November 2019 — Silver Chips Print

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

November 14, 2019

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SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

VOL. 82 NO. 2

Arts advocacy assembly faces backlash

INSIDE CHIPS Decline in MCPS performance

By Sarah McKinzie Khushboo Rathore Staff Writer & Senior Writer

Graduation rates at the lowest since 2013 page A3

Blair students and faculty hosted Los Angeles-based organization High School Nation (HSN) on Oct. 10. The event took nearly two hours of the school day, cutting classes in half. Multiple activities were planned, including a question-and-answer session, concert, dance classes, and snacks. Though

Free speech vs free protest The balance between the right to assemble and the right to speak

page B3

High School Nation offered Blair a donation of roughly $10,000 in equipment in exchange for hosting the event.

Pollo peruano Una evaluación de los pollos peruanos más ricos del área page C3

Hydration nation A Blair perspective on the Hydro Flask craze

page D4

students had the choice of either attending the event or going to the media center, many students left campus before or during the event.

There was also backlash in the weeks leading up to and after the assembly. The supposed headliner never showed up to the event and the turf was left destroyed.

From puzzling to programming How a Blair alumnus ended up at google

page E3

Triple threat

Approval and misinformation

Brady Mason’s talent extends beyond a single sport

arts resource teacher Jacqueline Armstead-Thomas at the end of the 2018-2019 school year. In the email, HSN offered Blair a donation of roughly $10,000 in equipment—including audio interfaces, mics, and a range of musical instruments—in exchange for hosting the event.

Principal Renay Johnson made sure to check the contract thoroughly, contacting MCPS before signing. “Every time we have a group come, there’s a contract involved. Sometimes my business manager Mr. Funk… [will] review the contracts for me and he’ll let me know if there’s anything I need to be aware of,” she said. “In this case, we decided to send it up to [the] MCPS legal office and they reviewed the contract, [made] some changes, and I signed it.”

The county approved the event in early September.

The Blair administration informed teachers about the event in mid-September and Blair families were notified a week before the event. Johnson sent an email to parents on Oct. 2, describing the event as an “assembly [that] will introduce students to opportunities in music, arts, and media.”

HSN is a for-profit organization that hosts music festival pop-ups at high schools across the country, featuring artists like the Plain White T’s, Silento, and Drake Bell. Pop artist Sofi K, who performed at Blair, said she believes

HSN first offered to host the event at Blair in an email to fine

page F3

see HSN page A2

Blair student passes away

By Oliver Goldman

Staff Writer

LADY BLAZERS MAKE FANS PROUD Varsity Cheer competes at the DCC regional competition. Girls soccer wins the regional title to advance to the state quarterfinals. Girls volleyball, which boasts a 10-4 season record, huddles during their game against Magruder.

For more fall sports coverage, check the back page (F5). news A2

op/ed B1

Photos (top to bottom): Delia Moran, Lucy Martin, Yuri Kim, Lucy Martin

La Esquina Latina C1

features D1

Senior Moses Hailom passed away on Oct. 21. The cause of his death has been kept private.

Hailom’s teachers and peers remembered him as a curious and artistic individual. Isabel HernandezCata, who taught Hailom in her Piano 1 class, recalls his curiosity and devotion to piano. “I thought he was just a true individual and absolutely unique,” she said. “He had this marvelous, preternatural ability to pick things up really fast.”

Hailom was new to piano when he first enrolled in HernandezCata’s class, where he developed a keenness for the keys. HernandezCata said Hailom stood out from the rest of the students in the class and was impressed by his growth.

“He had a very different relationship with music, and the more I think about it, I think there was a lot of beauty in it,” she said.

Hailom was especially captivated by one particular piece, and acquired a nickname for that reason. “I called him the PhD because [usually] I have people study

culture E1

a piece, get what they can out of it, and move on. Instead, he took this one piece, ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ by Scott Joplin, and just interpreted it in 95 different ways,” HernandezCata said. “He was keen, brilliant, and also quite funny. He’s just like no other student I’ve ever had and I’m going to miss him terribly.”

Senior Evan Hu met Hailom during his time working with students in Hernandez-Cata’s Piano 1 class as an AP Music Theory

“I thought he was just a true individual and absolutely unique.”

- Isabel HernandezCata, Music Teacher

student. Hu also recalls Hailom’s curiosity about music. “It’s something I’ve never really seen before,” he said. “What was really interesting about him was that he wanted to analyze music from a technical point of view. [When most people]

see OBITUARY page A3

chips clips E5

sports F1

A2 News

silverchips

Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East Silver Spring, MD 20901 Phone: (301) 649-2864 Winner of the 2015 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Winner of the 2019 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal

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Unsigned editorials represent the views of the editorial board and are not necessarily those of the school. Signed letters to the editor are encouraged. Submit your letter to Jeremy Stelzner’s mailbox in the main office or to silver.chips. print@gmail.com. Concerns about Silver Chips’ content should be directed to the Ombudsman, the public’s representative to the paper, at ombudsman.silverchips@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

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November 14, 2019

Deep diving into High School Nation’s travelling concert from HSN page A1 that alongside promoting music in schools, the organization encourages students to get involved in the arts. “It’s a great way to… get people who aren’t as interested in the business to become more involved,” she said. “We’re really just all about bringing music education… back into schools and we have some amazing sponsors.”

