and a tricky metric for a referee to analyze. Nonetheless, the new rules do seem to address these refereeing anomalies and seem to be part of the path to a consistently equitable sport. Perhaps we are excessively scrutinizing a practice that is inherently flawed. After all, it is just a game—right?

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Simone Biles And Naomi Osaka: It’s O.K. To Not Be O.K.

By ALICE BURKE

Image courtesy of people.com

Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka

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e all know the names Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, two of the greatest female athletes in sports today.

Simone Biles, widely regarded as the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.), is a seven-time Olympic medalist and the current face of women’s gymnastics. Naomi Osaka has been called the future of women’s tennis. She holds four Grand Slam titles already, winning the first against Serena Williams at just twenty years of age. Recently, Biles and Osaka have expanded their impact on the world of athletics by sharing the mental health struggles they have dealt with during their athletic careers.

Over the summer, both women took time away from competition to care for their mental health. In early June this year, Naomi Osaka withdrew from the prestigious French Open after being fined $15,000 for not following the tournament’s media requirements. Osaka removed herself from competition in order to preserve her mental health. She shared with the public that she experiences anxiety when speaking to the media and has suffered from “long bouts of depression.”

Simone Biles also withdrew from competition this summer, removing herself from the gymnastics team final and the individual vault, uneven bars, and floor events at the Tokyo Olympics.

She described having a case of the “twisties,” in which a gymnast becomes unable to perform twisting skills because their brain loses track of where they are in the air. Biles’ mind and body were out of sync and competing could have put her at risk of se-

rious injury. The pressure of being dubbed the G.O.A.T. likely fed into her getting the “twisties.” On her Instagram, Biles posted, “I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn’t affect me.” It can be easy to forget that elite athletes performing at such high levels are human, and this makes it all the more important that they share their experiences and struggles.

Despite the prevalence of poor mental health in athletics, the issue is still somewhat of a taboo subject in many sports. If it is discussed, it is always secondary to physical health. Recently, runner Alexi Pappas wrote a book, Bravery, discussing the need to treat mental health with the same importance as physical health. She explains that it is necessary to view mental health issues as “injuries to the brain” and to approach treatment with the same intensity and care as one would with injuries to the body. Pappas claims that athletes cannot perform their best or lead fulfilling lives if they do not take their mental health seriously. Unfortunately, her argument is one that has yet to take root in many sports outside of the running community.

Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka faced significant backlash for prioritizing their mental health this summer. Osaka has been booed by spectators, bombarded with questions from the media, fined, and threatened by the organizers of the French Open.

She has not been safe from hate on social media, with critics questioning her talent and the position she earned as this year’s Olympic torchbearer. Similarly, Simone Biles has received criticism and hate for advocating for greater mental health awareness during her time at the Olympics. Turning Point USA founder and right-wing podcaster, Charlie Kirk, called Biles a “selfish sociopath” and a “shame to the country,” saying that “we are raising a generation of weak people like Simone Biles.”

While neither Simone Biles nor Naomi Osaka intended to lead the dialogue around poor mental health in athletics, both women have bravely taken up the issue on behalf of athletes all over the world. Biles is leading the post-Olympics Gold Over America Tour this fall with her fellow teammates from the Tokyo Olympics, committed to highlighting the importance of mental health to her fans. Although being in the spotlight leaves Biles and Osaka vulnerable to hate and criticism, they have both expressed gratitude for the ability to help others through sharing their own struggles. Osaka noted in an interview that many athletes approached her in Tokyo to thank her for coming forward. In response to a question about her regrets, she told Time Magazine “by speaking up I may have saved a life. If that’s true, then it was all worth it.”

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Messi Magic Moves to Paris

By ADAM SAAR

Image courtesy of Insider

Emotional Messi gives a press conference to announce his move from Barcelona to Paris

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essi Messi Messi Messi Messi GOL GOL GOL GOOOOLL!!! The Camp Nou stadium erupts louder than Mount Vesuvius; ecstatic Barcelona supporters hug each other and jump up and down. As Barcelona’s players end their celebrations and walk back to their half of the field, chants of “MESSI, MESSI” accompanied by bowing hand motions spread through the stadium. For the last 17 years, supporters of FC Barcelona have worshipped the unassuming, soft spoken, 5’7” Argentinian. Lionel Messi is a player unlike any other in the history of the Beautiful Game—blink and you’ll miss a moment of magic.

During his time at Barça, Messi won a record six Ballon D’ors (the widely accepted world player of the year award), broke every goalscoring record imaginable, and led Barça to countless major trophies, including ten La Liga (Spanish professional league) titles and 4 European Champions League trophies. As Messi grew from a boy to a man under the lights of the Camp Nou, he became somewhat of a religious figure in Catalonia— murals of him line the streets and every few blocks someone was wearing a “Messi 10” shirt. From his Ronaldinho-assisted goal in 2005 to his recent partnership with emerging star Pedri, Messi has kept Barcelona at the top of the world game, at times solely through his own sheer brilliance. Simultaneously, his longtime rivalry with Christiano Ronaldo during Ronaldo’s time at Real Madrid elevated El Clasico, matches between historic rivals FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, to the biggest occasion on the football calendar. Though the personal rivalry was unspoken, it pushed both players to otherworldly levels, as they established themselves as the two best players of all time. By the early

2010s, Leo had become synonymous with FC Barcelona—the player and the club became one and the same.

