September Issue 2022

Madison

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

STAFF

Editor-in-Chief, Copy & Design Editor |

Kaiya Lynch

Managing, A&E & Online Editor |

t’s officially homecoming season, which means it’s the time for dresses (pg 19), dancing (online) and–of course–the football game (online). Our new staff takes on their first issue by preparing stories on a wide range of topics: from the women’s volleyball team’s recent win, to the e-hallpass debate (pg 6) and suicide prevention and awareness (pg 17).

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This month’s spotlight, senior Olivia Davolt speaks on her experience as the producer of the national award winning KLHS and how her goal to bring school spirit back led to Connect 30 (pg 12).

Juniors Jacob Smith and Greta Witt discuss the future of scholar bowl, after recruiting new members and preparing for the upcoming quads tournament (pg 10).

Controversy arose among Disney fans following the release of the live-action “The Little Mermaid” trailer Sept. 9 at the D23 Expo (pg 19). While people around the globe voice their opinions on social media, the theater department talks about the behind-the-scenes of their production in this month’s A&E (pg 14).

The Bell has much in store for the September issue, so sit back, relax and enjoy sipping your PSL (or preferred fall drink) while reading.

Kaiya Lynch

On the Cover: Sophomore Kenna Barton opens her e-hallpass awaiting the teacher’s approval. When e-hallpass was first established, students were weary about the system, but the staff has a different view of the tool today. “I feel like it’s going to cut down on kids who are just out in the hall all the time. In the long run, it’s going to help the environment of our building be safer,’’ Security Officer Sheri Rogers said.

Indepth Editor |

Hadley Cotton

Lucy Boyle News & Sports Editor |

Brodey Hutton

Spotlight Editor & Photo Jay Equipment

Manager | Victorya Wilkinson

Opinion & Features Editor |

Jenna Shores

Photo Editor |

Sam Brusven

Reporters

Brodie Jobe

Chloe Franklin Mary Biesemeyer

Brookelyn Jadwin

Bianka Mancia Castillo

Connor Rizek

Ethan McMenemy

Photo Jay

Richard Burns

Lizzy Garr

Madison Remley

Ethan McMenemy

TABLE

BY HADLEY COTTON

BY CHLOE FRANKLIN

BY BIANKA MANCIA CASTILLO

OF THE BUZZERS

BOWL

GOING BEHIND THE

LITTLE MERMAID CAST

HIT AT THE KSA TOURNAMENT

JAYS GO UNDEFEATED

BY MARY BIESEMEYER

BY JENNA SHORES

BY CONNOR RIZEK

Photo by Sam Brusven

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BY ETHAN MCMENEMY

BY VICTORYA WILKINSON

BY KAIYA LYNCH & LUCY BOYLE

Photo by Ethan McMenemy

Math teacher Tiffany Waller and sophomore Samatha Asquith test out the new e-hallpass. Many students have found the app to be beneficial when it comes to wondering the halls. “I feel like there probably are less students around the halls because there’s now more teachers roaming around and asking like, hey, what’s your pass for?” said senior Blake Codding.

IS E-HALLPASS A PASS?

Controversy arises over e-hallpass among students and faculty.

Reported by Chloe Franklin | Designed by Brodey Hutton | Photos by Madison Remley

The new e-hallpass and Flextime Manager systems received mixed reviews from both students and staff. Sheri Rodgers is a part of the security team and spends her day helping students during FLEX. She is a big advocate of this new system and believes it will help students in the long run.

“It’s going to be a great thing if we can get everyone on board with using it, so we need all of our teachers and staff and our students to feel comfortable,” Rodgers said. “We need students to get it on their phones, so they can show where they’re supposed to be,”

The difficulty arises when she and others noticed it is missing a few destinations that aren’t where kids want to go. If a student wants to go to the vending machines, the Nest, or water fountains, there isn’t a location on the hall pass so it puts faculty in the difficult decision of whether to let them go, but the location troubles aren’t the only part that students are complaining about. Senior Blake Codding speaks for the student side of the argument.

“Oh, very negative, very, very, negative reactions. I mean, I’ve talked to many students and teachers. It’s all gone downhill. Nobody likes the new system,” Codding said.

