Tuskan Times Volume 8 Issue 5

April 2020 Issue

International School of Florence

Volume 8, Issue 5

A LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Dear Reader/Member of the ISF/Florence Community, As we are all progressing through quarantine and homeschooling, the Tuskan Times crew has published a Special Edition in an effort to remind you that there is good news out there, even on the darkest days. This edition is meant to shed light on recent events and discoveries that are not currently being talked about, events and discoveries that give us a glimmer of hope. We believe that it is vital that we somewhat distract ourselves from COVID-19 and focus our attention on other topics for our mental and physical well being. In this edition, you will find articles ranging from a review of the online learning experience from the students, what to do during what seems to be a never-ending quarantine, a humorous piece for families to relate to, and many more to pass the time during these never-ending days. As cliche as this may sound, no matter our distances, we are still connected. The presses roll on.

Sincerely, The Editorial team of the Tuskan Times.

What’s in this issue?

SILVER LININGS IN THE DARK CLOUD: GREAT NEWS AMID THE NEGATIVITY 1 ACTIVITIES IN QUARANTINE 3 PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE 4 COVID-19 WHAT IS GOING ON? 5 DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES DURING QUARANTINE 6 WHAT DO STUDENTS THINK OF ONLINE LEARNING 7

STAFF

Co-Editors Omid Sheikh Peter Wood Layout Editor Greta Fischer

Artists Matteo Mastrangelo Advisor John Pitonzo Front cover by Matteo Mastrangelo Back cover by Matteo Mastrangelo

SILVER LININGS IN THE DARK CLOUD: GREAT NEWS AMID THE NEGATIVITY

By Bernardo Petochi We are well over a month into quarantine, we’ve binge watched more than half the shows on Netflix, and have sat down religiously every night to keep up with the constantly growing Covid-19 numbers. We could all use a breath of fresh air.

In Cagliari, a city on the southern coast of Sardinia; dolphins have been spotted swimming and playing near the port. Typically filthy and covered in a patina of oil, the port of Cagliari is, at least for the time being, clean and pure again.

The world may appear to have stopped in its tracks, frozen by the coronavirus, but progress is still being made and it would be wrong not to notice or appreciate it.

Thanks to what is now an almost global lockdown, air pollution has decreased dramatically.

Heavily industrialised countries like China, which usually emit huge amounts of harmful chemicals and gases, have slowed down economically and as a result nitrogen dioxide levels have lowered significantly.

The water in the lagoon of Venice has turned clear. There aren’t millions of tourists travelling through it yearly, leaving behind their waste; and missing are also those gigantic transatlantic cruise and cargo ships that usually clog the historic canals.

Last but not least, also here in Florence, our river the Arno has never been so clear and clean, hosting families of ducks and limpid water which is a rare find in our generation.

Due to the drastic reduction in air travel and transportation in general, carbon emissions have lowered all-around. According to research done by Columbia University, as of March 17th 2020 carbon monoxide emissions have fallen 50% in New York City alone.

SCIENCE 1

From a medical innovation standpoint, an important breakthrough was made. Surgeons from the Oregon Health and Science Institute used the gene editing technique called CRISPR to try to cure a patient’s hereditary blindness.

This was done by injecting three droplets of fluid contained in the CRISPR edited DNA fragments directly into a patient’s eye. (scinecealert.com).

Although we are not yet certain if it worked, it is still a huge leap forward in the field of gene editing, as it was the first time that a person was administered a CRISPR-CAS9 gene directly into their body. (nature.com)

Adam Castillejo, a man who had been infected by HIV, is the second person to ever be declared cured of the disease 30 months after stopping all treatment. He had received stem cell therapy that targeted a cancer he also had; the donors of these cells had a rare gene that gives protection from HIV, and they transmitted this gene to Castillejo. (BBC) It is important not to undermine what is happening in a world engulfed in Covid-19 , or to shut it out and ignore it. Forgive the cliché, however, we every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.

Scientists have developed contact lenses that can correct red-green colourblindness.

Sunglasses that correct some types of colour blindness already existed, but now engineers from Tel Aviv University have been able to do the same with contact lenses. The advantages are clear: contact lenses are far less bulky and are more suitable for indoor use.

SCIENCE 2

ACTIVITIES IN QUARANTINE

By Nelson Matos

The coronavirus has closed downs schools across many nations and has left us in quarantine for weeks. While social distancing can be helpful in flattening the curve in order to fight the virus, the lack of face-to-face interaction with other people can still easily lead to stress and exhaustion. To combat this, there are a few ways to satiate some needed social interaction and entertainment during this period of isolation.

to content from a variety of content creators on Youtube or Twitch. The quiet time of quarantine can even help give the focus needed to catch up on reading, or even taking the time to watch something with your family in the house. The many shows and movies to watch can include engaging series such as Stranger Things and Lucifer, to movies like Avengers or The Shawshank Redemption.