In the last 2 years, however, Messi has grown increasingly frustrated with the club he grew up playing for as sub-par team performances have been accompanied by lackluster signings and increasingly worrying financial disarray at the club. After a lengthy dispute with the club and the league in regards to his record-breaking contract, Messi became a free agent this past summer. Unable to sign a new contract with FC Barcelona due to their financial situation, Messi signed a two year contract with French superclub Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

At PSG, Messi joins one of the most talented teams in Europe, boasting superstars such as Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappe, and recent Euro 2020 player of the tournament Gigi Donarumma. This will be Messi’s second spell teaming up with Neymar, having formed a devastating partnership with him at Barcelona between 2013 and 2017. Messi will also find himself on the same side as his former on-field arch nemesis Sergio Ramos, who is also newly arrived at PSG, having left Real Madrid as arguably their greatest-ever captain and defender.

Although they have won seven of the last 9 Ligue 1 (French league) titles, PSG have been on the outside looking in on the European stage, attempting to join the elite group of clubs to have won a UEFA Champions League title. Ever since the club was essentially bought by Qatar through Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, the club had the clear goal of winning the Champions League in mind. They have hired successful coaches and broken transfer records, yet the best PSG have managed was a loss in the final to Bayern Munich in 2020, otherwise consistently bowing out in earlier rounds. This year, at least on paper, PSG seem to have indisputably the best team in Europe, and seem perfectly poised to finally realize their long awaited dream of lifting the Champions League trophy.

Much has been made of Messi finally moving out of La Liga— will he be able to adapt to a new league, a new style of play? I believe Messi will light up Ligue 1, which is a less competitive league than La Liga, and will continue to prove that he is the best player of all time. And while I generally root against PSG due to their Qatari government backing and seemingly endless reserves of money, I am excited by the prospect of Sergio Ramos getting in the face of Gerard Pique—Messi’s longtime friend and partner-in-crime—after Pique fouls Messi in the 2022 Champions League final.

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KEY CLUB! Are you interested in community service?

Do you want to become more involved in the IHS community?

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COME JOIN US FOR A FUN INTRODUCTORY MEETING ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST! We meet at 3:45 every other Tuesday in H206. See you there!

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Recapping An Eventful NBA Offseason

By SAMMY DEOL

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rom Kevin Durant being a shoe size away from sending his Brooklyn Nets to the Eastern Conference Finals to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 50-point performance in the Milwaukee Bucks’ championship-clinching game, the 2021 National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs blessed us with some unforgettable moments. With postseason viewership up 35% from last year, it’s safe to say that the league bounced back from its initial pandemic woes. Now that the season is behind us, we must look at the events of the ongoing offseason and how they might affect the league for years to come.

Each summer, the NBA hosts a draft in which its 30 teams select prospective players from a pool of college athletes, international sensations, and G-League—the NBA’s version of a minor league—stars. Draft picks have the potential to make or break a franchise’s success, so fans anticipate this event with both excitement and anxiety. The Detroit Pistons set the stage by drafting Oklahoma State University guard Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick. Cunningham averaged an efficient 20 points per game (PPG) and 6 rebounds per game (RPG) in his one college season; at 6’8,” Cunningham is also rather tall for his position, a quality that many Pistons fans hope will help him dominate in the professional spotlight.

The Houston Rockets chose NBA G-League guard Jalen Green—noted for his amazing scoring ability—with the second pick, and the Cleveland Cavaliers followed by selecting Evan Mobley, a shot-blocking center from the University of Southern California. Other notable picks include Florida State’s Scottie Barnes (4th pick, Toronto Raptors), Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs (5th pick, Orlando Magic), the NBA G-League’s Jonathan Kuminga (7th pick, Golden State Warriors), Baylor’s Davion Mitchell (9th pick, Sacramento Kings), and Arkansas’ Moses Moody (14th pick, Golden State Warriors).

The league’s young talents recently demonstrated their skills in the annual NBA Summer League, a series of exhibition games designed for aspiring—and inexperienced—players. Several of the aforementioned rookies played well: Jalen Green averaged an impressive 20.3 PPG on over 50 percent shooting from both the field and behind the three-point-line, and Davion Mitchell was named co-MVP while leading the Sacramento Kings to the Summer League championship.

The greatest gems, however, came from the later stages of the draft. Selected 27th overall, Brooklyn Nets guard Cameron Thomas averaged a matching 27.0 PPG, leading his competition in scoring and winning the other co-MVP award in the process.

Thomas’ ultimate highlight was a one-legged three-pointer that he made to win a game against the Washington Wizards, 84–81.

The Atlanta Hawks’ Sharife Cooper, drafted 48th overall, also showcased his clutch genes, hitting a game-winning three at the buzzer against the Indiana Pacers.

Even with the hype surrounding the Summer League, the offseason’s greatest highlights came during free agency, a time in which players can negotiate new contracts. Kevin Durant extended his current contract with the Brooklyn Nets by four years, locking in $198 million as a part of the deal; Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry signed a similar extension, only his is worth a record-breaking $215 million! Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić, Hawks guard Trae Young, and Knicks forward Julius Randle also re-signed with their current teams.

