June 2022 — Silver Chips Print

silverchips A public forum for student expression since 1937 Montgomery Blair High School

June 15, 2022

subscribe online tinyurl.com/subtochips

VOL. 85 NO. 6

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

A NATION MARCHES AGAIN

PHOTO BY RAFFI CHARKOUDIAN-ROGERS

A call to action

By Lucía Santoro-Vélez Design Editor/Senior Writer Four years after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. and the birth of the March For Our Lives movement, protestors gathered once again to demand action.

On June 11, thousands congre-

MDGA

By Ava Bedaque News Columnist/Senior Writer

The Maryland General Assembly officially adjourned on April 11, having passed a total of 836 bills. Gov. Larry Hogan signed 103 of them and an additional 10 were made law with a legislative override of the governor’s veto.

Child Interrogation Protection Act

The Child Interrogation Protection Act (CIPA), set to take effect on Oct. 1, will require police officers to notify the parents or guardians of minors who are tak-

gated in Washington, D.C., to advocate for federal gun control legislation and congressional action.

The event, which was organized

by March For Our Lives, included speakers like Rep. Cori Bush, Mayor Muriel Bowser, and David Hogg, a Parkland survivor and gun control activist.

The renewed effort comes only weeks after the third-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history oc-

March For Our Lives first took place on March 24, 2018.

Four years later, protesters return to the capital. curred in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 elementary school children and two teachers were murdered. Though school shootings were a primary concentration, the march also focused on overall gun violence and mass shootings—in particular, the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist killed 10 Black people in a supermarket. At the march, Garnell and Raymond Whitfield, brothers who

A guide to new Maryland legislation en into custody for interrogation or who are charged with a crime.

It also requires children to consult with an attorney before they can be interrogated.

Senator Jeff Waldstreicher, one of the bill’s sponsors, believes these protections are necessary to prevent children from wrongly incriminating themselves. “Children often act differently with police than adults might under similar circumstances,” Waldstreicher said in an interview with Silver Chips.

“Children need additional protections to ensure that they don’t make false confessions and [to] otherwise protect their constitutional rights when interacting with

the justice system.”

The CIPA also allows the Maryland Court of Appeals to create new rules adapting the language for the standard Miranda warnings—the reading of constitutional rights prior to detention or interrogation—to be more age-appropriate for minors.

According to Senator Jill Carter, the bill’s primary sponsor, this is important because children often do not understand their Miranda rights the way they are usually read. see MGDA page A2

lost their 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, in the Buffalo shooting, spoke about the loss of their mother and the need for change at the march. In an impassioned speech, Garnell Whitfield said, “We are here to demand justice. Justice for those who have been murdered in this struggle, and action for those who are yet among us.”

COURTESY OF LUCÍA SANTORO-VÉLEZ

Inside the temple

By Ila Raso Senior Writer “Our temples are not just for us, they’re for everyone,” Christina Matthews, a member of the Mormon congregation, says. Matthews toured the newly renovated Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kensington, Maryland during the open house that began on April 28. These tours are walk-in and are provided every day of the week except Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and were available to the public until June 11.

With its classical white spires that overlook Interstate 495 and

the Kensington area, the temple, known as Latter-day Saints for short, is a comforting sight for many DMV residents. Built of crisp Alabama marble with gold accents, it creates a distinct contrast with the sky and surrounding woods. The beautifully landscaped grounds, which are generally open to visitors only during holiday events, frame an enchanting view of the temple towering overhead.

Completed in August 1974, the temple was last open to the public in September and October of the same year. see TEMPLE page D4

insidechips

OPINION

LA ESQUINA LATINA

FEATURES

CULTURE

News.......................................... A2 Opinions.................................... B1 La Esquina Latina................... C1 Features..................................... D1 Culture...................................... E1 Sports ....................................... F1

Debating the effectiveness of Blair’s recent All-In Honors Initiative, which is set to take effect starting with the Class of 2025. B2

Alzando la voz contra la violencia y uso de armas, Blair hace homenaje para las victimas de Buffalo, New York y Uvalde, Texas. C1

Montgomery County makes efforts to identify AAPI historical sites through the Heritage Project. D3

A local bookstore aims to form warmhearted connections with members of the Silver Spring community. E1

All-in honors

Discursos

Preserving heritage

Loyalty literature

silverchips

A2 News June 15, 2022 silverchips Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East Silver Spring, MD 20901 silverchips.business@gmail.com

Silver Chips is a public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content decisions. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the editorial board and are not necessarily those of the school or of all Silver Chips members. Signed letters to the editor are encouraged; submit them to silver.chips.print@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

“The most common example that’s been given by many people was that when children are asked about waiving rights, they think ‘waiving’ means ‘waving’ the hand as opposed to giving up something,” she said in an interview with Silver Chips.

The CIPA was vetoed by Hogan, who argued the bill would stall investigations, but it passed with a legislative override.

“Many of the provisions in the bill meant to protect youth were concepts that I could support… [but] the hurdles created by this bill, most notably requiring consultation with an attorney prior to questioning, will effectively eliminate the ability for law enforcement to interrogate a youth,” Hogan wrote in his official veto statement.

Meanwhile, Carter believes that the law will improve public safety.

“In cases where children are coerced into false confessions, quite often… law enforcement stops… with the arrest and the suspect, and they don’t pursue the actual culprit,” Carter said.

is an international initiative with a chapter at Blair that advocates for women’s rights. “Most people who birth babies identify as women… and that makes it a primarily female struggle,” she said. “Babies go through a lot of diapers; babies go through a lot of products… all that cost builds up and builds up, and that sales tax matters. It’s important, because that just adds to the growing cost.”

The law passed unanimously in the House and Senate and is set to take effect on July 1.

comptroller’s office is going to figure out who these folks are and just send them a letter in plain English explaining what it is and what the benefit is, and make it really simple for them to get their money.”

While the law is set to take effect this October, Palakovich Carr explains that it will take more time to implement. “The comptroller’s office has been going through a multi-year upgrade of their technology behind all of their tax return processing,” she said. “The effective date for the bill in terms of when the program starts is a [of] couple years from now because we wanted to get past all of those technological upgrades.”

Maryland Earned Income Tax Credit The Maryland Earned Income Tax Credit is an effort to expand access to the federal and state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) programs. The EITC provides tax breaks and refunds to many low-income workers.

The bill requires the comptroller’s office, the agency in charge of

Public Safety– Untraceable Firearms The Public Safety–Untraceable Firearms law bans the sale or transfer of “ghost guns,” untraceable guns without serial numbers. The law also regulates unfinished fire-

er with a ghost gun. According to police, the shooter purchased the unserialized gun in three parts and assembled it himself.

Data the Baltimore Police De-

It’s shameful that a quarter of Marylanders who should be getting that money weren’t getting it.

partment gave CBS News Baltimore showed the number of ghost guns confiscated by police has increased significantly in recent years, from nine in 2018 to 352 in 2021.

Hogan allowed the bill to be-

Sales & use tax exemption

House Bill 282 expands existing sales tax exemptions for certain hygiene products to include diapers, baby wipes, and diaper rash cream.

Delegate Eric Luedtke, who sponsored the bill, believes it will help families afford costly necessities. “Parenting’s very expensive, particularly in a state like Maryland… So, anything we can do, frankly, to bring down the cost of parenting is good for the state; it’s good for parents,” he said in an interview with Silver Chips.

Maryland has the eighth highest cost of living of all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and costs are being made even higher by inflation. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia, a monthly measure of inflation in the area, increased by 7.5 percent between May 2021 and May 2022.

“We’re in a period of high inflation, and people could use the help,” Luedtke said. “I’ve heard from new parents who are dealing

Children need additional protections to ensure that they don’t make false confessions and [to] otherwise protect their constituional rights when interacting with the justice system.

JEFF WALDSTREICHER

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Estefany Benitez Gonzalez Christy Li Sean Li Kevin Vela LA ESQUINA LATINA EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Estefany Benitez Gonzalez Kevin Vela MANAGING NEWS EDITORS Elina Lee Milan Tenn MANAGING OPINIONS EDITORS Ingrid Holmquist Rosie Orzulak MANAGING FEATURES EDITORS Annie Gao Sophia Stein MANAGING CULTURE EDITORS Eliana Finberg Ella Schrebler MANAGING SPORTS EDITORS William Ashford John Ernst OMBUDSMAN Andre Parker DESIGN EDITORS Haley Carter Annie Gao Lucía Santoro-Vélez COLUMNISTS Ava Bedaque John Ernst Eliana Finberg Sedise Tiruneh Zach Williamson SENIOR WRITERS Ava Bedaque Haley Carter Ila Raso Lucía Santoro-Vélez Sedise Tiruneh LA ESQUINA LATINA WRITERS Samantha Frey Yeferson Fuentes Axel Henrritquez EXECUTIVE BUSINESS DIRECTORS Isabelle Mathiascheck Finnegan Oakes BUSINESS STAFF Sela Colavito Caleb Plank MANAGING ART EDITORS Eliza Cooke Karis Tebo ARTISTS Abjini Chattopadhyay Yeison Cotom Eric Le Mia Levings Katalina Li Sophia Li Alexander Liu Mina Ricotti Lucia Wang MANAGING PHOTO EDITORS Fiona Bondarev Raffi Charkoudian-Rogers Henry Reichle PHOTOGRAPHERS Jonathan Cumblidge Maia Turpen MEDIA EDITOR Iris Montgomery PUZZLE EDITOR Elina Lee OUTREACH CZARS Ila Raso Sedise Tiruneh LA ESQUINA LATINA ADVISER Maria Eugenia Tanos ADVISERS Jeremy Stelzner Maria Eugenia Tanos

from MDGA page A1

JULIE PALAKOVICH CARR

Winner of the 2019 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal, the 2021 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Association Crown, the 2021 American Scholastic Press Association First Place with Special Merit, the 2022 Columbia Scholastic Association Silver Crown, and the 2022 American Scholastic Press Association First Place Award

MD General Assembly roundup

with the fact that diapers cost an arm and a leg who could use the help.”

Olivia Schulz, a recent Blair graduate and former Girl Up officer, believes the law will also help promote gender equality. Girl Up

AVA BEDAQUE; DATA FROM THE IRS

LESS PARTICIPATION A smaller percentage of eligible Marylanders claim the EITC compared to the national average. managing parts of the state’s finances, to identify people who qualify for the EITC and send them registration forms if they have not already claimed the credit.

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), about 21.9 percent of all eligible Americans did not claim the EITC in 2018. “[The] EITC has been such an effective program and a life-changing program for people who do get their refunds,” Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr, the bill’s primary sponsor, said in an interview with Silver Chips. “It’s shameful that a quarter of Marylanders who should be getting that money weren’t getting it.”

Palakovich Carr believes that the law, which passed with bipartisan support, will help fix this problem and allow more people to take advantage of the tax credit. “Sometimes people know the credit is there, but… you have to do additional forms as part of your tax return in order to get the credit, so it’s a big barrier for people to get the EITC,” she said. “The

arm parts in the same way as complete guns, as ghost guns are often assembled from parts that can be purchased without facing the restrictions placed on guns that have already been assembled.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh endorsed the bill, stating that it would help reduce gun violence. “[Ghost guns] are easily purchased over the internet without a background check, making them easily accessible to children, violent felons, domestic abusers, and others who are ineligible to own a firearm,” he said in a statement after the bill passed in the House. “This bill closes a loophole that makes it difficult for law enforcement to do its job and creates a terrible public safety threat.”

On Jan. 20, one day after the first draft of the bill was read to the House Judiciary Committee, a student was shot in the bathroom of Colonel Zadok Magrud-

corrections May 2022 A2

The graph “High schools of the past 10 SMOBs” is not credited to Marijke Friedman.

D2

In the story “Students observe Ramadan”, Mokhtarzada is misspelled as Mokhtazada.

D2

In the story “Vegans protest Soko butcher shop”, the right photo is not credited as courtesy of Ava Bedaque.

E1

In the story “A direction of his own,” Keelin is mispelled as Kellin, and Alison is misspelled as Allison.

come law without his signature. In an official statement, he called the law a “positive step’’ towards addressing gun violence, but accused it of being an incomplete effort. “[The law] does nothing to penalize those who actually pull the triggers on firearms, and deflects away from the need to take decisive action to hold violent criminals accountable,” Hogan said. The law became effective on June 1.

ELIZA

E

COOK

silverchips

June 15, 2022 News A3

By Ava Bedaque News Columnist/Senior Writer On May 2, Politico leaked a first draft of the majority opinion in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which would overturn the constitutional right to an abortion previously established by the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed by the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Roe established the right to terminate a pregnancy before fetal viability as part of a broader constitutional right to privacy implicitly protected under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and 14th Amendments. If it is overturned, states will have the authority to ban or regulate abortion as they please. Already, 26 states have “trigger laws” that will go into effect if Roe is officially overturned and immediately ban or severely restrict abortion.

Writing for the majority in the draft, Justice Samuel Alito called the Court’s decision in Roe “egregiously wrong from the start.”

Republican Maryland state delegate Kathy Szeliga agrees with the Court’s draft decision. “There’s no ‘constitutional abortion protection.’

That was made up in 1973 by the Supreme Court,” Szeliga said in an interview with Silver Chips.

On the other hand, Jamie Raskin, the Democratic U.S. Congressman representing Maryland’s Eighth District and a constitutional lawyer, believes the Court’s reasoning in Roe was correct. “[A right to an abortion is] implied [not only] in the [14th Amendment’s] due process [clause]... but also in the Ninth Amendment that says that the enumeration of particular rights in the Constitution shall not be construed to disparage the existence of other

JAMIE RASKIN

The Court’s reasoning demolishes the right to privacy.

rights retained by the people. And Justice Alito’s draft opinion flies in the face of that basic constitutional [directive],” he told Silver Chips.

“The Court’s reasoning demolishes the right to privacy.”

Alito also argued that the Con-

stitution could not protect the right to an abortion because there is no historical foundation for it.

However, Dr. Jacqueline Antonovich, a professor of medical history at Muhlenberg College, disputes this. “In an early America context… men didn’t really have a say in women’s health or their fertility. That was completely within the realm of women,” she said in an interview with Silver Chips. “Contrary to what Alito lays out in his ruling, [abortion] was completely legal in

I don’t think aborting a full-term, healthy baby is good public policy, and I actually think it’s a barbaric practice,” she said.

Regardless of state-level legislation, there has been a push in

There’s no ‘constitutional abortion protection.’

That was made up in 1973 by the Supreme Court.

KATHY SZELIGA

KARIS TEBO

amendment in the House, where it recieved over three-fifths of votes, because it would prevent the state from banning abortion in the future. “[The amendment would mean that] no matter what the legislature looks like in a future year, it couldn’t just take the will of a majority to change abortion laws in Maryland,” he said in an interview with Silver Chips. “If we have a Republican governor, that’s exactly the scenario that emerges: that a simple majority of the legislature could move in negative directions against abortion rights.”

Moon was one of the many sponsors of the Abortion Care Access Act, a law which is meant to expand abortion access in Maryland by requiring Medicaid and private health insurance providers to fully cover abortion procedures. It also allows licensed healthcare providers besides physicians, such as nurse practitioners and midwives, to provide abortions, and sets aside an annual $3.5 million to train them.

The law passed with a supermajority of the legislature, but the funding will not be released at least

Congress to keep abortion policy a federal matter. Several bills have been introduced to ban or restrict abortion at the federal level, including the Life at Conception Act of 2021, introduced in the Senate, which failed to pass and would have extended the 14th Amendment right to life to fetuses.

On the other side of the aisle, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021, which would prevent states from banning abor-

PHOTO BY JONATHAN CUMBLIDGE

CONTROVERSIAL DECISION People at a pro-choice protest against the Court’s leaked draft opinion. all areas of the United States until around the 1820s.”

In Maryland specifically, abortion has been legal when medically necessary or when the pregnancy was the result of rape since 1968.

Additionally, all abortions before 26 weeks of gestation have been legal since 1991.

However, many were expecting Dobbs to completely or partially overrule Roe months before the draft opinion was leaked, leading some pro-choice politicians, including those in Maryland, to push for additional state-level legislation that would protect abortion access.

During this year’s legislative session, the MD state Senate failed to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made the ability to terminate a pregnancy a fundamental right.

Democratic Maryland state delegate David Moon supported the

until 2024, as Gov. Larry Hogan announced he will be withholding the money for the rest of his term.

Moon believes that the law is an important step toward improving abortion access in Maryland. “We wanted to… be very practical and try to actually expand access to all corners of the state and to all income levels in the states, so that no matter what happened with the courts, we would… make sure that everyone in our state would be able to access these services at low cost and without huge drives and things like that,” he said.

Although the law had enough support in the Maryland General Assembly to override the Governor’s veto, many still oppose it.

Szeliga voted against the law because she believes it will hurt the unborn. “I don’t believe that tax payer dollars should pay for abortion because I don’t think abortion’s right.

wellbeing. “The intent [is] to find ways to support our students and make sure that [every check-in] day [is] student centered,” Schafer said.

The committee planned to make more progress toward implementation this school year, but the process has been delayed. “We are still moving forward with the plan, but we are adjusting the timeline,” Schafer said. Now, most vetting steps will happen during the 20222023 school year, with the goal to incorporate check-in days during the 2023-2024 academic year.

To ensure teacher support before moving forward with the final

plan, the committee will conduct a staff vote on the new schedule.

[Stakeholder input] is still underway so that we can make sure that everyone who wants to have a voice has a voice in the decision.

TRACY PETTIS-JONES

The Blair Bell Schedule Committee’s effort to implement Wednesday check-in days at Blair is in progress. Under the current proposal, five-day and three-day academic weeks will have one all-period “wellness” check-in day, mirroring last year’s virtual learning schedule.