Virtually hang out with friends to chat or play games

Engage in workout routines

The free time accumulated from not having drive to school and work has given people time to enjoy their array of media and entertainment.

So why not combine those with some friends and set up some virtual hangouts? Anything from Discord to Skype help to set up lobbies of your friends in order to have some company can be a relief of its own. This can be made even better with some games to spend time around, whether that be physical board games like Monopoly or Settlers of Catan, or online multiplayer games on the Nintendo Switch, Playstation or Xbox.

Despite the free time in quarantine that can be spent indulging in the activities of eating and watching all the entertainment in the world, it is important to note that moderation is key. Watching videos or downloading an app to practice even 30 minutes of fitness is a good habit to develop, especially in this time when the only time that someone can move outside of their home is to shop for groceries.

Binge on shows, movies and other entertainment Now, more than ever, is an opportune moment to catch up on shows and movies that you might have missed out on or simply put on hold because of the feeling that there just isn’t enough free time. There are many options to view all kinds of entertainment from series on Netflix and Hulu,

LOCAL AND CULTURE 3

PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE

By Avery Walsh Fernie

As we all do our part to help the Coronavirus pandemic by staying home, thousands of people are risking their lives so that we can live on. We would not be able to fight this virus without those on the frontline; doctors, supermarket workers, police officers and so on. The Italian Red Cross has played the biggest role during this horrible situation. As their workers spend countless hours taking care of patients, 160,000 volunteers help every day by answering phones and delivering food to the elderly. Moreover, volunteers at the Protezione Civile di Firenze (the Civil Protection Task Force of Florence) have been delivering masks to each and every house in Florence to ensure the safety of the people.

In addition to the public services, a number of small businesses have taken it upon themselves to give back to the community during these difficult and stressful times. Gianni Iacovitti, ISF dad and the owner of Accademia Restaurant in Piazza San Marco, has been helping the needy and the workers of the Red Cross. Before Easter, he was making daily meals and delivering them to the soup kitchen at Santissima Annunziata, where those in need often go to eat. It was so successful that he reached out to the ISF community for donations so that he could continue helping the city. After reaching out to the Red Cross he delivered about 30 meals to their workers who have been working so hard. Gianni has also been making home deliveries to the elderly.

Even our own school has started a charity program called “ISF a Tavola”. For every recipe submitted the school will donate 50 euro to Sant’Egidio, an organization which helps the homeless and people in need, a necessary service in these trying times.

In addition, private citizens have been doing their part by donating money to the many charitable organizations that are so critical during this unprecedented time.

These are only a few examples of how the citizens of Florence are giving back in order to make life a little more bearable for those in need during these extremely difficult and stressful times.

LOCAL AND CULTURE 4

COVID-19: WHAT IS GOING ON?

By Nereo Loreto

The virus outbreak has been going on for months and casualties keep on piling up. The whole world is on lockdown. People have not left the house in what seems forever. Others however, do not worry about the pandemic.

Every day they go outside on the streets and go for long walks. Elderly citizens in New York City still go out everyday to take long walks.

There are people who believe they know ways to prevent the virus from entering their bodies or get cured by it. Some said lemon in hot water cures the virus… Unfortunately this magic potion does not kill the virus. The acidity of the lemon and of the baking powder do not kill the virus. Bad news for Israel.

A few domestic pets got infected by the coronavirus; however, it was the infection of a tiger in the Bronx Zoo that set off a worldwide panic. It is believed that the tiger had got the virus from a zoo keeper proving that cats can be infected by humans. Assuming that the contagion would work both ways, cat owners are abandoning their cats for fear that they would transmit the virus.

According to many people China is experiencing a second covid-19 outbreak and is lying about their numbers. Now this may be true or false. It could be that they are not counting certain victims or forgot some people. It was believed that men were more vulnerable to the virus because deaths of elferly women in nursing homes were not being counted. New York had a small number of casualties because they were not taking into consideration people dying at home. China may be lying, for whatever reason, or they might have just made a mistake nobody watched. The United States is exploring the possibility that the Chinese government created the virus in a laboratory and unleashed it on the world. If true, it would be the reason that China might be lying about its numbers. Hopefully the virus is natural and the outbreak ends quickly.