Conversely, several stars found new homes during the offseason. The most significant was nine-time All-Star Russell Westbrook, who was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers from the Washington Wizards for a package involving the notorious Kyle Kuzma. Following an injury-riddled exit in the first round of last year’s postseason, the Lakers hope that Westbrook—not to mention other acquisitions such as Carmelo Anthony, Kendrick Nunn, Wayne Ellington, and Kent Bazemore—will restore their championship dreams. Six-time All-Star Kyle Lowry was sent to the Miami Heat from the Toronto Raptors in a sign-and-trade deal, pairing the Heat’s talisman Jimmy Butler with a skilled floor general. The Chicago Bulls, who haven’t made the Finals since the Michael Jordan era, added Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan, both reliable supplements for All-Stars Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević. Finally, Kemba Walker joined the New York Knicks, who were recently upset by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.

Not every team emerged victorious out of free agency. Just look at the Portland Trail Blazers: after yet another disappointing exit in the postseason, their main objective was to improve the talent surrounding superstar Damian Lillard. The team made only marginal pickups—Cody Zeller, Norman Powell, and Tony Snell—leaving uncertainty about Lillard’s future in Portland. The New Orleans Pelicans also lost three of their five starting players, which isn’t a good sign for their explosive centerpiece, Zion Williamson.

With the league growing more competitive than ever, it’ll be interesting to watch how its young prospects develop over the next season and whether the blockbuster deals made in free agency prove successful. The NBA preseason will kick off in early October, and a traditional 82-game season will commence on October 19.

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My Favorite Athlete: Son Heung-Min

By JINHO PARK

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always find post-match interviews interesting, even though they’re always roughly the same in format. The journalist usually congratulates a good performance or questions a poor one. The player, often a bit awkward in front of the camera, says something, because that’s what they’re supposed to do. Everybody pity-laughs at the journalist’s bad jokes. Once in a while, teammates will crash the interview, hollering and spraying water from squirting bottles.

But even though they’re all roughly the same, I still watch them. As a fan, these post-match interviews are a rare opportunity to hear my favorite players talk without a script. It’s startling how much they tell you about a player—how you can learn about who they are, not just how they kick a ball.

I’ve liked Son Heung-Min as a player since he was just a boy playing for Hamburger SV in Germany. After successful spells at Hamburg and later Leverkusen, Son joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2015, but he struggled to acclimatise to life in London. In his first season, he was often relegated to coming off the bench and just one year in, he considered leaving for a different club for more regular playing time. However, Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham’s coach at the time, persuaded Son to stay at Tottenham.

Pochettino promised Son he’d give him a chance; he said that Tottenham still believed in Son despite a poor first season.

Since then, he’s become a phenomenal talent for Tottenham.

It’s now undisputed that he is amongst the world’s best. His brilliant finishing ability, off-ball work ethic, and blistering pace have made him irresistible to fans. This past summer, he signed a new contract with Tottenham, even though he likely could have found offers from bigger clubs. His decision shows his loyalty to Tottenham. Tottenham was the club that signed him when he was just a boy from Leverkusen and Hamburg. Tottenham was the club that believed in him after a poor first season. Tottenham, then, was the club with which he would stay.

Son has had moments I’ve simply loved watching: his Puskas Award-winning solo goal against Burnley, his goals in Tottenham’s Champions League Final run, his tears of joy after winning the Asian Cup. But I’ve never loved watching Son more than when I’m listening to his post-match interviews.

In the post-match interviews, the journalists ask him questions. They ask how he thinks the team played. He always says that the team put in their best effort, that he’s so proud of the effort that each and every one of them shows on the training ground and in the stadium. They ask how he feels at Tottenham. He says he feels so lucky to be playing for such a big club, that he’s so happy to be at a club that believes in him, that he

appreciates and loves the fans who come out to support him.

After the games in which he scores a particularly astounding goal—a somewhat regular occurrence—they compliment him for the goal. He smiles awkwardly at first, bumbling through a few words in accented English. Then, he self-effacingly deflects the credit toward his teammates and coaches, thanking them for their continued support.

I’ve watched dozens of Son’s post-match interviews. Each interview has a different context. The team might be winning or losing, healthy or littered with injuries, energized or defeated.

But despite the changes in context, Son—and what he says in the interviews—stays invariant. Son’s always focused on improving himself and the team, on giving his teammates encouragement and credit, on reiterating his appreciation for the fans and for his position at the club.

So although Son—the soccer player—is a generational superstar, Son—the person—is eager to credit others for his success, to keep working hard for Tottenham, to deliver performances he feels his fans deserve. He’s almost too perfect, too loyal to a team that has let him down in the past few years. But Son—and all of his likeability—is not just an act for the media. Everything about him is so genuine, so captivating, so likeable. I can hear it in the inflections of his voice during post-match interviews. I can see it in the way his smile lights up each time a fan adoringly yells his name. I can feel it in my palpitating heart each time he sprints down the field to score yet another goal.