According to Blair physics teacher James Schafer, who has been a key proponent of the initiative, the purpose of wellness days is to benefit student learning and

Compiled by Haley Carter Design Editor/Senior Writer

Tornado warning

On Friday, May 27, at 6:18 a m, an official tornado watch was issued in Montgomery County. At 11:56 a.m., the county announced that the tornado watch had progressed to a tornado warning. Blair administration did not make an announcement about the tornado warning until 12:10 p.m., when an announcement informing students and staff of the warning was broadcast without instructions to shelter.

The announcement was not repeated in Spanish.

At 12:12 p.m., Blair provided a followup announcement instructing students and staff to go to hallways and windowless classrooms on the first floor. This followup also repeated information from the first announcement. There was no announcement made with specific instructions for portable classrooms.

At 12:20 p.m., Blair administration informed the school that the tornado warning would stay in effect until 12:45 p.m. Over 20 minutes later, administration announced that the warning would stay in effect until 1:00 p.m. Fifty minutes after the first announcement, students were allowed to leave the windowless first floor areas and go to their next classes.

Formula shortage

tion regardless of the Court’s decision in Dobbs. “[The Women’s Health Protection Act] essentially codifies Roe v. Wade into federal law… It would create as a matter of federal statutory law a right to privacy when that has been stripped from the Constitution,” Raskin, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said.

However, the bill was filibustered in the Senate and never passed, meaning the right to an abortion would still be in the hands of state legislatures if Roe is overturned. “I believe in the 10th Amendment,” Szeliga said. “The 10th Amendment reserves most things to the states and states rights.

So, I think, constitutionally, [the Court’s decision to make abortion policy a state matter is] right.”

Wellness Wednesdays update

By Sophia Stein Features Editor

NEWS BRIEFS

This vote will require the support of 58 percent of Blair teachers,

excluding administration and supporting staff.

Opportunities for parent and student feedback will also occur.

“We’re still doing surveys, we’re still waiting for more feedback,” Blair Assistant Principal Tracy Pettis-Jones said. “All that is still underway so that we can make sure that everyone who wants to have a voice has a voice in the decision”.

Once all stakeholders approve the plan, a proposal will be sent to the MCPS Central Office for confirmation.

In February, baby formula company Abbott Laboratories shut down one of its largest production plants, located in Sturgis, Michigan, due to concerns about contamination. Along with global supply chain issues caused by the pandemic, the closure of the production plant sparked a formula shortage in the United States.

Months later, the United States is still facing this shortage, with stores’ formula out-of-stock rate increasing by 74 percent from the week prior as of May 28. Some parents have begun giving their children formula substitutes such as powdered oatmeal and fruit juice, even though pediatricians have not recommended it.

Budget approved

On Tuesday, June 7, the Montgomery County BOE approved a new operating budget of $2.92 billion for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, a five percent increase from FY 2022. The budget will focus on the three main priorities: academic excellence, well-being and family engagement, and professional and operational excellence. The 2023 budget already has investments planned, such as full-time staff development teachers in every school and increased employee salaries.

In December, Superintendent Dr. Monifa B. McKnight proposed a rejected $2.93 billion budget plan which included federal funding for the pandemic from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund.

The BOE previously requested a $2.96 billion budget—representing a 6.5 percent increase from FY 2022—for FY 2023 in February, but the proposal failed to pass. The extra funding would have been used to provide academic and emotional support for students, while managing ongoing expenses.

silverchips

A4 News June 15, 2022 INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS Compiled by Lucía Santoro-Vélez Design Editor/Senior Writter

Monkeypox outbreak

Fire in Bangladesh

By Ella Schrebler Culture Editor On May 25, community members and Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) members met in Silver Spring to discuss the future of the Purple Line light rail construction project. This meeting was planned to be informative in nature, introducing Maryland Transit Solutions (MTS) as the new design-build company dedicated to constructing the line, but the many protesters outside changed the evening’s course. MTS was signed as the Purple Line contractor on April 14.

Those 500 people are our neighbors. They live in Montgomery County, they live in Prince George’s County, and they want to go back and finish working on this job.

Additions to the Metro are not a rare occurrence. The original Metro, opened in 1976, consisted of only 5 Red Line stops. Since then, 5 more lines, with several stops each, have been added. The addition of the Purple Line will mark the seventh Metro line.

The idea for the Purple Line has been discussed within D.C. and Maryland transportation departments since the early 1990s. In 2009, members of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board voted unanimously to approve the Purple Line project. Construction began in August 2017 though it halted in October 2020 when the private consortium’s contractor for the project quit. The contractor overseeing the project cited two-and-a-half years of delays and $850 million in cost overruns as their reasons for leaving.

There was no new contractor in charge of the project until MTS was signed in April. Many

PHOTO BY HENRY REICHLE

PURPLE LINE CONSTRUCTION Construction for the Purple Line outside of the Silver Spring Public Library.

Delivery for the MTA explained. “From that, we selected a smaller group of firms, and then we allowed them to submit official detailed proposals that included technical information and cost information.”

The MTA and its concessionaire then deliberated over which company was best for the project, while an ingroup assessed company prices. “It turns out [that]… Maryland Transit Solutions was actually the most qualified with their technical proposal, and the [least costly],” Pollack said.

Though many are excited for construction to end, the future of the project remains unclear. Protesters crowded in front of the Silver

Ukraine Update

COURTESY OF AVA BEDAQUE

UNION PROTEST Purple Line Workers protest outside the Silver Spring Civic Center with mocking inflatable statues. hope that with the new company in charge, work can resume and the Line will continue to move towards its projected 2026 opening date.

“Now that our new design builder is on board, we expect construction activities to increase this summer,” David Abrams, spokesperson for the MDOT Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Purple Line, said. “We’re just excited about finally bringing this project to completion…for the people of Maryland.”

To find a new company to work on the Purple Line, the MTA administration considered many applications and slowly narrowed them down by balancing factors such as cost and efficacy. “First, we put out a request for qualifications, which gave companies an opportunity to submit a smaller package of documentation [explaining themselves],” Matthew Pollack, Executive Director of Transit Development and

Spring Civic Center on May 25, calling on MTS to finish negotiating their labor agreement with the union, which was supported by the previous contractor.

The contract between the state of Maryland and the design builder does not mandate or exclude unions.

DAVID ABRAMS

As the war in Ukraine continues, the geographical center of the conflict has shifted, as the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk becomes a point of focus for Russian forces.

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, the city is now a key part of the fight for control in Donbas, a southeastern region of the country. Two weeks ago, Ukrainian forces withdrew from Sievierodonetsk but later counterattacked Russian forces, leading to street fighting in the city.

Though Zelenskyy claimed on June 8 that the Ukrainian forces were inflicting damage to the Russian troops, he has continued his plea for western allies to supply the Ukrainian forces with artillery systems and other heavy weapons.

Numerous countries have provided weapons to Ukraine, including the United States, which, as of June 1, is sending a $700 million military package as a result of negotiations between the White House and Ukraine.

MTS initially cooperated with the union, and it appeared to many that the construction project would remain unionized. “In the beginning, the contractor said [the project] was going to

continue with the labor agreement that was in place, so [the union was] negotiating with them in good faith,” Victoria Leonard, political and legislative director for the Baltimore Washington Laborers’ District Council, said. “[In midMay], they stopped returning phone calls, and we learned that they… [did not intend to] work with us to finish the project.”

It turns out [that]…

Maryland Transit Solutions was actually the most qualified with their technical proposal, and the [cheapest].

MATTHEW POLLACK

In Sitakunda, Bangladesh, a fire at a shipping container depot resulted in the deaths of at least 44 people, including nine firefighters, and the injury of hundreds more as of June 9. The cause of the fire is unclear, but the fire quickly grew and spread to containers of hydrogen peroxide, which set off several explosions. These explosions reverberated half a mile away and shattered windows in nearby villages.

This incident has drawn attention to the safety issues within Bangladesh’s garment industry, which has had a history of fires and worker endangerment. It also sparked an investigation into eight officials that worked at the shipping container depot who are suspected of negligence and mismanagement.

Union debates over new Purple Line contractor

VICTORIA LEONARD

As of June 10, there have been a total of 49 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States.

The cases are present in the District of Columbia and 16 states, not including Maryland. This marks a recent outbreak of monkeypox, which had its first case reported on May 13. As of June 8, 29 countries where monkeypox is usually not found have recorded cases; within those countries, 1,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus.

Monkeypox is spread through close physical contact with a symptomatic person or animal. Symptoms include fevers, headache, muscle aches, low energy, skin rashes, and lesions, and typically last from two to four weeks and go away on their own; however, complications can lead to death.

Protesting over Purple Line

This upset some Purple Line construction workers, as they feared that their jobs were now in jeopardy. Members of the laborers, operators, carpenters, and iron workers unions expressed their discontent by protesting outside of the MDOT meeting about the new contract on May 25. Leonard explained that continuing without the union could have a large impact.

“We had 500 members on this project before it was shut down when the original contractor left,” she said. “Those 500 people are our neighbors. They live in Montgomery County, they live in Prince George’s County, and they want to go back and finish working on this job.”

Bridger Coter, a former Purple Line worker, feels let down by MTS’s actions. “I feel like it’s very unfair, because we helped them get the contract, and now that they have the contract, they don’t want to follow through with [the] union,” she said. “I feel like they reneged.”

MDOT and MTA members claim that working with the union was never promised in the contract. “The contract between the state of Maryland and the design builder does not mandate or exclude unions,” MTA spokesperson David Abrams said.

Pollack, another MTA member, corroborated this message. “I don’t recall whether we requested any specific experience statements regarding collaboration with Union,” he said in an interview with Silver Chips.

Disagreements between Maryland Transit Solutions and union workers remain unresolved.

silverchips

June 15, 2022 Opinions B1

Should individual action be the main focus for addressing climate change?

YES NO

CREDIT PHOTO BY MAIA TURPEN

In 2021, the Conference of Parties (COP26) Glasgow concluded that in order to prevent the disastrous effects of climate change, the earth cannot warm 1.5 degrees celsius past pre-industrial levels. For the United States to do its part in reducing pollution, it must reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Unfortunately, corporate lobbying has blocked and limited progressive climate policies that put us closer to this goal. This puts the burden of the war on climate change in the hands of individuals.

Congress has thus far proved unable to enact meaningful climate legislation. Of the 469 climate change related bills introduced by the 117th Congress during the 2021-2022 session, just four became law, largely due to preventative efforts by corporate lobbyists. “[Corporate] lobbying is a very persistent way of blocking change, and has proved to be effective through various sorts of bills,” Blair sophomore and Green Club member Emily Mallon explained.

Although grassroots lobbying by individuals and smaller political action groups is an effective way of fighting for change, it is often no match for the superior spending power of industry giants. In 2021, oil and gas companies spent $119.3 million on congressional lobbying.

“Companies do have enormous power in the agriculture lobby and… in the oil lobby,” Elizabeth Levien, the AP Environmental Science teacher at Blair, said. “[These companies] really have a big role in… preventing good laws on the books.” Junior and Green Club Member Evan Wilson added that stricter environmental regulations rarely benefit large lobbies. “It’s not in [big companies’] interest to allow a lot of fossil fuel regulations to be passed, so they spend a lot of time, attention, effort, and political capital to make those things not happen.”

Corporate lobbying is not the only issue preventing Congress from passing climate policy. Similar to many other political issues such as abortion and gun rights, environmental legislation has become extremely polarized. “Policies like the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, were not partisan… those were done by Richard Nixon, [who] was a Republican president, and [these policies] received wild support,” Levien explained.

“In the past 20 years, anything pro-environment has… become partisan.” Mallon furthered that partisanship blinds lawmakers to objective policy decisions, which prevents forward progress. “[It’s] hard to pass [environmental policy] because people follow partisanship and stick with the precedent of their party.”

Individuals must act by pressuring companies directly, and creating networks of individual changes.

We should focus on corporations and government policies to combat climate change.

By William Ashford Sports Editor

By Milan Tenn News Editor

AN OPINION

AN OPINION

Thus, if corporate lobbying and partisanAs a method of countering climate change, major corporations and even some ship have stagnated progress in the war on governmental organizations often emphaclimate change, how can we possibly trust size individual actions, telling us that we the government to meet our national goal should do our part by switching to renewof becoming net-zero by 2050? The answer able energy, using more sustainable transis that we can’t, and in order to combat the portation, or even buying different food government’s inability to make progress, inproducts. However, due to the major impact that corporations have on the climate, dividuals must act by pressuring companies government policies should be prioritized directly, and creating networks of individual over individual actions. changes.

One of the most well-known measures of Organizing to form interest groups, acindividual contribution to climate change is tion committees, and grassroots lobbying the carbon footprint. This is a measure of is the most effective way for individuals the amount of carbon emissions caused by to combat climate change. By using social the individual actions in a person’s life.

One major problem with carbon footmedia and other organiprints is that t h e y were not created zational efforts, individas a way to uals have the power help the ento shape the environvironment. mental friendliness of Instead, the companies. carbon foot“We know print was originally companies have created and such power in popularized this world,” Leviby Ogilvy en argued. and Mather, “They listen a public reto their conlations firm hired by oil comsumers, so pany British Peit’s the powtroleum, as a way er of the purse. We to focus climate can boycott certain activism on the actions of individproducts, we can uals rather than companies. divest from com“The term carbon footprint panies. Consumwas coined … to make individuals believe that their individual acers… collectively tions are the problem in relahave incredible tion to the climate rather than TI OT power.”

MINA RIC massive corporate actions,” Building comBlair Green Club President Anna munities that share knowlUehlein said. edge and actions is an essential step. “[It] In addition to popularizing concepts like comes back to your individual role, which the carbon footprint, oil companies routinely act as obstacles to government action. is to talk to the people in your circle… that’s According to a 2021 paper by Harvard Unia ripple effect,” Levien stated. The diffuversity’s Department of the History of Scision of these ideas creates networks of inence Research Associate Geoffrey Supran formation, which encourages activism and and Professor Naomi Oreskes, major oil keeps the fight against climate change alive. and gas corporation ExxonMobil “down“Understanding how… human activities plays the reality and seriousness of climate change” and “individualizes responsibility” have irreparably harmed the world, is super through its rhetoric on climate “risk” in the important for people [when learning] how public square, while simultaneously “shiftthey need to change their actions and their ing responsibility away from corporations.” practices,” argued Wilson. Levien stated, Moreover, oil companies have ob“we need to do the things to keep us in the structed climate policy through political game… Every fraction of a degree makes a donations. In fact, according to a 2020 difference.”

Bloomberg study, ExxonMobil donated 68

PHOTO BY MAIA TURPEN

percent of its lobbying money to “climate obstructionist” candidates and only 8 percent to “climate-friendly” candidates.

“All Exxon and Chevron and other large corporations like them want is to make profit. They have no stock in the environment,” Uehlein continued. “Regulation of corporations and regulation of their carbon emissions in order to save our lives … is incredibly important, just because the nature of a corporation is not conducive to environmental survival.”

Despite the ideas that companies such as British Petroleum and ExxonMobil try to promote, most greenhouse gas emissions are caused not by individuals but by large energy producers. According to the 2017 Carbon Majors Report, the 100 active fossil fuel producing companies have been the source of 71 percent of greenhouse gas emissions since climate change was “officially recognized” as human-caused in 1988. Of those, 25 producers alone make up a majority of global emissions.

The sheer environmental impact of these large organizations demonstrates that our priority should not be small-scale individual actions, but rather limiting the emissions of energy producers through policy solutions.

One major climate policy supported by climate advocacy organization Citizens’ Climate Lobby is the Carbon Fee and Dividend. According to volunteer group leader Erica Bollerud of Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Takoma Park and Silver Spring chapter, this policy would tax corporations based on the amount of carbon pollution that they cause.

“Under our policy that we are promoting, there would be a tax on carbon that starts at 15 dollars per metric ton, and it increases each year by ten dollars,” Bollerud said.

Changes in individual actions simply cannot account for the 71 percent of emissions caused by larger organizations, but the policies proposed by the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, if implemented, could make the US carbon neutral by 2050. Thus, the best way to help the climate is to focus on government regulation of major corporations.

Even as an individual, climate action is more effective when it focuses on government climate policy. “There’s more impact to your individual actions if you choose to do something like lobby for a policy solution,” Bollerud said. “Spending an hour lobbying your member of Congress or calling them on a monthly basis, that arguably might end up having more of an impact than riding your bike rather than taking a bus or an Uber somewhere.”

voicebox All photos by Raffi Charkoudian-Rogers “Individual actions all add “Issues that are... negatively “Major companies... are the up… if you focus on the impacting our climate stem from ones causing the grand scheme of things.” big corporations and factories.” most pollution.”

JULIA ROBISON DANIEL FISHER LOPEZ COLETTE ATSAME-NDONG sophomore freshman sophomore

“Group effort should be the primary focus of climate change.

MEHUL GOYAL junior

silverchips

Opinions B2 June 15, 2022

Two counties in one

The upcounty and downcounty of MCPS are economically, demographically, and culturally divided.

By Rosie Orzulak and Andre Parker Opinions Editor & Ombudsman AN OPINION

I worked at Gaithersburg High School, which is technically upcounty, but it is very similar to [Blair]. They called it ‘Ghettosburg’

LEIGH TINSLEY

Albert Einstein junior Ibrahima “Baba” Cisse’s loss to Walt Whitman junior Arvin Kim in this April’s Student Member of the Board election sparked increased discourse among students in the Down County Consortium (DCC) on the divide between the different regions of Montgomery County.

The county is divided into “clusters” based on groups of geographically defined attendance areas.

These clusters include two distinct consortiums, one of which is the Down County Consortium (DCC) consisting of five high schools— Blair, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Northwood, and Wheaton—and their feeder elementary and middle schools.

There are 18 other high schools in the county that don’t belong to a specific consortium. However, schools that are systematically offered more resources than the DCC have gained the moniker “upcounty,” representing both their location relative to the DCC and the financial advantages and sense of entitlement that are constantly perpetuated throughout the culture in these schools. When people mention the “upcounty,” they are generally referring to Walt Whitman, Walter Johnson, Thomas S. Wootton, Winston Churchill, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, and Sherwood.

