Max Hancock Fall Portfolio

My Fall Portfolio DJ Max Hancock 2021

“The fall of an angel”

Editing

Going into my third year of being a member of the Newspaper Class, I knew what to expect and how to prepare myself. However, I learned so much more than I expected. I learned not only how to format and edit three unique pages, but how to manage more writers than I was used to. My Global News page from last year was what one would consider a “filler” page. It adds volume to the paper but it lacks value and emotion. The Opinion page taught me what true passionate writing looks like. Witnessing staff writers be passionate about their opinions on paper reminds me of the importance of my job. I learned that the value of having a platform for students to voice what is truly on their mind is priceless. This focus was different from my concerns of being an editor last year, where I was preoccupied with technical concerns. Last year I had very surface level problems: stress, Indesign, staff management. However, this year I was really able to get a birds eye view around journalism as a whole, and how important of a role I play in being an editor that harbors writers who voice their opinion to readers.

That being said, it wasn’t to say this year didn’t have it’s challenges. Editing stories proved to be extremely challenging because I found that it became less and less of a priority with each issue. I would end up getting caught up in writing my own stories or designing my page and before I knew it, it was publication day and my stories were still unedited. The most common mistake that needed to be edited amongst the various opinion stories was the lack of proper organization. Time and time again, writers would fail to format their stories correctly. They would forget their thesis in the opening paragraph, not open with their strongest piece of evidence, and have insufficient evidence from a third party source throughout the text. Going forward, I believe it is vital that we reinforce these essential elements by constantly reminding each opinion writer before they even start their story. This helps mitigate the nuisance of having to rewrite stories in order to meet these formatting requirements.

Design

THE CSPRESS

DECEMBER 10, 2021 ● 8

ACT or SAT, which one is best for aspiring students?

Jordan Kern Staff Writer

Many debate whether the SAT or ACT is the better standardized test, but the truth is, both can provide different benefits for anybody's future. Although some side towards one more than the other, both tests are completely different and neither one is more beneficial than the other. The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. According to Green Test Prep, the SAT contains four sections to it which involve: Reading, Writing and Language, Math, and an Essay section that is optional to the student. For both tests the student has a time limit. However, the SAT is a more time consuming test.

For the writing/language portion of the test, the student has to answer 44 questions within 35 minutes. The Math section contains 58 problems that have to be completed in 88 minutes. The last part of the test; the reading section, has 52 problems that have to be completed within 65 minutes.

The purpose of the ACT test is to measure a high school student's readiness for college, and provide colleges with one common data point that can be used to compare all applicants. Compared to the scoring of the SAT, the ACT is graded out of a max score of 36 compared to the SAT 1600.

The ACT is split up into three sections that include: English, Math, and Reading. The English section contains 75 problems that have to be completed within 45 minutes. The

Math section contains 60 problems that have to be completed within 60 minutes. The last section, reading, contains 40 problems that have to be completed within 35 minutes.

Depending on the student, the SAT might be more beneficial because although both the tests require good time management, the ACT is more fast paced and time intensive than the SAT. According to Crimson Education, on the ACT only has a calculator section that accounts for about 25% of the overall score. If math is not the student's strong point, sitting the ACT may be the better option.

It all depends on the students skills, but before a decision is made, there are practice tests that do not count towards future applications that can help tremendously.

Nowadays, neither exams are required for most schools due to the pandemic.

Before the pandemic started, most colleges required incoming students to have taken either the SAT or ACT to be accepted.

According to Us News, a global news page, recent data shows that the majority of students complete the optional essay for each exam.

More than 1.2 million test-takers from the class of 2020 opted for the SAT

essay the last year it was given before discontinuation.

As mentioned earlier, both the SAT and ACT tests have no advantages or disadvantages to each other. Neither one is more difficult than the other, it all depends on the student’s skills. Colleges don’t prefer either one which means that they prefer whichever test gives you the best comparative score.

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Early Decision gives students head start Trending Now editor Sarah Love assesses how committing early to a college helps students get ahead of the pack.

Sarah Love

Trending Now Editor

Deciding what college to go to can be a confusing and demanding process. Early Decision is not for all but can be very helpful for those who know where they would like to go to college.

“If you are thinking about making an early decision some schools have a binding agreement, meaning if you do that if you are accepted you have to go there so you really want to make sure that you know you want to go to school there,” said Carrie Kalfayan, a counselor.

Early decision can be described as a process where students make a commitment where if they

get accepted the students are expected to withdraw all other applications to other schools.

Every school is different with their policy but for most schools.

Early Decision plans are binding, which means that students must go to the school they committed to. Whereas Early Action plans are non binding which means the student will receive an earlier response to their application while also not being obligated to commit to the college till the normal set reply date. While some schools have a binding policy with their Early Decision program there are some exceptions when it comes to a student backing down from the commitment to a school, although

this depends on the school, citation, and student. One reason a student may be relinquished from the early decision commitment is If the financial aid did not clear for a student and they could not afford to attend.

“I personally would not consider Early Decision, because I would like to keep my options open,” said Bryden Kaminsky, a senior.

While Early Decision is not for everyone, many students really enjoy the program. Students with their heart set on going to a specific college can greatly benefit from Early Decision. Giving them a clearer view into what the next years of their education will look like. Having everything planned

out earlier can bring clarity and lessen anxiety that students may be feeling with the drastic change from high school to college. Giving the student time to focus on other things for the rest of the year.

“I have already applied and gotten accepted, they have not asked me to dedicate myself but I am dedicated,” said Shelby Patterson, a senior.

Students who apply with early decision might be more qualified overall than their peers who apply with regular decision. They are the students who have decided months ahead of time where they would like to attend school the following year, giving them a leg up at the beginning of the college

experience, making it a little less stressful.

“Sometimes the chance of getting accepted with early decision can increase because the pool of students using the program is a lot smaller, and since it is so much smaller you are not competing with as many students,” continued Kalfayan.

Early Decision is not only beneficial to the student but also beneficial to the schools. Early decision applicants help a college to more accurately predict the yield because the students are already vomiting to attending the school even before they are offered an acceptance.

THE CSPRESS

DECEMBER 10, 2021 ● 7

Were stimulus checks the solution or the problem?

Unemployment benefits have long been an important part of our financial system, helping citizens stay afloat and support their families in the United States’ unsure economy. During COVID-19, this support was critical. According to Fortune Magazine, in the first two months of the pandemic, more than 22 million workers lost their jobs. The stimulus checks helped millions of Americans stay afloat during an unprecedented national disaster.

While the news media focused on the cons of providing “free” money to people who may not need it, according to the United States Census Bureau, about 80 percent of citizens who received a check reported using it on food, and 77.9 percent on rent, mortgage and/or utilities, including gas, electricity, cable, internet and cellphone, and more than half of respondents reported spending stimulus payments on household supplies and personal care products.

The media has also publicized the idea that people are not returning to work because unemployment is paying more than actual jobs. While it is true that many businesses are struggling to find workers, there are many reasons people are not returning to work.

The USA Today reported that economists disagree about whether the extra assistance was hold in back job searches. “What’s clearer is that some workers, particularly those who earn low wages, are being more selective about where they work. They’re determined to find better paying, more fulfilling jobs than the ones they left or lost during the pandemic.”

Another common complaint is that the government provided too many stimulus checks, saying that unemployment benefits are meant to be short term. But COVID19 changed everything, creating greater need. The pandemic was both unexpected and deadly. The stimulus checks were necessary to keep American families on their feet. It was a short term solution to get us through the most difficult times. Unemployment benefits will always be a part of the economy. We need a safety net, without one for the American people, the economy has too great of an opportunity to fall.

Livia Lowe

YES

With the recent pandemic and semi-collapse of the economy, many businesses and workers lost their source of income, leaving people jobless and without money. To provide support, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the Federal Government sent 159 million stimulus checks, totaling $267 billion. This was a great short term solution for the working class that was unable to attend their jobs and therefore unable to make money, but it went on for too long, and caused the unintended result of people not going back to work because they get more money in stimulus than they would from getting a job.

There are many negative effects caused by this social motivational downturn, one of which is a worker shortage across the nation. Different businesses, restaurants, and other franchises struggle immensely with a lack of workers due to the damage that the pandemic has caused. According to the New York Time, a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce poll showed that “nearly half of small businesses say it is hard to find candidates with the skills they need.”

Many of these businesses are forced to raise wages to extreme amounts just to get employees who are willing to work. This takes away from the hardworking individuals who are already working and receive normal pay.

Businesses are no longer in fear of being closed from the pandemic, but rather fear failure due to a low amount of employees.

Unemployment checks are not meant to last forever, they are designed to keep people on their feet during a rough time. In an article done

by Premier Staffing (a website focused on employment), they found that unemployment checks are usually only supplied for up to 26 weeks, depending on the state.

While providing assistance to people during a global pandemic was a good idea in the short term, it was extended far too long. The lack of motivation to return to work was costly and, at least at the end, unnecessary.

Now that the stimulus checks have ended, people will be forced to go out and find a job.

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Jaden Lea

NO

The Opinion page is not a page where one takes creative risks or experiments freely. It holds a strict template and each issue contains almost the same formula each time. That being said, each issue I would attempt to build upon recurring elements on my spreads in order to make them aesthetically pleasing as possible. The page where I accomplished this best was my December edition. I like this spread the best because the colors work really well together and the graphic, drawn by Maya, ties the whole page together. The color of the bottom half and the outline of Jordans staff picture matching is a perfect example of the small details that work together to create a pleasing picture.

With each success is a downfall, and in this case, it was my December edition of the Pro Con story. To begin with, the stories themselves were poorly written and extremely short of word count, making it difficult for me to fill an entire page and make it look nice. I dislike this page because there is a lot of white space. On top of that, the graphic, also drawn by Maya, is very horizontally aligned which doesn’t combine well with the portrait format of the page. If I had to do this page over again, I would have extended each story to meet proper word count, this way there would be minimal white space.

Each page of mine showcases my strengths and weaknesses. My strongest skill when designing a page is my formatting of text. I feel that when I have to fit a lot of stories on a page, I’m good at utilizing text wrap tools and font sizing in order to make it look good. On the contrary, I share a lot of weaknesses. I usually think of myself as a creative person, but when it comes to designing my page I am afraid to take risks. In the future I hope to take more artistic risks

Writing

My best piece of written work this year was the Trending Now Punk Shows story from the November issue. This was a story that I expected to flop. I had suggested the idea to Peyton and took the story on because I felt like I could report on the subject most effectively. As I was doing my research and planning out my interviews, I kept thinking to myself that the subject was going to be too miniscule to be able to write 500 valuable words about. However, much to my surprise, I was foolishly wrong.