During their 2019 fall tour to over 20 schools, HSN featured indie/alternative artist Kerri Medders, pop singers Sofi K and CARYS, R&B singers Jessame and MicahBlu, DJ and host UnieQ, and choreographer Liz LeGrande.

When the event was announced, many parents were confused as to the deal made between Blair and HSN, taking to PTSA Yahoo Group to express their thoughts. “I have asked 2 [times] whether or not MBHS was paid to host this event and have not received a reply to that question,” parent Barbara Menard wrote in one such message on Oct. 9.

In the weeks leading up to the HSN assembly, misinformation spread through the Blair community. In a presentation shown to students during an innovation period, Armstead-Thomas said that there would be a merchandise truck from anti-smoking and anti-vaping company Truth. “Students can dance while the DJ spins while collecting tons of free merch,” the presentation read.

The truck was not present on the day of the event and the schedule was noticeably different from what was originally presented to teachers.

The schedule released to teachers in September showed period 6 and 8 canceled, with period 8 being made on up College Readiness Day the following week. The updated eventual schedule shortened all class periods and held the event after period 6.

Most notable was the absence of Silento, previously advertised as the headliner and rapper behind the viral 2015 song “Watch Me (Whip/ Nae Nae).” On Oct. 9, a post from Johnson’s Instagram account informed students of a change in the artist lineup, substituting Medders for Silento (see JOHNSON on E2).

Many students were upset to learn that Silento would not be headlining. After looking at his Instagram, it was found that he had been out of the country for weeks.

“I was a little disappointed,” junior Kanayo Duru said. “And I was even more disappointed when I found out that he was actually overseas, because then it became clear that it wasn’t like he canceled—he was never going to come in the first place.”

Johnson appeared to be as confused as the student body concerning the lineup change. “[Mrs. Armstead-Thomas] thought [Silento] was coming, and everybody

PROTEST sports a

thought he was coming,” she said.

“The morning of the concert High School Nation, the director of our event came in and he goes, we no longer have a contract with Silento and he’s not coming.”

HSN Director of Artist and Campus Relations Dirk Otis noted that the organization had not released promotional material featuring Silento for months. “At no point in time would we go ‘this person’s not working with us, let’s publicize not working with somebody,’” he said. “We promoted the acts that are with us now… at no point in time did we promote that [Silento] was still with us when he was no lon-

SINGING FOR HOLLISTER

Post-event impact

After-effects of the performance lasted for weeks. Right after the event, students, teachers, and administrators began picking up various bits of trash, including deflated Hollister batons, Takis wrappers, bits of paper, and water bottles. In the following weeks, the field was closed while repairs were completed.

Artificial turfs like the one at Blair are high-maintenance surfaces, with layers of padding to provide support for the players on the field and the artificial grass.

The Blair field was returfed in 2017, and was meant to last ten years. Guidelines released by the Community Use of Public Facilities

KHUSHBOO RATHORE

A “Blair

Blair Wants

just going into our guitar classroom.”

Heavy advertising

Armstead-Thomas knew that the event would include a large advertising component and believes the overexposure is important to talk about. “I think it’s a moment where we can [caution] students about marketing and being consumed by advertising in general,” she said.

“I think as long as students understand that nothing really comes for free, [that] they’re being exposed to the marketing at the event, and that there’s no obligation to buy any of the products outside of the event…

BOBBY PADMORE

Pop artist Sofi K performs for students holding Hollister batons.

ger with us.”

Silento performed with the organization during their spring 2019 tour and in years before that. On a now deleted post, he replied to Instagram comments saying that he was never scheduled to be on HSN’s fall tour outside of the first week.

FOR THE PEOPLE custom shirt reading

(CUPF), a Montgomery County organization dedicated to granting use of various athletic fields and buildings, indicate that vehicles should not be parked on the field and that food is strictly prohibited. These rules were not adhered to as HSN set up at Blair, presumably leading the field’s damage.

However, Johnson believes that the damage was not completely due to the 18-wheeler trucks and other cars from the event that had parked on the turf. “I’m not sure if all the damage is a result of HSN or if there was damage prior to that from other adult groups that use the field on the weekend,” she said.

student Silento”

This hesitation to assign responsibility stems from infrequent g-max testing run in order to find shock absorbency. “Seeing as they don’t do the g-max test every week… we have no way of knowing. Did we do some of the damage? Maybe. Did we do all of the damage? Likely not,” Johnson said.

The field was closed for two weeks, opening again on Oct. 25 after girls’ field hockey and soccer rescheduled to play their senior nights at other schools.

Girls’ varsity soccer captain Noa Dorah appeared on Infoflow claiming the HSN event ripped up the turf. “Our senior night had to be moved to Paint Branch, sucked obviously, because it’s something we’ve been looking forward to for four years, and we couldn’t even have it at home,” she said. “We lost home court advantage and couldn’t prepare as well as we could have.”

Many parents were also frustrated by the damage and the event as a whole, expressing their thoughts on the PTSA Yahoo group. “This was a total marketing scam—there was absolutely no reason that the school should have done this. And it seems that MCPS overall allowed it,” parent Stacey Palosky wrote.