The Syracuse Mets vs the Rochester Red Wings Baseball game on July 4th, by Rihannon Galloway

LITERARY

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Postcards

By Raia Gutman Dear Orlando, I found this old postcard in a drawer at that antique store with the weird hours. I’d been meaning to go there for the clothes but when I went last Wednesday this caught my eye, and I realized the picture was taken just around the corner from the spot where we held our first rehearsal, holding our scripts in our lap on that wooden structure that had us winded when we got to the top. I remember you sat on the floor and I sat criss-cross on the bench and you took off your glasses so we could see that your eyes were blue. I was nervous, so I told you that I had dreamt about you three times already, which was an embarrassing truth. I was so happy when we decided to stay later than we said we would and we read our lines back to back on top of a picnic table, and I could feel your shoulders shake against mine when you laughed.

I never wanted to finish the project if it meant more fading sunlight, more June evenings, more of your fun facts about birds and invasive insects and the excited lilt in your voice when you told them to us. It was perfect, the combination of my four-year familiarity with the director and only knowing you from freshman year, the confidence and curiosity it gave me that felt a little bit like flirtation. None of the other rehearsals were quite like that first one, but I remember the first words you spoke to me, and I remember that they were the same as the last.

Yours, Rosalind

By Louisa Miller-Out Dear Milo, I found this postcard in the little antique shop downtown and thought of you. The boy on the cover with his teddy bear reminded me of you with the teddy bear Nana gave you for your third birthday. You would take that thing everywhere; you loved it so much. The boy on the postcard is wearing a raincoat and boots, so he can stomp in puddles just like you loved to do on rainy days. You always made sure to check for frogs and worms first, so you wouldn’t hurt them. Milo, I can’t tell you how proud you made me when you did that.

How considerate you were, even at such a young age. Anyway, it’s getting late and I have to go, but I’ll always love you, Milo.

I wish you were here, tucked into your little bed. That bed’s been empty for so long now. It’s gathering dust and cobwebs and dead flies, but I can’t bring myself to clean it out or get rid of it. It’s all I have left of you.

Love, Mama

Whisper to the flowers Teach them how to grow Petals pedal upward To the sun they go

Whisper

By Ella Avgar

Whisper to the trees Let their roots sink in Little leaves, the forest breathes Branches curve and grin Whisper to the children Let justice fill their veins For when they rise and speak their minds They will break the chains

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LITERARY

The Proposal

By Addie Houle-Hitz

She couldn’t think. Her brain was too cluttered by all of this nonsense. Kneeling there, across the floor, was the person whom, for months, Amy had been saying she loved, whom she had chosen, and yet all she could see were the red flags. She was sure she had been thinking for too long, but she didn’t want to leave without an answer. What if it was a mistake? The whole world seemed to move in slow motion as her brain picked up speed. Sure, they had uttered the words, “I love you,” but it was in a fit of awkwardness and, let’s be honest, probably a bit of drunkenness. She didn’t entirely mean what she had said, but she had said it, and it was too late to take it back now. She wasn’t getting any younger—maybe this was the only time that she would ever experience someone who would love her like they did. That was what they claimed anyways, that they were the only one who could love her, that they were the only one capable of protecting and caring for her. That was a red flag, right? Right?

“Amy?” they asked, pushing the ring a little further toward her.

“Well?”

Amy sputtered like an old car in need of a tune up. She couldn’t bring herself to say yes, but she couldn’t bear to say no either. They needed her, right? She tried to rationalize her thoughts. This was a life-long commitment we are talking about here, and she couldn’t see it going well either way. People were staring. The diners in the restaurant had begun to take photos and cheer her on to say yes. She tried to ground herself and looked around for a familiar face, for a sign of what she should do, anything at all. But the universe doesn’t work like that. She knew it didn’t and that holding out for a sign would be in vain. They were looking nervous, and the crowd’s cheers were growing louder by the minute. She knew what she wanted to say and what she should say, but they were two different things, and she couldn’t let them down, not again.

“Yes, of course I’ll marry you,” she said, producing a boisterous yell of praise from the crowd around them. This was the right decision, she kept telling herself. She made the right choice.

LITERARY

An Excerpt from Letters for Cecilia

By Addie Houle-Hitz

Hannalei had aspirations of going to sleep early. She did every night, and every night she failed. James and Vincent had been kind enough to send Hannalei home with a plate of leftovers.

“The last thing we need is more containers in our fridge,” James had told her.

Ah, to have that problem, Hannalei had thought. Cecilia would be grateful, and the container, large as it was, would probably be gone between the two of them by the time a few days had passed.

She felt as though she hadn’t seen Cecilia in weeks. Hannalei had been picking up extra shifts to help out with the rent and as a result was a rare sight during the day. She appreciated the shifts, and she liked the quiet when she was working, but she missed Cecilia. She missed the way she took her hair out after a long day, running her fingers through it and letting out a sigh of relief. She missed the way she said her name, the way it dripped off her tongue, golden and pure.

Hannalei kicked off her shoes at the front door, immediately shrinking to her normal height, and put the food in their small refrigerator, having to move things around to make it fit. She hoped to see Cecilia tonight, but the odds were slim—slimmer than she would have liked.