My purpose in writing this story was to effectively capture the punk music resurgence I had witnessed in Phoenix, in particular the shows that were being put on with hundreds of kids in attendance. After doing literal hours of research online on the history of punk and having a deep conversation with Haley’s dad, an authentic rocker, about the subject, the story proved to be confoundingly easy. The work started as a sad attempt to make something I had witnessed relevant and interesting. However, by interviewing band members and real punks, the published piece came out complete and thoroughly interesting. There was a specific instance when I started this story where I reread what I had written and something felt missing and incomplete. I asked my dad what he thought I should do and he suggested I do research on the origins of punk and to open my story with the information I had found.

This proved to be the perfect solution to my problem. Including the origins of punk culture within the opening paragraphs held my story together like Gorilla Glue. After reading my finished product several times and receiving feedback from readers, the most upstanding factor of my story is its relevance. The story included student band members, shows that have been held around the valley, and a real life trend that kids actually care about. I had several people compliment my work that are a part of the local punk scene who don’t even go to Cactus Shadows. This gave me the greatest feeling of accomplishment yet.

Within the past year, Phoenix has witnessed a punk music revival, with teenagers from all over the state attending local shows and being a part of a returning scene of misfits.

“A lot of younger people have been introduced to alternative music and cultures they previously might not have known about. It’s no surprise that a little scene started to form in Phoenix,” said Hayden Syllaba, lead guitar player of local punk band “Skitzoid.” Punk music originated in the mid 1970’s where it was met with disapproval and shaming from a conservative population.

The origins of punk are highly debated because everyone has a different definition of “punk rock.” On top of such, Punk is considered to have many foundation stones in various countries, so identifying the sole birth of the musical genre is deemed near impossible. In New York, bands such as the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Blondie became popular because of their shared geographical location and refreshingly original style of music. However, across the pond, London gave birth to its own legends. Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Slits were all products of a dismal United Kingdom economy and changing times.

According to Brittanica.com, a British based online encyclopedia, Unemployment rates were at an all time high, so the youth of London were out of work and rebellious, birthing a new culture. “Bands like the Clash, the Damned, and Bauhaus all came from a different period and had a different sound and attitude. As far as why I liked them, most had something to say about the current environment,” said Kip Dent, a punk fan.

Moving forward to the mid 1980’s, the punk scene flourished with thousands of people adopting its hardcore and crude culture. Since then, Punk music has evolved into countless sub-genres. Today, cities such as Scottsdale, Cave creek, and Phoenix are seeing a similar revival. Students are starting their own bands, embracing the core breakneck music from decades before. Bands such as “Skitzoid”, “Fight the Vomit,” and “Wrong Way Out” are perfect examples of student-created bands that draw inspiration from not only each other, but punk bands that came before them. “Our band draws heavy inspiration from west coast hardcore, power violence, and beatdown. We have a range of influences,” Continued Syllaba Lately students have been using houses, garages, and backyards to house local shows, with various bands playing.

The punk community has come together to create an open invite community to attend these shows in order to not only gain exposure but share a good time. “Punk music is very loud and aggressive but the shows are very inclusive and welcoming, a lot of the time they are free and allow any age, it’s super easy to be social,” said Flynn Shelmire, an attendee of local shows.

As time progresses, the scene in Phoenix is destined to grow and evolve as students continue to discover the time18 ● NOVEMBER 5, 2021 less genre of punk music.

Trending Now

Phoenix’s Punk Revival

Max Hancock Opinion editor

Within the past year, Phoenix has witnessed a punk music revival, with teenagers attending local shows and being a part of a returning scene of misfits.

“A lot of younger people have been introduced to alternative music and cultures they previously might not have known about. It’s no surprise that a little scene started to form in Phoenix,” said Hayden Syllaba, lead guitar player of local punk band “Skitzoid.”

Punk music originated in the mid 1970s where it was met with disapproval and shaming from a conservative population.

The origins of punk are highly debated because everyone has a different definition of “punk rock.” On top of such, Punk is considered to have many foundation stones in various countries, so identifying the sole birth of the musical genre is deemed near impossible.

In New York, bands such as the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Blondie became popular because of their shared geographical location and refreshingly original style of music.

However, across the pond, London gave birth to its own legends. Sex

Pistols, the Clash, and the Slits were all products of a dismal United Kingdom economy and changing times.

According to Brittanica.com, a British based online encyclopedia, unemployment rates were at an all time high, so the youth of London were out of work and rebellious, birthing a new culture.

“Bands like the Clash, the Damned, and Bauhaus all came from a different period and had a different sound and attitude. As far as why I liked them, most had something to say about the current environment,” said Kip Dent, a punk fan.

Moving forward to the mid 1980s, the punk scene flourished with thousands of people adopting its hardcore and crude culture. Since then, Punk music has evolved into countless subgenres.

Today, cities such as Scottsdale, Cave creek, and Phoenix are seeing a similar revival. Students are starting their own bands, embracing the core breakneck music from decades before.

Bands such as “Skitzoid”, “Fight the Vomit,” and “Wrong Way Out” are perfect examples of student-created bands that draw inspiration from not only each other, but punk bands that came before them.

“Our band draws heavy inspiration from west coast hardcore, power violence, and beatdown. We have a range of influences,” Continued Syllaba Lately students have been using houses, garages, and backyards to house local shows, with various bands playing. The punk community has come together to create an open invite community to attend these shows in order to not only gain exposure but share a good time.

“Punk music is very loud and aggressive but the shows are very inclusive and welcoming, a lot of the time they are free and allow any age, it’s super easy to be social,” said Flynn Shelmire, A senior.

As time progresses, the scene in Phoenix is destined to grow and evolve as students continue to discover the timeless genre of punk music.

MOSH PIT. Punk show enthusiast Flynn Shelmire attending a punk show.

House shows like these are frequently in enthusiasts homes. 4Oliver Rylee

Leadership

There is a common theme that plagues the newspaper classroom every issue. It is every writer’s worst nightmare, and the enemy of every deadline. This sickness is called: lack of motivation. In order to cure staff writers who have caught this wicked disease, they have to be re-amped and energized about what they are writing about. I felt like this year I was able to personally talk to each one of my writers and harness their passion around a subject and be able to transfer that energy into motivation for writing their story.

This method was inclusive and embodies the spirit of teamwork.

To take it a step further, I felt that I could have made myself even more available to my staff writers instead of being wrapped up in my own work.

Besides the lack of motivation amongst the staff writers, I found that there was another challenge. I felt like I struggled with giving constructive criticism to those writing for my page. I would edit their stories however I found that I would fix their mistakes for them instead of letting my staff writers grow and learn from their mistakes. Part of this leadership problem of mine stemmed from the fact that I was scared of irritating staff members. Being unliked for being constructive was a real concern of mine, when in reality, I should have said what needed to be said. It’s more important to be respected than it is to be liked in a leadership setting.

Creating an award winning publication is not a feat for the weary.

Such a task is accomplished through hard work, staying overtime, and going the extra mile. As a team we do a great job taking on heavy work loads. Each member of the paper takes a heavy load and it seems to be distributed equally. However, there is a serious problem with our attitude when things get hard. Almost all staff and editors alike, result in lashing out at one another if something becomes overbearing or frustrating. To remedy this aching sore of a weakness, the newspaper class as a whole needs to take a deep breath and remember that some hard circumstances are out of our control, and treating trials with a bad attitude doesn’t make anyone’s life easier.

Design tearSheets

Design tearSheets October

Comment

6 ● OCTOBER 6, 2021

THE CSPRESS

THIS YEAR, ADMINISTRATION combined the two lunch schedules into one lunch. This

10 day absence policy unfair Editors in Chief

School is stressful as is, and missing school adds to the plate.

problematic rule, it is now doubling the stress and issues that students face daily.

When students aren’t feeling well or are simply having an off-day, school is the last place they want to be, and now they are essentially required to go regardless of issues or sickness (besides covid). It shows a lack of empathy and care for students who are unwilling to go to school, and even adds similarities to The EDITORIAL represents the a prison. I’m not consensus view of the members of sure how this rule the Editorial Board. is supposed to help The Editorial Board members or improve the are Philip Tate, Claire Geare, campus or student Max Hancock, David Lane, Cait productivity, but I Bunkers, Judy Silva, Erika Potter, feel that all it does PeytonMarinelli, Gianna Lazzaro, Paul Wernes, Katelyn Pinkham, is weigh down and Livia Lowe, Jaden Lea, Sarah Love upset students even more. When I first heard of the rule, it made me instantly have a negative feeling towards the new staff. I feel, as new members of an unfamiliar school, the last thing that should be done is upsetting students.

There is now a pressure of counting which days are worth missing and whether or not a person can hang-in throughout the treacherous days of school.

A simple alternative could be to provide a warning or some sort of ‘talk’ at 10 days, and have the consequences continue to increase from there.

This policy is an utter embarrassment for the district and is seen by many of the students and parents as unethical. I feel like much more efficient policies could have been put into place with the start of a new school year.

Vaccine mandates safe bet

Jordan Kern Staff Writer

President Joe Biden enforced a new vaccine mandate on September 9, that has angered a lot of Americans. Despite concerns about the vaccine, people need to trust science and get vaccinated.

In short, Biden’s mandate calls for all employers with more than 100 workers to require their employees be vaccinated or tested for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. In addition, roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.

This pandemic has caused a lot of tension, especially through the different political parties. With this mandate, some Americans would rather lose their job instead of getting the vaccine. Most who believed in the vaccine took it the moment it came out because they believed they were safe and effective.

Although lots of people have still gotten Covid-19 while being vaccinated, stats have shown that the death probability is extremely low and the symptoms would be a lot milder than if you were unvaccinated.

The problem with this rule is that a lot of the health workers who don’t believe in this vaccine are having to make very hard decisions on whether to leave their job and risk unemployment or go with the vaccine and hope it’s not as bad as the media says it is.

The vaccine should be a choice when it comes to hostile work environments because Americans do have rights and being forced to get something put into your body is unfair.

However, When it comes to health workers, they are dealing with sick patients every day and if they happen to get Covid-19 and spread it throughout hospitals and other areas, the death rate would increase dramatically.

Certain jobs should require vaccines for the health of others, but Biden’s mandate seems a little bit over the top. Biden is also requiring vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government, with no option to test out. The vaccine rate just in the U.S is nothing to be proud of.

Only 54.4% of Americans in the U.S have been vaccinated since the vaccine was created which doesn’t help these mandates terminate. In contrast to these numbers and

OCTOBER 6, 2021 ● 7

Is one lunch or two lunches better?

The Editorial: As We See It

A new mandated policy has been applied by the new principal regarding 10 days of absence for students. This rule has recently been put into place as it was non-existent in the last years of highschool.

A new principal has come to school, as well as a variety of other faculty and staff members of power.