“The stadium field was trashed. So many kids tried to avoid it that they couldn’t fit into the media center.

All I heard at home was about how horrible it was.”

During the Q and A session, UnieQ said a music recording studio would be donated to the school in exchange for hosting the event.

Rather than being made into a recording studio, the equipment was split between various departments and studios in the building. “BNC will be receiving some of the equipment that makes sense for it to be down there,” Armstead-Thomas said. “We’ve already gotten some mics and stands and guitars… that’s

then there really isn’t a concern.”

UnieQ believes that this advertising is a part of making the event better for the students and is hardly noticeable during the concert.

“When [the students] come, they gravitate towards the music, they gravitate towards the artists and a lot of these other things are just in the background,” he said. “It’s great because it makes it free for the school.”

He believes that the event is positive for all groups involved, including the school, students, and HSN. “For the artists that get to perform, for the students that receive all the gifts, for the school that gets the donation, this is win-win all across the board for everybody,” he said.

HSN’s corporate sponsor Hollister, a subset of Abercrombie & Fitch, was a prominent piece of the event. The event showcased many sponsors, including Takis, Hosa Technology, and PETA. Otis portrays their partnerships as just another way to provide the event and donation to schools. “To be able to put on an event of this size, you’re going to need some help from corporate sponsors,” he said. “The amount of staff, the amount of production value, the amount of human beings that are just employed by what we do?

You’re going to need someone to help financially back that.”

Johnson did not expect the high levels of advertising at the event and would expect more information from future events. “I didn’t anticipate that everything would be branded that way and now that’s an upgrade for me in the future,” she said. “The question… [is] what [advertising] will be displayed?”

Many of the students sporting the merchandise did not care about the advertising. “I didn’t really feel any way about it being sponsored by Hollister,” said Duru.

silverchips

November 14, 2019

News A3

12th grade student Moses Hailom dies at 18 Hailom remembered as a “sweet, kind young man” from HAILOM page A1 see a piece of music, they just play it—it’s just notes. But he wanted to look at it from a very analytical point of view.”

David Goldberg, who taught Hailom in his Honors English 9 class, remembers Hailom for his inquisitiveness and sweet demeanor. “He would ask a lot of questions, endless questions, [but] in a very endearing way,” he said. “He always wanted to know more than we were covering in class.”

Goldberg remarked on Hailom’s creativity in the classroom. “There was one day when he came in and he just kept drawing me but in different ways,” Goldberg said.

“He drew me, and then goth me, and [then] punk me. He was a very sweet, kind young man.”

According to Hernandez-Cata, Hailom tried to start a library in his apartment building in Takoma Park. In his honor, she wants to provide musical instruments and books for

kids to get lessons at Blair. She also plans to hang a Scott Joplin poster next to the piano where Hailom used to play so that his life can be remembered and celebrated by students around Blair. “Even in his young life, there’s a lot to remember, a lot to learn, and a lot to celebrate,” Hernandez-Cata said, reflecting on his life.

Blair Principal Renay Johnson sent a letter to Blair families on Oct. 22, the day following his passing. “For those of you who knew Moses, we ask that you remember and celebrate his life,” Johnson wrote in the letter. “For those of you who did not know him, we ask that you respect and support his family during this difficult time.”

She added that the school counseling office is available and open to students. “A support team of psychologists, counselors, and pupil personnel workers from Montgomery County Public Schools will work with our staff members to provide counseling and support to students,” Johnson wrote.

COURTESY OF MBHS SILVERLOGUE

Up & Coming November 14-16, 21-23

November 18

November 20

November 28-29

December 5

December 12

Fall Play: Tales from 1,001 Nights

Report Cards Distributed

Winter Orchestra Concert, Alumni Auditorium, 6:30 p.m.

Districtwide Boundary Analysis Hearing: Carver Educational Services Center, 6 p.m.

Thanksgiving Break

Winter Band and Jazz Concert, Alumni Auditorium, 6:30 p.m.

Student and Teacher Awards & Honors Jason An, Simon Chervenak, Kevin Higgs, Clarence Lam, and Matthew Shu won first place at the Lockheed Martin’s 2019 CyberQuest Competition.

Jason An, Kevin Higgs, and Clarence Lam won first place at New York University’s 2019 Cybersecurity Awareness Worldwide Competition.

Boys’ cross country placed third at the 4A Maryland State Meet. Gabriel Worthington placed 21st.

Girls’ soccer won the 4A State quarterfinal and were the first ever Blair team to qualify for semifinals.

Hunter Walterman is in contention for the WTOP Junior Reporters Award.

Girls’ cross country placed 10th at the 4A Maryland State Meet. Alexa Avila placed 13th.

88 new students have joined Blair National Honor Society.

Boys’ soccer won the 4A North Regional Championships.

silverchips

A4 News

November 14, 2019

New construction developments in Silver Spring and Takoma Park A look at the projects impacting Blair’s community

By Abednego Togas Staff Writer Many areas surrounding Montgomery Blair High School are currently under or scheduled to undergo construction. Current projects include the new transit line being built around Four Corners, residential developments in Downtown Silver Spring, and the progressing Purple Line.