She wanted to have what James and Vincent had with Cecilia. Hannalei recognized that she romanticized their relationship; she always had. They had met at a dance class. James always told the story that Vincent had been dragged along by some friend, though Vincent insisted he went himself. Regardless of how he got there, Vincent ended the class alone, and James, ever the charmer, approached him and invited him for drinks. That was just the kind of person he was, and Vince was just the kind of person not to turn down drinks from an attractive stranger, whether it was in his best judgement or not.

Hannalei gave a defeated sigh and sat down on the couch. The windows were open, and she could hear the noise of the street below. She could smell a storm coming. That was when her phone buzzed with a message from Cecilia.

Hi mi sol, just got off work and was invited out to drinks with everyone (and maybe an afterparty later, woop!). Don’t wait up, we will plan something to see each other tomorrow night? We’ve barely seen each other <3 Hannalei resisted the urge to clutch her phone to her chest like a damn hopeless romantic. She melted everytime that Cecilia called her that. It translated to “my sun” or “my light”—either way, she would happily take it.

A little disappointed, Hannalei went to bed. As she lay in bed, she imagined Cecilia’s arms around her, stroking her hair until she fell asleep. It wasn’t until around three a.m. when she woke to Cecilia stumbling into the apartment.

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LITERARY

46

The Ant Colony

By Louisa Miller-Out

Carmen kicked a lone dandelion, sending its seeds skyward. A light breeze swept them down the derelict street. They floated through the late afternoon haze, past the buildings covered in red ivy and towards the simmering August sun.

“It’s hot as hell out here, Beck.”

Beck had to agree. They’d been boiling outside all day; it was the farthest they’d ever gone from Carmen’s house. But there was so much to explore out along the railroad tracks, so much that the heat wasn’t prohibitive. Graveyards of rusted old cars and fields of robust cornstalks in which they liked to pretend they were in Children of the Corn and jumpscare each other. And now they had made their greatest discovery yet.

This town looked to be entirely abandoned.

The buildings were still solid enough to stand, if embraced by nature’s grasping tendrils. Carmen skipped along Main Street (denoted by a barely legible sign), peeking in the windows of the shops as she flew by. She stopped at an old-timey ice cream parlor with a classic red-and-white striped awning, marveling at the checkerboard floors and robin’s-egg blue pleather seats.

“Beck, check this out.”

Beck, although they were not as charmed as their girlfriend was by retro interiors, caught up to Carmen and peered in the window.

The parlor was in surprisingly good condition, considering how old it and the surrounding buildings looked. The barstools were still pristine; the fake leather hadn’t even begun to crack. There were still chocolate-dipped sprinkle cones and baked goods in the glass display cases and fancy soda glasses lined up on the counter. Only one thing was amiss. Shards of glass lay on the floor, surrounded by the carnage of what appeared to be a spilled root beer float. And there were little creepy crawlies swarming around the sticky puddle. Hundreds of them.

“Eww, are those ants? There’s so many of them,” Beck said, their face contorted with disgust.

Carmen was less bothered. “It’s their ice cream parlor now,” she said with a mischievous grin, knowing it would give Beck the creeps. They were

loved it. But right now they really weren’t in the mood.

“Stop it, oh my god, that freaks me out.”

Carmen could sense that Beck had had enough.

“Okay, I’m sorry, love.” She stretched out her arm and wrapped them in a comforting side-hug. “It is kinda weird that the only living things we’ve seen all day are those little critters,” she mused.

“Yeah, that’s what bugs me. Oh my god, no pun intended.” said Beck.

“Something’s kinda compelling about it though.

Like, I kinda wanna go inside and see what’s up.”

“Isn’t that breaking and entering or some shit?” asked Beck.

“This town is, like, completely abandoned. Plus, that’s a made-up crime,” Carmen replied.

“Okay, yeah, I’m curious too,” said Beck, feeding off their girlfriend’s courage. “You gotta protect me though.”

“From what, love? The ants?”

Beck nodded, feeling a little silly.

“Of course. I’ll stomp them into oblivion for you any day.”

Carmen tried the door handle. Locked. She pulled a bobby pin from her auburn 3C curls and bent it into a 90-degree angle, then shoved it in the lock and jiggled it around for a few seconds. Eventually, she and Beck heard a gratifying click.

“That will never fail to impress me,” said Beck, who had witnessed this trick several times, usually when Carmen forgot her house keys or they wanted to explore an old car in the junkyard. But this instance of lock picking was more thrilling, even if it was in a ghost town. Carmen tried the handle again, and the door swung open with the cheery tintinnabulation of unseen bells. She went straight in and squatted by the edge of the puddle.

Beck followed her inside, gingerly picking their way around the broken glass. They peered into the display cases, which were a little dusty. It struck them as odd that they hadn’t been emptied out; it looked like the shop had just closed down in the middle of a busy day. There was still ice cream in the vats, mango sorbet and mint chip and artisanal tiramisù gelato. It had to be really old, but it looked almost edible. And the cake slices, truffles, and muffins all looked like they’d been nibbled. Must have been those gross little ants. Beck shivered. They were definitely formicating a little; they couldn’t shake

LITERARY the feeling of the bugs crawling all over their olive skin. Carmen would make fun of them for using such an unnecessarily specific word, but it perfectly described the sensation.

The sound of Doc Martens smacking the checkerboard floor startled them out of their antsy delusions.