A recent poll showed that out of the 99 responses, 86% of people said they preferred the old system. Faculty members believe it’s helpful and the system will last for a long time, while upperclassmen and even some underclassmen believe that the system won’t last.

“Personally, in the most respectful way, I think it is very pointless. I feel as if other students aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, like wandering the halls and skipping class, I don’t see why that has to affect every other student that’s doing what they are supposed to do. But that being said, if I don’t agree with something I will still cooperate, even if it’s not ideal,”

Danner said.

Danner, among 86% of other students, are upset because they feel as if they are being punished for others’ actions. Students who are going straight to the bathrooms and not wandering, feel as though it is an invasion of privacy.

“We’re going to know where our students are and so can locate a student and if someone tells us they’re in flex and we have them show us their e-hallpass, we know if they’re supposed to be out in the hall or not so that’s a real advantage is knowing where all of our students are,”

Rodgers said. While students may not love the new system, they are cooperating. Rodgers said that faculty have received mixed reviews on the system, but for the most part like how they know where their students are in the building and that everybody is staying safe. Everyone might not agree on the answer, but the system is here to stay, implementing new routines for both the student body and faculty.

PEER IMPACT

For this school year, the new spirit leaders are seniors Devin Wallace and Morgan Cannon.

Reported by Hadley Cotton | Designed by Brodey Hutton | Photos by Sam Brusven

Spirit leaders find ways for student’s voices to be heard after COVID-19 dwindled student expression. Spirit leaders are two classmates handed the task of controlling the crowd and maintaining spirit outside and within the school.

Due to COVID-19, spirit in the school went down. There were fewer availabilities to get involved in the school and social distancing made it challenging to communicate with peers. To win back some character and joy in classrooms, Morgan Cannon and Devin Wallace aim to involve the public in their affairs to ensure students have a voice. Even if that means putting themselves out there when trying to show spirit.

“I try and just wear the most exotic and crazy outfits to make myself look dumb,” Wallace said. “So maybe other people will be confident enough to do the same thing as me.”

When the goal is maintaining and ensuring school spirit, sometimes it is necessary to go overboard with the outfits. Donuts during game

days, taking in student suggestions and game day themes are three of the ways Cannon and Wallace hope brings more Blue Jay joy into the day.

As they are a voice for the students, Wallace and Cannon ensure that student opinions are heard by communicating their needs to the administration. Tasks such as organizing spirit weeks, participating in leadership class, maintaining social media accounts, creating and performing chants and allowing students to express themselves at the school are one of the many demands for these seniors.

“When moving on to college,” Cannon said. “ I want to take away that I made an impact in the school and that other people felt like their voices were heard and that they were able to make an impact.”

To follow along with Cannon and Wallace’s spirit leader antics, follow their Instagram page.

Spirit Leaders Devin Wallace and Morgan Cannon hype up the student section as they kicked off the school year with an energetic pep rally. Pep rallies have been a tradition for quite some time, being a core part of our school spirit. “Spirit leaders are important as our job is to make everyone feel welcomed and safe,” said senior Morgan Cannon.

Senior Spirit leaders Devin Wallace and Morgan Cannon rousing the crowd of juniors during an exciting competition of school spirit amongst grades, during the first pep rally on Fri, Sept 2 in the fieldhouse. “The most exciting part of being a spirit leader is being able to bring the energy to every single sporting event and throughout the school,” said Wallace.

BATTLE OF THE BUZZERS

Scholar Bowl recruits new members as they welcome their fall season

Reported by Mary Biesemeyer | Designed by Jenna Shores | Photos by Madison Remley

lamming buzzers with an immense amount of anticipation coursing through their veins. Hoping they can get the correct answer and push their team higher on the podium.

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All this and more occurs in room 204 every Thurs. starting in Oct. The team meets after school from 3:15 to 4:15 every Thurs. They often have competitions on Sat. and very rarely, during the week.

“I thought Scholar Bowl would be a fun opportunity to learn new things and meet new people. We’ve become a pretty

close-knit group,” junior and varsity member Greta Witt said. “It’s nice to know friendly people. ”

Junior Varsity Coach and Theoretical Chemisty teacher Ryan Brewer has had trouble these past years with students not wanting to join Scholar Bowl. Brewer’s interest in Scholar Bowl first sparked in 2005, but it wasn’t until he was a teacher that he acted on it.