The division along lines of race, class, and social culture that exists

between these distinct regions fuels an environment not conducive to the equal inclusion and success of minority students.

The infrastructure of upcounty schools and additional resources provided are glaringly noticeable to students and teachers of the DCC, whose schools serve less affluent communities. Leigh Tinsley, an English teacher at Blair, explains that the additional money in the upcounty doesn’t come from the

school system itself, but rather private donors and parents of students. “There’s a little bit of a pocket of some money… where you have basically private foundations that are raising money for school and donating that money to these individual schools. And that results in an inequitable distribution of resources for the school,” she said.

Private donations, in tandem with county funding, lead to firstclass amenities for these wealthier schools, often including items that seem borderline unfathomable for schools in the DCC. In 2019, for example, the Board of Education

approved a $24.5 million addition to Walt Whitman High School that included five new science laboratories, a digital art room, a “social and emotional services suite,” multipurpose technology lab, and common spaces for dining and socializing. Although these additions were allegedly brought on to ease overcrowding at the upcounty school—Whitman would have been 275 students over capacity without the additions—this reasoning falls apart when you remember that over 3200 Blair students are forced to share a building meant for 2800. These relative luxuries further contribute to the privileged and greater-than-thou attitude characteristic of upcounty culture.

The upcounty schools are extremely reputable throughout the county, and their prestige is reinforced through websites like GreatSchools, which rank them highly every time without fail. Tinsley clarified that these rankings are not reflective of the substance or educational quality of these schools, as their ranking system is inadequate. “GreatSchools [rankings are based on] test scores, [and] test scores are directly related to socio-economic status.”

Equating test scores with the quality of a school, and the resulting perception of upcounty schools as “good schools,” perpetuates inequalities, as affluent parents ensure they live within the boundary of these schools and contribute economically through taxes and donations.

Although Tinsley hasn’t

experienced the extreme wealth at an upcounty school first-hand, she has friends who teach at them and tell her endless stories about the copious showcasing of affluence. “I have a friend who teaches at B-CC. She was coaching JV girls soccer, and she bought socks for the girls, and each pair of socks is $14. A parent handed her a $100 bill and told her to keep the change. She was like, ‘Yeah, I can’t do that,’” Tinsley explained with laughter. “‘That’s not a thing, I can’t keep… your $90 in change.’”

The sense of entitlement may seem harmless, but when combined with immaturity and ignorance, the effects can be a detriment to students who are already a minority in upcounty schools.

Before teaching at Blair, Tinsley worked at Gaithersburg, where she witnessed many acts of hate and prejudice, “I worked at Gaithersburg High School, which is technically upcounty, but it is

very similar to [Blair]. They called it ‘Ghettosburg’… This was when we had a very old building, but it was also a general attitude. I mean, we went to play football at Damascus, and the kids coming out of the locker room had the N-word thrown at them when they were coming… onto the football field.”

The intentionally preserved lack of diversity, greater financial resources, and culture of entitlement create a wide racial and socio-economic disparity in the county and an environment in which minority students’ success is systematically obstructed.

ELIZA COOKE

Trouble with going All-In

By Lucia Santoro-Velez and Sophia Stein Design Editor/Senior Writer & Features Editor AN OPINION During the 2021-2022 school year, Blair piloted the All-In Honors initiative, which removed the on-level option from ninth grade core courses. In English 9, U.S. History, Biology, and Geometry, students were automatically enrolled in honors-level classes.

RAHMAN CULVER

The pilot is about… our effort as a school to try to address in an equitable way how students access quality, rigorous instruction.

varying student needs, it is difficult for them to create classes that provide adequate challenges and support for an increasingly widened range of student abilities. “I think some kids are probably bored, and some kids are overwhelmed,” Doyle said. “In the same class, it’s really hard to meet everyone’s needs when you have such a broad… variety of interests, skill level, and ability.”

Many students also feel as though they and their peers enter freshman year with different academic foundational skills. In a recent Silver Chips poll of roughly one-third of all students enrolled in Honors English 9, 34.1 percent of students ranked the similarity of their writing and reading levels to that of their peers as two or lower on a five-point scale, where one was “very different” and five was “very similar.”

COMPILED BY LUCÍA SANTORO-VÉLEZ To address this range of ability, proponents of the All-In Honors SILVER CHIPS ALL-IN HONORS POLL A survey of roughly one-third of initiative point to a teacher’s capac- all English 9 All-In Honors classes. ity to offer further enrichment opportunities or help to students who many students who may benefit appropriately challenging for all need it. Though this is possible, it is from added challenges turn them students. down. “I have not found much inThough, in theory, the All-In terest in the enrichment part… For Honors initiative contributes to a example, I offered [supplemental more level playing field, in practice, In the same class, reading materials],” Doyle recount- there are barriers that prevent the ed. “Very few students took me up effects of tracking from being fully it’s really hard to on the offer… [but] in [past] honors reversed. While Blair’s initiative is meet everyone’s classes, everyone did it.” a start, a more effective approach As a result, Doyle, who taught to targeting inequity should start needs when you both on-level and Honors English during the earlier stages of schoolhave such a broad…

9 in the past, claimed he has had ing, when children form foundato make his class less rigorous to tional skills and self-confidence variety of interests, ensure all students can succeed. In with learning. skill level, Silver Chips’ student poll, 89.6 perIf MCPS works to make its elcent of students rated the difficulty ementary education serve all stuand ability. of Honors English 9 as a three or dents equitably, the need to make below on a five-point scale, where up for disparities in high school will not often realistic given the limited one was “least difficult” and five be eliminated. Through measures time and energy a teacher can ded- was “most difficult.” Given that this to create a more equitable educaicate to each student. initiative aims to provide access to tion system from the start, students Even in the presence of such rigorous honors curricula for all, it will enter Blair with the skills to opportunities, Doyle finds that is imperative that courses remain

MR. DOYLE

This effort marked Blair’s attempt to provide students more equitable access to rigorous and rewarding courses. It removed grade requirements, prerequisite courses, and teacher recommendations that traditionally qualified students for honors classes and could act as barriers to enrollment.

Both national and Blair-specific data identify a clear racial and socioeconomic divide between students enrolled in honors and on-level classes. The All-In Honors initiative aims to mitigate the discriminatory impact of the tracking system, which evaluates students and attempts to place them into courses that match their abilities and needs. Once students are tracked, there is often little upward

mobility, meaning a student’s entire academic career can be influenced by their performance at the age of five or six.

Tracking can systematically disadvantage students who have gaps in achievement resulting from socioeconomic constraints and a lack of access to Pre-K programs. “When you look at… who is identified as gifted… and who is populating these more advanced classrooms, we find clear disparities [among] Black students, Latinx students, [and] students from families with limited incomes,” Blair Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator Rahman Culver said.

Culver has been a critical advocate for the implementation of the All-In Honors initiative. “The pilot is about… our effort as a school to try to address in an equitable way how students access quality, rigorous instruction,” he explained in an interview with Silver Chips.

The All-In Honors initiative change marks a step toward equity.

However, there are complications to introducing a one-size-fits-all measure for students nearly 10 years into their MCPS education.

The transition to the All-In Honors initiative has been difficult for teachers. Blair English 9 teacher Mr. Doyle, who spoke to Silver Chips under the condition of anonymity, was mainly concerned with the lack of training provided for staff members. He recalled attending only one optional training for affected teachers during the summer of 2021. “I wish we had more training… because it was a pretty huge change,” Doyle said. “I know I’m not the only one struggling with it.” With such a seismic change, it is critical that educators receive more support in the form of training to help them adjust and better serve their students.

Although teachers work to meet

silverchips

June 15, 2022 Opinions B3

A multifaceted crisis THE EDITORIAL BOARD In May 2018, statistics compiled

by CNN indicated that the United States had a school shooting rate 57 times higher than the combined rate of the six other nations in the G7, an organization of the world’s seven most developed nations. Indeed, the U.S. categorically lead the world in school shooting frequency, with 288 total incidents resulting in injury or death—far more than the one in China, two in Canada, or five in India. In Mexico, the country with the highest number of incidents after the U.S., there were only eight.

Around the same time that CNN began gathering this data, EducationWeek began tracking those same school shootings. Since 2018, another 119 shootings have occurred at schools across the nation—the latest being last month’s tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The political response to these shootings is too frequently one-sided. A day after 19 children and two teachers lost their lives in Uvalde, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for his state to “do a better job with mental health” during a news conference at Robb Elementary and pushed back against claims that stricter gun restrictions could have prevented the deaths at the school. Hours prior, at the United States Senate, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who took office shortly after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, advocated the opposite, emphasizing the nation’s need for gun control, not mental illness support.

“We don’t have any more mental illness than any other country in the world… We’re not an outlier on mental illness. We’re an outlier when it comes to access to firearms,” he said to reporters.

Although they’re rarely discussed together and are often positioned in opposition with each other, these politicians’ assessments are not mutually exclusive. While

Abbott himself stated that the Uvalde shooter had no known history of mental illness, past shootings, such as the 2007 Virginia Tech attack, demonstrate a failure of current systems to both screen for mental health issues in students and provide uninterrupted support for those diagnosed with mental disorders. However, raising minimum age requirements for rifle purchases and expanding safe gun storage laws could have changed the fates of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Sante Fe High School, where America’s fifth and seventh deadliest school shootings occurred, respectively.

To this end, both mental illness and gun reform are necessary to curb school shooting incidents.

What lawmakers tend to speak about as a black-and-white issue should be addressed and communicated to the public with more nuance.

What lawmakers tend to speak about as a black-and-white issue should be addressed and communicated to the public with more nuance.

Mental health should be a greater policy priority, not only to prevent of school shootings, but also to mitigate the youth mental health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and help people in communities affected by school shootings—like many currently in Uvalde—recover from the stress and trauma of such tragedies. At the same time, gun restrictions should be made firm enough such that those with undiagnosed or untreated mental illnesses cannot acquire deadly firearms.

Furthermore, many experts, including those at the American Psychological Association, support the idea that behavioral risk factors—past violence, experience with abuse, risky substance use, and others—are markers that best represent individuals’ risks for gun violence

and deserve policies and programs dedicated to identifying and acting on them.

In Maryland, these issues have been addressed, but not fully.

While Everytown Research and the Cato Institute’s Freedom in the 50 States report rank MD as the state with the seventh and fifth strongest set of gun regulations respectively, the state stands at 18th place in highest firearm mortality rate according to the CDC, and 24th for societal cost of gun violence, according to Everytown. Baltimore accounts for a disproportionate amount of Maryland’s total gun violence deaths and saw 65% of its guns come from outside of the state, indicating circumvention of gun laws that poses a risk to regular citizens and students in schools.

The lack of gun control nationally deeply burdens our communities on a local scale, even when gun control is present at the state level.

The past four years have also seen a sharp rise in the number of “ghost guns,” or untraceable guns without serial numbers, seized by police. These too represent an evasion of passed gun legislation, but one that was recently addressed during this year’s session of the Maryland General Assembly (MDGA).

As for mental health, MD again ranks seventh and fifth, this time for states with the best mental health infrastructure according to the U.S. News & World Report and Mental Health America respectively. However, articles published by the Baltimore Sun in October 2017 and November 2021 reveal a chronic shortage of psychiatric care beds used to treat mentally at-risk and historically violent youth—a population that makes up most school shooters, according to The Washington Post. In MCPS, each school is assigned only one full time school psychologist regardless of whether the school has a few hundred students or a few thousand. 18 MCPS schools, primarily elementary schools, have no school psychologist assigned at all.

As such, there are only 98 MCPS

school psychologists, to aid the 162,680 students in 206 schools.

28 of these psychologists support high schools in the county, but the majority of them split their time between primary and secondary schools as well.

Following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, the MDGA also passed House Bill 1811/Senate Bill 1263, requiring all public school systems in the state to establish programs to assess student behavioral threats.

Despite legislation already established in MD and elsewhere, the state and nation both have a long way to go toward dispelling the specter of school shootings. To this end, policymakers must take a holistic approach to the factors that affect school shootings, and pass comprehensive laws wide ranging enough to address both stricter gun control as well as shortcomings in mental health support for students.

Turn to page A2 to read more about MDGA’s crackdown on ghost guns.

ELIZA COOKE

Boosting Blazer voices

By Andre Parker Ombudsman I know what you may be thinking—where is Ashley? And who is this guy? Well, our esteemed Silver Chips seniors graduated on the second of June, leaving those of us remaining to pick up the slack. For the final cycle of each school year, the juniors take on our positions for next year and implement any changes we wish to see in the paper. Thus, you’ll see an all-new set of section editors, editors-in-chief, and columnists in this issue. Ava’s local news column will take the place of Cal’s in the News section, and instead of Maybelle and Jasper’s “All That and a Bag of Chips” in Culture, you can now read both Eliana’s column on everything books: reviews, recommendations, and book related discussions, and Syd’s new column to hear her takes on new foods, beverages, and restaurants. Jon Eckert’s “Taking Shots” will be switched out for John Ernst’s “Covering The Bases,” where you can just about learn everything you need to know about baseball.

As your new ombudsman, I’ll strive to fill the shoes of Ashley and previous ombudsmen in writing this column each cycle. My role is to serve as a liaison between the newspaper and our readers, and

amplify the voices of Blair students. If you’re a current student, you might see me in your English classes after Silver Chips issues are released so you can share directly what you liked or didn’t like about the paper. If not in the building, perhaps at a Silver Chips event or one of our stands at the Takoma Park or Silver Spring farmer’s markets.

My role is to serve as a liaison between the newspaper and our readers, and amplify the voices of Blair students.

In the event that you have an issue with or suggestion for the paper, the ombudsman email is a forum for your feedback, so don’t hesitate to reach out. I’ll personally read, respond to, and pass along every email sent, as Silver Chips is committed to bettering our publication through feedback from the entire student body.

Giving a voice to students is Silver Chips’s founding creed, and nowhere can their voices be heard as clearly as in the Opinions section. As the section with the most room for subjectivity and the least editorial oversight, opinion pieces

give writers opportunities to take strong stances on issues and defend their positions. The section serves as a way for students to express their views on current topics they are passionate about and raise concerns to administration.

In the March 2018 cycle, Silver Chips elected to publish an opinion, titled “Politicize Parkland,” as the front page headline, a spot typically reserved for News. After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students felt strongly about rebuking the cyclical nature of gun control discussions and truly making their voices heard. One sentence from the article reads: “The aftermath of a mass shooting in America unfolds with a disturbing clock-like predictability that ultimately ends in inaction.” The importance of stories like this cannot be understated, and such compelling views can only be shared in Opinions.

At a more local level, Blair students have utilized the Opinions section to vocalize concerns about problems within the school or county. Such stories include “Setting a New Standard: Blair must do more to support students with disabilities” from our February 2022 issue, and “Gay is okay, but MCPS’ health curriculum is not: Sex education is currently underserving LGBTQ+ students” from

April 2017, which remains topical as states like Texas and Florida still heavily restrict LGBTQ+ sex education or have actively moved to limit discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

The section has allowed students to present issues and work towards a better Blair and a better MCPS since Silver Chips was founded 85 years ago.

Opinion pieces add a sense of purpose and call to action to the paper that epitomize the value of student journalism. These articles argue a point and take a side, as opposed to news articles that aim to present information as objectively as possible. This is one of the qualities that make them some of the most dynamic and engaging stories to read. Furthermore, opinions can give readers a greater understanding of topics including current events, by providing a new perspective from which they can contemplate the issue and form their own stance.

The Opinions section is also one of the only parts of the paper in which you don’t have to be a member of Silver Chips to make your voice heard. If this aspect of student journalism sounds like something you want to be a part of, or if you have an opinion you want to shout from the rooftops, you can submit a personal column or op-ed to be published in our next cycle’s

PHOTO BY RAFFI CHARKOUDIAN-ROGERS

To connect with Andre, email him at scombud@gmail.com Opinions section. Write it out in 400-700 words and email it to me or contact us on Twitter @Silver_Chips, and we will choose at least one submission to include.

If this doesn’t appeal to you, consider writing a Letter to the Editor with your questions, commendations, or objections, and you might see your opinion in print. We really do value your feedback, positive or negative, and encourage you to take advantage of the Opinions section and make your voice heard.

la

esquinalatina Representando la comunidad latinx desde el 2003

El 15 de junio de 2022

Volumen 85 Número 6

Verano lleno de promesas: Cómo aprovechar al máximo las vacaciones

Por Samantha Frey y Kevin Vela Escritora y Editor-en-Jefe El verano se encuentra a la vuelta de la esquina y es el momento en que los estudiantes se preparan para las actividades que realizarán; es una época única para disfrutar de diferentes eventos y actividades, así como también ayudar a la comunidad.

Algunas de las actividades más populares entre los estudiantes son los conciertos. “The World Hottest Tour” de Bad Bunny es una de las giras más esperadas. Después de sacar su último álbum, “Un Verano Sin Ti’’, el entusiasmo de las personas ha ido en aumento. El concierto será el 23 de agosto en Nationals Park, de Washington D.C. Los tickets se pueden adquirir en línea.

Otro concierto que vendrá al DMV es el de la banda mexicana, Grupo Firme. El grupo tendrá su concierto el 9 de julio en el estadio FedEx. Este grupo está creciendo en popularidad y se considera uno de los más exitosos en la actualidad.

La temporada veraniega ofrece la oportunidad de ponerse en forma. Planet Fitness ofrecerá membresía gratis para estudiantes de 14 hasta 19 años durante el verano.

Los gimnasios de Planet Fitness en Silver Spring, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, y Rockville están involu-

crados en el programa. Los estudiantes menores de 18 tienen que registrarse con un padre o guardián a partir del 16 de mayo hasta el 31 de agosto. Puedes encontrar más información en su página web, donde también puedes registrarte y conseguir tu membresía gratis.