With this has come a new rule that is completely unrealistic and unfair towards students of all grade levels.

What is the 10 Day Policy? The 10 Day Policy is a policy where students are only allowed to miss 10 class periods per semester. Each class has 10 allowed absences, and once those 10 absences are reached, credits can start to be pulled from the class, making students ineligible to receive full credit. This rule has never been implemented in any of the previous years that I’ve been at the school, and I think that’s because the faculty realized how ignorant the rule was. However, this year there is new faculty and with that comes the lack of knowledge on student expectations.

There can be many different ways that students miss school or are unable to attend class, and the only thing that is covered under this rule is a positive covid test and a family emergency/death.

When it comes to highschool and academics, grades are extremely important, and students are aware of that when jumping into this chapter of their life.

School is stressful as is, and missing school always adds to the plate. With this newly inefficient and

THE CSPRESS

rules, the people who don’t believe the vaccine is safe do have fair points. Like other diseases, vaccines take quite a while to make after thorough research and testing. The Covid-19 vaccine came out in less than a year and a lot of people didn’t think enough research was done to classify this vaccine as safe.

Many people claim that the vaccine was developed too fast, and therefore cannot be trusted. What many people don’t understand is that the first coronavirus case in the United States was in 1930 in chickens. According to the World Health Organization, the first human case of coronavirus was the SARS virus in 2002, and scientists have been continuously developing vaccines for them ever since. The “new” Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are based on science that has been around for almost 20 years.

Yes, Americans have rights and opinions, but the amount of complaining about this virus can end quickly. Do your job and go get vaccinated if you haven’t already done so.

Online Editor in Chief Opinion Editor News Editor Sports Editor Food Editor Creeker Editor Spotlight Editor Photo Editor Travel Editor Style Editor Science Editor Tech Editor Trending Now Editor

Philip Tate Claire Geare David Lane Max Hancock David Lane Cait Bunkers Judy Silva Erika Potter Peyton Marinelli Gianna Lazzaro Paul Wernes Katelyn Pinkham Livia Lowe Jaden Lea Sarah Love

Staff Christopher Alexander, Caitlin Bunkers, Hailey Dent, Will Donegan, Hudson Ellis, Claire Geare, Johnathan Geare, Jacob Golicz, Max Hancock, David Lane, Gianna Lazzaro, Jaden Lea, Sarah Love, Livia Lowe, Peyton Marinelli, Katelyn Pinkham, Erika Potter, Judy Silva, Philip Tate, Owen Taylor, Paul Wernes, Jordan Kern, Cooper Lake, Owen Taylor Advisers Lori Hart, Robert Adamson Editorial Policy: The CSPress is published by the Journalism class of Cactus Shadows High School.

The newspaper serves the students and staff of Cactus Shadows High School and as a connection to the surrounding community.

The objective of the CSPress is to publish a factual, informative and entertaining the NEWSpaper, and to provide a forum for the expression of diverse viewpoints.

The Comments and views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, the adviser, or all CSPress staff members.

The CSPress is also published online, at cactusshadowscspress.com.

The editors reserve the right to reject any material that is libelous, obscene, or poses an immediate and material disruption to the educational environment.

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If you have something to say about anything you have read, please write a letter to the editor and send it to cspress.Comment@gmail.com. Letters must be typed, less than 100 words in length and signed. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit for length. The CSPress will not print letters that are obscene, libelous or that target an individual.

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November

was considered a controversial move by many in this school. However, there are some positives to this change. First of all, having a combined lunch can allow for everyone to sit with their friends at lunch, as opposed to some people being split up by the two lunches. This creates more of a social setting, with much more people. Having two lunches separates many students.

In addition, having two lunches involves more valuable time, resources, and faculty.

Having only one lunch cuts down the time spent on lunch, and more time can be put towards educational use. One lunch also only means staff and faculty will not have to work as long.

An important thing to note is that seniors that have already attained their required credits leave early, thus not going to eat lunch on campus. This puts significantly less strain on the cafeteria and makes it less crowded. One might argue the lack of students present might be the reason the school can accommodate only having one lunch.

Another benefit of only having one lunch is the possibility of reduced funding required for it. Two lunches (probably) requires much more funds to sustain than only having one lunch period.

Cutting down the number of lunches also cuts down the schedule. Instead of having Lunch A and Lunch B, one lunch makes the schedule much easier and less blocky. The modified schedule can make it easier on many who already have a difficult schedule to begin with.

A counter-argument is that having only one lunch instead of two lunch periods makes everything more crowded.

There are two things to say about this. The first is that more people at lunch isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are some who like a lot of people as it means there is more to socialize with. As previously mentioned, the social setting having one lunch creates is one that having two lunches can not match. A second counter to this claim is that our school already experiences crowded spaces. Over 1,800 students attend this school, that’s a lot of people. The school already experiences crowding as is. In the hallways, pathways, and bathrooms, things get crowded very easily.

Big events like Club Rush only need to be held once instead of twice in a two-lunch system. Also people selling snacks on first Fridays only have to be out there for a short amount of time, instead of a couple hours.

AT THE START of the school year, people were surprised to see that the school had changed

back to one lunch. Many people were upset with this because of their experience with previous years when there was one lunch The 2020-2021 school year had two lunches and it allowed the grades to be separated by upper and lower classmen. This allowed people to be able to sit with their friends because there were enough seats to go around two grades instead of four.

I feel that having two lunches allows the students to actually enjoy their food instead of waiting in line for the entirety of lunch just to get food.

Although it may seem like there is time lost from learning, during the 2020-2021 school year, class time was the exact same if there were to be one lunch. Teachers still teach the same amount of hours in a day when there are two lunches. No one is losing time in the classroom.

There are plenty of seniors that have a fifth and sixth period. They add onto the amount of students in the cafeteria during lunch. With COVID-19 being an issue, I believe that still trying to protect the students from spreading it in large groups is a main reason why we should have two lunches.

Having two lunches still costs the same to run. Roughly the same amount of food is being bought by students and if anything the school makes more money if people were to buy food not during their specified lunch time.

Having separate lunches allows people of the same age to eat together which causes less issues at lunch. Most lower classmen have the same classes, besides electives. Same goes for the upperclassmen.

Having two lunches does not affect how difficult a schedule can be because everyone is going to different places at every passing period.

Being in a pandemic has forced schools to change the way of many things. Social distancing is a main thing through school and having one lunch makes it very hard to social distance.

When there are two separate lunches, the amount of kids in each lunch is significantly lower than if there was one lunch.

You can argue that the school is larger than most and social distances is impossible, however having one lunch does not help it at all.

Big events should be separate to help them be more organized. When students are all in the same area at once, things tend to move less smooth. Having two lunches allows events to run better.

Paul Wernes

Hudson Ellis

Two Lunches

One Lunch

A

The Report Card

B

Based on a poll of 100 students taken on September 20, 2021

C D F

10 day absence policy

First Football game

First assembly

Comment

6 ● NOVEMBER 5, 2021

THE CSPRESS

OPINION THE CSPRESS OPINION

NOVEMBER 5, 2021 ● 7

Should college tuition be free?

The Editorial: As We See It

It’s time to pass the bond

Editors in Chief

and facilities. Currently, only 52% of students in Cave Creek actually attend Cave Creek Unified schools.

Speaking from personal experience, the lack of techN NOVEMBER 2, Cave Creek Unified School District held a special election to decide on nology, resources, and support in the district is evident. whether to pass the first education bond in Lessons are interrupted daily as kids run Chromebooks seven years. This bond is crucial to the funding back and forth between classrooms, teachers are losing of the schools in the district, and can improve enroll- prep hours to substitute other classes, and we’re losing ment, make necessary upgrades to facilities, and pay off administrators left and right.

That’s not to mention the facility’s obvious decay. debts.

With conflicting signs at every corner, it’s hard to Roofs have leaks, bathrooms are closed regularly, and lights are out in countless rooms. To me, it’s no wondetermine what an education bond even is.

Put simply, education bonds are voter-approved funds der enrollment rates are dropping, especially with online schools’ increasing popularity that can only be used for school facilisince COVID-19. ties. Districts collect this money by taxSome district members argue ing property owners on the assessed CCUSD has not passed a that since the bond goes towards value of their properties. So, by votthe tangible items in the school ing “yes” on a school bond, community bond since 2014. district, not programs, the funds members agree to increase property are unnecessary. By giving the taxes to fund the school.

In Cave Creek, the average cost to homeowners would district more funds it can potentially free up money for maintenance and operation budgets, which affects be $94 per year or about $8 per month.

This negligent increase on taxes would give the dis- teacher salaries. This nickel-and-dime attitude is the trict $40 million. The funds will be split up with $4 million reason our schools are so behind in the first place. For for new technology, $1 million for safety and security, $3 such a low price with such a big benefit to the school, million for sports facility upgrades, $27 million for gen- now is not the time to be waiting around.

This bond will serve to benefit all seven schools in the eral facility upgrades and maintenance, $3.2 million for buses and $800 thousand to pay off debt from a solar and district, and will supply capital needs until 2028-2030.

For only $94 dollars a year, a cost this district can defienergy saving project. nitely afford, our schools The benefits of passing could have the funds an education bond are vast. necessary to thrive for Interest from the bonds are tax The EDITORIAL represents the consensus view of the the first time in seven free, members of the Editorial Board. years.

CCUSD has not passed a The Editorial Board members are Philip Tate, Claire bond since 2014. This has put us Geare, Max Hancock, David Lane, Cait Bunkers, Judy miles behind other school disSilva, Erika Potter, Peyton Marinelli, Gianna Lazzaro, tricts in programs, technology, Paul Wernes, Katelyn Pinkham, Livia Lowe, Jaden Lea, Claire Geare Editor and cheif

O

Sarah Love

H

ALLOWEEN, AS WE know it, is so far detached from its

Catholic and Celtic roots that opponents of the holiday can not seem to agree on what makes it so evil. Primarily, the themes of death and spirits, even as glorified and cartoonish as they appear today, are frequently used to justify claims of Halloween having a more sinister and demonic nature than perceived by the general public. Most of these anti-Halloween ideas are pushed as the “true meaning” behind the holiday’s traditional practices, despite the fact that the holiday itself dates back far before this paranoia.

That’s exactly what it is: paranoia. Parallels to the fear of devilworshipping and satanic practices surrounding Halloween can be drawn to the older generation’s aversion to rock music in the late 1970s, with the shared factor being that both Halloween and the rock movement during the time had the tendency to romanticise and aestheticise evil.