“The thing I love most about Scholar Bowl is that your team performs better if they’re more diverse,” Brewer said “So it kind of celebrates students’ unique

backgrounds and knowledge that their teammates don’t know.”

Diversity is a big aspect of Scholar Bowl. The more people know, the better chance of winning for their team.

“Scholar bowl is geared towards lots of different areas” Larson said, “you don’t have to be an expert in all of them that just having one little niche that you know about can sometimes be the difference between the team winning a match and losing a match.”

Juniors Jacob Smith and Greta Witt have been involved in Scholar Bowl

The Scholar Bowl has their first meeting of the season on Oct 6 in room 204. Although a majority of students weren’t dead set on joining the team, due to lack of overall knowledge, the coaches are still working to recruit. “Even if you don’t think you know a lot, maybe you know a lot about some thing where we have a gap in our team’s knowledge. Sometimes there is pop culture, sometimes sports, a lot of school related subjects, but we need someone who’s good at math, and also someone who knows sports and someone who knows English, so you could be useful to the team trivia is fun, and it’s a good group of people,” junior varsity coach Ryan Brewer said.

know about can sometimes be the difference between the team winning a match and losing a match.”

Juniors Jacob Smith and Greta Witt have been involved in Scholar Bowl since middle school, Smith was on the LMS team and Witt, DMS. Both Witt and Smith were encouraged by peers to join the team. As soon as they learned how fun it was, they were hooked.

“The practices are a lot less formal than the actual competitions,” Smith said, “you get to goof around with all your teammates.”

Varsity Coach and Earth and Space science teacher Trace Larson, earth and space is a physical science class that challenges students to learn more about the world and the planets around us.

“For me personally, seeing the students start off as junior varsity, then working their way up into the varsity category as they get some more advanced classes under their belt,” Larson said

According to Texas A&M Today, “Results strongly suggest that participating in extracurricular activities causes students’

academic performance to increase. It’s the first study to demonstrate the reason that participation in sports leads to improved outcomes is the effect of participation on one’s friendship network.”

According to nassp.org, “Participation in extracurricular activities can boost schools in key areas—academic performance, behavior, attendance, student and parent satisfaction.”

Being involved in an academic club, as it can be very beneficial to grades and communication with others.

“I love being able to do the competitions with my friends,” Witt said. “The whole trip and getting to know all the inside jokes and everything.”

Scholar Bowl isn’t just testing one’s knowledge in a non-competitive form, Scholar bowl is a MSHAA competition. These students travel around to different suburban schools and compete for trophies and medals.

“We go to competitions at any of the high schools around,[Suburban conference]” Smith said. “Liberty North is one, but

sometimes we just stay here. We just face a bunch of other high schoolers at different high schools.”

Scholar Bowl is open to all students. If you or anyone you know is interested in Scholar Bowl, contact Larson in room 700, or via email, trace.larson@ lps53.org, or Brewer in room 204, or via email, ryan.brewer@lps53.org. You can find more information about Scholar Bowl through the Liberty High School website under clubs.

Sponsors:

Trace Larson - Room 700 trace.larson@lps53.org

Ryan Brewer - Room 204 ryan.brewer@lps53.org

Or for more info visit the LHS homepage under clubs.

MORE THAN FRENCH FRIES

alking into a French class can make someone feel as though they are in another country. The signs on the wall, the atmosphere and the culture and language are only the start of learning French.

French is offered to all grades, there are currently 120 million students that are learning French all around the US, says Babbel magazine.

“It’s been a great experience, and I think that students should try new things,” said freshman Gracee Peugh. “I never wanted to

take French until 8th grade.”

There are many benefits from learning French, says the France Diplomacy.

“It has helped so much, I love to travel so I use it constantly,” Lumetta says.

French is a global language, there are many other countries and continents who speak it such as Africa and Canada. Certain jobs in the US may even require applicants to speak the language, including interpreters, flight attendants, and translators.

“If you want to work for the State

Department or in a large multinational company, French is the way to go,” Lumetta says.