El condado de Montgomery estará haciendo una discusión grupal virtual via Zoom para estudiantes entre 15 y 18 años el 18 de junio.

Los participantes serán estudiantes de los Estados Unidos y de Japón y la discusión tratará sobre lo que está ocurriendo en Ucrania.

Para participar tienes que ir a la página web de Montgomery Blair High School e ir a los recursos de SSL. Allí se tiene que llenar un formulario que conste con aprobación de los padres o tutores.

La discusión durará alrededor de una hora y media; los estudiantes que participen obtendrán NG horas de serWA A vicio comuniCI LU tario.

Este verano, los estudiantes podrán trabajar como voluntarios, ayudando a su comunidad y al mismo tiempo ganando horas

comunitarias. Uno de los beneficios de los trabajos voluntarios es que los estudiantes pueden sentirse parte de su comunidad. ¿Eres una artista? Puedes dibujar y escribir cartas para los niños en orfanatos.

Envía un mensaje a información team@paper-bridges.org para más información. ¿Te gustan los ani-

males?

Puedes ser voluntario para el Montgomery County Agricultural Fair (MCAF) entre el 12 y 20 de

Consentimiento Por Estefany Benitez Gonzalez Editora-en-Jefe

ras en el idioma con estudiantes de ESOL, El señor Rothman nos cuenta que “Cuando tuve mi clase de ESOL, tuve un par de eduEl consentimiento es necesario para todo cadores y brindan muchas alternativas SLT, tipo de circunstancias, desde abrazar a algui- que son pruebas de aprendizaje de muestra en, hasta los términos y condiciones en cada en español, brindan muchas SLT en español aplicación. Además, , el consentimiento es que no son necesarias en español pero están aumentadas para estudiantes de inglés o simimprescindible para las acciones sexuales.

Una acción con consentimiento es lo ilares. Los estudiantes en ESOL usan más contrario del abuso. Brianna Puschendorf, imágenes, subtítulos y ese tipo de cosas”. una estudiante en el onceavo grado, dice Además, se están haciendo esfuerzos que “Creo que el concepto de consentimien- también a través de Respect fest, un proto se enseña para evitar que sucedan cosas grama del condado de Montgomery que se terribles o prevenir cualquier falta de comu- dedica a enseñar sobre consentimiento y nicación entre las personas”. Cuando hay otros temas importantes a la comunidad, al consentimiento, cada persona involucrada mismo tiempo que los estudiantes obtienen está siendo respetada. Ever Wilson, un es- horas comunitarias. tudiante en el onceavo grado, cuenta que Diego Fernando, un estudiante de déci“Es importante saberlo porque crea límites y mo, nos cuenta que “Lo enseña en las esayuda a las personas a mantenerse seguras”. cuelas para que seamos más respetuosos y El consentimiento es cuando existe “acción más educados”. El Sr.Rothman opina que y efecto de consentir’’, de acuerdo al diccio- “Ojalá hubiera una manera de hacerlo [ennario de la Real Academia Española. Jacque- señarlo] mejor. El consentimiento no tiene line Perez, una estudiante de onceavo, nos que ser muy robótico o disruptivo, pero cuenta que “el consentimiento es importante cuando se hace correctamente, es muy norporque ayuda a evitar situaciones no desea- mal comunicarlo, debe ser tan simple como das”. cómo estás, cómo va tu día, así que ese sería En las escuelas del condado Montgomery mi sueño. No tiene que ser realmente difícil (MCPS) hay muchos recursos sobre consentimiento , empezando en la escuela primaria obviamente, tiene que ser difícil y, a medida hasta la secundaria. Brianna Puschendorf que sigo enseñándolo, quedará cada vez más confiesa, “el consentimiento es importante claro”.

Es por eso que la Junta de Educación porque es un acuerdo entre todas las de Maryland cambió personas para recientemente su requisito de créditos de salud para O graduarse. Los determiKARIS TEB estudiantes ahora deben obtener un nadas acciones. Es una gran parte de respetar los límites y co- crédito completo para recibir su diploma de municarse para que no haya confusión, etc”. secundaria. Anteriormente, solo se necesitEl señor Rothman, uno de los maestros de aba medio crédito. Este requisito comienza salud en la escuela secundaria Montgomery con la Clase de 2025. Las clínicas en el área Blair High School, dice que MCPS hace un proveen información de consentimiento muy buen trabajo. “Trisha Shounter hace para los pacientes. Para más información soun muy buen trabajo como jefa del Departa- bre el consentimiento comuníquese con su mento de salud del condado y hace un muy consejera o llame a 240-777-4417, contacto buen trabajo al prepararnos con diferentes de Servicios de Protección Infantil, Niños herramientas”, explica Rothman. Con barre-

agosto. Cada voluntario del MCAF obtiene un almuerzo gratis después de terminar su trabajo. Estas actividades son cortas y fáciles para que cada estudiante pueda participar sin inconvenientes.

El verano es el tiempo más popular del año para la mayoría de organizaciones en busca de ayuda de voluntarios. Muchos estudiantes ya trabajan como voluntarios, pero nunca es bastante temprano, ni demasiado tarde para empezar.

Sela Colavito, una estudiante de décimo grado que asiste a Montgomery Blair dice, “el trabajo voluntario no me está quitando nada de mí para ayudar a otra persona”.

Colavito “tenía el privilegio de trabajar con A Wider Circle”, una organización sin ánimo de lucro localizada en Silver Spring que suministra ropa de cama, muebles, alimentos enlatados, libros y juguetes para familias necesitadas. Este verano, A Wider Circle está ofreciendo oportunidades para obtener horas

This speech was made by Estefany Benitez Gonzalez and Genesis Valle to honor the victims lost in Uvalde Texas and Buffalo New York that was stated in the vigil at Montgomery Blair High School on June 1st 2022.

comunitarias con turnos que generalmente son de tres horas, por la mañana, tarde, y al final de la tarde.

Rachael Buck, directora de Divulgación y Programación de Voluntarios, ha trabajado con A Wider Circle por siete años y su meta final es ver el fin de la pobreza. Para estudiantes interesados, Buck tiene muchas opciones. Buck dice que “no hay un mínimo o un máximo de tiempo que puedes hacer de voluntario: puedes hacerlo para solamente un día, o puedes trabajar casi todos los días del verano”.

Para ser voluntario, organizaciones como A Wider Circle buscan estudiantes que entiendan la importancia de su trabajo porque esta organización ayuda a casi 100 familias cada día. En este momento, se necesitan voluntarios latinos porque durante la pandemia la comunidad latina ha crecido sustancialmente. De acuerdo con Buck, “Puedes sentirte más cómodo cuando ves que aquellos que te ayudan te reflejan”.

Tal como se puede ver, este verano ofrece innumerables oportunidades para estudiantes. Desde animar en la primera fila de “The World Hottest Tour” hasta ayudar a cambiar la vida de alguien trabajando como un voluntario con A Wider Circle. ¡Disfruta del calor y recuerda estas ideas!

Este discurso fue publicado por Estefany Benítez Gonzalez y Genesis Valle en homenaje a las víctimas de Uvalde Texas y Buffalo Nueva York que fue pronunciado en la vigilia en Montgomery Blair High School el 1 de Junio de 2022.

AN OPINION

UNA OPINIÓN

We are gathered here today to honor and remember the victims of two attacks that took place, one on May 14th, 2022, and the second on May 24th 2022. On May 14th, 2022, ten innocent people were killed in Buffalo, New York, at a supermarket.

On May 24th, 19 children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School.

To these innocent lives, we say: We are sorry.

To these innocent lives, we say: Rest in peace.

America has failed these children. These innocent children did not get the chance to attach teen to their age. These innocent children did not get to understand the concept of what a struggle and outcome came to be in the adult world. These innocent lives were not able to hold a high school diploma To these innocent lives, we say: There will be change.

These innocent lives all aged 9-11 took a breath and layed.

As students, parents, and teachers, I know our stomachs churn when hearing the news. It’s truly devastating to know that these are the issues prevalent in this day and age. It’s devastating to know that going to school, a place where students are supposed to feel safe and calm could potentially put you in danger. Or that even something as simple as shopping for groceries could end up being the last thing you do, as it unfortunately was for the ten victims of the Buffalo shooting and the twenty-one victims at Robb Elementary School. We will always remember them.

Estamos aquí reunidos para honrar y recordar a las víctimas de los ataques sucedidos el catorce de mayo de 2022 y el 24 de mayo de 2022.

El catorce de mayo, diez personas inocentes fueron asesinadas en Buffalo, Nueva York en un supermercado, en un crimen de odio racial.

El veinticuatro de mayo, diecinueve niños y dos maestras fueron asesinados en la escuela primaria Robb Elementary.

A estas vidas inocentes, les decimos: Perdón.

A estas vidas inocentes, les decimos: Descansen en paz.

América le ha fallado a estos niños.

Estos niños inocentes no tuvieron la oportunidad de alcanzar la adolescencia.

Estos niños inocentes nunca tendrán la oportunidad de entender la vida adulta.

Estos niños inocentes nunca tendrán la oportunidad de recibir su diploma de secundaria.

A estos niños inocentes, hoy les decimos, ¡Habrá un cambio!

Estas vidas inocentes, de entre nueve y once años de edad, fallecieron a deshora.

Como estudiantes, padres y maestros, sé que nos sentimos destruidos cuando escuchamos estas noticias.

Es devastador saber que estos problemas persisten en la actualidad.

Es devastador saber que ir a la escuela, un lugar que se supone seguro y tranquilo, nos puede poner en peligro letal, o que algo tan sencillo como ir al supermercado a comprar podría ser lo último que hagas, como sucedió, desafortunadamente, para las diez víctimas de Buffalo y las veintiuna víctimas de la escuela Robb Elementary. Siempre serán recordadas.

silverchips

el 15 de junio de 2022 La Esquina Latina C2

Bad Bunny lanza Un Verano Sin Ti Bad Bunny: ¿Qué les pareció el nuevo álbum a los estudiantes?

Por Kevin Vela Editor-en-Jefe Bad Bunny es uno de los artistas más exitosos mundialmente- ha llevado la música latina a un nuevo nivel de popularidad. Actualmente es el segundo artista más escuchado en Spotify, es algo histórico que haya logrado llegar tan lejos en tan solo dos años.

OLGA AZANERO

Yo pienso que fue muy bueno porque era bien expresivo y nuevo, tenía muchas canciones nuevas con nuevos beats.

Tenía salsa y estaba bien culturizado. Es algo nuevo porque combinó música y me gustó mucho.

escuchar y

su reacción 2020 fue uno de los mejores álbumes, “Me gusta más ese álbum porque tiene más sentimiento y [es] sobre seguir adelante. Aunque Un Verano Sin Ti no sea el álbum favorito para ella, le

RIS KA

TEBO

recomienda a todos escucharlo, “Espero que todos la escuchen porque es inicial fue algo como, “wow, esto un muy buen álbum, está bien culestá duro”. turizado. Nos une a todos como a Uziel Gonzalez también comparte su opinión diciendo que Bad Bunny todavía tiene que dar lo Espero que todos la mejor de él y que hay una parte en la que la letra falla, “Sí, yo pienso escuchen porque es que él puede, como se llama, me- un muy buen álbum, jorar más en su letra. Hay unas coestá bien culturizasas de que no rima también como escribo desde que hay cosas que do. Nos une a todos no riman e incluso estuve viendo como a la comunila letra de una de ellas y hay cosas dad hispana y como de que no le riman.”

El estudiante actualmente opila música hispana na que este no es el mejor que ha es muy buena. sacado por el momento y que hay otros álbumes que tienen mejores canciones, “Creo que no, creo que la comunidad hispana y como la tienen. Creo que tiene otra. No música hispana es muy buena”. me acuerdo el nombre, pero tiene Un Verano Sin Ti sigue rompotra que he escuchado que está suiendo las barreras culturales, sienper”. Katheryn Fuentes comparte do escuchado en diferentes países la misma opinión del estudiante, “Pienso que hubiera sido mejor”. alrededor del mundo. La música Ella esperaba ver otro tipo de letra que está creando Bad Bunny está y que el álbum anterior tiene más conectando a toda la comunidad canciones bonitas, “ No, porque el latina, así como también hacienque sacó la vez pasada así estaba do que la música hispana sea más como mejor, tiene más canciones reconocida en la industria. Puede que este no sea uno de los mejores que son muy bonitas”.

Para Olga Azanero, este tam- álbumes que el artista había sacapoco sería el mejor álbum de Bad do, pero la fama y el éxito que está Bunny ella piensa que Yo Hago cosechando Bad Bunny es algo Lo Que Se Me Da La Gana, un histórico para la comunidad latina álbum que sacó Bad Bunny en el y la música en general.

OLGA AZANERO

24 horas después de su lanzamiento, su nuevo trabajo, titulado Un Verano Sin Ti, se convirtió en el álbum más escuchado en Spotify, con 183 millones de stream según los reportes. Compuesto de 23 canciones que lideran el top de la plataforma en países como México, Colombia, España Y Estados Unidos, ha sido uno de los álbumes más esperados este año. Sin embargo,hay opiniones divididas sobre este álbum, pero hay unas canciones que destacan sobre otras.

Olga Azanero, una estudiante de onceavo grado, comparte su opinión, “yo pienso que fue muy bueno porque era bien expresivo y nuevo, tenía muchas canciones nuevas con nuevos beats. Tenía salsa y estaba bien culturizado. Es algo nuevo porque combinó música y me gustó mucho”. De las 23 canciones en el álbum, Titi me Preguntó

es su favorita: “Siento que todos estamos pasando por esa etapa, lo encontré muy relacionable y pienso que fue como algo diferente.

Está satisfecha con el álbum ya que para ella crea el ambiente ideal para el verano. Le parece bueno el álbum y piensa que no puede ser mejor, aunque también le hubiera gustado ver a artistas como Drake, “Me gustaría ver a Drake en una de sus canciones en un futuro, pienso que fuera divertido”.

Por el contrario, Katheryn Fuentes, otra estudiante en el onceavo grado, inicialmente se encontraba emocionada por escuchar el nuevo álbum, “No sé, me sentí emocionada porque no conocía las canciones”. Pero después de escuchar el álbum cambió un poco de opinión, “Pues no me gustan muchas canciones que digamos, pero algunas están muy bonitas”. Las canciones que son las favoritas de ella son Ojitos Lindos y Titi me preguntó, y le gustaría escucharlas todos los días.

Uziel Gonzalez,un estudiante en décimo grado, opina que el álbum también fue muy bueno y hay unas canciones que le encantaron, “Bueno, me pareció bonito, muy bonito e incluso tengo tres músicas que me encantaron”.

Sus canciones favoritas de este álbum son, “ La primera Me Porto Bonito, Después de la I T PlaT O RIC ya, y A N MI Un Verano Sin Ti”. Estas son las únicas canciones que le gustaría

Sopa: por qué en el verano Por Axel Henrriquez Escritor Era un día normal como los otros domingos. Pero este 29 de mayo del año 2022 fue diferente de los otros. Con una temperatura máxima de 82 grados en el día, se podía sentir que uno se estaba horneando, que se estaba sudando como una fiesta luau.

Cuando me levanté de la cama después de que mi espalda se despegó del colchón, pude oler algo con un aroma muy conocido: Algo caliente, un poquito picante, pero con todo se puede saber que va a ser muy rico. Cuando pensé que podía ser, me pegó en la cabeza: Sopa.

Mi mamá hizo una sopa de res y eso me hizo pensar en el tiempo de verano. Hay unas cosas en común, una de ella es que está bien caliente adentro y afuera. La otra es que las madres latinas siempre hacen sopa en el verano. ¿Por qué?

Cuando le pregunté a Ashley Palacios, una estudiante de Blair en décimo grado, ella explicó que en su familia preparan sopa una vez por mes, incluyendo durante el verano. Cuando pregunté por qué, me dijo “si hay todas las cosas para hacer una sopa” y explicó que en el verano igualmente pasa una vez al mes.

Alejandro Ramos, un estudiante en el grado noveno, 9 respondióque su familia sí prepara sopa. Cuando se le preguntó si eso es lo mismo para el verano, dijo que sí. Alejandro Ramos explica que come sopa en el verano porque está helado dentro de la casa.

Amber Juarez estudiante del 10, por el contrario, dice que en el verano ella no lo hace [sopa].

Decidí llevar a cabo un experimento informal en el que lepregunté a ocho estudiantes si comían la sopa normalmente. Los estudiantes respondieronque comen sopa regularmente, entreuna vez al mes a una vez cada 3 meses.

Después pregunté a los estudiantes si también la comían en el verano y siete dijeron que síLas respuestas fueron más o menos similares, que no saben por qué hacen sus familia la sopa, pero que sí la preparan.

Norma Amaya, la mamá de un estudiante de Montgomery Blair High School, dijo que ella en su familia se preparala sopa porque a su familia le gusta y que en su vida ha sido una forma de alimento para ella.

Cuando hace frío, hacen sopa; cuando está lloviendo, hacen sopa; cuando está nublado, hacen sopa; cuando está a más de 100 grados, hay sopa. ¡Siempre es sopa!

NOTICIAS BREVES Compilado por Yeferson Fuentes Escritor

Criptomonedas han sido legalizadas en Cuba: El 16 de mayo se autorizó el uso de criptomonedas por el gobierno cubano en el sistema bancario nacional para los ciudadanos. Se otorgará una licencia por un año a todos los que provean servicios de activos virtuales.

Las personas jurídicas que tengan su lugar de negocios en otra jurisdicción deberán solicitar la licencia al BCC ( Banco Central de Cuba) para operar en Cuba, excepcionalmente y por interés estatal, puede que se ignore ese requisito si tienen autorización para operar en otra demarcación.

Siempre y cuando, las personas jurídicas con domicilio en el territorio nacional, sí tienen la obligación de solicitar la licencia del BCC aunque la posean en otra jurisdicción.