But aestheticising evil is not equal to worshipping Satan by any means, nor would it be reasonable to make the assumption that one could easily lead to the other. However, this notion is further rein-

Staff Christopher Alexander, Caitlin Bunkers, Hailey Dent, Will Donegan, Hudson Ellis, Claire Geare, Johnathan Geare, Jacob Golicz, Max Hancock, David Lane, Gianna Lazzaro, Jaden Lea, Sarah Love, Livia Lowe, Peyton Marinelli, Katelyn Pinkham, Erika Potter, Judy Silva, Philip Tate, Owen Taylor, Paul Wernes, Jordan Kern, Cooper Lake, Advisers Lori Hart, Robert Adamson

Editorial Policy: The CSPress is published by the Journalism class of Cactus Shadows High School. The newspaper serves the students and staff of Cactus Shadows High School and as a connection to the surrounding community.

The objective of the CSPress is to publish a factual, informative and entertaining the NEWSpaper, and to provide a forum for the expression of diverse viewpoints.

The Comments and views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, the adviser, or all CSPress staff members.

The editors reserve the right to reject any material that is libelous, obscene, or poses an immediate and material disruption to the educational environment.

Staff writer Johnny Geare explains how Halloween has been misinterpreted as being demonic in nature.

Staff Writer

Philip Tate Claire Geare David Lane Max Hancock David Lane Cait Bunkers Judy Silva Erika Potter Peyton Marinelli Gianna Lazzaro Paul Wernes Katelyn Pinkham Livia Lowe Jaden Lea Sarah Love

The CSPress is also published online, at cactusshadowscspress.com.

Halloween remains innocent Johnathan Geare

Online Editor in Chief Opinion Editor News Editor Sports Editor Food Editor Creeker Editor Spotlight Editor Photo Editor Travel Editor Style Editor Science Editor Tech Editor Trending Now Editor

WE VALUE YOUR COMMENTS.. EMAIL YOUR LETTER TO cspress.@gmail.com

forced by Satanists themselves- oftentimes prominent Satanists will make comments likening common Halloween practices, such as dressing up in costumes and hanging decorations, to satanic activity. Anton LaVey, founder of the church of Satan, has gone on record saying that dressing up for Halloween night, rather it be body paint, clothing, or accessories, is comparable to worshipping the devil. Another former Satanist by the name of John Ramirez elaborated on this stance, adding that “you give the devil the legal rights to change your identity.”

The classic Halloween traditions are as innocent as could be.

Simply put, they aren't the problem. The scariest part of Halloween is what goes on under the radar, specifically among adolescents.

As teens grow older and shed their masks, costumes, and trick-ortreating buckets, Halloween becomes a time to host parties, often involving illegal or unsafe activities, masquerading under the guise of festive decorations and playful costumes.

It is possible that certain religious parents could have developed this aversion to Halloween from a lack of trust in their teenage children to act responsibly on Halloween night. Either that, or they truly believe that the horror themes surrounding the holiday could, in some way, be acts of defiance towards God.

The CSPress values comments from its readers. If you have something to say about anything you have read, please write a letter to the editor and send it to cspress@gmail. com. Letters must be typed, less than 100 words in length and signed. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit for length. The CSPress will not print letters that are obscene, libelous or that target an individual.

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The CSPress is a member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, the Journalism Education Association, and the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association.

THE IDEA OF free college in today’s society is something that is looked upon very carefully and definitely should be something to be considered. Everyone has their own paths to school and college is one thing that some students and families simply can’t afford which is why it should be free for everyone.

America is made of a very diverse type of society where everyone pursues different passions. Eliminating tuition for all students takes a huge load off their backs and could provide lots of opportunities to those who may not have had them previously. Of course, not everyone agrees with college being free for a variety of reasons.

In fact, more opportunities would be presented to everyone. By negating the large bill of a college education, we could see an increase in the number of students able to attend college. This creates a well-educated workforce and a population that has better critical thinking skills. If this were to happen, it could lead to innovation in all areas of society.

Free college doesn’t mean no money spent at all. The only thing free about the college would be the tuition being paid, which still is a lot of money. Housing, textbooks, food, classes, etc. still has to be paid for. In addition, one of the main pros of making college free is for those still paying off their student debt from however many years ago they attended school.

According to Ellen Anderson, author and writer for collegeraptor. com, without the weight of student loan debt, more college graduates might be able to purchase houses rather than renting apartments. On top of that, they may be able to buy cars and have enough money to travel more: In essence, they could contribute more to the economy.

According to pro.con. org, a website that compares and conJordan Kern trasts popular topics in society, stated, “because the student loan debt has risen 130% since 2008, and public college costs have risen 213% between 1987 and 2017, students are coming out of college already buried under a mountain of debt before they have a chance to start their careers.”

Free college should be available as soon as possible because of the many benefits it gives to those who can’t afford it, to eliminate or help student debt, and to provide more opportunities for students.

Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, feels strongly about providing a free college education to American students. “It is insane and counter-productive to the best interests of our country and our future, that hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college, and that millions of others leave school with a mountain of debt that burdens them for decades. That shortsighted path to the future must end.” Sanders brings up a lot of points that should be considered if free college were to be an option one day. \Maya Camas

YES

OPINION

8 ● NOVEMBER 5, 2021 8 ● OCTOBER 6, 2021

THE CSPRESS

It’s called the student lot for a reason okay? And remember to smile, oh and don’t forget to go up to each and every one of your teachers and say“Now don’t you throw that at me! I will call each and every one of your parents and tell them what little heathens they raised myself unless you step away from my - ouch! You could have killed me! What is this? I won’t be I really do not able to get this out of my car seats! I hope understand kids you’re happy knowing you just committed a federal offense. Destruction of property these days. Jeez. is no joke young lady. I’ll have to I mean, I come ouch!-” here, hoping Now, definitely don’t get involved with those kids sweetto drop off my heart. They don’t seem to be sweet little man very nice. I’m not doing a single thing to provoke them. They at school and think they’re so entitled just what do I get? because they park here, too.

Well, don’t they know I’m just trying to drop off my sweet boy?

I’m simply a hard working mother, sitting here in this parking lot trying to drop off my sweet little angel.

My one true passion. My little baby boy. My snugglemuffin. My sweetheart “Where are you going?

Justin get back here! Oh… oh my… what are they doing. What are those kids doing?!

Stop hurting my boy!

Stop it! Don’t look at me like

“

Claire Geare Editor In Chief

Hey Honey, ready for your first day of school? Oh, you’re so big now! A freshman in high school - you know, I was once a freshman in high school. It’s hard to imagine. Your ol’ Mom, a freshman in high school. Now listen, I know you’re a big high schooler now, but don’t go forgetting about your mom and dad. Oh, you’re going to make so many new friends! Make sure to smile, and don’t take anything that… Hey, wait, what are those kids doing out there? Why are they “Don’t you point that finger at me young man! -” Where was I? Oh yeah, don’t trust anyone who asks you to join their “gang,”

that, stop hitting him! No, don’t start hitting the car! Are those… baseball bats?”

I really do not understand kids these days.

Jeez. I mean, I come here, hoping to drop off my sweet little man at school and what do I get? Violence! Justin might just have to transfer. I mean there’s no crime in parking in this spot for a few minutes! Like spot #23 is in such dire need. Pfft. They think they know it all. I mean, when I was a kid“Justin? Is… Is that you? Where did you get face paint? Why are you… Justin this isn’t you, put down the bat! No! Stop! You don’t even like baseball!”

Has this ever happened to you? If it has, you likely attempted parent pick up in the student parking lot. Don’t be like her. This has been a PSA from the newly formed Cactus Shadows student militia state.

Make way for November, the worst month of the year

Claire Geare Editor In Chief

As Halloween unhooks it’s offensively long talons in the hearts of Americans, Thanksgiving rears it’s extremely boring head. Spooky spiders and skeletons are replaced reluctantly with… birds. Big, huge, ugly, birds and a few leftover pumpkin decorations that weren’t Halloween specific enough to be tossed in the bin. Brown leaves become an acceptable motif as we spend 28 days waiting in anticipation for the worst day of the year.

Okay, it’s not that I don’t like Thanksgiving. ping marathon.

Not to mention its racist implications. We I do, I promise. Well, I like bread. And cranberry sauce. And five to seven members of my all know not to dress up as Pocahontas for family, on good days. So the day is perfect if Halloween, but wait three weeks and now every Kindergarten you take away the rest class is divided into of it. pilgrim hats and paper But, oh god, the Then, after the worst headdresses for a rest of it. Every bowl day of your life you Thanksgiving play. in your house mysWe seriously let teriously disappears go around a table and those kids go out on Thanksgiving, I’m play Miss America for there and re-enact a convinced.

Every a while. It’s horrible. completely made up aunt multiplies and event. Sure, “it’s no every mother ages Awful. big deal,” but as soon ten years. All fathers as the play gets edited test their capacity for for accuracy the kids enjoying football and cousins who you never knew existed come in the headdresses aren’t going to be very happy. out of the woodwork to steal your food.

There’s a video circling the online stratoThen, after the worst day of your life you go around a table and play Miss America for sphere lately of a teacher, donning a Native a while. It’s horrible. Awful. A sad excuse for a American headdress, performing what must holiday. At least Halloween is honest. We ful- be the most offensive dance to grace any eyefill our twisted human need for gore all while balls unfortunate enough to see it. She claps collecting candy from strangers like a kidnap- and hollers like a prejudiced caricature in

Big tech censorship is here to stay David Lane News editor

\Zander Bezotte

Mask mandate causes uproar David Lane

News Editor

\Maya camas

Using funding from schools in order to encourage schools to open in person instead of staying online, as well as to get rid of the mask mandate is an abuse of power from our state government that puts the lives of students, parents, and faculty at risk.

On September 29, Governor Ducey’s budget plan will take effect. This will open up any school that has in person learning and does not have a mask or vaccine mandate to a $163 million grant program.

This plan would also cut funding to schools that do not comply with the grant requirements.

According to NPR, “Schools that have mask mandates or have closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks are not eligible for the program and risk losing the additional $1,800 per student.”

This policy blatantly disregards the severity of the current global pandemic and only appeals to those who are ignoring scientific research in favor of their own belief that personal freedom comes before the lives of their fellow Americans.

The Arizona Department of Health states that COVID-19 cases have increased to levels similar to July of 2020, when a statewide mask mandate was officially introduced in order to combat the rise in cases.

With the growing number of cases as a result of the delta variant, there is no reason to assume that the cases will decline without affirmative action being taken in order to curb the spread of the newer, more trans-

missible form of the virus.

The Delta Variant spreads over twice as efficiently as older versions of COVID-19, and should not be taken lightly. The center of disease control recommends masks in areas of,“substantial or high transmission.”

Schools should be taking efforts to ensure every student’s safety first and foremost and by outright banning the requirement of a disease deterrent during a pandemic is ill informed and ignorant.