Learning how to speak French is different for everyone but there’s no time limit to when someone should start, Lumetta started French her sophomore year of high school and is now fluent.

“I believe studying in another country is the best way to learn a language because you are immersed in it and have no choice but to learn and use it,” says Lumetta.

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French class aims to teach students the language and culture of France with various techniques and reasons to learn it

Madame Lumetta is the only French teacher at Liberty and helps every student with an interest in the language learn it. Lumetta started her French journey her sophomore year of high school and is now fluent in it. “I studied French in high school and at KU before spending a semester in Angers, France,” said Lumetta.

Reported by Bianca Mancia Castillo | Designed by Jenna Shores & Kaiya Lynch | Photos courtesy of Santana

SENIOR OLIVIA DAVOLT

How an aspiring video producer sparked change.

Reported and Photos by Ethan McMenemy | Designed by Victorya Wilkinson

Throughout the year, senior Olivia Davolt can be seen leading the broadcast team, playing soccer or dancing non-competitively. But one fact few people know about Davolt is she played a key role in KLHS getting its own daily time slot as well as the creation of Connect 30.

“What I noticed in a lot of my classes and through my peers, was that no one was really watching KLHS,” Davolt said. “Either their teacher didn’t put it on, or they didn’t have time to watch it”.

Video Production Specialist Darren Whitely also noticed a disconnect between the students and administration in recent years.

“The quarantine had a huge detriment and disconnected the students and the parents. It was like school but you didn’t have the joyous opportunities going to school had under normal circumstances,” Whitely said.

This inspired Davolt to present the importance of KLHS in a staff meeting last school year along with alum Connor Mclain.

“We talked to them in hopes they would start turning it on for their class, but I didn’t know that it would have such a big impact on the schedule,” Davolt said. “It made me really excited that they were working in time for us because we work really hard on the show every single day, and it can get pretty stressful back there, being recognized feels really good.”

Whitely recognized the impact that the changes to the schedule would have not only on the students but on the administration too.

“How you go about resolving a problem is really important because this is how you do it in the professional world, you don’t beat on the desk or pound on the walls, you go to your supervisor, discuss it and try to find a compromise, it’s not only empowering for the students, but it was probably empowering for the administration to hear student voices that were passionate about something,” Whitely said.

The members of KLHS had limited details about the proposed changes as alum Kymon Warman was unaware of the administration’s decision.

“I knew there was talk of it and I know they went to some

Senior Olivia Davolt near the broadcast desk of KLHS prior to anchoring the show. Davolt has been on KLHS staff since her freshman year. “I love the people, that’s really what I look forward to every day, but I also like making sure that everyone can work together and making sure that the show runs smoothly and the people have the resources they need,” Davolt said.

meetings to get it done. I didn’t know that it had been followed through and actually completed,” Warman said.

Davolt’s drive to push for change in her school is not out of character as her sense of leadership was noticed early on in her broadcasting career.

“She’s unique in that she was pulled into a leadership position very early on in her time as a broadcasting student. Our first inclinations were that we hoped she’d carry on,” Whitely said.

When she was a kid, Davolt was introduced to video production through editing programs such as iMovie and Videostar. In eighth grade, she joined the broadcasting class at DMS and decided to continue with it in high school. These decisions have led Davolt on a path which has brought success in competitions.

“We won third in the nation overall for best news show. And at state, I won best in the state for a mini-documentary I made over a girl who was adopted and went to our high school. We won for a few of our shows at state as well,” Davolt said. “I started doing KLHS my freshman year and as we went on with the show I became passionate about putting on the show, editing videos for it and leading the class.”

Davolt is undecided about where she will attend college, but she is certain about wanting to pursue an education in video production and video editing.

Senior Olivia Davolt reviews the KLHS script before the broadcast goes live. Davolt is not usually an anchor, but she had to fill in for the day. “I never thought broadcasting could turn into a career until I got more into it in my eighth-grade year and joined broadcasting in high school. Now that I’m in it, I am really glad that I continued with the class,” Davolt said.

all of the KLHS members to World’s of Fun to do Halloween Haunt and Olivia was the one that drove,” said Kymon Warman.