America Chavez es Miss América y llega a doctor strange: Lee también en ‘Doctor Strange en el multiverso de la locura’ sobre Chavez interpretado por Xochitl Gomez una actriz americana quien es de origen méxico.

La actriz de 16 años Xochitl Gomez, quien interpreta a América Chávez/Miss América, es el primer personaje LGBTQ latino importante de Marvel.

América Chávez es un superhéroe que aparece en los cómics estadounidenses publicados por Marvel Comics.

Este personaje, creado por Joe Casey y Nick Dragotta, hizo su debut cinematográfico de acción real en la película de Marvel Cinematic Universe Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Fuertes lluvias inundan Tegucigalpa: El 20 de Mayo de 2022, hubo una inundación por causa de fuertes lluvias en Honduras, en la capital Tegucigalpa. La inundación afectó a más de 20 zonas de la ciudad. Los reportes iniciales informan que aún no se han encontrado muertos, pero aún hay muchas personas atrapadas dentro de sus casas o sus vehículos.

Las autoridades anunciaron que el sur, sureste y suroeste del país fueron las partes más afectadas y alertan que es el inicio de la temporada de lluvias en el sur, oriente, occidente y centro del país. Por este motivo han pedido a la población que vive en zonas de riesgo a tomar medidas preventivas.

Nueva alerta de enfermedad:

YEISON COTOM

A principios del mes de mayo se ha empezado a detectar una extraña enfermedad que en años recientes se ha detectado casos fuera de África en EE.UU., Israel, Reino Unido y Singapur. Sin embargo, estas últimas semanas se ha detectado que el brote se ha multiplicado de manera muy rápida la cual ha comenzado a sonar las alertas en las instituciones sanitarias.

Esta enfermedad llamada “viruela del mono”, es una rara inflexión viral, como la viruela pero menos grave. Algunos síntomas que esta enfermedad está causando son fiebre, dolor de cabeza, inflamación, dolor muscular y agotamiento. Además provoca erupciones con comezón y lesiones, principalmente en la cara, manos y pies. Se puede propagar con el contacto cercano a una persona o animal infectado.

También se puede propagar tocando la ropa o sábanas que usó alguien con la erupción.

silverchips

5,000 miles: from the Darien Gap to Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identity of the sources.

Trigger warning: This article contains references to violence, robbery, sexual abuse, and human corpses.

I

n 2019, Venezuelan migrant Elvis set out from his home country in search of better economic opportunity. “[Life in Venezuela was] very difficult [because of]… the economic situation caused by the dictatorship that we have been living under,” Elvis says in Spanish in an interview with Silver Chips. After spending two years in Colombia and facing similar financial hardship, he decided to accept an offer from a relative to live with her in Florida.

Following two months of planning and saving, Elvis began a treacherous trip, mainly by foot, across seven countries to reach the Mexico–U.S. border. Shortly after being released

by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in late April, Elvis was presented with an unexpected opportunity—a free bus ride to Washington, D.C. Earlier that month, the Biden administration announced the end to Title 42, a Trump-era policy that limited immigration on the basis of containing the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the decision, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled at an April 6 press conference his plan to bus migrants from the border to Washington, D.C., where Abbott claims that the Biden administration “will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.” After being processed by the Department of Homeland Security, migrants were able to voluntarily embark upon a 1,700 mile-long journey by charter bus to the nation’s capital.

Journey to the border

When the day arrived for Elvis to set out from Colombia, he did so with only the $300 he had managed to scrape together, the clothes on his back, and other belongings that he could carry. The first leg of the journey—crossing the Darien Gap—would be the most grueling by far.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, “the Darien Gap, which marks t h e border between Colombia and Panama, is one of the world’s most dangerous refugee and migrant routes, consisting of 5,000 square kilometers [1930 square miles] of tropical wilderness, steep mountains, and rivers.” Migrants braving the Darien Gap face natural hazards such as snake bites and tropical illness, as well as violence, robbery, and sexual abuse from organized crime groups that control different

routes throughout the jungle.

Elvis had to prepare not only physically, but also psychologically by watching videos about the rainforest, its geography, and its flora and fauna. According to him, once someone sets foot in the rainforest, they are not permitted to return to Colombia. “​​You are seen as obligated to continue going forward,” Elvis says. “You already internalize it, always advancing to continue going forward.”

By the time Elvis arrived at the rainforest, he had run out of money because he used it to pay for a guide who would lead him and other migrants through the jungle. Walking for seven to ten hours each day, the group trekked through the unforgiving wilderness of the Darien Gap. On the fourth day of the trip, the guide deceived the group and told them that they would soon arrive at their destination, causing them to discard excess supplies. “We were left without food for three days,” Elvis recalls.

On day five, Elvis and his group were robbed by criminals who patrolled the rainforest. Once when looking for food, the group encountered a tent at a campsite.

Inside, there were two human corpses.

After seven harrowing days in SURVIVING THE JUNGLE Elvis’ group the rainforest, Elvis through the Darien Gap. and his group arrived at an immigration camp in Panama.

Immigration services treated the migrants well, giving them food and charging them for a ride to the Costa Rican border.

The group continued through Costa Rica to the Nicaraguan border, where they discovered that they could not afford the fee for safe conduct through Nicaragua. This forced them to find a way into the country around immigration on foot.

However, less than two hours later, the group was caught by immigration police and sent back to Costa Rica. “I was disappointed,” Elvis recalls about the group’s first deportation. “[Despite the setback], we still had the strength to decide to start walking again. During that night, we were walking on the highway the whole time. It destroyed our feet.”

The group eventually found its way into Nicaragua, and continued through Honduras and Guatemala into Mexico, facing deportation, imprisonment, and intense hunger along the way. Throughout the taxing journey, the group never forgot their objective: to cross the Rio Grande, or Río Bravo as it is known in Mexico, into the United States. “The goal was to step on American land, and when we crossed the Río Bravo, the pressure left [and we felt] happy,” Elvis says.

After the migrants surrendered to U.S. immigration and were given parole, they were told that they were going to be taken to a shelter. Instead, the migrants were taken to a place where bus tickets were sold and found out that the tickets to D.C. were free. Elvis made the decision soon after to take the 40-hour chartered ride to the nation’s capital.

Arrival in D.C.

The first bus of migrants from Texas under Abbott’s plan arrived at Union Station on April 13, carrying onboard about 30 people from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The passengers were promptly greeted by volunteers working with Catholic Charities who helped the new arrivals to find temporary housing. Later that week, D.C. resident Amy Hammond heard from a friend about Catholic Charities’ struggle to arrange housing for the increasing number of migrants arriving each day. Hammond immediately began to coordinate community support for the effort, creating a network that eventually became the organization Migrant Help DMV. According to Hammond, there were initially five to six buses arriving each week, with some transporting fewer than 15 people. By week three of the operation, however,

buses began arriving more frequently and the number of passengers per bus grew to be consistently over 30. In early May, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey followed Abbott’s lead and also started sending buses to D.C. with migrants who had entered the country through Arizona’s border.

As of June 3, various organizations have received around 60 buses carrying nearly 1,500 men, women, and children arriving from Arizona and four border crossing points in Texas. Most passengers have endured a long and arduous journey to get to D.C. “Folks that are getting off of the buses, some of them have been walking for months, through jungles. Some of them have had significant trauma [or] they’re sick,” Hammond says. “There’s a lot going on when they get off the bus.”

The organizations that meet the buses, most of which are part of D.C.’s mutual aid network, usually receive very little information about the passengers on each bus before they arrive. “For the most part with the Texas buses, we don’t know anything except for the number [of people], which means we don’t know anything about their needs until they step off the bus,” Hammond says.

Although Elvis does not agree with the motivation behind Abbott’s bussing strategy, he is grateful for the aid he has received as a result of it. “Thank God COURTESY OF ELVIS [there are] good people stops to rest on their trek [in D.C.]… Since I got here, they have helped me with everything,” Elvis says. “[They have helped] in food and medicine, in clothes, in shoes… They have practically told us, ‘If you need something, tell [us] and [we] will get it for you.’”

Next leg of the trip

The majority of migrants who arrive in D.C. eventually travel to locations where they will be received by friends, family, or organizations they had connected with ahead of time. The Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) has focused on supporting the migrants’ immediate needs and helping them arrange further transportation. “What CARECEN strives to do is accompany the migrants to their final destination, whether it be purchase of a bus ticket, a plane ticket, [or] getting in contact with someone that’s able… to take them in,” Catherine Rubio, CARECEN Director of Operations, says.

Several organizations have stepped up to help those who remain in D.C. secure temporary housing. Sanctuary DMV, an all-volunteer group that supports immigrants and marginalized communities in the DMV, has been arranging for migrants to live in Airbnbs, hotel rooms, and volunteers’ homes. However, the continuous influx of migrants has strained the amount of housing available to these individuals.

When Hammond first learned of these housing issues, she began sending out emails to every community listserv she was part of and noting down what respondents offered to contribute. “I started creating a spreadsheet, and if people said they were willing to offer housing [or]… medical help, I put that down,” Hammond says. “I started getting so many emails that I had to get a team of people to start answering the emails. [This group became the] Migrant Help DMV [organization].”

The efforts of these organizations have been able to make a profound impact on the lives of the arriving migrants. “We didn’t expect anyone to receive us,” Elvis says. “The biggest surprise was that there were many people there waiting for us. It was a joy for us.”

Local church steps up

After learning about Hammond’s operation on the Takoma Park listserv, Gary Cardillo, a property manager at the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church, contacted other church leaders to vet the possibility of using the church as a respite center. As soon as he received confirmation, Cardillo

June 15, 2022 Features D1/D2

o D.C.

D.C. organizations provide aid to migrants after a deadly journey

EXIT TO D.C.

reached out to Hammond, and the church started housing appointment] and [ICE] took that tracker migrants the next day. “[The center] is basically a multipur- away from me and [scheduled a later checkpose room that is used for all sorts of things like the Cub in],” Elvis says. “We are going to be calmer Story by: Christy Li Scout Pinewood Derby and Girl Scout meetings and the day- because I no longer have that tracker.”

After staying about two weeks in the care,” Cardillo says. “It’s not a respite center in the sense that Art by: Sophia Li and Alexander Liu there’s no regular bedding… [so] I started getting people to church’s facilities, the migrants moved on to Design by: Annie Gao and Ella come and drop off bedding and cots.” These contributions live with other host families or permanent allowed the church volunteers to line the perimeter of the housing options such as one-year leases. The Schrebler room with air mattresses and cots, making the room a more church volunteers were glad to have been able to do their part in helping these people suitable living space.

Contributing reporters: William According to Hammond, the church initially housed 20 become independent and succeed in their Ashford, Estefany Benitez men—19 Venezuelans and one Cuban. One of the men had new lives. “At the core of our faith’s tradition been separated from his wife, their baby, and his wife’s cous- is the idea of offering hospitality and welcome Gonzalez, and Zachary Williamson in and her husband at the border. The man’s family board- to strangers,” Takoma Park Presbyterian ed a bus to D.C. after he began staying at the church, and Church pastor Mark Harper says. “Here were womchurch volunteers were able to take him to meet his family en, men, children, who had [just] been on a harrowing once the bus arrived at Union Station. “There was a reunion journey, trying to leave a place where life had been very dif- believes that it is vital for migrants to have support systems between [the man] and his wife and their one year old kid,” ficult and even dangerous, and looking for a place of hope. in place to help them acclimate to life in the U.S. “It’s so Cardillo says. “They hadn’t seen each other in weeks. It was And so we wanted to… be a small part of the response to important to figure out how to create a community around those who are arriving [and] give them low-barrier access that.” very moving.” to what they need most,” Hammond says. “Everything that The family was taken back to the church, where volunthey have is taken from them as soon as they cross the borteers processed their pertinent information. According to Facing barriers Cardillo, one couple from the congregation offered to host Despite the best efforts of nonprofits and community der, so they have nothing.” all six members of the family. “They opened up their home members, migrants looking to start a new life in the U.S. and took six people into their basement and immediately still face a number of systemic barriers. First, many of the An uncertain future The effort to support migrants arriving from the country’s had them stay there, which was wonmigrants do not have a form of identification yet in derful.”

Cardillo the U.S., which severely lim- southwest border has been conducted solely by nonprofits says. “The individual its their options for perma- and community members. These organizations claim that stories really made nent housing. Many are also without government aid, they are forced to pool their funds it way more than a restricted by occupancy laws and fend for themselves—however, there is a limit to how news story might. It because they are traveling thin they can be stretched. “The government does not give was just a personal with their families. “Afford- money for this. It’s all the nonprofits, and they’re all relying story, and it was just able housing in D.C. is in- on their resources without any assistance,” Hammond says.

This shortage has put stress on the groups leading the riveting.” credibly difficult [to obtain],” The church atHammond says. “Try finding effort. “I know that [the organizations are] working on it, mosphere provided affordable housing when you but it’s really challenging when you are literally receiving the its new residents a don’t have citizenship or an third bus in a day to have everybody tell you [that] there’s sense of relief and identification or anything else nothing they can do.”

International humanitarian nonprofit SAMU First Resecurity. “For the in order to be able to get an sponse is awaiting approval after applying for a FEMA grant, first time, [the miapartment, or [you are livgrants] realized they ing with] your wife and your a federal grant for disaster relief. Until that aid arrives, Hamwere in a safe place wife’s cousin and three kids mond emphasizes some actions that groups can take to contribute to the cause. “What we really need is 150 churches and nobody was tryand your brother.” ing to get them or Employment brings an- in the DMV area, or 150 organizations, or a combination of make them do things other obstacle to the table. both, to step up and say, ‘We will adopt 10 people who are they didn’t want to For immigrants, it can take coming here,’” she says.

Hammond urges those who are capable of helping to do,” Cardillo says.

U.S. Citizenship and Immireach out and offer time, housing, and other resources in “They knew [that] gration Services over a year people were looking to process work permit appli- order to make a tangible difference in the lives of migrants out for them and trycations. This makes it incred- seeking a new beginning in a new country. “If you look at ing to help them.” ibly difficult for the migrants Takoma Park Church, that church made a huge difference Hammond and to support themselves and in those guys’ lives, [as well as] every volunteer that came the church voluntheir families, as well as family there and served, and every person that brought food,” teers coordinatthey may be trying to support Hammond says. “If we hadn’t had [volunteers] working together, these guys would be in a very different place right ed with nonprofit financially back at home.

World Central “They do not have a work now.”

Kitchen to arrange FINDING A HOME A migrant moves into a temporary space as he permit, or they’re not really meals for the mi- continues to look for long-term housing. supposed to be working but grants. It did not take they’re here,” Hammond long for the new friends to begin exchanging pieces of their says. “If you can’t get housing and you can’t get shelter and If you would like to support the culture with each other. “The guys wanted to cook and make you don’t have food, I’m not sure what our government organizations mentioned in this some [food] again. They were mostly Venezuelan, so they thinks you can do to survive. It’s completely impossible what story, please scan the QR code to the left or contact MigrantHelpDwanted to make some authentic Venezuelan food,” Cardillo [they’re] asking [for].” recalls. “Volunteers were coming in and bringing food for In order to help the migrants secure identification, Ham- MV@gmail.com to get involved. them to cook [dishes such as] arepas and arroz con pollo.” mond and other volunteers are pointing them to CASA de In collaboration with CHEER, a Silver Spring-based non- Maryland, which provides membership photo IDs for a $35 profit, church leaders were able to have all of the incoming annual membership fee and a $5 fee for the ID. “[The migrants tested for or vaccinated against COVID-19. They ID] just says CASA [de] Maryland on it also brought in immigration lawyers offering clinics and ad- and people are familiar with it,” vice, and provided transportation to mandatory check-ins Hammond says. with ICE. Hammond Elvis had originally told ICE that he would be headed to Miami to live with his relative before he accepted the free bus ride to D.C. The tracker given to him by ICE indicated that he was out of place, and he worried that he would need to report to ICE sooner than expected. Luckily, the church was able to help provide transportation to his appointment. “A volunteer took me to the ICE office. I took the tracker [to the

silverchips

D3 Features June 15, 2022

Placing history

Recording AAPI historical sites in MoCo

By Ingrid Holmquist and Ella Schrebler Opinions Editor & Culture Editor

KACY ROHN

Many historic resources reflect a narrative related to a dominant cultural group… they’re not telling the histories of these underrepresented communities in the same way.

The Heritage Project is part of the HPO’s commitment to implementing an equity agenda that creates in-depth records of all cultural and ethnic groups. Kacy Rohn, Cultural Resources Planner II at the HPO and Project Coordinator of the AAPI Heritage Project, is proud to contribute to a more inclusive and comprehensive historical understanding of Montgomery County. “We have a huge

Gold Silver

Bronze

“People tend to forget that South Asians exist and are a part of that Asian American identity,” she says.

“When I was doing this research… it was really important to… make sure that South Asian culture [was] covered.”

One of the ways that the Heritage Project ensures input from many different cultures is through its interactive map, which spans Montgomery County and its surrounding areas. Stars on the map mark cultural sites—locations significant to the AAPI community—and anyone can view the map through

COURTESY OF MONTGOMERY PLANNING (M--NCPPC)

INTERACTIVE INCLUSION A map created by Montgomery Planning allows AAPI citizens to identify their own historic sites. tailed picture of AAPI experiences. “[I completed] a lot of archival research… did oral history interviews, [and talked] with family,” she explains. “[I also went] through my own memories… [and] experiences growing up… Asian-American in Montgomery County.”

Looking back, Yee remembers the reactions she received from family and friends when she told them about the project. Given the longstanding exclusion of minori-

silverpatrons silver patrons Platinum

ties from historic preservation, many of the AAPI community members who Yee spoke to were overjoyed. “When I was talking with friends and family about the project, they got really excited… they were just like, ‘Oh my god, this is the first time this is happening.’”

Oral histories are an essential component of this project, as Rohn explains that census data and newspaper archives are often not accurate reflections of minority groups..

“Many historic resources reflect a narrative related to a dominant cultural group… they’re not telling the

histories of these underrepresented communities in the same way,” she says.