“What the HELL.” Carmen had jumped back from the puddle, her hazelnut eyes filled with horror and confusion.

“Beck, those aren’t ants.”

“What are they then, like beetles or termites or something?”

“No, no, you gotta come look.”

It was disturbing to see Carmen so shaken; Beck couldn’t imagine what would make their fearless girlfriend stop in her tracks like that, but they made their way over to the sticky brown puddle. Carmen bent down again, and Beck followed suit. Their eyesight wasn’t the best, but once they got closer to the puddle, they could indeed see that the crawling things weren’t ants. They weren’t even insects.

They were little naked humans crawling on all fours, lapping up the root beer like animals at a watering hole.

“Oh my god, this is insane.”

“It’s like a Twilight Zone episode or something, right?” Carmen agreed.

The tiny people couldn’t have been more than a half inch long. One of them stopped and looked Carmen dead in the eye.

“There’s more of them,” said the little person, beckoning to their companions to gather around.

They swarmed like ants, encircling Beck and Carmen. Beck retreated nervously toward the door, but they accidentally stepped on a segment of the minuscule crowd, crushing two or three bodies under their foot. Horrified by the sickly crunch, they stumbled back into the circle, clinging to Carmen as if she were a life preserver in a flood.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“They never do,” a tiny woman interjected, slightly bigger than all the rest. “So many of us have been lost to the blundering feet of giants like you.

We lived in the forest before they clear-cut it and built this town. They thought it was uninhabited, but they didn’t account for the squirrels, foxes, and songbirds that lost their habitat. And they couldn’t spot us among the leaf litter, couldn’t distinguish

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between us and the other crawling creatures. We had no choice but to cede our land. Appealing to the giants was useless; they’d rub their eyes and walk away, convinced they were hallucinating. Or they’d rave about fairies and elves and get teased and ostracized by the rest of the group. And they stomped on us without a second thought, hardly bothering to look closer than six feet. We went from a vibrant and flourishing civilization to a lost people, barely subsisting on the unfamiliar foods the giants dropped. There was no meat left for us to hunt, no wild nuts and berries to forage. So we got very, very hungry. But we planned and organized and combined forces, got together everyone who hadn’t been murdered. And one day we got our revenge. Take a look behind that counter.”

Beck and Carmen were too stunned to speak but too curious not to look. They stepped over the crowd of ant-people and craned their necks over the high counter. Beck’s high-pitched scream reverberated off the windowpanes and the fancy sundae glasses.

There, laid out on the checkerboard floor, were two glistening skeletons, grinning in the late afternoon sunshine.

The little woman smiled wide with a red glint in her eyes. “We crawled in through their orifices and cut their nerves like wires. And when they had all fallen, we picked their bones clean.”

Carmen was sweating, kicking herself for picking the lock on this shop of horrors. Beck’s shallow breath rattled in their chest. Now the tiny creatures were advancing, crawling up their ankles, using their unshaven leg hair as handholds. Carmen desperately swatted at the people, but they just kept coming. They poured from between the ceiling tiles, landing in Beck and Carmen’s hair, swarming into every available crevice of their faces. One balanced on the bridge of Carmen’s nose, just between her eyes, and said: “You’re pretty. We should feed you to the queen.”

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48

Starved

By Lucas Bosteels

The rough tree bark had been digging into my ass for about an hour now, and shifting to a different position, I felt an itch where the bark had left imprints on my skin. As I was starting to grab my water bottle, I saw my prey. The little rodent had returned from its nut-seeking quest and—skittering with cheeks the size of baseballs—was heading home to its nest. Reaching the base of the tree, it looked up just in time to see my net fall on its head.

I skinned the squirrel and pocketed the nuts for either an emergency or for bait. Fred and I will feast tonight, I thought. This measly tree squirrel was all we had managed to catch in about four days, surviving on leaves and bugs we found nearby.

Scientists, statisticians, the UN—they had all predicted hitting carrying capacity later in the century.

Some estimated 2055, others 2085. Eleven years ago, on March 27th, 2032, we surpassed ten billion human beings on the planet. Technology giants collaborated with the agriculture sector, trying to find a way to mass produce basic foods required to survive, but within three weeks, two billion died. The loss in employment only decreased production of food.

Before people could make any concrete plans to fly away to Mars, only 45 million people remained globally. The extreme lack of food, mixed with rampant disease and lack of transportation, had eliminated 99.55% of the human population in a span of three months. Walking into the camp, I saw Fred in his usual spot.

“Hey Fred. Caught a little sum’in for us tonight.”

Fred was a man of few words, but he contributed to the camp, even if mostly in spirit. He sat there, looking into the fire-place, now reduced to smoldering embers that cracked every so often like little twigs snapping under foot. He hadn’t moved much from when I left that morning, but again, he never was an active person. He continued to stare into the dying fire.

We had been dreaming of the end of our freshman year of college when the food ran out. We’d made a run for Upstate New York, but in all the traffic, decided to find an isolated area in Central Park to make our campsite. In those first few

weeks, on top of scavenging for food, we had to fend off all sorts of people who wanted what we had: divorced CEOs, homeless people, a chef, an elementary teacher. We even had to turn away a group of second or third graders. We simply couldn’t afford to share.