“My favorite memory is when we took “My favorite memory is when we took all of the KLHS members to World’s of Fun to do Halloween Haunt and Olivia was the one that drove,” said Kymon Warman.

GOING UNDER THE SEA

The clanking of hammers hits the stage, the whirring sound of tools cutting through wood. Feeling the sawdust drape around your feet. Finally walking on stage to smell the sweet smell of sawdust and paint fumes succumb you senses. All of the above happens on a normal day for the crew and cast of The Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid is the 28 Disney animated feature film and is largely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 Danish fairy tale of the same name, according to playbill.com the first onstage production of the movie was in 2008 and has been performed on broadway and many other stages since.

The countless jobs of the crew in this production include set painting, costume designing, prop making, and more that people may not see from just looking onstage.

Senior Mary Bates has been involved in theater since fifth grade, and got into the tech and crew part sophomore year. For this year’s musical, she is the stage manager and scenic director.

“The process is really slow and it’s a lot of thinking ahead. Everything that happens onstage, and everything that happens off stage you have to keep track of,” Bates said. “It’s a lot of trial and error with finding what works.

According to brainstormproductions.edu, “Theatre allows students to explore challenging social scenarios and vulnerable emotions in a safe and supportive environment.”

“My favorite thing about theater is probably that everyone gets accepted,” Bates said. “You have the loud kids, the weird kids and also the quiet kids all together, it’s the perfect place where if you don’t know where you belong, you definitely belong in theatre.”

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Reported by Jenna Shores | Designed by Lucy Boyle | Photos by Richard Burns

The Little Mermaid cast and crew work to get their show ready for opening night.

The theatre teacher and director of this year’s musical, is Katherine Gehrlein, has been performing since she was a little kid, but first started performing in high school.

“Theater is my passion,” Gehrlein said. “It means telling beautiful stories, it means connecting with each other, it means learning how to empathize and walk in other people’s shoes, sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively. Most importantly it helps us know ourselves the best.”

The jobs that fall onto a director include holding auditions, casting, recruiting the cast and creating blocking on stage.

“It’s a lot of responsibility, the entire show falls on my shoulders,” Gehrlein said. “We have just about two months to get it all together.”

According to backstage.com, Aside from the collaborative benefits, working on crew is a great way to make new lifelong friends, you also pick up new skills.

“We just have fun,” Bates said. “While were still working and being productive there’s a lot of messing around and joking with each other and becoming great friends.”

For more information check out the theater social media’s @ lpsfinearts, @blujaytheatre, and the fine arts page on the LHS website.

Senior Sophia Ferguson, senior Karmen Gonzales, sophomore Megan Boteler, sophomore Iris Vallier, this musicals crew work with equitment for all the behind the scenes work such as lighting, cameras and sound. “It’s a lot of trial and error with finding what works, and what doesn’t,” senior Mary Bates said.

A HIT AT KSA

Lady Jays go undefeated in the KSA tournament.

Reported by Connor Rizek | Designed by Brodey Hutton | Photo by Sam Brusven

he women’s volleyball team went undefeated in the Orlando KSA tournament without dropping a single set. With a winning record, they are one of the top ten teams in the state. At the tournament they played teams from states like Texas, New York, Oklahoma, and more. They won all three games in the bracket, winning the whole tournament, with their top players being Aisha Aiono, Ashley Mullen and Brooklyn Young, and head coach April Fleming.

“I think the atmosphere of the volleyball team is pretty great,” Fleming said. “They work well together, and I really think that they enjoy being around each other and playing the game. I really love coming in after school and seeing the kids.”

The varsity women’s volleyball team huddles amidst an intense match against Park Hill on Thursday, Sep 8. The Jays went on to win 3-2 against their opponent. This was the team’s first match back at home after re turning from the annual KSA tournament in Orlando, Florida, where they went undefeated. “Having a good bond with your team really helps you play better on the court,” said Senior Brooklyn Young.

The players were not just physically challenged, but also mentally challenged at the tournament. Especially because they played multiple games in a day and were being watched by family and colleges.

“We let the pressure fall off and work together as a group and not as individuals on the court. Every time we work together, it’s better than when we work apart,” senior Middle Blocker Aisha Aiono said.