Chronicling the history of the AAPI community also means acknowledging the vast cultures and experiences that the term encompasses. Although Indians are the second-largest AAPI ethnic group in Montgomery County, Yee notices that groups with South Asian heritage are often left out in discussions about the AAPI community.

the Montgomery Planning website and submit their own sites. The Heritage Project describes the map as “a place for residents to share places of personal and community importance, which may be homes, businesses, places of worship, neighborhoods, or any other place significant to past or present AAPI individuals and communities.” As of June 11, 26 sites have been added, including Silver Spring’s Shanghai Restaurant and White Oak’s

Our Lady of Vietnam Catholic Church.

Rohn was the one who proposed the idea for the map, believing that it was an important way to hear directly from the AAPI community about their experiences in Montgomery County. “We hope [the map] is a place where people can come and identify the places that are important to them,” she explains.

People tend to forget that South Asians exist and are a part of that Asian American identity.

KAREN YEE

Growing up, Chinese-American historical preservationist Karen Yee always felt like she belonged in Montgomery County. Thanks to places like the beloved Meixin Supermarket in Rockville, Yee was able to experience elements of her country’s culture nearly 7,000 miles from her parents’ homeland.

Small businesses and restaurants like those that Yee enjoyed visiting as a child hold sentimental value for many Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and embody their rich histories in Montgomery County. Although AAPI groups have made significant cultural contributions to the area, they are severely underrepresented in historical preservation.

This is a trend throughout the country. In 2014, less than eight percent of historical sites on the National Register of Historic Places reflected the experiences of minority groups, including women and people of AAPI backgrounds.

In an effort to fill in these gaps, the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Office (HPO) launched the AAPI Heritage Project in early 2021 to identify sites in the county that are important to the AAPI community. The development of historical contexts, reports that describe broad experiences and identify historical AAPI trends in Montgomery County, make up a large portion of this campaign.

blind spot right now because we don’t have a good understanding of [AAPI] history,” she says. “[Documentation of AAPI history] hasn’t been done yet, so we’re missing these important places around the county.”

After the HPO received a grant for the project from the Maryland Historical Trust in January 2021, Yee joined the project as a graduate student intern. She began researching immigration trends, interviewing friends and family, and combing through her personal experiences to create a more de-

Yee recently finished her internship at the HPO and is moving on to pursuing a career in historic preservation. However, she wishes the best for the Heritage Project on its mission to foster inclusion in historic documentation. “I hope that whoever picks up the project gives it the same amount of love that I put into [it],” Yee says.

The Heritage Project will continue until January 2023, when its initial grant-funded phase will end.

Until this time, project staff plan to keep writing a historical context on AAPI history in Montgomery County and identify more preliminary historical sites. However, the end of this phase of the project does not mean the end of AAPI inclusion in historic preservation.

Rohn believes that there is much more history to be recorded, and that the Heritage Project is just the first step. “We see this as phase one because we recognize that this is a pretty large undertaking,” she explains. “This is a history that hasn’t been documented in the county before…[the Heritage Project takes] a sort of broad brush stroke at it, but we expect to have to come back and do a lot more work on this in the future.”

If you have places significant to your AAPI heritage, scan tbe QR code below to document them.

If you would like to support the paper, go to tinyurl.com/subtochips to subscribe to Silver Chips, be featured on the paper, and receive merchandise.

Kate Stewart Christy Lopez & Michael Fisher - Mike Ashford - Diane Kelleher & David Attis - Timothy Ernst - Chris Moriarity Yoyo’s Yoyos - Chenmuren Zhang - Stuart Guterman & Fran Sussman - The Borzekowski Family - Claudia Deane - Pamela Winston - Pat Fisher - Stefanie Weiss - Claire Cocciole - Joseph Kowal - Amy Schwenkmeyer & Rolf Reichle - Megan Lankenau - The Goldman Family - Kathleen Michels - Reemberto Rodriguez - Gary Anderson - Toni Sandys - Pam Lotke - Jeff Meer - Kary Friedman - Katherine Hinckley - Peter Colavito The Spire Family - Margery Arnold - Cathy Henderson - Dolorez Silverman - Maynard Goldman - Natalia Zamora - Brett Heimov - Peter McGarvery - Mark Swartz - Michael Howard Swartz - Aaron Ucko - Jennifer Argabright - Jill Harvieux Pitner - Rex Robinson - Margaret Norris - Felisa Marcia - Marcela Sanchez-Bender Maria Velez - Christine Miele - Rong Jiang - Lorig Charkoudian - JoAnn Volk - Roberta Kittner - Amie Wiseley Jane LaLonde - Jennifer Ruark - The Holmquist Family - Corinne Nash Sauri - Cathy Feingold - Kathy Cole

silverchips

June 15, 2022 Features D4

Blazers of Note Compiled by Elina Lee News/Puzzle Editor Sophomore Akiva Rosenzweig soars over the mountains and rivers of West Virginia in a silent glider plane as birds whiz by. He earned his glider private pilot’s license this April through the U.S. Air Force’s nonprofit Civil Air Patrol (CAP) cadet program after one year of rigorous studying and over 38 hours of flying. “Getting my private pilot’s license has been one of [my] biggest achievements… and I’m really proud of it,” he says.

Rosenzweig began AKIVA ROSENZWEIG his journey in August 2018 with orientation flights, free aviation COURTESY OF AKIVA ROSENZWEIG experiences hosted by CAP. “I always had an interest in aviation,”

Blair students take to the sky he says. “[Orientation flights] help you get a sense of… [whether or not] you like flying… and [when] I completed all of my [orientation flights]… that’s how I knew.”

CAP’s orientation flights offer five powered flights and five glider flights. Rosenzweig decided to train for glider first because the minimum age for licensing is lower than that of powered flight. Since gliders do not have engines that propel them forward, they are more difficult to fly than a powered plane.

“You really want to be… conserving as much altitude as you can because you can’t just pull yourself back up… [and] you really have to be good at landings because you only have one shot,” Rosenzweig says. “Overall, being a glider pilot beforehand makes you a better powered pilot.”

However, piloting is not solely about being able to maneuver a plane. To fly safely, pilots must understand all regulations and safety procedures, as well as how to communicate with both the ground and other airborne pilots through radio. “When you’re the pilot in command, anything that happens is your responsibility,” Rosenzweig says.

In addition to the 16-year minimum age requirement and written exam, earning a license entails a checkride—the flight exam. “[Checkrides are] like getting a driver’s license,” Rosenzweig says.

“You get somebody else who isn’t your instructor to come and evaluate your flight.”

Now with a pilot’s license, Rosenzweig looks forward to carrying another passenger in his

two-seater ASK-13. “I want to take my friends or family to go [for a flight] sometime,” he says.

Rosenzweig’s next step is to earn his powered license; he has already begun studying and preparing for the written test, and will attend CAP’s National Cadet Special Activities flight school this summer.

“We’re going to have a whole week of flying, so that should get me well on my way to start on my journey towards getting a powered private pilot’s license,” he explains.

Beyond earning his powered license, Rosenzweig hopes to continue enhancing his piloting skills. “[The future is] still kind of open for me. I can’t say if I want to be a fighter pilot, cargo pilot, or helicopter pilot,” he says. “I want to just continue… solidifying my knowledge.”

ELIZA COOKE

Compiled by John Ernst Columnist/Sports Editor “Runway clear,” Blair junior Jonas Laufer calls into his headset, scanning the Montgomery County Airpark runway for landing or taxiing planes. Laufer is a catcher for the Blair baseball team and an avid photographer, but right now, he’s locked into his main hobby—flying airplanes. He carefully guides his Cessna 172 down the runway, stopping one last time before accelerating into the rosy orange sky as the sun sets behind him.

Laufer feels his love for planes developed somewhat randomly. “I

have no idea where it came from.

I just think they’re really cool,” he jokes. In 2018, he had his first introductory flight, during which he took a 30 minute test ride and made loops around a small reservoir on the Patuxent River. “I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. I knew from that moment on this is what I want to be doing,” he says.

In the four years since Laufer took his first test ride, he has worked to earn his private pilot’s license, which allows him to independently operate a single engine plane. To obtain such a license, one must clock at least 40 hours flying a single engine plane, 10

takeoffs and landings, and a flight test with a designated pilot examiner, known as a checkride test.

Laufer passed his oral examination in early May 2022, but still needs to pass his checkride test in order to receive his license.

Once Laufer obtains his private pilot’s license, he plans on chasing his flight dreams into college, where he is looking at flight programs such as those at Ohio State, Purdue, Arizona State, and University of North Dakota. Many college flight programs also partner with regional airports so that flight students can hone their skills once they finish school. “I really want to fly for this regional airline

Touring the temple from TEMPLE page A1 Since its opening, it has served as an important emblem for not only the Mormon religious community, but also the entire DMV area.

Latter-day Saints is not used for regular church services on Sunday, but instead it serves as a venue for major religious events such as weddings and baptisms. Within the temple are a variety of beauti-

ful rooms that each serve specific purposes, and all work to instill a sense of connection among touring visitors, regardless of faith.

As tour guides lead their groups inside, visitors are immediately struck by the walls adorned with detailed artwork commemorating the story of Jesus Christ and his teachings. The foyer of the temple highlights a grand royal blue tinted stained-glass screen where any temple visitors are welcomed.

LAUFER

PHOTO BY MAIA TURPEN

Interior of Latter-day Saints opens to public

walls and adorned with meticulously designed portraits. In this area, members learn of specific blessings from God, as stained-glass windows reflect billowing light on a winding staircase that runs through the temple, with intricate, spiraled designs beneath the stair railings.

The celestial room is crowned with a crystal chandelier that refracts light, which bounces off the mirrors enveloping the room. This room is a space for members to reflect and conduct personal worship, and was created to represent Heaven. The final destination of the tour, the sealing room, with gold and floral accent walls, is where marriage ceremonies are performed.

The church was set to open for public tours in spring 2020, but COVID-19 caused delays. “We were prepared to open in 2020 and begin the open house at that time. But with the pandemic, we have stepped back until we can safely bring large numbers into the temple,” Kathryn Colton, one of the co-chairs of the Temple Open House Committee, explains.

“A lot of people have seen the temple from the beltway. This is an opportunity to feel the spirit that’s in the temple,” Temple Open House Committee co-chair Kent Colton says. The reopening creates a way for those of any faith to come together and “seek refuge from the chaos [from daily life,]” Laria Matthews, a recent Church visitor and member of the Latter-day Saints congregation, explains.

Taking a step inside the temple is not only an unforgettable experiPHOTO BY HENRY REICHLE ence for visitors but also a way for members of the congregation to volunteer with their Church. Many

Visitors are taken into the baptistry of the temple, where the baptismal font, the pool where baptisms are performed, is placed at the center of the room. This font rests on the backs of 12 marble oxen, each representing one of the 12 tribes of Israel, and surrounding it are paintings of various murals and stories of Jesus Christ, alongside light pastels adding to the ambiance.

Next, the initiatory area of the temple greets touring guests with a welcoming space, full of clean white

missionaries stationed throughout the Latter-day Saints are answering visitor questions and leading tours during this open house season.

“We normally [are] teaching people full-time about some of our beliefs. But a couple of times a week, we come here to help volunteer at the temple,” Sister Larkins, a missionary for Latter-day Saints, says.

On Aug. 14, leaders of the Church will officiate a blessing that rededicates the site as holy for the

A lot of people have seen the Temple from the beltway.

This is an opportunity to feel the spirit that’s in the temple.

KENT COLTON

ON THE LAWN Visitors enjoy the lush grounds of Latter-day Saints during the temple’s open house.

called Republic Airways,” Laufer explains.

JONAS “[I can] probably work with them in college … then captain and then flow [into] American or United or Delta or one of the big airlines.”

When Laufer sees a plane soaring through the skies, he immediately whips out his phone to track the flight, the design of the plane, and destination in seconds. Laufer hopes to use his acute adoration of planes to further his experiences in aviation. One day, when we see planes flying overhead, Laufer might be in the cockpit, guiding hundreds of people across the sky.

Mormon community, meaning the public open house and tours will end. The distinction of a holy site connotes a major importance for Church members—Latter-day Saints will then only be utilized for sacred religious ceremonies.

“This temple really stands as a spiritual beacon. I would hope that everyone, [whether] they are part of our congregation or not, [gets to] feel like this is a spiritual place,” Kathryn Colton says. The temple open house exemplifies the goals of Latter-day Saints’ leaders to curate a welcoming atmosphere that extends connection across all faiths and visitors, all while also showcasing the stunning architecture and design.

silverchips

E1 Culture June 15, 2022

Loyalty through literature

E LI

KATI

By Sedise Tiruneh Culture Columnist/Senior Writer

By Sedise Tiruneh Culture Columnist/Senior Writer The shelves of Loyalty Books are stacked high with books of all genres and sizes. The easygoing energy of the flagship store, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, is unmistakable, with customers scanning the sections, piles of books in tow, or making small talk with booksellers.

Though Loyalty’s patrons often crowd the focal table bearing new fiction books, the bookstore also curates genres such as poetry, romance, and science fiction. “We carry stuff pretty much across the board,” general manager Gene Taft says. “We are proud to say

Our theme is that whoever comes into the store, whatever, sexual, racial, political, historical, [or] geographical background they come from, they’ll find a book that reflects them and their communities.

PHOTO BY RAFFI CHARKOUDIAN-ROGERS

STOCKED SHELVES Loyalty Books in Silver Spring carries a broad and diverse selection of books.

GENE TAFT

appeal across countries and palates. With The aisles of H Mart, filled with a long list of tantalizing treasures sealed in col- flavors, such orful packaging, extend endlessly. as chocolate, Deep in the rows, the beeps and strawberry, and bustle of the Korean supermar- matcha green ket on a Sunday morning sound tea, which line muffled and distant. Glossy bags several shelves display distinct characters, colorful of H Mart. Inside their colorful packaging, the neat rows symbols, and cartoon of biscuits contain sugary mascots indicating and crispy goodness. the delicious treats For a more subtle and snacks they snack, one can scour the hold. aisles for the sweet, nutty The store is flavor of Gosomi, a Kothronged with cusrean sesame coconut tomers, ranging cracker. Its minimalist, from novices culemon yellow packaging is riously peering at LI E warm and inviting, beckI foreign labels to KAT oning potential consumers, seasoned snackers searching for a nostalgic t r e a t . and the sesame-studded cookies Popular among all palates are are wafer-thin and magnificently Turtle Chips, named after their crunchy, making this harmonious unique turtle shell shape. Clad in blend of earthy, rich sesame and their distinctive bright green pack- light, delicate coconut the perfect snack­— especially ing, these airy, puffed-corn when paired with a chips have unconventional, warm cup of herbal but exquisite flavors. While tea. there are a few varieties, the For those most popular is the sweet seeking corn flavor, inspired by more the creamy Japanese dish of a sweet corn soup, which kick, offers saccharine and salty the notes with a light buttery vibrant aftertaste. red bags Another popular treat of Rosé Shindangis Pocky, a Japanese biscuit treat dipped in chocolate or other dong chips promise just that, as flavorings. After its initial release their flavor attempts to replicate in the late tteokbokki—a Korean side dish 60s, it be- made of fried rice cakes stewed in came an a spicy gochujang chili sauce—and instant hit they deliver. Each bite is coated in with world- the sweet, spicy, and funky profile wide consum- of the Korean dish, and the slight ers, as it has a heat in the back of your throat nearly universal leaves you coming back for more.

Local bookstore emphasizes community

that we have a pretty robust poetry section for a small store [and] a pretty big science fiction section, [but] we have lots of also just general interest books.”

Since its start as a small pop-up in 2018, Loyalty Books has made a commitment to elevating diverse authors and narratives. Its founder, Hannah Oliver Depp, has spent her career as a Black and queer

drives its mission as a neighborhood establishment. The philosophy and ethos of Loyalty strive toward a “community-led” ideology, which is the motivating force of its operations, from the books sold to the events held.

Often, new books will be offered based on customer suggestions and staff selections, which allow the community to have a say in the bookstore. “[Loyalty is] a relationship between you and the community,” Taft explains. “The store is loyal to the community, [and] the community is loyal to the store. There’s a symbiotic relationship between the store and our patrons.”

Further, this emphasis on community helps Loyalty Books compete in the book retailing space. With the rapid expansion of large corporations like Amazon, which offer lower prices and online shopping, independent bookstores like Loyalty struggle to compete. “Sure, Amazon’s easier and

PHOTO BY RAFFI CHARKOUDIAN-ROGERS

it might be cheaper, but there’s something to be said for shopping locally,” Taft asserts. “If you pay a little extra money locally, it’s money that’s going back into the community, whereas if it goes to Amazon, it disappears into who knows where.”

Shopping locally benefits not only small businesses but also the people who shop at them by keeping money within local economies, which helps both sides of the transaction. “It’s good for the economy [and] supports local jobs and taxes,” Taft says. In order to stay afloat, independent businesses and bookstores have to establish themselves as members of their local communities. This cycle of giving back to local neighborhoods

Books are meant to be shared, [and] we want everyone to walk away with a book regardless of whether or not you can afford to buy them.

GENE TAFT

bookseller striving to diversify the literary space, and the selections offered at Loyalty reflect this ideal. She explains that the goal of the bookstore is to help all customers to feel seen and represented in the books they read.

“Our specialty is diversity,” Taft says. “Our theme is that whoever comes into the store, whatever, sexual, racial, political, historical, [or] geographical background they come from, they’ll find a book that reflects them and their communities.” True to this vision, many prominent shelves display works by queer writers and writers of color, from Baldwin to Emezi.

This delicate balance between broad tastes and diverse selection gives Loyalty its unique charm and

allows bookstores like Loyalty to foster this type of relationship with their community.

As part of this relationship, Loyalty recognizes and addresses the need for sparking discourse and spreading awareness in the Silver Spring community. Through the unique events they hold, such as virtual meetings with the WellRead Black Girl Book Club and the Anti-Racist Book Club, they allow people to read books featuring marginalized stories and engage in discourse about them.

As COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, Loyalty is also beginning to host more in-person events, including monthly partnerships with Drag Queen Story Hour. This nonprofit offers young children exposure to gender fluidity and queer role models through the magic of Saturday morning storytelling.

The bookstore also hosts authors to discuss new books and promote their work. Loyalty is currently partnering with the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center in Silver Spring to host an event with author and activist Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. “He’s launched his new book, which is basically a young adult version of his How to Be an Antiracist book,” Taft says. “It gives us a unique opportunity to foster relationships with authors and the community.”

Looking ahead, Loyalty hopes to continue expanding its community outreach by cultivating a greater love for reading in the Silver Spring area. To achieve this broader literacy, the bookstore will partner with charitable organizations as well as other bookstores in

the area and the nation. “Our goal, as an establishment, is that everyone gets a book, especially kids,” Taft says. “Books are meant to be shared, [and] we want everyone to walk away with a book regardless of whether or not you can afford to buy them.”

silverchips

June 15, 2022 Culture E2

New dining downtown

Two restaurants join the Downtown Silver Spring scene

By Annie Gao and Elina Lee Design/Features Editor & News/Puzzle Editor The scent of Dog Haus’ caramelized onion, smoked bacon, and spicy Italian sausage mixed with the energetic chatter of restaurant patrons and broadcast sports programs provide a vibrant dining experience for Downtown Silver Spring customers. Located on Ellsworth Drive, Dog Haus is one of many new restaurants opening in the Downtown Silver Spring area.

“I love sitting in [Dog Haus] and seeing the ebb and flow of the rhythm of the restaurant. Especially when it’s full, there’s so much energy in the place,” co-owner Faizan Khan says.

FAIZAN KHAN

I love sitting in [Dog Haus] and seeing the ebb and flow of the rhythm of the restaurant... there’s so much energy in the place.

PHOTO BY FIONA BONDAREV

By Eliana Finberg Culture Editor/Columnist

ELIZA COOKE

By Eliana Finberg Culture Columnist/Editor

PHOTO BY FIONA BONDAREV

While these new restaurants depend heavily on sales from the community for success, they also give back to the neighborhoods they serve. Dog Haus partners with organizations to contribute to the fight against child hunger. “We partner with No Kid Hungry, so every month we’re raising money for that charity,” Khan says.

One goal for many restaurant chains like Dog Haus is to continue opening new locations. To expand, franchisees purchase franchise territories, geographical areas in which they have the right to establish new locations. “We just bought the state of Maryland as a [franchise] territory, [and] we’re going to be [opening] up another 15 to 20 locations over the next five years,” Khan explains.

It’s just nice to be able to have so many different types of people… so many different types of restaurants in a very small area.

TIMOTHY CLUNE

In 2010, the first Dog Haus opened in Pasadena, California.

Last December, Khan and his wife Adila opened the Silver Spring location as owners of the Dog Haus franchise in the D.C. metro area.

Khan explains that the process of choosing a location is thorough.

“We look at [site selection] from a demographic and psychographic perspective to understand who lives around the area,” he says. “There’s a lot of… analysis that happens.”

One analysis technique is to determine walk score—how accessible a location is for pedestrians—using artificial intelligence and video footage to predict the number of people who walk by potential restaurant locations every day. Other analyses focus on population density, buying behaviors, nearby competition, and financial viability.

Downtown Silver Spring proves to be the perfect location for many restaurant owners. Timothy Clune,

Wine Director for J. Hollinger’s, points to the diverse community as the reason he works in the local restaurant scene. “It’s just nice to be able to have so many different types of people… [as well as] so many different types of restaurants in a very small area,” Clune says. J. Hollinger’s, a chophouse that opened May 10, features high caliber items such as a raw bar and chophouse classics.

Once a location is decided, the next step in opening a restaurant is to hire and train staff. Clune previously worked at a nearby brewery, and says connections are what got him his current position at the new J. Hollinger’s. “The restaurant industry is a matter of having longtime friends and acquaintances. The director of operations and general manager here [at J. Hollinger’s]… [was] coincidentally an old friend of mine from restaurants in D.C. he owned,” he explains. “If you’ve worked with someone in the past and [you know] their track record, it always makes hiring easier when you can bring on people to be good.”

J. Hollinger’s was able to find its wine program connoisseur with fair ease, but staffing other positions has proven more difficult.

Nationwide shortages across the restaurant industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have created high competition, and since so many restaurants are searching for workers, demand is high. “It’s a really good market for skilled, experienced restaurant workers right now… so it’s hard to find trained staff,” Clune says.

Before the official opening day, some eateries, including J. Hollinger’s, conduct a soft opening, where friends and family are invited to participate as customers in practice runs at a discounted price or for free. “It just [gave] us a chance to practice amongst people who [were] understanding of the fact that we’re just opening,” Clune says. Crediting the well trained and experienced staff at J. Hollinger’s, he describes the actual opening day as “one of the easiest opening days I’ve ever experienced.”

In addition to expanding geographically, local restaurants hope to expand their impact in the Silver Spring neighborhood. “It’s very important for us to be part of the community and to be plugged in, both in the business community as well as the residential community,” Khan says. As businesses in Downtown Silver Spring return to in-person offices, new restaurants like Dog Haus look for opportunities to cater to the office worker demographic. Many also target residential customers by offering catering and summer cookouts.

As part of the hospitality industry, restaurants emphasize quality service as one of their goals. “I’ve been in hospitality my whole life, so my big thing is making people happy… The reception from the neighborhood has been really good.

Everybody has really enjoyed their time [at J. Hollinger’s],” Clune says.

Up & Coming

Set in a fantasy world similar to ancient Rome, An Ember in the Ashes

by Sabaa Tahir is a thrilling novel filled with plot twists, battles, and magic. Seventeen-year-old Laia lives as an oppressed minority in the Martial Empire, hoping every day that soldiers won’t kill her family under false charges of treason.

When Laia witnesses her grandparents’ murder, however, she sets off on a quest to find her rebel brother and avenge their deaths.

Despite her determination to find him, she fears for her life when asked to spy as a maid at Blackcliff, the academy where the Empire trains its most brutal soldiers.

Also at Blackliff is Elias, a soldier in training who is top of his class and projected to be the most ruthless fighter the Empire has produced in the past two decades.

Both Elias and Laia hate the Empire and its prejudiced practices, and after several fateful encounters, they set off on a journey to bring it to its knees.

Tahir, a Pakistani-American author, features main characters of color like Laia and Elias in her books, and explores a variety of cultures. She tells the story of An Ember in the Ashes through several first person perspectives, giving readers insight into the broken, dystopian world her characters live in. The novel is the first book in a series, with A Torch Against the Night, A Reaper at the Gates, and A Sky Beyond the Storm constituting the second, third, and fourth installments to the series respectively. While the third book is less action focused, the writing is beautiful, and the world that Tahir creates is truly one of a kind.

The book is categorized as young adult, and features explicit battle scenes, hints of romance, and several deaths. Five years after publication, An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night appeared on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time.

This list is assembled by a panel of eight fantasy authors, including Tahir herself, and sports books penned by a diverse range of authors. Of the books on the list, 56 are written by women, including 28 by women of color. However, many of those books have been published in the past twenty or so years—female fantasy authors are relatively new to the literary scene.

Many still struggle to make it as big as J. R. R. Tolkien or George R. R. Martin.

While Time has made an effort to diversify its list of top fantasy books, its choices are not reflective of what is most popular for consumers. Of the 25 most popular books on Goodreads, a database run by Amazon, 19 were written by men. These included The Hobbit; The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe; and A Wizard of Earthsea.

Only six of the books were written by women, with the most popular being A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle in fifth place. All 25 authors on the list are white.

We as readers must make a more conscious effort to read diverse books, and support authors of color.

Having main characters of color such as Laia and Elias comes from having stories written by a representative group of authors.

We as readers must make a more conscious effort to read diverse books, and support authors of color. Female fantasy authors, and especially female fantasy authors of color, are gaining in popularity, and we must continue to read those in order to match the popularity of authors like Tolkien and Martin.

Awards & Honors

June 17

Jay Chao, Leela Mehta-Harwitz

Outstanding Overall Art

June 19

Annie Goldman, Sofia Roehrig

Outstanding Story “Redefining Drag”

June 20

Wrestling

Sports Team of the Year

Michael Dinkel

Blazer of the Year

Liam Volz, Emmanuel Kraft, Samantha Rodriguez, Clare Rayburn

Outstanding Scholar-Athlete

Last Day of School (Early Release)

Juneteenth

Systemwide Closure, Schools & Offices Closed

July 4

Independence Day

August 29

First Day of School

silverchips

E3 Culture June 15, 2022

Summer with the Blazers A look at Blair students’ summer plans

By Rosie Orzulak Opinions Editor On the last day of school, the anticipa- tion leading up to the loud ring of the final bell is palpable for Blazers ready to kick off their wide range of summer activities.

Although the school creates a welcoming environment for students to interact with their friends and teachers, nothing beats the warm weather and the positive atmosphere surrounding summer.

SERENA GONDER

I do [feel more productive over the summer], because I have more time that I can work on things for myself.

For some Blazers, like junior Serena Gonder, summer is a catalyst for productivity and clarity with goals. “I do [feel more productive over the summer], because I have more time that I can work on things for myself,” she explains.

As soon as school gets out,

Gonder is headed to North Carolina, where she will spend three weeks working as a camp counselor. “I’m going to be working with young kids… facilitating hikes and exploring nature,” she says.

Gonder is highly anticipating this opportunity to step outside of her comfort zone and see what the new experience has to bring her. “I’m so excited to work with and take care of kids,” she says. “I’m not usually tasked with that, but I’m very excited to try it.”

Although Gonder is doing new things, she still holds true to her past summer tradition of working at her local pool. “I work as a lifeguard over the summer,” she explains. “It’s not really considered a ‘tradition’ [by most], but it is for me.”

With senior year approaching, Gonder is topping her jam-packed summer off with college tours to consider where she wants to apply next year. She is straying far from home for these visits. “I plan to go on college tours, and I’m going up to California and the west coast for colleges,” she says.

Facilitating and working with kids over the summer is a common theme for Blazers. Delia Chen, a Blair junior, has utilized her skills playing field hockey for the past nine years to land a job as a counselor at Koa Sports League.

This summer, she has been tasked with assisting young athletes in understanding the sport, and helping them “find their inner champion,” as Koa describes on its website.

“I’ve been playing field hockey since I was eight, and [this year] I was hired as a Koa operations intern and as a Koa camp counselor,” Chen explains.

Although she hasn’t ever participated in this specific job, Chen has a lot of experience coaching younger kids. She worked directly with Blair and has been a counselor-in-training (CIT) at camps before. “I’ve coached a little bit; I’ve helped with the Chicken League, which is a rec league through the Blair field hockey team. And I’ve worked as a CIT a few summers ago, but this is the first one where I’ll be making my own plans for the camp.”

Chen understands the weight of this job, as it’s

something she hasn’t done alone before. “I’ll have to create my own drills, lessons, and what I want to do with the girls. Some of them are beginners though, so I’ll have to take it back to the basics.” Although

Chen’s own skills are far advanced, she will have to maintain patience while guiding the new players through the field hockey sport.

Just like Chen, Daniel M-W is a sophomore at Blair who is combining his interests with employment. M-W has been deeply interested in marine biology for the majority of his life. In an effort to dive into his passions this summer, M-W is participating in a program that offers hands-on activities to explore the habitats around us. “I’m w o r k i n g in marine biology,” he explains. “We’re cleaning ecosys-

ly Amanti will be visiting his family in Togo for the first time in nearly a decade. “It’s been around eight years since our family has gone together,” he explains.

“Usually my parents would go at least once a year. But since it’s been eight years, we’re all going together… [and my family] is really wanting to see us.”

During their separation, Amenti and his family have been using their phones to communicate. “I call them here and there.

My mom [likes] to call them on the phone and talk to them, [and] we always have good interactions,” he recalls. Amenti is anticipating the new memories and experiences that he will make in Togo, as he doesn’t remember the last time he was there. “I was like six years old [the last time I went]; I barely remember what we did there. I will vividly remember this time, since I’m 15,” he says.

With the school year wrapping up, Blazers can’t wait to take on summer. Whether they’re planning to be at home or across the world, their excitement is boiling over until that final bell rings.

tems, testing water samples… [and] researching animals and marine life.”

Meanwhile, Sophomore Khe-

Back in the sing of things

By Rosie Orzulak and Milan Tenn Opinions Editor & News Editor With the rise of warmer weather, many at Blair begin to think about going outside and interacting with others in their community.

The perfect way for them to do this is by indulging in something that can often bring people together— music.

The Takoma Park Porch Festival, held this year on May 14, exemplifies the connections within a community that music can bring.

The Porch Festival has been an annual tradition in Takoma Park since 2013, with a two-year hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This spring, music players and music lovers united once again to experience the reinstated event.

Jordi Hannun, whose porch

hosted a part of the festival, characterizes the event as personal and rooted in the community. “You’re not going to have Jimi Hendrix plugging into his amp and blowing away the street,” Hannun says. “It’s a little more family friendly and instrumental.”

The festival included 14 porches, each with four volunteer performers participating. “At two o’clock, three, four, [or] five… they’re on for 50 minutes. They stop. Next one comes on, they… start right on the hour,” Hannun says. “It’s very smooth. It’s all volunteer. They’re not being paid to do it, and some of them travel quite a distance.”

When performers at Hannun’s porch concluded their performances, other people in the community were inspired to participate in the festival themselves. “Afterwards, you had people kind of wanting to step up,” Hannun continues. “It’s

TAKOMA PARK PORCH FESTIVAL Music emanated for onlookers to hear during the Porch Festival.

COURTESY OF JORDI AND KIM HANNUN

COMMUNITY GATHERING People come together to enjoy music at the Takoma Park Porch Festival. cost, something that further entices Smith. “You’re paying a price [so] that you get to see more artists,” Smith says. “For some resale tickets, they’re like $300 for like one artist. [In this case,] you’re paying $300 to see thirteen [or] fifteen.”

At the same time, however, some D.C. activists believe that the cost to attend Something in the Water poses a problem for accessibility. They have stated that the cost, which ranges from $300 to $350 for a ticket, not including tax, cannot be afforded by the average African-American living in D.C. This is problematic in the view of many D.C. activists because the festival is scheduled for the weekend of Juneteenth, the anniversary of the emancipation of African-Americans from slavery.

Because of this, some activists have characterized the Something in the Water event as a show for “gentrifiers” rather than for D.C. residents, which they see as inappropriate for a Juneteenth festival.

Though high costs can cre-

ate a barrier for some fans, many still feel that concerts are not only events in a single moment, but also ways for people to share their love of music together. “There’s a magic there to it and a community bonding,” Porch Festival host Kim Hannun says. “Just bringing people

Just bringing people together in itself was really special.

KIM HANNUN

COURTESY OF JORDI AND KIM HANNUN

just so special to [host] it, and it kind of just brings out the best in folks that wanted to share.”

Despite the long break since the last Porch Festival, Hannun says that it has maintained its prior popularity; the audience at his porch this year was similar in size to 2019. “[Turnout] kind of ebbs and flows a little bit, but I think at the height, there was probably close to… 40 or 50 people [at my porch],” Hannun says. “And I would say that was actually… where we were in 2019.”

Hannun also believes that the experience of the porch festival this year was made more significant because COVID-19 had previously limited such gatherings. “There [are] few things more enjoyable, at least in my mind, than being out on spring day…hanging out with friends, neighbors, [and] just people, and listening to great music and sharing some snacks and beverages,” Hannun says. “Particularly after COVID, [it] felt almost spiritual.”

In addition to local get-togethers, larger venues have also begun to host concerts again, including the Something in the Water Festival. This series of concerts, scheduled for June 17 through 19, will be held in Washington, D.C., marking a departure from their prior location at Virginia Beach.

Blair junior Lhea Smith, who plans on attending the festival, looks forward to seeing the artists who will be performing. “I really want to see Gene Dawson because I was supposed to see him when he was supposed to open for Brockhampton, and then they canceled their tour,” Smith says. “Same with Dominic Fike, and just a lot of the other artists that had sold out shows I [wasn’t] able to see.”

Something in the Water will feature a larger number of music artists than most concerts of similar

Similarly, Smith believes that concerts benefit attendees by offering them the opportunity to gain new acquaintances. “I feel like everyone should get the experience because, depending on the artist, it can be really intimate,” Smith says.

“You get to meet new people. I’ve met people at almost every concert I’ve been to… it’s really nice.”

silverchips

June 15, 2022 Culture E4

Chips Clips

LEELA MEHTA-HARWITZ

Pride Parade

Five friends stand in a not-so-straight line for free flags at their local pride parade. They have each brought their pet— even a ferret comes along! Using the following information, can you determine who desires which flag, as well as where they stand in line and which pet accompanies them?

Friend

Flag

Cryptic Crosswords

Feel free to contact puzzle editor Elina Lee at puzzleelina@gmail.com with the subject “Chips Clips June” with questions, comments, concerns, or any other feedback.

Puzzle Contest

Pet

ELINA LEE

1 2 3

ELINA LEE

2

3

4

5 ELINA LEE

1

Sudoku

Attention puzzlers: Elina and friends invite you to enter the first Chips Clips Puzzle Contest!

Cryptic Crosswords 1

Pride Parade

Sudoku

1 Bea stands right in front of the friend who wants a genderfluid flag.

2 Em stands right next to the friend who wants a bisexual flag.

3 Duke stands right behind the chameleon owner.

4 Kay is second in line.

5 Rye stands right between two mammal owners.

6 The friend fifth in line has an even number of letters in their name.

7 The friend who wants a transgender flag does not own a hedgehog.

8 The friend who wants an abrosexual flag is third in line.

9 The frog owner stands fourth in line.

10 The parrot owner wants an aromantic flag.

1 2 3 4 5

Scan the QR codes to see the solutions to the Pride Parade, Sudoku, and Cryptic Crosswords puzzles.