The funding Governor Ducey plans to withhold from the states is not even state money; it’s a grant from the federal government. By blocking federal money to public schools, Ducey is actively stifling the efficacy of federalism and is misusing his influence in order to push his party’s reckless politics.

THE CSPRESS

With the influence social media has on the lives of many Americans, it is important to make sure that these large and easily accessible platforms are kept clean of any content that could potentially incite hate or violence.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and many others, influence the lives of almost everyone on Earth in some way. Because of this, people can spread their messages over a wider range than ever before Due to this massive influence, it is important that the owners of social media platforms recognize this and stop the spread of hateful messages and ones that condone or incite violence.

According to the Council of Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, they stated, “In the United States, perpetrators of recent white supremacist attacks have circulated among racist communities online, and also embraced social media to publicize their acts.”

Hate speech is not the only form of harmful messaging to come from an unfiltered social media feed. False and misleading information is also responsible for people believing lies made up to persuade people to believe a particular train of thought.

paisley pants as horrified students look at this train wreck, laughing to ease the pain.

I’m as outraged as anyone, but boy would I love to take a walk in her mind. If a genie came down to Earth and gave me three wishes, one would most certainly go towards figuring out what this poor woman was thinking.

What is it like to be a forty year old teacher, criminally underpaid, spending what little you do make on paisley pants and an offensive headdress, then purposely scarring thirty five sixth graders for life? Where did she get the pants? The headdress? Did she practice such a dance? All questions I will lay awake at night and ponder.

Let me be honest for a moment: this hit piece on a well documented disaster of a holiday is not going to blow any minds. It sucks.

You know it, I know it, and any history major knows it graphically.

I’m just here performing my civic duty, joining the choir of voices all singing the same song. God bless America, except for the bad parts.

According to Pew Research Center, About two-in-three U.S. adults, (64%) say fabricated news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues and events.

Ensuring posts containing false information are fact checked or even deleted would help curb the efficacy of misinformation’s ability to convince people to believe in lies.

Some people would argue that although the threats online might be hateful, and fake news may have negative impacts on those who read it, banning posts from the platform containing this kind of speech inhibits free speech from being shared, and therefore violates the rights of the user to speak freely.

The right to have a platform and the right to speak freely are not interchangeable. Social media is a platform, with much more reach and influence than sim-

ply spreading hate by word of mouth.

It is important that companies recognize this and restrict giving hate a platform from which to spread across the internet.

Whether intentional or not, by giving hateful ideologies a platform to be publicized, these tech companies are causing these acts of terror to gain more support from radicals all over the world.

By taking away a platform for these terrorists to use, hateful acts will be harder to coordinate and it will be harder for social media users to become influenced by radical and violent ideals.

\Maya Camas

ONE OF THE largest debates among students and adults is whether college tuition should be

free for students or not. Despite the fact that college is expensive and many students end up in debt, it would be foolish to make it free for everyone.

The modern era is full of the ideology that things should be free in life with a closed mind on the negative side effects. College tuition is looked at as one of the largest costs for students and parents, and it is very expensive. In reality, it is only a fraction of the cost that the rest of college living requires.

Housing, food, textbooks and other expenses are far more costly than tuition itself.

Books alone are thousands of dollars per year and there’s no way to alter the pricing on it.

With tuition, colleges have a plethora of scholarships to offer students that can chip away at the cost. Full rides are offered to students who perform well academically as well as those who offer high athletic skills and abilities. Smaller scholarships can still range from $5,000 to $20,000 per year depending on what the student has to offer.

An article written by SavingforCollege.com, an independent resource for parents and financial professionals, states that colleges supply more than 1.7 million scholarships per year, totaling over $7.4 billion.

There are many other scholarships for smaller achievements that can offer huge amounts of money saved per year/semester.

Colleges make paying for college much easier with scholarship opportunities that are given out like never before.

Students can work hard early to prevent the overwhelming student debts that come from college. With student debts however, it is very flexible on payment times, as students don’t have to start making payments right after they graduate and are given a large amount of time to make those payments.

There is time for students to grow their income and chip away at their debt as they get older. Student debt is also a great way to help students understand financial decisions and skills that are needed in life.

One of the most imporJaden Lea tant cons that people are forgetting when thinking about free tuition is the large tax increase that will come from it. An article done by ProCon.com, a non-biased information source for students, states that a free college tuition plan would cost roughly $47 billion per year. Money doesn’t grow on trees and the government has other things to spend money on, therefore the cost of college tuition would be taken out of taxes.

This would jump the price of taxes to an absurd amount that would also get complained about. Nothing is ever given for free, and it has to come from somewhere, which many people fail to understand. College tuition has had the same setup for years, so altering it would just cause a whole new system that would be difficult and unnecessary.

When comparing the list of pros to cons for free college tuition, it is clear that tuition should not be free and the system should continue to stay the same. There are no true benefits to free college that won’t take a toll on other aspects of expenses.

With the modern era and the variety of opportunities set up for students, there is no reason to make college free strictly because people don’t feel like paying for it.

NO

Design tearSheets

tearSheets

December

Comment

6 ● DECEMBER 10, 2021

October

THE CSPRESS 6

THE CSPRESS

THE CSPRESS

DECEMBER 10, 2021 ● 7

The Editorial: As We See It

Recent school shootings prove schools need more mental health resources

Editors in Chief Online Editor in Chief Opinion Editor News Editor Sports Editor Food Editor Creeker Editor Spotlight Editor Photo Editor Travel Editor Style Editor Science Editor Tech Editor Trending Now Editor

The increase in gun violence at schools has left many ques- sible showed apparent signs of trouble. According to CNN, tioning their children’s safety at school, and support for stu- two teachers reported Ethan Crumbley, the shooter, because of concerning behavior just one day before the shooting took dents with clear signs of mental illnesses.

In first place for the country with the most school shootings place. There was also a meeting with school administration with goes to the United States. Since the start of 2021, there have Crumley and his parents, but they decided he was okay to go been 28 school shootings in the U.S., the most recent being back into class.

This has not been the only instance when a from this past November at Oxford High School school shooter showed signs of trouble, and was in Detroit, Michigan. A key factor that results in overlooked. The Columbine, and Sandy Hook violence at school is students with mental health shootings were under similar circumstances. issues, and the lack of support that comes with it.

The country The ultimate message is that schools should As of now, there is no requirement for all schools with the provide resources for their students with mento have resources for students such as emotal health issues. This could be emotional support tional support counselors, or emotional support most school counseling and emotional support group meetings. groups. It is important for students to have these shootings goes This would ensure every student gets the help they resources because some do not have the option of to the United need, and lessen the risk of history repeating itself getting help they need from home. and lessen the amount of school shootings.

As seen in the most recent shooting at Oxford States.

High School, it was clear that the student respon-

“

Staff Christopher Alexander, Caitlin Bunkers, Hailey Dent, Will Donegan, Hudson Ellis, Claire Geare, Johnathan Geare, Jacob Golicz, Max Hancock, David Lane, Gianna Lazzaro, Jaden Lea, Sarah Love, Livia Lowe, Peyton Marinelli, Katelyn Pinkham, Erika Potter, Judy Silva, Philip Tate, Owen Taylor, Paul Wernes, Jordan Kern, Cooper Lake, Advisers Lori Hart, Robert Adamson

Mark’s Metaverse: a misunderstanding Claire Geare Editor in Chief

Welcome to the metaverse. It’s like Ready Player One, but we’re supposed to be sympathetic to the villain. Imagine a virtual tenement housing complex and inside is Mark Zuckerberg’s idea of what a party is. It’s like a rebranded Second Life, and I have no joke for that comparison.

Like most of us during these unprecedented times, it seems Mark has been working through his long neglected reading lists.

“10 Books to Achieve Maximum Villainy,” “100 Ways to make the Proletariat Hate You,” “So You Want to Get Guillotined.” (I heard Oprah approved that last one.) Using a laundry list of dystopian novels as inspiration, Mark has launched the Metaverse. The

technical definition is “a hypothesized iteration of the Internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments,” but really that’s just tech bro speak for “imagine if you could code some friends!”

You may think I’m being vague in my explanation of what the Metaverse is, but the concept is literally undefinable. Broadly, it’s a virtual reality. But also you can buy things inside of it? It’s sort of like the Sims, with the in-app purchasing appeal akin to a 10 year old with his mom’s credit card on Fortnite.

Blatantly misunderstanding the meaning of the word dystopian, one novel has particularly inspired the fifth richest man in the world. In 1992, Neal Stephenson sat down to write a biting criticism of the inequal-

Philip Tate Claire Geare David Lane Max Hancock David Lane Cait Bunkers Judy Silva Erika Potter Peyton Marinelli Gianna Lazzaro Paul Wernes Katelyn Pinkham Livia Lowe Jaden Lea Sarah Love

Editorial Policy: The CSPress is published by the Journalism class of Cactus Shadows High School. The newspaper serves the students and staff of Cactus Shadows High School and as a connection to the surrounding community.

ity he saw in the modern world. Calling his online dystopia the Metaverse, in status is a function of two things: privilege and tech acumen. This clear warning of the dangers of capitalism and class inequality flew over our Harvard drop out’s head. The misinterpretation isn’t poor Mark’s fault though, they don’t teach basic media analysis until your senior year over there.

The real lesson in all of this is to be more like Tom Anderson. In 2003, he created Myspace. By 2005 he cashed out, narrowly avoiding the crash and burn of his own company. Now he wanders around Hawaii with a camera, taking worthless and repetitive travel photography, blissfully unaware of what Zuckerburg and his goons are up to.

The objective of the CSPress is to publish a factual, informative and entertaining the NEWSpaper, and to provide a forum for the expression of diverse viewpoints.

The Comments and views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, the adviser, or all CSPress staff members.

The CSPress is also published online, at cactusshadowscspress.com.

The editors reserve the right to reject any material that is libelous, obscene, or poses an immediate and material disruption to the educational environment.

\ Zander Bezotte

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A E a U

Were stimulus checks the solution or the problem?

Unemployment benefits have long been an important part of our financial system, helping citizens stay afloat and support their families in the United States’ unsure economy. During COVID-19, this support was critical. According to Fortune Magazine, in the first two months of the pandemic, more than 22 million workers lost their jobs. The stimulus checks helped millions of Americans stay afloat during an unprecedented national disaster.

While the news media focused on the cons of providing “free” money to people who may not need it, according to the United States Census Bureau, about 80 percent of citizens who received a check reported using it on food, and 77.9 percent on rent, mortgage and/or utilities, including gas, electricity, cable, internet and cellphone, and more than half of respondents reported spending stimulus payments on household supplies and personal care products.

The media has also publicized the idea that people are not returning to work because unemployment is paying more than actual jobs. While it is true that many businesses are struggling to find workers, there are many reasons people are not returning to work.