I put some more wood on the fire, enjoying the heat on my face as I squatted, fanning the flames a bit. There was one other group that lived in Central Park–a couple in the northern part–so fires weren’t dangerous anymore. I put the squirrel on a spit to cook over the fire, tossing the salvaged nuts to Fred.

“Oi, Fred, imma go take a piss real quick. Lemme know if you hear anything weird.” I heard a grunt, so I headed out.

We had set up our camp close to The Lake, so that we would have some water and fish nearby, but the fish and turtles died quickly as people overfished them. Walking down to the water, the air got a little cooler, and I rubbed my hands over my arms. Our bathroom consisted of a one meter by one meter hole, two meters in depth, that—with the help of some hollowed-out logs, plastic bags, and metal—fed into a small pond. I took care of business and headed back up to the camp.

“Ay, what the fuck, Fred!”

The squirrel was charring, but Fred hadn’t bothered to take it off from over the fire.

“Just ‘cause you don’t do shit doesn’t mean you can’t be a decent person once in a while.” I put the burnt squirrel on a plate we had found a couple months back. “Goddamn,” I muttered.

I split the roasted squirrel with Fred.

The next morning, I woke up to some skinny rats stealing the nuts Fred hadn’t finished last night.

“Fuck me. Great start,” I croaked.

I tried to catch them, but they scurried away with the nuts in their mouths. Now that I was up, I got ready to go hunting again. The same tree as yesterday wasn’t going to work, so I would need to scout out another tree where a squirrel had made its nest.

Looking across the deserted lawns of Central Park, I finally set my eyes on a nice oak tree and started walking over.

That night, I came back with nothing more than a couple mushrooms I’d found by accident. As I sat watching the flames lick at the mushrooms, my stomach growled loudly.

LITERARY

“You’re not a picky eater, are you, Fred?” I ripped little blades of grass and waited. “I thought not.

Good thing too, since we only got mushrooms.” I sighed.

“You know, my brother was a picky eater. Wonder how he’s doing with that.” I shifted away from the fire, settling on the couch we’d stolen from an abandoned apartment. People didn’t stay in the apartments anymore, because of the gangs that raided the buildings. The gangs weren’t usually too big, but with three to four people per gang, Fred and I were bound to be outnumbered. We decided we’d only take a couple things from a building before moving on. We didn’t normally find much, especially not food, but occasionally we found blankets, plates, knives, and even some tucked-away spices. I put some cayenne pepper on the mushrooms.

A few days later, neither Fred or I had managed to bring in much food. There weren’t many animals this close to winter. Most animals had burrowed away in preparation for the long, cold winter. We still had some dried deer left from a couple months ago, which we were saving for when we were really desperate in the winter.

“I say we try our luck tomorrow in the Hudson.

We can walk over to Riverside Park, and get on the edge of the water. We have some netting we can put out, and we got a few meters of line we can try using. What d’you think, Fred?”

I left for Riverside at 5:00 in the morning; Fred was too tired and weak. The roads were filled with empty cars, some parked, others in the middle of the road. Grass had sprung up from cracks in the sidewalk, and was knee-high. The walk was so quiet, I could hear the crickets trilling and the birds chirping. If I closed my eyes and really listened, though, I could still hear the sirens, the honking, dogs barking, and teenagers yelling.

I got to the waterfront and threw the lines out.

I had attached some worms I found in the mud to hooks made from nails and screws. I left some slack in the line so that I’d see if something caught on, but in the meantime, I waded out waist-deep and chucked the net. I did this over and over, for three hours. By the end, I was dripping in sweat, and couldn’t lift my arms. I had caught one fish

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and one crayfish, but the crayfish looked so dirty I threw it back. One fish isn’t bad. It’ll keep us alive for a few days. I gathered the lines and the netting, using one of the lines to tie the fish so I could throw it over my shoulder. The walk back was worse, and I could feel the warm water slosh around in my shoes, drowning my feet and rotting the flesh on my toes. When I made it back to the camp, I took off my shoes and felt the humidity rise into my lowered face. Patches of dead skin clung to my socks as I peeled them off. Luckily, Fred had a nice surprise.

Somehow, he had managed to get good meat.

“Fuckin’A, Fred. Sorry for saying you don’t do shit around here. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

I skinned and chopped the meat and put it to roast. The smell was better than anything we had had in years. I grabbed the three spices we’d collected – the cayenne, the pepper, and the sesame seeds – and sprinkled some all over the meat. After about thirty minutes, the fats and juices were dripping onto the fire, sizzling as the fire ate them.

I took the meat off the spit and carefully cut it into four well-sized pieces. The crust was nice and crispy, but I could see that the meat inside was a nice pink. The meat was not particularly tender, but it tasted better than anything we had caught before. If we were eating frozen steaks before, this tasted like wagyu beef. The smoke from the fire mixed with the natural flavor of the meat, giving it a homey but rich taste. I cleaned the meat off until all that was left were the bones. But even then, I couldn’t help myself from licking my fingers.

“Jesus, Fred, that was outstanding.”

I licked the grease off my plate. I was about to chuck the bones when I saw the five fingers, the wrist. Looking at the other pieces, I saw the radius, the ulna, the joints of the wrist. I looked over in horror, but Fred hadn’t touched his food; he was still staring blankly into the fire.