Construction for the new Montgomery County transportation system station platform began at Four Corners during the week of Oct. 14. The platform is being built for “FLASH” Bus Rapid Transit (FLASH BRT), a bus-based rapid transit system planned to serve Montgomery County in the upcoming years.

One line of the system, along Colesville Road (U.S. Route 29), is already under construction while two additional lines along Maryland Route 355 and Veirs Mill Road are still in the design phase. The U.S. 29 line is expected to run 14 miles from Burtonsville to Silver Spring, covering 11 stations on the way. Currently, the sidewalk on southbound U.S. 29 between Timberwood Ave. and University Boulevard is closed for this construction.

The BRT project has been in the works for the past three years, former Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said in a 2018 statement. “In 2016, I laid out a plan to put a practical, cost-effective, world-class transit option on the ground within four years,” he said.

Plans for the transit system include sevenday service from 5 a.m. to midnight. Running times for morning and afternoon rush hours will be around every seven-and-a-half-minutes and for off-peak hours, it will be around every 15 minutes. 15 intersections will be in-

stalled on street corridors with transit signals to reduce travel time and increase reliability.

FLASH buses are planned to be furnished with WiFi and USB ports, bicycle accommodations, stations with weather protection and pre-payment methods, as well as enhanced pedestrian walkways with leveled boarding.

Sophomore Jaela Mason expressed hopes that these features will be of convenience.

“Finally! My phone is always dying whenever I get out of school,” she said. “I hope that it’ll be accessible to students.”

Operations on the U.S. 29 transit line are scheduled to begin in mid-2020.

Residential developments in Downtown Silver Spring continue to progress. Specifically, the Ripley District, an area surrounding Ripley St. and formerly an industrial and mechanical area, has several luxury housing projects either newly ready or that are planned to open in the future.

In June, the luxury community of Solaire 8520 Apartments was delivered by the Washington Property Company (WPC). It is the fourth WPC “Solaire” apartment community and the second one in Silver Spring.

The 20-story, 338-unit community has already leased half of its units.

WPC expects to break ground at another Solaire tower in the Ripley District. Solaire Silver Spring II will be located adjacent to Solaire 8520 on Georgia Ave. and construction has already started on Nov. 1.

The Ripley District, unlike other areas, is not affected by the recent halting in housing developments. On July 1, Montgomery County initiated a housing moratorium for one year that halted growth for most of Southeast Montgomery County. The moratorium is a result of a 2016 county law requiring school capacity monitoring.

The law instituted moratoriums for areas

AUDREY LI

CONSTRUCTION AT FOUR CORNERS The sidewalk that students frequently walk on

by Blair between Timberwood Ave. and University Blvd. was closed for construction. with enrollment exceeding 120 percent ca- will impact her community in different ways. pacity. As a result, areas of Silver Spring, as “I feel like it’s going to be more of a benefit well as Wheaton and Bethesda, have stopped for the people who are commuting to Silver development in housing projects.

Spring for work,” she said. “It’s not gonna In efforts to accommodate student over- be that great for the school children around population, schools such as Silver Spring our area because… the station’s right at the International Middle School, Takoma Park school.”

Middle School, and Sligo Creek Elementary During the month of November, work School will receive new additions and reno- will continue to take place at Silver Spring Invations. ternational on both weekdays and weekends.

Construction on the Purple Line, the 16Other areas in Silver Spring have also mile light rail line extending from Bethesda been affected by Purple Line construction. to New Carrollton in Prince George’s Coun- The Purple Line website, https://www.purty, sits right alongside Silver Spring Interna- plelinemd.com/, provides information about tional on Wayne Avenue. areas that are or will be affected. Completion Junior Maya Guise, who lives on Wayne of the Purple Line is estimated to be in 2022 Avenue, felt that Purple Line developments or 2023.

College readiness day faces setbacks What went wrong during Blair’s Annual Testing Day

By Lilia Wong Staff Writer On Oct. 16, Blair’s annual college-readiness day was riddled with unanticipated complications. The day traditionally serves as an opportunity for 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students to take the PSAT or the ACCUPLACER. But this year, a lack of materials, last minute changes, survey failures, and a shelter-in-place all contributed to frustration on behalf of some students and teachers.

Missing materials

The day began with uncertainty when teachers went to obtain their testing bags.

For some teachers, the pick up room had changed. Other teachers found materials such as answer sheets missing in their bags.

The absent materials contributed to a further delay in testing. “The regular students [didn’t] have the answer sheets where they bubble in their names, so we had to stall the testing,” English teacher Sandra Jacobs said.

She added that she was delayed by other teachers asking her for help. “Other teachers [came] to my testing site asking for clarity,” she said. Jacobs, who has served as a proctor at Blair for 29 years, estimates that all of the delays took between 20 and 30 minutes. She noted that the incident was not typical for college readiness testing days in her experience.

This year was the first year that the staff experienced widespread unanticipated problems.

Andrew Fields, a staff development teacher who aided with training and teacher assignments, who has been on the testing day team for the last four years, said that the missing materials were due to lack of supplies from the College Board. “We realized [that there were not enough answer sheets] two or three days prior because the shipment came in but there weren’t enough tests,” Fields said.