The USA Today reported that economists disagree about whether the extra assistance was hold in back job searches. “What’s clearer is that some workers, particularly those who earn low wages, are being more selective about where they work. They’re determined to find better paying, more fulfilling jobs than the ones they left or lost during the pandemic.”

Another common complaint is that the government provided too many stimulus checks, saying that unemployment benefits are meant to be short term. But COVID19 changed everything, creating greater need. The pandemic was both unexpected and deadly. The stimulus checks were necessary to keep American families on their feet. It was a short term solution to get us through the most difficult times. Unemployment benefits will always be a part of the economy. We need a safety net, without one for the American people, the economy has too great of an opportunity to fall.

Livia Lowe

YES

THE CSPRESS

With the recent pandemic and semi-collapse of the economy, many businesses and workers lost their source of income, leaving people jobless and without money. To provide support, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the Federal Government sent 159 million stimulus checks, totaling $267 billion. This was a great short term solution for the working class that was unable to attend their jobs and therefore unable to make money, but it went on for too long, and caused the unintended result of people not going back to work because they get more money in stimulus than they would from getting a job.

There are many negative effects caused by this social motivational downturn, one of which is a worker shortage across the nation. Different businesses, restaurants, and other franchises struggle immensely with a lack of workers due to the damage that the pandemic has caused. According to the New York Time, a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce poll showed that “nearly half of small businesses say it is hard to find candidates with the skills they need.”

Many of these businesses are forced to raise wages to extreme amounts just to get employees who are willing to work. This takes away from the hardworking individuals who are already working and receive normal pay.

Businesses are no longer in fear of being closed from the pandemic, but rather fear failure due to a low amount of employees.

Unemployment checks are not meant to last forever, they are designed to keep people on their feet during a rough time. In an article done

by Premier Staffing (a website focused on employment), they found that unemployment checks are usually only supplied for up to 26 weeks, depending on the state.

While providing assistance to people during a global pandemic was a good idea in the short term, it was extended far too long. The lack of motivation to return to work was costly and, at least at the end, unnecessary.

Now that the stimulus checks have ended, people will be forced to go out and find a job.

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THE CSPRESS

SPORTS

Max Hancock opinion editor

Jaden Lea

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ACT or SAT, which one is best for aspiring students?

Jordan Kern Staff Writer

Many debate whether the SAT or ACT is the better standardized test, but the truth is, both can provide different benefits for anybody's future. Although some side towards one more than the other, both tests are completely different and neither one is more beneficial than the other. The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. According to Green Test Prep, the SAT contains four sections to it which involve: Reading, Writing and Language, Math, and an Essay section that is optional to the student. For both tests the student has a time limit. However, the SAT is a more time consuming test.

For the writing/language portion of the test, the student has to answer 44 questions within 35 minutes. The Math section contains 58 problems that have to be completed in 88 minutes. The last part of the test; the reading section, has 52 problems that have to be completed within 65 minutes.

The purpose of the ACT test is to measure a high school student's readiness for college, and provide colleges with one common data point that can be used to compare all applicants. Compared to the scoring of the SAT, the ACT is graded out of a max score of 36 compared to the SAT 1600.

The ACT is split up into three sections that include: English, Math, and Reading. The English section contains 75 problems that have to be completed within 45 minutes. The

essay the last year it was given before discontinuation.

As mentioned earlier, both the SAT and ACT tests have no advantages or disadvantages to each other. Neither one is more difficult than the other, it all depends on the student’s skills. Colleges don’t prefer either one which means that they prefer whichever test gives you the best comparative score.

GETTING READY. Gianna Palma prepares to spike the ball. Palma is in her

third season of playing volleyball and her first on varsity. “I try to keep the energy up for the rest of the team,” said Palma. 4Cooper Lake

Gianna Palma

junior

staff writer

\Maya Camas

Trending Now editor Sarah Love assesses how committing early to a college helps students get ahead of the pack.

Sarah Love

Deciding what college to go to can be a confusing and demanding process. Early Decision is not for all but can be very helpful for those who know where they would like to go to college.

“If you are thinking about making an early decision some schools have a binding agreement, meaning if you do that if you are accepted you have to go there so you really want to make sure that you know you want to go to school there,” said Carrie Kalfayan, a counselor.

Early decision can be described as a process where students make a commitment where if they

get accepted the students are expected to withdraw all other applications to other schools.

Every school is different with their policy but for most schools.

Early Decision plans are binding, which means that students must go to the school they committed to. Whereas Early Action plans are non binding which means the student will receive an earlier response to their application while also not being obligated to commit to the college till the normal set reply date. While some schools have a binding policy with their Early Decision program there are some exceptions when it comes to a student backing down from the commitment to a school, although

this depends on the school, citation, and student. One reason a student may be relinquished from the early decision commitment is If the financial aid did not clear for a student and they could not afford to attend.

“I personally would not consider Early Decision, because I would like to keep my options open,” said Bryden Kaminsky, a senior.

While Early Decision is not for everyone, many students really enjoy the program. Students with their heart set on going to a specific college can greatly benefit from Early Decision. Giving them a clearer view into what the next years of their education will look like. Having everything planned

out earlier can bring clarity and lessen anxiety that students may be feeling with the drastic change from high school to college. Giving the student time to focus on other things for the rest of the year.

“I have already applied and gotten accepted, they have not asked me to dedicate myself but I am dedicated,” said Shelby Patterson, a senior.

Students who apply with early decision might be more qualified overall than their peers who apply with regular decision. They are the students who have decided months ahead of time where they would like to attend school the following year, giving them a leg up at the beginning of the college

Fall sports preview Cross Country

As the team enters their 29th season, they have established the goal of winning the state championship.

“This season we want to win states… I think we can do it,” said Caleb Villegas, a senior.

experience, making it a little less stressful.

“Sometimes the chance of getting accepted with early decision can increase because the pool of students using the program is a lot smaller, and since it is so much smaller you are not competing with as many students,” continued Kalfayan.

Early Decision is not only beneficial to the student but also beneficial to the schools. Early decision applicants help a college to more accurately predict the yield because the students are already vomiting to attending the school even before they are offered an acceptance.

Lionel Messi, soccer player, recently departed Barcelona to play at Paris Saint-Germain.

On August 10, Messi signed a two-year contract with the option to extend it for a third season.

“It was crazy, I open Twitter and see that Messi had officially moved

to PSG and I couldn’t believe it, we will be seeing him in a different jersey for the first time ever,” said Connor Lund, a senior.

Messi will play alongside Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, a friend of his.

“Having Messi and Neymar back together on one team will surely help win some trophies and produce some great soccer to watch,

so I am excited to see what Messi can do at PSG,” said Kal Goff and long term Messi supporter.

Messi was not the only new addition to PSG. Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, Achraf Hakimi, and Gini Wijnaldum all signed with Messi.

With these new additions to PSG, many soccer fans expected

the team to perform strongly this season. Additionally, all eyes are on the team.

Over 20 million people started following PSG’s Instagram in Messi’s first two days as a member of the club.

“I think Messi will play well at PSG, hopefully he gets more minutes, but with Neymar and the rest of the crazy lineup they have he

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Football

The football team kicked off their season last month with many goals.

“The goal is to make it to the playoffs, then eventually win the championship,” said Jalen Schneider, a football player.

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While both boys and girls golf had theirNEW ups and downs at IPHONE The the beginning of the season, they have high hopes for the remainder of the season.

“I’ve been grinding really hard so hopefully we do very well,” said Alex Herkamp, boys golf captain.

highly atnicipated new iphone was released on Septmeber 24.

4Cooper Lake

New iPhone 13 Shocks the World

swim and dive

The swim and dive team look to Max Hancock have a very successful season opinion editor continuing on from what they accomplished last year. annual release event: “Our goalApple’s for this year’s team is to win “Keynote” state... we are very occurred on September 14 confident,” said EllaMcConnon, a senior. where several of their newest tech

items dropped, including the highly

volleyball

iPhone 13.

With six anticipated games played and more to go, the volleyball team looks The iPhone 13 is the 13th edition forward to state championships at the end their season. ofof the original iPhone released back “The goal is to win state in 2007. The iPhone’s refined and obviously, and to get better as a teamadvanced and as players,”design said brings more to the Kamryn Gibadlo, a junior.

table than any of its predecessors. released four different

spiritline Apple

Besides cheering at fall football models of pom the iPhone, said to have a games, Cactus Shadows’ and cheerlittle programs compete something for everyone’s taste. in multiple tournaments These different models include, the throughout the year.

“I think our competition team base iPhone 13, a mini version, the should at least get top three in state, but the goal13 is always iPhone Pro, and the iPhone 13 Pro first,” said Katelyn Wible, a Max. Each of these models not only senior.

vary in size, but also technological capability.

The iPhone 13 Pro has a lower resolution 3JordantoKernthe Pro Max, however both models feature 12000 nits max brightness for HDR. Other features included for all models is the True

Messi departs from Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain Owen Taylor

Early Decision gives students head start Trending Now Editor

In her first year as captain of the varsity volleyball team, Gianna Palma has made waves as a multi talented student athlete and improv team member.

“I was made a captain of the team because I think I have a good mental aspect around the game and I try to keep the energy up for the rest of the team,” said Palma.

Gianna is not only a captain on the varsity volleyball team, but also a valued member of the Jokers improv team on campus. Being associated with both groups, Palma’s excellence in both athletic and academic fields is showcased.

“I’ve known Gianna for two or three years, not super long, but she’s always willing to make sacrifices for the team and really good at keeping our spirits up,” said Rachel Eastburn, a teammate of the volleyball team.

Cactus Shadows is scheduled to play 23 games this year against various other schools, where they will hopefully have a similar successful winning record to last year. In an interview with Palma, she talked about how she had recently quit softball around 5 years ago and how an empty space had been left in her life. Always being interested in volleyball because of its fast paced and team orientated nature, she joined a team at the YMCA. As time passed and Palma’s skills on the court grew, she eventually joined the Cactus Shadows volleyball team, playing as a freshman and sophomore on the JV team. However, it was not until this year when Palma found herself on varsity and a captain.

“To become captain, it isn’t really about how good you are, it’s about your mental aspect of the game and how you can bring the team together,” said Palma.

Palma plans on making a name for herself on both the stage and the court this year. However, with so much on her plate, she says it can be hard to balance the two. The improv team practices twice a week before To become and after school where they have captain, it recurring shows on Fridays. isn’t really Similarly, the volleyball team practices Monday through Friday about how for two hours with games occurgood you are, ring periodically. it’s about your “Between the two, It’s really hard. There’s practice for one mental aspect while another is going on, someof the game times I have to miss one or the other. For the most part I’ve found and how you a good balance,” said Palma. can bring Balancing school, volleyball, the team improv, and home life while being talented at them all is not for the together,” weary.