The next game is a home game against Staley on Oct 13 at 6:30. Tickets are three dollars for students general admission and five dollars for adult general admission and can be found on the athletic website under the tickets tab. You can watch the games on the sports marketing classes’ Instagram who will live stream

Suicide prevention month has begun and students have started advocating. In this photo are three different numbers, 800-273-8255 the suicide hotline number, 988 which like 911 will direct you to an operator and 741741 a crisis text line for anyone who doesn’t want to make a call. Photo by Victorya Wilkinson

How Low Can Mental Health Go?

Suicide awarness and the mental health of high schoolers.

Reported

by Hadley

ept. 10 marked the beginning of suicide prevention month a time where students, teachers and other members of the community bring attention to a discussion sparking topic. Mental health can be very sensitive with 46,000 people taking their lives in 2020 alone making it the 12 leading cause of death in the US.

On Thurs. Oct. 6 the counseling department will show a video about the importance of suicide awareness and the signs of suicide (SOS). This is one of the many steps the school takes to protect students and give them ways to reach out for the help they may need.

“We have a rating system. It’s a scale that determines where they are, if they’ve made a plan or made an action toward that plan and we also contact the parents. It’s an in-depth way of finding out ex actly what the student is thinking, if they do come in and have some suicidal idealations,” said counselor Jamie Jensen.

The Mental Health Side

Mental health affects many people, with 26.9% of teens, between the ages of 12 and 17, having one or more mental, emotional, de velopmental or behavior problem according to The Jed Foundation (JED), a non-profit organization which protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults in the US.

According to JED, “Suicide is the third leading cause of death for teens and young adults, ages 15-24, 18.8% of high school students reported having seriously considered suicide in the past year and 8.9% of high school students attempted suicide in the past year.”

How Mental Health Does and Does Not Contribute to Suicide

Though mental health can play into reasons to think about or follow through with taking their life; it is not the only reason. Not every case is about someone who has shown signs on the outside. Self harm, talking about a course of action, joking about commit ting suicide, etc. Underlying mental conditions such as depression, only found in 94.2% of people who have had suicidal thoughts, or anxiety, found in 70% of people who have attempted. Meaning 30% of attempted suicides were not a result of anxiety and 5.8% of those who have reported having suicidal thoughts had no contribu tions ]of depression.

“While depression is a risk factor for suicide,” Dr. Fleisher says. “Only about half of people who take their lives had depression. People who have “vulnerable self-esteem” — self-feelings that require ongoing protection and promotion — are also at higher risk for suicide. The things that make them vulnerable are where they stand socially and where they stand developmentally.”

According to Suicide Awarness Voices of Education (SAVE) these non-outward signs can be anything ranging from talking about feeling like a burden to acting reckless, extreme mood swings, showing rage, sleeping too little/too much, increasing use of drugs or alcohol and more.

Courses of Action

According to UCLA Health, “It’s imperative that, as a culture and as individuals, we make it clear that when people are suffering, we want to know about it,” Dr. Carl Fleisher, MD, who specializes in adolescent and child psychiatry at UCLA Health, said. “What doesn’t seem to increase risk of suicide is talking about the impor tance of mental health, talking about the importance of reaching out to people who are struggling, or if you’re struggling, reaching out for help.”

There are many ways for those struggling to reach out. One of those is to join the new Mental Health Awarness Club founded by sophomore Addi Birkenholz. This is a place which anyone is able to join, especially if they feel they need to be heard. Meetings are on Wednesdays during Connect 30 in room 827.

“I wanted to create a safe place for students where they can come and not feel alone and know that other people may be struggling just as much,” said Birkenholz, according to a KLHS interview.

If students decide they have too big of a situation to share in a group or don’t feel comfortable, the counseling office is another option where you can speak to a councelor, go into a quiet room or speak to a social worker.

“Come get help. It’s really hard to ask for it but that is what we are here for. It is all confidential, no one else in school is going to find out. Know that people do care and want you here,” Jensen said.

If you or anyone you know is struggling and needs help, reach out. Tell a trusted adult who can get you, or those you love, the help you need. Dial 800-273-8255 to talk to a suicide hotline on call, or text 741741 for free support from an operator who is there to help. Both lines are 24/7 operational.