Fields and other members of the team made calls to other MCPS schools to try and

gather enough tests after they realized the oversight, but College Board refused to send additional materials.

“Some of the tests did not come in until the last possible moment,” Fields said.

“We had to reassign some teachers based on the number of [materials] that we did have.”

Leslie Blaha, Blair’s AP coordinator, recognizes the difficulty of dealing with College Board.

“I don’t think College Board really understands how hard [the volume of students] is to manage,” Blaha said.

Blaha also noted that the College Board has failed to deliver an adequate number of materials before.“I know in the past when College Board has shorted us materials, they have told us to, quote, ‘make copies,’” she said.

As a result of missing testing materials, freshmen were informed that their testing sites had changed as soon as they arrived in the morning. “I was confused at first, [because] I didn’t know what room I was in, but then I went back [to see the room assignment poster and] it was crowded,” freshman Anina

SHASHI ARNO

LD

dents were allegedly robbed by three students from a different school on the track outside at around 10:15 a.m. The robbers were armed with BB guns. An email sent to Blair families three hours after the incident from Claudine Biggs, the administrative secretary, added that the two robbed students returned to school and informed school security, causing Blair to shelter-in-place at 10:30 a.m. The police were called, they determined that the school was safe, and the shelter-in-place was lifted at 11:20 a.m. Police later apprehended the three alleged robbers at Northwood, where they attend school.

Although the incident did not directly interfere with the testing process, some students and teachers were rattled. “I wasn’t in the room with the other proctor cause I was on my break and I felt bad because I couldn’t go help her in case something happened,” Blaha, who proctored the ACCUPLACER, said.

Fields added that some students were distressed even though testing was not affected. “I think [the shelter-in-place] was just more of a disruption for kids that are trying to concentrate.”

The survey

GonzálezSol said. Despite her initial confusion, González-Sol’s test proceeded smoothly after she got to her room.

The robbery

Once testing was underway, two Blair stu-

After testing, students were supposed to complete an employee opinion survey (EOS) during 7th period that asked questions about student’s experiences in Blair. The original plan was to have all students enroll in a Google Classroom. But unbeknownst to the organizers, 1,000 students is the limit to how many people can join a class.

Fields, who also helped organize the survey, said that after receiving emails informing him that students couldn’t join the classroom, he worked to generate a solution. “To remedy that situation we tried to create four more classrooms to cover the entire school,” Fields said. This ultimately worked and students were able to take the survey.

silverchips

November 14, 2019 Newsbriefs Elijah Cummings dies at 68 Elijah Cummings, a lawyer and congressman from Baltimore known for his staunch advocacy of civil rights and principled influence in law-making, died on Oct. 17 due to “complications concerning longstanding health challenges,” according to a statement from his office. He was 68.

Those who knew him remember him as a steadfast and calming force in the face of dissention both within and outside the chambers of Congress. He played a key role in de-escalating Baltimore riots after the officer-involved death of Freddy Gray in 2015, and meditated disagreements by interjecting between sparring colleagues during congressional hearings.

Cummings was also at the forefront of the impeachment investigations against President Donald Trump and was a fierce critic of the president’s policies and practices.

His status as the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform gave him power to investigate Trump and his administration.

His funeral drew thousands of attendees, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

Major bank pledges $5 million to fight gentrification

News A5

Woodside Deli closes after 72 years in Silver Spring

By Aviva Bechky Staff Writer

Woodside Deli closed in Silver Spring on Oct. 6 due to a disagreement with the landlord over renewing the lease.

Long a community staple, the restaurant served traditional Jewish deli food for 72 years. Their newer Rockville location and catering business will remain open.

The deli aims to attract its loyal Silver Spring customers to Rockville. “Being in that location for over 70 years, we really built a relationship and strong ties with that community out there, so we’re trying to make it more accessible for [longtime customers] to come to the Rockville location,” catering manager Alexa Margolis said.

Part of the effort to make the Rockville location more accessible is extending the store’s hours. Previously open only for breakfast and lunch, the location began serving dinner on Nov. 1.

All of the employees at the Silver Spring location were invited to transfer to Rockville. The newly extended hours will help make space for staff from both locations to continue working at the deli.

“Everybody who’s been so loyal to us and helped us build the names and reputation that we have, we invite them with open arms to continue working with us,” Margolis said.

For some Blair students, Woodside Deli was a perennial favorite. “In middle school, elemen-

JPMorgan Chase, a major national bank, has committed $5 million to help fight gentrification along Metro’s developing Purple Line. The money will help support affordable housing along the train route, protecting prices from rising in the new development that is expected to take place.

The donation will also support small businesses in the area, providing support for employee training and job creation.

The Purple Line will connect Bethesda to New Carrollton in Prince George’s county and is expected to begin service in late 2020. Areas near transit stations, including new Purple Line stations, are susceptible to gentrification because of increased job availability and housing prices. A recent study by the National Community Re- By Rekha Leonard investment Coalition showed that Staff Writer Washington, D.C. has experienced Every Friday, about 20 Blair stuthe highest proportional intensity dents participate in a silent strike of gentrification of any city in the for action on climate change by eicountry. ther wearing a face mask or sporting a sign to show their support for the Sports center opens in old cause.