Palma jumps for victories

DECEMBER 10, 2021 ● 8

Math section contains 60 problems that have to be completed within 60 minutes. The last section, reading, contains 40 problems that have to be completed within 35 minutes.

Depending on the student, the SAT might be more beneficial because although both the tests require good time management, the ACT is more fast paced and time intensive than the SAT. According to Crimson Education, on the ACT only has a calculator section that accounts for about 25% of the overall score. If math is not the student's strong point, sitting the ACT may be the better option.

It all depends on the students skills, but before a decision is made, there are practice tests that do not count towards future applications that can help tremendously.

Nowadays, neither exams are required for most schools due to the pandemic.

Before the pandemic started, most colleges required incoming students to have taken either the SAT or ACT to be accepted.

According to Us News, a global news page, recent data shows that the majority of students complete the optional essay for each exam.

More than 1.2 million test-takers from the class of 2020 opted for the SAT

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OCTOBER 6, 2021 ● 23

Tone to match the color temperature of the display to the ambient light, Wide Color for rich, vivid hues, and Haptic Touch for feedback.

One of the most notable features added to iPhones plethora of achievements is it’s durability and water resistance. All models of the iPhone 13 features a ceramic shield cover glass that is advertised to be Apple’s strongest screen yet. In addition, the phone can withstand submersion six meters down for 30 minutes without any long lasting damage to the hardware.

Coming in colors ranging from graphite, gold, silver, and sierra blue, the iPhone 13 features a new and improved aesthetic design. Similar to the previous iPhone 12, both the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro feature flat edges, a stainless steel frame, a textured matte glass back, but a slight increase in thickness.

Apple is really pushing their new A15 Bionic chip that will be in every

iPhone 13. This chip is more efficient than the previous A14 chip. The iPhone 13 Pro models offer 50 percent faster graphics performance, while the iPhone 13 models offer 15 percent faster graphics performance.

Onne of the biggest draws for Apple tech buyers is the camera.

Each iPhone 13 model features three cameras. Each camera serves a different purpose, with the wide angle lens now being able to take photos with 47 percent more light. Photos in low light settings are now possible with iPhone’s “Night Mode” camera setting.

One of the most notable releases of the models was the iPhone 13 mini.

The mini hearkens back to a similar feel of the iPhone 4 and 5. The mini is only 5.14 inches long compared to the 5.78 inch base iPhone 13.

The starting price of the iPhone 13 mini is $699 while the iPhone 13 starts at $799.

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MAN ON THE STREET: What are your tho

should excel there,” said Andrew Barab-Shed, a former soccer player at Cactus Shadows.

In a nostalgic move, Messi took jersey number 30, his number during his first two seasons at Barcelona.

In his debut, Messi subbed in for Neymar during the 66th minute in a game against Reims. PSG won 2-0, advancing in Ligue 1.

“I recently bought a PC, so it’s not a big worry to me.”

C ooper R oderick

a senior

“We a runn out o chips

Matt

tearSheets THE CSPRESS

Max Hancock

Pistols, the Clash, and the Slits were all products of a dismal United Kingdom economy and changing times.

According to Brittanica.com, a British based online encyclopedia, unemployment rates were at an all time high, so the youth of London were out of work and rebellious, birthing a new culture.

“Bands like the Clash, the Damned, and Bauhaus all came from a different period and had a different sound and attitude. As far as why I liked them, most had something to say about the current environment,” said Kip Dent, a punk fan.

Moving forward to the mid 1980s, the punk scene flourished with thousands of people adopting its hardcore and crude culture. Since then, Punk music has evolved into countless subgenres.

Today, cities such as Scottsdale, Cave creek, and Phoenix are seeing a similar revival. Students are starting their own bands, embracing the core breakneck music from decades before.

Bands such as “Skitzoid”, “Fight the Vomit,” and “Wrong Way Out” are perfect examples of student-created bands that draw inspiration from not only each other, but punk bands that came before them.

Opinion editor

Within the past year, Phoenix has witnessed a punk music revival, with teenagers attending local shows and being a part of a returning scene of misfits.

“A lot of younger people have been introduced to alternative music and cultures they previously might not have known about. It’s no surprise that a little scene started to form in Phoenix,” said Hayden Syllaba, lead guitar player of local punk band “Skitzoid.”

Punk music originated in the mid 1970s where it was met with disapproval and shaming from a conservative population.

The origins of punk are highly debated because everyone has a different definition of “punk rock.” On top of such, Punk is considered to have many foundation stones in various countries, so identifying the sole birth of the musical genre is deemed near impossible.

In New York, bands such as the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Blondie became popular because of their shared geographical location and refreshingly original style of music.

However, across the pond, London gave birth to its own legends. Sex

Poll: How much time do you spend each day on TikTok?

news editor

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From a poll of 100 0 students taken on hours Oct. 25

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“Our band draws heavy inspiration from west coast hardcore, power violence, and beatdown. We have a range of influences,” Continued Syllaba Lately students have been using houses, garages, and backyards to house local shows, with various bands playing. The punk community has come together to create an open invite community to attend these shows in order to not only gain exposure but share a good time.

“Punk music is very loud and aggressive but the shows are very inclusive and welcoming, a lot of the time they are free and allow any age, it’s super easy to be social,” said Flynn Shelmire, A senior.

As time progresses, the scene in Phoenix is destined to grow and evolve as students continue to discover the timeless genre of punk music.

David Lane

13

1-2 hour

MOSH PIT. Punk show enthusiast Flynn Shelmire attending a punk show.

House shows like these are frequently in enthusiasts homes. 4Oliver Rylee

A Swift Recovery

34

WCooper lake

THE CSPRESS

Pokémon trading Trending makes Now a comeback

Phoenix’s Punk Revival

3- 4 hour

5 hours

On November 12, Taylor Swift plans to release a re-recording of her hit 2012 album Red, this time, however, the album will be much more true to Taylor’s original vision.

Since 2018, Swift has been waging a battle against Big Machine Records in order to secure the rights to her first six albums. Sinceå leaving Big Machine records, Swift has lost the masters and the rights to perform the albums she put out while working for them.

“I think that it’s really messed up that Big Machine took her masters, and I’m really glad she’s doing Taylor’s version so she can make money off her music that she deserves,” said Emma Crum, a junior.

The lack of direct ownership of her own art outraged Swift, causing her to begin the process of painstakingly re-recording, remixing, and remastering her old music “Swift’s actions were major for artists and musicians in the fight

for rights to their art. By choosing to re-record her albums, she has created a completely new realm for artists, showing them that they can take control of the rights to their music,” said Aavyn O’Murchu, an aficionado of Swift’s music, as well as a long time fan of her work.

The world was shocked in April when Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was released, topping the charts globally almost instantly. While very similar to the original, Swift has decided to tweak the lyrics in several songs.

For example, You Belong with Me, one of Swift’s biggest hits to date, had one of its lines subtly changed. During the first verse of the original version, the lyrics are, “I’m in the room, it’s a typical Tuesday night,” while the new version goes, “I’m in my room, it’s a typical Tuesday night.”

“I like that Taylor changed the lyrics to be honest. it makes it feel more authentically her.

Taylor has every right to make her feelings heard, even if it’s part of an old classic,” said Reese Kaiser, a fan of Swift’s music.

Faux fur adds extra texture and warms to outfits.

It comes in a variety of colors and patterns such as animal print.

While becoming increasingly popular, faux fur is non-bio- During the winter degradable and cannot be recy- time I like to wear cled like real fur. sweater vests, brown Printed tights work jackets, jeans, can be worn under skirts to and beanies,” add an extra Devon Breese layer to an outDECEMBER 10, 2021 ● 13 fit. Tights can a junior. have designs such as flowers, polkadots, and animals like spiders BEAR HUG. A mother and son enjoySTAYING the eveand bats. They can have added texture with glitter and WARM. Junior pears. ning by viewing Zoo Lights.

Jacob Golicz Devon Breese The overall theme of this year’s winter fashion trends wears a knit have consisted of mainly more intense colors, patterns, sweater vest paired and textures. Over time winter fashion has gotten bigwith matching ger and bolder.

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tearSheets

November

18 ● NOVEMBER 5, 2021

a trend in forms of jackets, pants, and skirts. Quilted clothing mimics the infamous puffer jackets, with a silk touch.

Another form of this clothing style is patchwork.

Colorful patches can be either sewn, or ironed on to decorate once simple articles of clothing.

“During the winter I like to wear darker tones like brown and navy blue” said Alexis Cavalieri, a junior.

Straying away from the average sweater, sweater vests come in many different styles, and can be layered with other clothing. They can be paired with long sleeve tees, collared shirts, and oversized jackets, and come in fun, bright colors and patterns, or more classy dark tones.

“I love wearing fun patterns in the winter,” said Brandi Barr, a parent.

Another trend that has emerged this winter is geometric patterns. The vibrant colors and shapes mimic 80s fashion. These patterns can be found on sweaters, blouses, and pants. According to Fashion United, designers such as Burberry and JW Anderson have hopped onto this trend with checkerboards and plaid.

Adding a patterned jacket or pants can add a stylish touch to any plain outfit.

While plaid fashion has been around for many years,

Following the warm reception of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) she immediately began work on her 2012 hit album, Red. This album contains many of Swift’s most iconic tracks such as the titular track, Red, I Knew you were Trouble, and most famous of all, We are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

“I am very excited about the re-recording of Red, as I believe that was one of her absolute best albums. One of my favorite parts of the re-recordings is that we are graced with the release of vault songs as well,” said O’Murchu.

While the date of release was originally set for November 19, Swift surprised the world again by moving the release date a week ahead of schedule to November 12. This has led to many fans speculating Swift is much further ahead in her rerecordings than initially theorized. This has further been supported when Swift re-released her hit single Wildest Dreams, from her 2014 album, 1989.

New Dune hits theaters

December

Phoenix Zoo lights up for the holidays 4

Jacob Golicz

Local Phoenix resellers find success Staff writer

Max Hancock Opinion editor

Dennis Villeneuve’s newest release, Dune, broke box office records this year by telling an original and visually spectacular story.

Being two and a half hours long, Dune is the definition of an immersive experience. Every scene is captivating. Details, whether big or small, are impossible to miss because of the viewers inability to take their eyes off of the screen.

Based on Frank Herbert’s novel written in 1965, Dune was ahead of its time THEN, and continues to bring something new to the film industry NOW. Villieneuve’s adaptation of the novel to the big screen underlines why generations have been fascinated by the story.

Dune focuses on the main character Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet) whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of “spice,” a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Control of the planet quickly proves to be a dangerous undertaking.