2

3

Puzzles must be monochrome on a white or transparent background.

You may submit as many puzzles as you would like to.

Email them in PDF form to puzzleelina@gmail.com with the subject “Chips Clips October Entry.”

4 Attach a separate PDF of the step-by-step solution for each—you may use mine as a guide.

5 The hard deadline is Monday, August 29, 2022 at 7:45 a.m.

6 Top puzzles have the opportunity to be printed in Chips’ October edition!

Scan the QR code to learn what a cryptic crossword is and tips and tricks for solving them.

ACROSS 1 Fruity color 4 Dairy in the mediocre American diet 5 Candy from first northern emergency room destroys skin DOWN 1 California in a writing instrument for pie 2 Two words sound like a couple 3 Chickpea concoction loses double for soil

ACROSS 1 Cried messily for juice 4 Crazy panic prior to midnight 5 Mad macadamia thank you DOWN 1 Spice in talcum-induced cancer 2 Mister Utah craves a pastry 3 Roadless ice cream

4

5 ELINA LEE

ERIC LE

F1 Sports June 15, 2022

silverchips

silverchips

June 15, 2022 Sports F2

A call for Coyle

By Haley Carter Design Editor/Senior Writer

done in the past, she could bring all of this talent together and turn it into a team that could potentially go to states and perform very well,” Hirsch, who advocated for Coyle to coach boys varsity soccer after the position was vacated, said.

Other players have also noticed how effective Coyle’s coaching can be in games. “She makes us run like crazy, which you can see really helps us. It will come down to the last 10 minutes of the game, and

ALLIE COYLE

to push for Coyle to come coach varsity. “We just went into her office and asked her when we could have a conversation. We just met at “We’re a very good boys soccer lunch and talked,” Hirsch said. program. We’re one of the best in Boulé, who has a large role in the state of Maryland… There is a choosing coaches as athletic direclot of pressure to continue being tor, took what Hidalgo and Hirsch good. I think Coyle will continue said into consideration. “[Others’ [our record of] being good,” Blair opinions] shape my response or athletic coordinator Rita Boulé statmy opinion. It doesn’t make it or ed about Allie Coyle, Blair’s new break it all the time, but it’s really boys varsity soccer coach. important to know all stakeholders’ Coyle has been with Blair socfeelings cer for five about a years, working coach or strictly with JV except for an athletthe 2020-2021 ics proCOVID-19 seagram,” son, when she B o u l é coached varsity explained. in the absence “It’s very of the JV team. helpful Beforeto know Coyle was varwhat the sity coach, the students job was filled want and

by John Haigh. how they When Haigh feel.

It could not coach helps with the varsity squad misconfor the modiceptions. fied 2020-2021 It helps school year with inseason, Coyle formastepped up. tion, and “[Haigh] wasn’t it helps able to [coach] COURTESY OF ALLIE COYLE in person during 2019 JV BOYS SOCCER TEAM Blair boys soccer team takes a picture with target my goals and COVID be- new varsity coach, Allie Coyle. my enercause he has gy.” younger children. It was my chance On May 5, Blair announced to step up and fill the role,” Coyle we’ll all still be sprinting, doing our that Coyle would be taking over the best,” Hidalgo said. explained.

After seeing her success as a varsity coaching position. Coyle acIn the 2021 fall season, Coyle returned to coaching the JV team coach over the past two seasons, knowledged the impact her players when Coach Haigh came back to many of the players vocally made had in this decision. “I don’t think coach varsity. “Haigh helped a lot it apparent that they wished Coyle in the background. So it was still his would come to varsity. “They would word,” Coyle said. “We came back come and bother me nonstop. ‘So I really, really, really are you the [varsity] coach? Are [and it was still his position.]” you the coach yet?’”

Coyle said.

Coyle has a very strong relaappreciate them Eventually, Coyle told Hidalgo tionship with her players—many advocating for me. of them voluntarily spend lunch and Hirsch to go to Boulé with in her science classroom. “I don’t their demands. “I got to the point know anyone that doesn’t like where I was like, go talk to Ms. Coyle,” junior soccer captain Kiko Boulé!” Coyle explained.

Hidalgo and Hirsch both fol- they would have taken no as an anHidalgo said.

These player-coach relation- lowed this advice. “We went swer for their senior year next year. ships come naturally for Coyle, and talked to Ms. Boulé, me and I really, really, really appreciate who doesn’t have to go out of her [Hirsch], and we… gave her our them advocating for me.”

Working with Boulé helped way to build a strong connection [reasons] behind why we think she with her team. “I just am honest would be a great coach for varsity assure Coyle that she was ready with [them]. I hold them responsi- soccer. She listened to us, agreed, to take on this position. “I’m very ble. I think it… goes a long way, ” and then they had the whole pro- lucky that I had Ms. Boulé. She cess with our principal, with oth- was always open to the idea. It was she explained.

Blair varsity soccer player Dan- er teachers as well.” Hidalgo ex- just making sure that I did everything I needed to do so that I was iel Hirsch wanted to see Coyle’s plained. coaching skills applied to varsity.

The two players talked with that top choice when the position “I think that as [Coach Coyle] has Boulé on more than one occasion became available.”

By John Ernst Sports Columnist/Editor

The 2021-2022 MLB offseason was a wild one. The league, players, and owners negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), raising minimum salaries for players, adopting the designated hitter in the National League, and expanding to a 12-team playoff. Although the new CBA left many issues in baseball untouched, such as the crackdown on foreign substances and use of technology to call balls and strikes, it provided a temporary solution, with the start of the season only being delayed a week.

Baseball is finally back, and as summer dawns on us and the dog days of the season approach, here are my best players so far for each position. (stats are accurate to 6/10/2022).

Catcher: Willson Contreras Chicago Cubs Contreras has quietly been the best catcher in the league, with a .933 on-base-percentage plus slugging percentage (OPS) and leads the league with 27 assists.

First Baseman: Paul Goldschmidt St. Louis Cardinals

an MVP favorite, with an NL best 1.016 OPS and the third most RBIs in the league with 47.

Betts is a no-brainer All Star pick, and is a frontrunner to win the MVP once the season comes to a close. He leads NL outfielders in home runs (16), RBIs (39), batting average (.290), and OPS (.931).

Alvarez has only gotten better at the dish, logging 17 home runs and 38 RBIs, good for a 1.025 OPS.

Second Basemen: Jose Al- Starting Pitcher: Tony Gonsolin tuve Los Angeles Dodgers Houston Astros Altuve has stayed one of the top players at his position, leading all second basemen with a .885 OPS and 11 home runs.

Gonsolin has dominated the NL West, with an NL best 7-0 record and 1.58 ERA. An 0.86 WHIP also improved his Cy Young chances.

Shortstop: Trea Turner Los Angeles Dodgers

Starting Pitcher: Martin Perez Texas Rangers

Turner has continued his dominance in LA, leading NL shortstops in OPS. (.835) and stolen bases (13) hitting out of the Dodgers 3-hole. He also boasts a .978 fielding percentage with only 4 errors on 178 chances. His 46 RBIs are also among the most in the league.

Third Baseman: Jose Ramirez Cleveland Guardians Ramirez has put together quite the spring, and is an MVP frontrunner in the AL. He has a league leading 54 RBI, is on pace for a 3030 season, and has a .999 OPS.

Probably not the Angels outfielder you expected here, but it’s tough to ignore Ward’s 1.087 OPS. Ward has exploded for 10 home runs and 26 RBIs in just 38 games, and has surprised Angels fans as a steady presence in the lineup.

Look no further than Silver Chips Sports, where you can cover your favorite sports!

Outfield: Mookie Betts Los Angeles Dodgers

Designated Hitter: Yordan Alvarez Goldschmidt has emerged as Houston Alvarez

Outfield: Taylor Ward Los Angeles Angels

Interested in writing short Blair game recaps or commentating Blazer games?

Want free access to home matches? Need SSL hours?

SOPHIA LI

Outfield: Aaron Judge New York Yankees Judge has been the best hitter in baseball up to this point. 22 home runs, 45 RBIs, and a 1.058 OPS. prove why. He’s a likely MVP, and is looking to lead the Yanks back to the World Series.

Perez has come out of nowhere to be one of the most dominant pitchers in the league. He has only allowed 1 homerun over 69 innings of work, a sub zero WHIP, and leads all pitchers with a 2.9 WAR and 1.56 ERA.

Starting Pitcher: Nestor Cortes New York Yankees

Cortes has slowly turned from a funky exciting pitcher to a AL Cy Young favorite, heading a Yankees staff that has them at the top of the AL. Cortes has a 1.98 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP, complimented by a 9.9 K/9.

Starting Pitcher: Sandy Alcantara Miami Marlins

Alacantara has developed his own 1-2 punch with Pablo Lopez, logging a league leading 83.2 innings and one of four complete games this season. A 1.63 ERA and 0.94 WHIP has him as one of the best pitchers in the league.

Closer: Josh Hader Milwaukee Brewers

Hader has continued his 9th inning dominance, with a 0.94 ERA and converting 18 of 19 save opportunities.

John’s postseason picks if the season ended today American League Wild Card (6) Red Sox over (3) Twins (4) Blue Jays over (5) Rays

National League Wild Card (3) Cardinals over (6) Braves (5) Giants over (4) Padres

@scpsports

American League Division Series (1) Yankees over (6) Red Sox 4. Blue Jays over 2. Astros

National League Division Series (1) Mets over (5) Giants (2) Dodgers over (3) Cardinals

@scp_sports

American League Championship Series (4) Blue Jays over 1. Yankees

National League Championship Series (1) Mets over (2) Dodgers

Scan the QR code to fill out an application!

World Series: Blue Jays over Mets

silverchips

F3 Sports June 15, 2022

Spring sports roundup

By Eliana Finberg and Annie Gao Columnist/Culture Editor & Design/Features Editor Girls’ Tennis In both numbers and spirit, the girls’ tennis team made a swinging comeback from last year’s COVID-19 season. Juniors Katya Shepherd-Johnson and Aileen Qi took home third in girls’ singles and second in mixed doubles respectively at the Tennis State Championship on May 28. Their victories helped Blair tennis secure its finish as the second overall team in Maryland.

According to senior captain Anika Darbari, interest in the team boomed this year, and the number of tryout applicants was nearly double that of previous years. The team also grew in terms of spirit and enthusiasm. On game days, many of the girls dressed up according to themes selected by Darbari—blazers in blazers, lumberjacks, frat boys, and pink out. “Especially this year, we’re a lot more spirited,” she explains. After games, enthusiasm remained strong, no matter the outcome. “Overall, [it felt] like a very positive season,” Darbari says.

of the year—and their high school careers. “It’s all coming to an end, which is really sad because I’ve been on this team for four years…

I’ve made a lot of really good friends and really enjoyed the community,” Palmer says.

Boys’ Track The Blair boys’ track team saw a season packed with dual meets and invitationals, setting new records along the way. Several individuals

I really hope to see people… reset and redefine what our programs are capable of. We’ve got phenomenal guys right now.

INDY LYNESS

Boys’ Tennis Boys’ tennis had an exciting season filled with close matches and meaningful wins, from defeating longtime rival B-CC to securing a mixed doubles regionals win against Sherwood on May 18. Asher Labovich, senior captain, recalls that B-CC had remained undefeated against Blair for years. “They beat us for a long, long time,” he says. The four-year Blair tennis veteran highlights strategizing before games, growing camaraderie with other players, and seeing improvement throughout the years as his favorite parts of the team. “We played much better [as a team] this year than we played last year,” Labovich says.

COURTESY OF JOAN INDIANA LYNESS

STATE MEET Sophomore Alex Risso at the Track and Field state championship.

and relay teams qualified for states, including record-setting senior Indy Lyness, who earned the titles of County Champion in the 3200 meter event and Regionals Champion

plains that although there usually is a steeper learning curve for new players, she loved the team dynamic this year. “Because we all liked each other and trusted each other, it made our gameplay so much better,” she says.

Limjuco has firm ambitions for next year, basing her hopes on the high number of now experienced underclassmen in the program. “A majority of our team is going to be the underclassmen who returned to play and so our team will be so much better next year… because we have so many players who already know the game.”

Boys’ Volleyball The boys’ volleyball team had an excellent season, winning ten games and losing only one in their regular season. The team’s season ended in the second round of playoffs, a bittersweet result for senior captain Caden Mueller. “I’m sad that I’m leaving, but I’m hoping more people get involved in [boys’ volleyball],” he says. “It’s a growing sport.”

Mueller is confident that the team will continue to experience success in the future. “Our team is a fairly young team,” he says.

“They’re going to be able to play a lot longer together and when you play volleyball together, you get in sync, and you play better.”

Next year, she hopes that players will continue to grow closer both on and off the field, and believe in themselves. “We have the skills, and we are confident enough to make all the plays and make all the adjustments,” she says.

Boys’ Lacrosse The boys’ lacrosse team had a great season, making it to the second round of playoffs with an 8-4 regular season record. Though the team lost in the second round to Sherwood, senior captain Michael Dinkel says the last game was a

COURTESY OF MICHAEL DINKEL

GAME DAY Senior captain Michael Dinkel plays in a game against Quince Orchard.

commemoration of the season.

Baseball “No one gave up… It sucked endTeam spirit was a big part of ing the season, but it was almost Blair’s baseball team this year, ac- like we got to celebrate the season.” cording to senior captain EmmanThe players emphasized teamuel Kraft. “There was always that work and community this season, team aspect where we would be supporting each other, and really just something they hope to continue in having fun,” he says. The team won coming years. “I just really liked the Co-ed Softball eleven games and lost seven during general atmosphere and attitude of Co-ed softball ended the spring the regular season, finally losing to the team [this spring],” Dinkel says. season with an overall record of Blake in the second round of play- “Everyone was just working on bethree wins and three losses. Senior offs. ing a family.” captain Alvaro Rodriguez says the team had a rough start, but imGymnastics proved as the season progressed.

On May 3, Blair gymnastics There was always “A lot of our players didn’t have too wrapped up its season with a fifthmuch experience with the sport, but that team aspect place finish at the MCPS Gymnasthey learned throughout [the] practics Championship. Junior captain where we would be tices,” Rodriguez explains.

Rachael Young won balance beam As a senior athlete, Rodriguez supporting each and all-around, and hopes to conemphasizes that he wanted to make tinue her success next year. “I other, and really just sure he had fun during his final think it’d be really fun just to win season. With many of last year’s having fun. again,” she says. “Especially since I players graduating, he found lots of don’t even do competitive gymnasopportunities to make new friends tics anymore. This is just for fun.” within this year’s team. “I’m just goEven though Kraft graduated this There are seven other schools in ing to enjoy every minute and sec- year, he is optimistic about the pro- MCPS with a gymnastics team, and ond of it, hang out with all my new gram’s future. “I think the team is in teammates, and just have fun,” he a really good spot… This year, we’re the performances of both individsays. Rodriguez has high hopes that really only losing five seniors,” he ual athletes and teams are considthe team can improve next year and says. “The same guys who kept us ered when scoring. “You want your teammates to do well so your team make it to playoffs. going this year are still going to be places well, but you also want yourthere.” self to do well,” Young says.

Girls’ Softball Blair girls’ softball went out with a bang this year, winning two playoff games to make it to the regional finals against Sherwood. Despite losing the regional final, their regular season record was thirteen wins and five losses, marked by impressive victories against Winston Churchill and Walt Whitman. Senior captain Olivia Schulz says that teamwork and bonding were what helped them achieve so much this season.

“One of the characteristics of a really good team is cohesiveness. [The team members] work as a unit, they know each other, and they know PHOTO BY CAL TOBIAS each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and they can supplement INTO ACTION Senior centerfield Olivia Schulz runs in with her teammate, sophomore shortstop Nikki Tjiputra. each other,” she explains.

EMMANUEL KRAFT

COURTESY OF AILEEN QI

CHAMPIONSHIP Boys’ and girls’ tennis finalists at the Tennis State Championship.

The team concluded the regular season with an 8-3 record, with in both the 1600 and 3200 meter Labovich winning second in mixed events. At the state championships, doubles and senior Ryan He and Lyness placed third in the 3200 sophomore Jerry Song taking meter event, and the boys’ 4x800 home second in boys’ doubles at relay team took home fourth.

In addition to surpassing many the Tennis State Championship. of his personal goals, Lyness emphasized the improvement of his Girls’ Track teammates this year. “It’s always Girls’ track saw strong perfor- something that gives me hope for mances this season, with several qualifications to the state champi- the future of the team and makes onships at the regionals champion- me remember why I love this sport ship meet on May 19 and May 20, so much,” he says. “I really hope including senior Geneva Palmer’s to see people… reset and redefine regional champion title in the 400 what our programs are capable of. meter event. At the state champi- We’ve got phenomenal guys right onships on May 28, junior Alexa now.”

Avila placed sixth in the 1600 meter event, and sophomore Mireya Co-ed Volleyball Often a team made up of vetKing placed third in the high jump event. eran girls’ volleyball players and For many seniors like Palmer, novice boys, co-ed volleyball ofbittersweet emotions trickled their fers a unique team experience. way into the final running season Junior captain Alyssa Limjuco ex-

Girls’ Lacrosse Despite a rough start to the season, girls’ lacrosse finished strong, making it to the regional finals before losing to Sherwood. The team’s regular season record was 7-5, with a playoff record of 2-1.

Junior captain Ella Wenger attributes much of the team’s success to team bonding, especially given the new coaching staff hired this year. “We’re all really close,” she says. “We have all come together, and we leave knowing that we have the support of our team.”

Next year, Wenger hopes to build off of the team’s success this year by implementing workouts and practices during the fall and winter, and getting more underclassmen involved. “JV had an amazing season, so in a couple of years, they’re going to be really, really great.”