Junior Abby Kusmin, the main Discovery building organizer of the silent strike at Blair, Children’s National Hospital sets up a table in the SAC every Friplans to install a sports and medi- day morning for people to get more cine center for children and teenag- information about the silent strike ers in the office building formerly and pick up a mask if they want to owned by Discovery Inc. in Down- participate. She also has a sign-up town Silver Spring. Expected to sheet where students can sign up to open at the end of 2020, the center receive information about how to will provide rehabilitation services get involved with climate activism as well as resources for injury treatment and prevention.

Youth of all ages will be able to receive services from the center.

Children’s National Hospital will also use the center as one of its multiple clinics that provide treatment and consultations in partnership with D.C. schools.

The hospital signed a 15-year lease that covers four floors of the building, though the center will only be located on the first floor.

The remaining floors will be used for research and other operations associated with Children’s National Hospital. The center will be called the Fight For Children Sports Medical Center after receiving a $5 million donation from Fight For Children, a D.C.-based organization that advocates for youth sports opportunities.

Up until its closing, the deli had been a constant fixture, maintaining a consistent menu since its 1947 opening. “We’ve always been one of those delis with a pretty big menu and [we had] the availability to really customize things for the customers,” Margolis said. “[We offer] over 300 menu items… and you know, if you like food, you’ll definitely find something that you like at Woodside Deli.”

The physical space underwent more changes than the food, expanding from a small counterspace-only diner into a full restaurant with a dining room, front area, and lobby. It was renovated once, Beachler recalled, changing decorations from “almost antique, [with] a bunch of old photos on the wall” to “portraits of prominent figures in YURI KIM history.”

Throughout the deli’s time in A FAMILIAR SIGHT The beloved classic interior of WoodSilver Spring, stories accumulated. side Deli’s Silver Spring location has closed its doors.

Margolis described one particularly well-known incident from the 1980s in which a male customer tary school, [my family] used to go “It’s sad to know that it’s not there filed a lawsuit over the deli’s Lathere every Friday in the mornings anymore.” dies’ Night. “Based on the findings, before school,” sophomore Kiah Blair graduate Rebecca Gra- the deli decided to switch it from Beachler said. “[The employees] ber, too, was upset to hear the deli Ladies’ Night to Dress Night, so were always really kind, and since shut down. “I’ve been going to the anybody who came in wearing a my dad and I were regulars, they Woodside Deli with my parents for dress on that particular night could would always remember our order. about as long as I can remember,” get a drink,” she said.

I always got eggs Benedict and my she said.

Now, with the shuttering of the dad got orange juice and eggs and Neither Graber nor Beachler deli, Silver Spring customers hoptoast.” think that the Rockville loca- ing for Jewish deli food must look The closing meant losing a go- tion offers the same experience. elsewhere. The Rockville locato restaurant. “If somebody asked, “It doesn’t have the same vibe,” tion is an option for those willing ‘where do you want to go for break- Beachler said. “It was worth it here to make the trek. Closer stores fast?’ or ‘where do you want to go [in Silver Spring, but] I don’t think include the Parkway Deli and the for lunch?’, [we would always say] it would be worth it to drive all the Kosher Pastry Oven, both of which Woodside Deli,” Beachler said. way out there.” serve similar fare.

Silent climate strikes at Blair

Students stay silent to protest inaction on climate change

Newsbriefs compiled by Anna Fisher Lopez

at Blair.

Kusmin hopes the silent strike will encourage students to get involved in climate activism because it allows students who can’t skip school every week to protest while staying in school. “Silent strike is a way that is fairly easy for anyone to participate,” Kusmin said. “[It’s] a good way for people who aren’t able to miss school every week to show their solidarity with global strikers [who leave school to protest every week].”

Although students are not catching the attention of politicians when they silent strike, the power of their protest comes from forcing everyone around them to accommodate

REKHA LEONARD

MAKING A STATEMENT Students participating in the strikes wear gags to protest inaction while continuing thier education

their silence, junior Madeline Graham believes. “It inconveniences people just a little bit, so it’s our way of showing that even if we can’t be out striking, then we’re still not going to go to school like everything is fine,” Graham said.

Even students who do not choose to stay silent have found ways to participate in the strike. Junior Ash Herner-Betts knows that they would not be able to commit to being silent all day, so they help with spreading the message of the strike instead.

“This is my way of participating in the silent strike without having to be silent,” Herner-Betts said. “To some degree, it’s helpful for someone to be a voice for those who are silent striking. While there is a huge point to be made with silent striking, it’s harder to make that point if no one understands what you’re doing.”

Some students might be concerned that their teachers would not accommodate the silent strike if they were to participate, but Graham has not run into this problem.

“At worst they just don’t care, which is fine,” Graham said. “They’re not bothering us.”

Some teachers, however, are getting involved in the strike themselves. Science teacher Elizabeth Duval started participating after seeing a few students wearing the masks one Friday.

“I try to set up my weeks where I [am] able to do it on Fridays. To me it’s not so much of a political issue as it is a climate issue, and as a science teacher it’s something I feel pretty strongly about,” she said.

“I think that it means something to the students if they see it’s not just the youth and their peers being passionate about something but to see teachers caring about real science issues.”