LOCAL AND CULTURE 5

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES DURING QUARANTINE

By Stella Franceschi

KID

PARENT

This whole quarantine thing is really getting on my last nerve, as well as all of my family. School is at least 10 times harder because there is no talking to your friends, or distracting the teacher. Not to mention that, as much as I love my computer, staring at it for hours on end is definitely not my favorite. I always wished that I could stay in sweatpants all day, but this is definitely not what I meant.

My parents aren’t much better. My mom doesn’t understand that even though I’m not physically there, I still have school. She thinks I have all this free time, and she thinks that I’m going to spend all that time cleaning.

That’s what she spends her time doing and our house has never been this spotless. I look down at the floor, which by the way is wood, and I see myself reflected in it. She also keeps on bugging me about working out with her, and going on a walk with her. I just can’t do it.

I tell her that it’s because it’s against the law to go outside the house if not by yourself, but the truth is that if I spend one more minute with my family I’m going to crack. I love them, I do but I just can’t take it anymore. I’ve been so bored during this quarantine that I even downloaded TikTok. It’s a rabbit hole I never thought I’d go down, but here we are.

This quarantine has definitely put a shift on our family dynamic, but in no way is it a strain. I have all this free time which I didn’t have before, which is great. I finally have the time to do everything that I couldn’t when I was at work, but no one else in the family is much help, so I spend most of my day cleaning. It’s outrageous that I have to do it all by myself. You would think that the kids, since they don’t have much to do and they spend their whole day on that damn computer, that they could help me out. But no, they have to study. They didn’t study before and they expect me to believe that they study now? But I love my kids, and I have been enjoying this bonding time with them. It’s something that I felt we needed as a family, you know a little bonding, and here it is, a lot of it. My favorite part of my day is sitting down to have my aperitivo with my glass of wine and my husband. I don’t know where I would be without it.

I’ve been trying to keep fit. I encourage my kids to do it with me but they never seem to want to. I mean of course I make sure they stay active, but they seem to want to do it alone. I push for family walks but again, they prefer doing it alone. That’s what the law says and it makes me so happy that they obey the rules so much.

LOCAL AND CULTURE 6

WHAT DO STUDENTS THINK OF ONLINE LEARNING?

By Jay Hughes Ransley

I have conducted 2 interviews with 2 students, one from 11th grade and one from 12th grade. I chose these 2 grades because they have the highest workloads from school and therefore the most pressure.

What is your opinion on online classes?

Answer 1: “I think there are both positive and negative things to online learning. Personally I've noticed more negatives but I don't think that is the fault of teachers or even students. I've noticed some more personal struggles I have such as my attention span and my ability to focus is worse. I also think some of the organization and communication has been a bit unclear. I think that currently, we are mostly focusing on the quantity of work rather than the quality, I would rather spend 3 hours on an essay or presentation that requires me to think a bit more instead of just more or less copying information from a book and answering questions. I know certain subjects are harder than others to teach online as we know most teachers are not doing tests or any grade material which I believe is bad for students as it motivates us less to do work.” -Greta Fischer Answer 2: “I do like the idea of online classes but the way the scheduled classes are being executed is of concern.” - Noe Horiuchi

Can you tell me some advantages to online classes?

Answer 1: “The advantages I would say are you can work at your own pace and schedule which can also be a negative but personally I like having the flexibility to work at night if I want to as sometimes I focus and work better at night” - Greta Fischer Answer 2: “During online classes, I am able to write down all the notes at my pace as the feeling of rushing does not occur.” - Noe Horiuchi Can you tell me some common problems and or disadvantages to online classes?

Answer: “I feel that the disadvantage of

teaching online is that many teachers decide to implement their teaching style to only using their technological sources.” - Noe Horiuchi

LOCAL AND CULTURE 7

If you do/do not like online classes could you state your answer and explain why?

Answer 1: “I'm going to say no as we are limited to the things we can do. I am also a person who is pretty social, maybe not with everyone and in super larger groups, but I still need to talk to people. I think quarantine has made me realize that there are many people who I maybe wouldn't necessarily classify as a friend but I still miss them, just simply hearing their voice. At least for my classes, I have only a few Google meets and most of them are separated into smaller groups or none of the students really talk. More recently I've been talking more to my friends so I do feel better about that. As I said before I think the way work is assigned is still not the best but I think if we can improve on that and then the rest will be better. My recommendation for

Answer 2: “I, unfortunately, do not like the online classes because the way I learn at school becomes different when applied to online-based learning. There are ways to improve online-based classes in my opinion but I would stick with learning those subjects at school even though it seems tiring.” - Noe Horiuchi

LOCAL AND CULTURE 8

Online classes can be taxing on us students especially those in 11th and 12th grade, the overall view of online classes comes off as negative but there are advantages depending on how you work.