Dune dives into the interactions of religion, politics, war, and human emotions. Relationships are built and broken as the story progresses, showcasing the development of each individual character.

One of the most important, if not the most important, aspect of film is casting. Countless movies time and time again fail to capture a character effectively due to poor choice in actors. However, thanks to Villeneuve’s vision, each character within Dune is methodically chosen to fully immerse the viewer. Not only is each actor’s personality similar to the character they portray, but their performances in particularly difficult scenes proves to be impressive.

Dune brings something new to the table in almost all fields of cinema. Despite the movie only being part one of the story, a complete story is told. Viewers are already getting anxious for the second release where a full plot arc will be completed.

With Dune’s nonstop action, monumental acting, and original plot, the future of Sci-Fi films has been altered forever.

Red Whites to complete his trending winter look.

a Philip Tate Funded by Salt River Project or SRP, Zoolights is an annual event that happens at the Phoenix After sifting through thousands of thrifted clothes, resellers collect the Zoo between November 24, 2021 and January 15,booths 2022. There is also an event called "cruise most valuable pieces to vend on online stores and pop-up Zoo lights" where Lee you drive through Zoo lights, and Hurst work together to hunt for vintage pieces in Max Hancock Opinion Editor this takes placethrift from 29, 2021 to on their stores,November manage their inventory, then sell them Instagram page, night, @hurstee.findss, students and collectors.

Throughout the Valley, vintage clothing resellers have taken January 11, 2022. Each try to5:30 p.m.

“They’ve been hooking me up for a while; Really well manover the fashion scene by selling their products online to stuto 10:30 p.m.The ZooI’vegets upsupporter,” by aged Phoenix and good owners. been a lit day one said dents and trading with fellow thrifters. usualover.

Hurstee customer.

“Ever since a young age I’ve alwaysbeautiful been fascinated with Blake Roberson, Christmas lights aall From their Hurstee Finds is one of many small proprietorships that how clothes sit on one’s body, the way colors work together, tallest tree brightly lit to pillars and a big and small graphics on T-shirts. So, when I was a freshman in sells their product at large vintage clothing flea markets. globe the middle of their body of water.

These events are putbig on periodically by the vintage clothing highschool, I started looking for things to keepin as personal can showcase theirthe latest pickups, items,” said Trevor Lee, co-owner of Hurstee Finds, aso com"It was coolcommunity seeingwhere theresellers creativity with pany that resells vintage clothing. “From that point on, it just sell their product to attendees, and even trade valuable pieces lights," said that ZanewithElliot, a sophomore. other resellers. kept developing to the point where I got so many clothes “There’s this one big eventshow called ‘WangaPalooza’ I thought I should just start selling them.”Every 30 - 45 minutes a light syncs up where we Thrift stores such as Goodwill and Savers offer a wide vari- sell our product. We also sell locally through our instagram to music and it looks like the lights are dancety of second-hand clothing for cheap prices to the average page,” added Hurst.

However, some resellers have taken the industry a step consumer. However, resellers such as Lee spend ing withcountless the music. hours sifting through the assortments of clothes in order to further. Wang’s Vintage, located in downtown Phoenix is an "I come here almost every year, they are find the most eye-catching pieces. These pieces are not only example of such. The owners of Wang’s opened the vintage definitely getting better Elliot says. retail in storequality," with permanent residence, making it one valuable for their unique nature, but also because of the year clothing of theannual first of its kind. they were manufactured.

Zoo lights is an event that has been Buyers can visit the store and shop through the pre-thrifted Classic band merchandise, sports championship tees, and ontheirsince 1992.

Ever since then, they provided without the hassle of the wild goose chase pieces of clothing with unique trends going exclusive to time product vintage clothing pieces in thequality wild in stores such period are all examples of items sought after been by resellers in of findingand have upgrading getting higher order to sell them at a higher price to the average consumer. as Goodwill or Savers. That being said, the price tag of each to entertain the community vintage item is much higher due to the convenience of the Clothing that meets this criteria is qualified as “vintage.”

Though are asleep and no one POP-UP VINTAGE. Troy Outlaw, @showandtellvinproduct.

“I got introduced to vintage clothing from a friend andthe then animals tage on Instagram, showcasing his booth at Picker’s As Phoenix fashion continuously evolves, only time will tell I later realized I could start making some money off it.see Ever them, is able to there are light structures Playground, a seasonal vintage market in Phoenix. since then, I’ve just kept going with it,” said Ian Hurst, co- how much the vintage clothing will continue to dominate the that make different a Casey Jones scene. animals shown around the owner of Hurstee finds. walk-thru.

"The ants moving down the road were probably my favorite," said Erin Golicz, a Zoo lights visitor.

12 ● DECEMBER 10, 2021 THE CSPRESS Not only just simple lights on metal, but they also make big silk models of animals lit from the inside.

"There was a big family of bears made of silk that really caught my eye," said Golicz.

This event will be fun for the whole family, if the children get tired of walking there are electric they canand powerIn orderthat to obtain these rare Max Hancock animal themed scooters Opinion Editor ful Pokémon the cards, players buy for multiple people to ride on. featured WhenonleavPokémon trading cards have made a buy packs of pokémon cards for a chance ing resurgence the zoo,on campus the exit leadsof getting to a a high giftvalue shop so trade with pokémon, recent since their other, and buy/sell the highest bidinitial debut inwill 1998,forget with students no one to colbuy each a souvenir forto the lecting, trading, and selling them as a tes- der in order to quickly obtain the best cards lovely night they just had. in the game. tament to their nostalgic acclaim.

Pokémon trading makes a comeback

On campus, some Pokémon card hold“I got a ton of cards, I keep most of mine because they’re a nice thing to flex,” ers actually play the game as intended. said Nelson Lee, a prominent collector of However, most students enjoy the collecting aspect of the cards. Because some Pokémon cards.

Pokémon cards emerged in the late Pokémon within the game are so rare, get1900s with triumphant sales. However, ting a hold of such a valuable Pokémon only the Pokemon legacy begins with the video to trade it with another player is not within the interest of many. game.

“I’m a collector, I don’t really like to trade Originally released on the Nintendo Gameboy, Pokémon Green and Red were mine with anyone else,” said Lonzo Lomeli, BUSINESS SMARTS. Taylor Wright, a junior and collector of cards. born. sophomore, for many enjoy selling the cards Contrary, The Japanese video game makes was hardlyclay rec- earrings they have obtained for some quick profit, ognized aspurchase. the phenomenon Gianna it is today.

It Lazzaro wasn’t until later, when the anime and the with some turning their sales into major trading card game were released when the successful business. Some Pokémon cards can be valued in the hundreds of thousands. series took flight to new heights.

The most expensive Pokémon card ever Ruling pop culture, childhoods of the 90s were built on the Pokémon franchise. sold was for $195,000. The card was a rare spent working to make this a reality. Or, had bought me a little clay set, and thenUndoubtedly, history repeats itself, result- Pickachu illustrator promo card that dated they just do what they love and happen I was like, ‘Oh I am going to make claying in hundreds of Gen Z students taking back to 1998.

Although students are not making as to make a little money on the side. Either [earrings],’ and then I was like, wow, I amthe same interest in the series as generamajor of sales, some students have been tions prior. way, through commissions or online really good at it. I pick up art stuff pretty “I collected cards as a child, my parents successful in selling the cards they have stores, the dream is more attainable than quickly, because I am a creative mind,”would get them for me. Very rarely would I collected on websites like eBay to other actually trade them with my friends because collectors trying to build their Pokémon said Wright. it may seem.

I liked my cards, I was one of ‘those’ kids,” portfolio’s The configuration of the Pokémon tradA fellow earring maker, freshman Maurasaid Hoveeg Boyadjian, a math teacher.

“I sell art… I’ve been drawing since kinThe purpose of the Pokémon trading ing card game is unique and unusual, dergarten, but I only started making actual Scherf, describes the creative processcard game is to assemble the best team of however, it is an industry with limitless A GOOD Junior Nelson Lee Pokemon cards with senior McGregor during 6 Pokémon cards possible in order to knock untapped money, simply available to the behind the making ofMatt their wire-and-penmoney off of it last year. DEAL. Just because…

I trades lunch.”My Favorite Pokemon is Ho-Oh,” said McGregor. 4Cooper Lake out the opponents own team of 6 Pokémon. highest bidder.

Students make bank with businesses While the rest of us take up hiking or Tae Kwon Do, these three students are making products to sell to students and other consumers.

Johnathan Geare Staff Writer

There comes a time in every man’s life when, after spending countless hours honing his craft, truly refining his knack for shaping little earrings out of clay, he looks to the stars and wonders: “How can I monetize this?” So, he takes to Snapchat, or Instagram, or Etsy, and decides to flood the internet with promos for his earrings, and after enough time and dedication, customers are lined up out the metaphorical door of his Etsy shop. He gets to make his earrings, the customers get to enjoy his earrings, and he makes a little cash on the side. Life is good.

This may sound like a distant fantasy, but for many creative-minded students on campus, their time outside of class is

think money is pretty cool,” said Quinn Bullock, a sophomore. “I figured I might as well gain something for the time that I would spend on [my art], instead of just giving it away for free.”

Taylor Wright, sophomore, has also found a way to make aWEEZER business out of her December 11 2021 art. Wright creates earrings out of clay Mesa Amphitheatre, Mesa, and sells them.

Tickets starting at $50 “I am a really artsy person. My uncle

dant earrings.

“I was messing around one time with wire, and I just started making things. I attached [pendants] to the end of [the Band celebrates 2014 album, French Exit, on current tour earrings], and people started complimenting me on the things I was wearing. But it she is actually a guitarist and singer for TV Girl.

Her sound was much more slow and low-energy Jeffersonjust St for myself,” said Scherf.

Katelyn Pinkham started Style Editor than TV Girl’s. She played around 6 songs, and Phoenix, AZ Although it may start as a personal January 15 2022 TV Girl headlined at the Van Buren in down- interacted with the crowd a ton. She answered endeavor, many students are able toPhoenix turn on November 29 for the six-and- a lot of fans’ questions and got the crowd hyped town a-half anniversary tour of their iconic 2014 for a night of fun.

GUCCI MANE their arts and crafts into a real business.

Calendar of events

CSHS VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL @ WILLOW CANYON 7:00 PM

4

Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, AZ Tickets starting at $70 January 15 2022

TV Girl celebrates anniversary

album, French Exit.

They have been together as a band for almost a decade, but recently rose to fame when a few of their songs blew up on TikTok. “Lovers Rock” and “Not Allowed” are their two most popular songs,

At around 9:00 p.m. TV Girl came on stage, and the crowd went wild. They opened up the night with their song “Pantyhose” off of French Exit. This is an upbeat, fun, dance song that was perfect for getting fans excited. The front man,

Pl au ph fo