Part of Their World

Disney’s new rendition of The Little Mermaid sparks racial debates and controversy

Reported by Kaiya Lynch | Designed by Jenna Shores | Photo by Victorya Wilkinson

A

t 10, I wrote to Disney Studios about the need for more diversity and representation in their princesses. The only black princess at the time (Tiana), was a frog for the majority of the movie and didn’t look anything like me. It took Disney six months to respond, saying they couldn’t accept ideas from outside the company.

Now, I’m 16 and surrounded by controversy flooding social media over the live-action The Little Mermaid movie. The production’s official trailer released at the D23 Expo on Sept. 9, sending a tsunami of shock around the globe with a revelation of the red-headed mermaid, Ariel, now played by Halle Bailey, a black woman. The amount of racism which ensued since this announcement has made me realize the U.S. hasn’t come as far as I’d hoped.

As a biracial (half black, half white) American, I don’t fit into either camp when it comes to The Little Mermaid debate. Halle looks like me, but she’s black. I could chime in with some of my own rhetoric about how Disney shouldn’t cast a fully black person to play one who is biracial. You see where I’m going with this, right? It’s a slow whirlpool which will suck everyone under.

Disney’s 1997 Cinderella featured not only a black woman playing the title character, but also a Fillipino Prince Charming. According to Diply Trending, this movie “broke barriers and was iconic.” So, why are people upset about the race of a fish?

The biggest argument I’ve seen from anti-Halle supporters is the movie is historically inaccurate, since it has an interarcial love trope. My response: is a mermaid/human love story accurate? Is this something which exists outside of Disney lore? Although the plot takes place before 1967–when interracial marriage was legalized in the U.S.--there isn’t much in this movie that’d exist in the real world. What people like about fairytales is they allow for an escape, a chance to dream: representation matters. Seeing someone in a fairytale who looks like you matters. It speaks to the very essence of being accepted: by society, prince charming and yourself.

In the age of social media, we’ve become too attached to nonsensical slander and ideas. When I scroll through TikTok, I see more videos about The Little Mermaid than awareness for the sexist murders happening in Iran or the military drafting in Russia. I hope when the movie releases May 23, theaters will be filled with people ready to experience a new take on The Little Mermaid… not people who prefer to spend time calling it “The Lil Mermaid” or “The Little Slave.”

Fashion Forward

Notorious fashion brands are in high demand as homecoming approaches.

Reported by Lucy Boyle | Photo by Lizzy Garr

Fashion has evolved, over the past century with various trends and fashion norms. Throughout time, the way clothing is made and sold has changed. Fast fashion is a form of clothing that affects the way product are made and makes clothing more efficient to get to consumers convenient and cheaper. The real problem with fast fashion is it hurts the environment and the people producing it. .

According to the UN Environment Program, “The industry is the second-big gest consumer of water and is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.”

The reason that these companies make product some fast and cheaper, is paying there workers poorly. This creates unfair work pay. These sweat shop workers get paid less than $11 an hour with horrible conditions. Over 2.7 million factory workers got injured or an illness in 2020. These factories are unsafe and the machinery and process of making the clothes release unhealthy toxins and chemicals like nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide into the air.

According to The Guardian, “Whether they are workers in Leicester being paid $3.50 an hour in sweatshop conditions, or farmers in India dying from dangerous chemicals in the production of cotton – collectively and individually, we are all paying.”

These companies have made shopping the easiest it has ever been. Dresses and other accessories from places like Shein, Windsor and Asos are convenient for all events especially, dances like prom and homecoming. These products are efficient for producers to make and consumers to buy. The United States itself spend over $300 billion on clothing each year. Homecoming and prom sales are estimated to bring in $2.7 billion in revenue for dresses, shoes, suits and other accessories.

According to ICSID, “Approximately $1,604 per year is spent on clothing on average (that’s $134 a month).”

At the end of the day, fast fashion create poor working conditions, unfair wag es, environmental destruction and pollutes the earth. To find more information about sustainable fashion visit The UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion and also lps.org to find more about homecoming..