She tries to remain silent all day, but sometimes she has to talk to do her job. “If there’s behavioral issues or classroom management things, I might not be able to [handle] that silently,” she says. “I’ve been writing a note on the board saying ‘please help me out, here’s what I’m doing, here’s why I feel it’s important, try to work with me here.’ I think most students have been pretty understanding.”

Not all Blair students support silent strikes as a mechanism for climate action. Junior Dheeraj Keshav supports protesting inaction against climate change, but he doesn’t think current methods are effective enough. “I think what has to be done is forums or town halls, places where people sit down and discuss,” he said. “I think that both sides need to be open to changing their minds rather than [maintaining] this sense that you’re right from the beginning.”

He finds the silent strikes particularly ineffective. “I think that when you’re trying to change people’s opinions, the core tenant of that it fostering discussion,” Keshav said.

“Silent climate strikes do the opposite of fostering discussion. They don’t have discussion and that’s really counterproductive to the movement as a whole. It ingrains it with a sense that ‘I don’t need to discuss this with you.’ It’s just this assumption that you’re right.”

A6 News

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County data indicates a downturn in student performance

November 14, 2019

MCPS graduation rates and college readiness indicators declining

By Ishaan Shrestha Staff Writer In recent years, MCPS students have fallen in academic performance. For the fourth year in a row, the MCPS graduation rate has gone down, dropping from 89.8 percent in the 2014-15 school year to 88.4 percent in the 2017-18 school year, the lowest since 2013. College readiness indicators for Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Free and Reduced Meals Services (FARMS) students have all declined.

At Blair, graduation rates are below the MCPS average, at 86.2 percent in 2017-18.

Blair’s CAP and Magnet programs graduation rates have stayed at 100 percent; with this taken into consideration, the graduation rate for academy students becomes even lower, around 81.6 percent.

Throughout the county, changes in graduation rates vary between demographic groups. Graduation rates have decreased among White, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, and Special Education students. There has been an increase among Black, mixed race, Limited English Proficiency (LEP), and FARMS students.

Derek Turner, MCPS Chief of Communications, said that one reason for the recent downturn in overall graduation rates was an entrance of more LEP students. “This year, we do recognize there was a… drop in our graduation rates. But, there is a big caveat there,” he said. “[I]n the last three years we have seen a growth in [a] student population who [have] newly arrived to the United States with… disrupted education and often with limited English.”

In 2014, an unprecedented 1,117 unaccompanied minors, who were largely LEPs,

relocated to Montgomery County. Data provided by MCPS does not indicate how many were high schoolers. The state required minors of high school age to enroll as freshmen, who were scheduled to graduate with the 2017-18 class. According to Turner, this is a possible explanation for the 1.1 percent drop in graduation rates in 2017-18.

However, LEP students’ five-year graduation rate, 53.2 percent, is often not represented in the data. In 2016-17, they had a 40.7 percent four-year graduation rate, significantly decreasing MCPS’ overall data because in many measures, only four-year graduation rates are taken into account.

“While our four-year graduation rate has dropped, what’s impressive is that, in our five-year graduation cohort, we’re seeing a significant number of graduates and if you combine the two together [the total graduation rate] is well into the high 90s,” Turner said. “That’s a reflection of our ability to [give] kids… the proper instruction [so] that they, even though they don’t know the language, are able to graduate from rigorous high school programs in five years.”

Another factor affecting graduation rates is the Maryland High School Certificate of Program Completion, an alternative to the high school diploma. This certificate is given to students who have been in schools for four years after eighth grade, confirming that they have the proper abilities to “to enter the world of work, and act responsibly as a citizen,” according to Jack Smith, MCPS Superintendent in an interview with the Bethesda Beat. However, this certificate does not meet federal guidelines for a high school diploma, so students who choose to get a Certificate of Program Completion forgo getting an actual high school diploma, lowering graduation

OFFICE OF SHARED ACCOUNTABlLITY

rates in the process.

In addition to graduation rates, students’ readiness to move onto the next level of education is a measure of student performance.

MCPS observes second graders going from the primary to intermediate level, fifth graders going from the intermediate to middle level, eighth graders going from the middle to high level, and eleventh graders going from high to college/career ready levels.

MCPS analyzes whether students meet measures in two out of three metrics: in the classroom, in the district, and externally.

Classrooms are measured with report card grades, the district is measured with district assessments and progress checks, and external is measured with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests.

ISHAAN SHRESTHA

Math and literacy readiness fell significantly for many demographics. From 201718 to 2018-19, eleventh grade mathematics readiness has fallen 8.3 percent, while eleventh grade literacy readiness has fallen 4.2 percent in the same time frame. Eleventh grade focus groups—Black, Hispanic/Latino, and FARMS students—have all seen declines of more than 10 percent in math readiness and these same groups have all seen declines of more than three percent in literacy readiness as well.

FARMS student performance is much lower than other demographics. All FARMS performance for all grades in both math and literacy are below 75 percent in readiness. Eleventh grade math readiness is 44.4 percent, a 13.2 percent drop from last year, while English readiness is 64.8 percent, a 5.9 percent drop from last year.