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BACK PAGE

BACK PAGE

Guest Author: Gernard McLoo

Interpreted from Dude Lingo By Adowyn Ernste

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DISCLAIMER FROM THE EDITORS For readers intending to get their high school diplomas, these tips are questionable at best. Please note: curling irons can be dangerous when overused. And please, do not feed the rats. Do not play them accordion music either; it makes them hungrier. Read on at your own risk.

If you’re reading this, please, please come find me! Judging by my surroundings, it looks like I’m in a custodian’s broom closet, though it’s hard to tell since I have yet to find a light switch. Judging by the regular intervals of hallway chatter, I’ve been at this school for a week now, but I still haven’t managed to find any of my classes. Oh, but don’t worry though! It’s not all that bad.

I’ve gotten used to the rats, and I’ve also had plenty of time to practice for accordion lessons. At this rate, they’ll be asking me to take over for Weird Al Yankovic, but I’m not sure I can handle that kind of stress!

You know man, if you’re so uptight all the time, you’re going to go gray before we manage to get you out of that broom closet! So, it sounds like you’re a little worried about high school, huh? Lucky for you, Old Gernard here has been an IHS student since before MLK dreamed his very first dream! First off, here’s a little freebee: I bet you’re worrying about graduation, right? Well, don’t! Once you figure out the way to homeroom, I guarantee you’ll have everything

you need for your whole life, right here at good ol’ IHS. Don’t believe me yet? Then read on, my comrade, for my three best tips for the ultimate high school experience!

So, you’re feeling a little lost, huh? I was the same way. It took me almost ten years before I realized that there wasn’t a D Building after all and my friends were just messing with me. When they came up with GPS in ‘83, I just imported the coordinates of my classes, and it changed my life forever! These days, I hear you can even get them on your little portable computer devices.

Help the new students navigate their first day of classes at IHS!

You know, I’ve always wondered why the kids here are so obsessed with the mind-numbing concepts called “studying” and “graduating.”

You know what I always say: life is all about the experiences, not the brain cells! If you aspire to be the living reincarnation of Weird Al Yankovic, get yourself a curling iron and go do it! If you want to lie down underneath the G Staircase during rush hour and imagine you’re witnessing the apocalypse of humanity, go for it! (I’ve always wanted to try that one).

If people are stressing you out, just plug your ears and start singing the Indiana Jones theme song at the top of your lungs! Your teachers, your classmates, your friends, even the Principal: It’s totally amazing, I’m telling you! Within thirty seconds (or less, depending on the volume), everyone will just…disappear! Bonus tip: If you’re bored in history class, try the same trick with Fifty Nifty United States. If you do it on your accordion, the whole school will probably have to evacuate!

What In-Person School Is Like So Far, According To Your Horoscope

By Alice Burke Virgo (Aug 23 – Sep 22): Your backpack is meticulously organized so that anyone who sees it would think it was hit by a tornado. But hey—if you know where everything is, that’s all that matters.

Libra (Sep 23 – Oct 22): Now that school is in-person, you’re faced with the horrible reality of being unable to wear your glamorous silk pajamas to school, and now spend thirty minutes each morning deliberating on what to wear.

Scorpio (Oct 23 – Nov 21): It’s not even the end of the first week and you’ve already made a new rival. Congratulations.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 – Dec 21): Being back in-person means rediscovering all the hidden corners and secret hallways of IHS, and this year you’re even making your own Marauder’s Map of the school.

Capricorn (Dec 22 – Jan 19): All of your binders and notebooks are scrupulously color-coded according to each of your classes. Now all you need is for your teachers to stop assigning work strictly on the computer…

Aquarius (Jan 20 – Feb 18): Wandering around the cafeteria during lunch has allowed you to meet many new people, some of whom are even helping you start a fall leaf-collecting club.

Pisces (Feb 19 – Mar 20): You thought

you turned in the first paper homework assigned this year, but when you arrived to class you realized it was a dream and that your work is currently still residing under your hammock.

Aries (Mar 21 – Apr 19): So far, you’ve almost had an argument with three teachers, but somehow you’ve managed to restrain yourself at the last moment. People are so much more difficult in-person, aren’t they?

Taurus (Apr 20 – May 20): The most horrible moment is when you finally realize that it is not, in fact, the norm to wear the same unwashed outfit to school every day for the entire week.

Yes, it’s a shocker, but in-person school actually requires some effort.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20): You are exceedingly relieved to be back in-person―now you can have more than just the walls and your pet bird as company while you suffer through history class.

The Coolness Spectrum Cool :) Writing for The Tattler Fall Sports Lunch on the Quad Meeting new people Paper homework packets Donda Staggered school reopening

Cancer (June 21 – Jul 22): This whole in-person school thing has made you feel very stressed and overworked, but you’ve decided not to tell anyone about it until you can figure out all the problems that your friends have already dumped on you.

Unfinished construction

Leo (Jul 23 – Aug 22): Now that everyone is in-person, you’ve decided to up your popularity game once and for all, especially utilizing your knack for crazy hairstyles and flamboyant outfits.

Teacher shortages

Humidity

Delta Variant

Uncool :(