November 14, 2019

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AD A7

B1 Op/Ed

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YES

ELENORA RUE

NO

Diplomatic immunity allows for

Immunity’s protection is essential

abuse of power

to the efficacy of foreign officers

country in ways that say we aren’t going to In August, Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an allow Americans to be subject to the justice American diplomat, drove on the wrong side systems of the world,” he said. of a road in Britain, crashing into and killing It is also important to note that diplomats teenager Harry Dunn. The inability of Britcan take advantage of a vast number of mi- ish officers to arrest Sacoolas due to her imnor protections such as rent evasion. Article munity led to some British citizens to call for 30 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic stricter limits on diplomatic immunity.

Relations requires that “the private residence This cannot be done; full-fledged diploof a diplomatic agent shall enjoy the same in- matic immunity is a pillar for successful interviolability and protection as the premises of national relations. Diplomatic dialogue has the mission.” steered many countries away from conflict, The eviction of a diplomat is prohibited, because there isn’t a fear of consequence for as it would require the plaintiff to enter into reaching out to negotiate. In order to contintheir home, which is considered a protected ue to interact with other foreign powers, the diplomatic mission. As a result, this provi- United Nations cannot impose stricter limits sion has allowed diplomats to collect large to diplomatic immunity. amounts of debt in rent while remaining proIn its essence, diplomatic immunity protected through their status. vides diplomats, embassy staff, and in some This is unfair to their host countries who cases, their families, exemption from ultimately pay the reperprosecution. There are cussions. Because of three levels of immunity that one can reach. these abuses, landlords and business The highest grants owners often stray complete protection away from serving in criminal and civil diplomats. This incourts (reserved advertently creates for high ranking a stigma toward diplomatic officials and their diplomats, leading families). The secto unhealthy relationships between ond level grants them and their embassy personnel immunity in host countries. criminal courts but From serious offenses a lesser degree such as rape in civil courts. and murder to The lowest misdemeanrung of ors such as immunity unpaid rent, is for embassy emimmunity has ployees who enabled officials to abuse an indirectly all-encompassing support diplomatic activirange of local and ties. They are only national laws. ReSEOYOUNG JOO stricting diplomatic imoffered immunity for acts munity would increase accountability, in conjunction with the prevent foreign officials from abusing the foreign entity. law, and prevent crimes.

These provisions were Past events have proven the effectivelaid out at the Vienna ness of asking diplomats to pay their dues.

Convention in 1961 to In New York City, unpaid parking fees for protect diplomats and foster environments diplomats alone racked up to $4.5 million in in which diplomacy could be achieved. Efdebt in 1999. After 2002, however, fees dra- fective diplomacy cannot be accomplished matically dropped down to $50,000 in debt if diplomats are arrested or harassed by the when Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked the governments of host countries due to a lack state to confiscate the license plates of diplo- of complete immunity. mats who had not paid within 100 days. As Arbitrary arrests pose a serious danger Mayor Bloomberg demonstrated, abuses of to effective diplomacy. Without immunity, diplomatic immunity can be combated and diplomats could be arrested for crimes they the benefits are statistically proven. did not commit, and lose the ability to fosThe system of diplomatic immunity is in ter advantageous connections with countries. desperate need of stronger checks and bal- Diplomats are especially at risk for arbitrary ances, and the remedy to further mistreat- arrests due to their political positions. ment starts with an understanding that justice Paul Moose, who taught Peace Studies and diplomacy can, and must, coincide.

Seminar, believes this is where the merit of

voicebox

ELENORA RUE

ELENORA RUE

Should there be stricter limits to diplomatic immunity?

By Abednego Togas Staff Writer

On Aug. 27, Anne Sacoolas, the wife of United States diplomat Jonathan Sacoolas stationed in the United Kingdom, drove on the wrong side of the road, killing British teenager Harry Dunn. Sacoolas returned to the U.S. from London without being charged, even though the U.K. government ordered her to stay.

Questions regarding her accountability still linger, but the extremity of Sacoolas’s case highlights the ever-increasing need for significant reform of the diplomatic immunity system.

Diplomatic immunity is the privilege that host countries grant to diplomats and their families to provide safe passage and exemptions from most of that country’s laws and taxes. First codified at the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in 1961, it was a way for host governments to protect diplomats from prosecution and prevent interference in their diplomatic missions.

While the preservation of foreign practices, such as peacekeeping, negotiating, and policymaking, is necessary to maintain proper diplomacy, certain actions are inexcusable.

Sacoolas claimed immunity even though, under British law as applied to United Kingdom citizens, she would have been charged and tried for her actions. Given that she claimed immunity thinking it would exempt her from her actions, her case illustrates how diplomats take advantage of the system.

In a case from 2017, Mohammad Abdalla Ali, a Sudanese diplomat in the U.S., was arrested in a New York City subway after sexually harassing a woman. The police charged him with sexual assault and “forcible touching.” Yet, his charges were dropped and he was released after he claimed diplomatic immunity. Although Ali committed sexual assault, his status as a diplomat ultimately protected him from prosecution.

The fact of the matter is that flagrant crimes like Ali’s and Sacoolas’ are far from what their duties as diplomats entail. The idea of functional immunity states that some immunities are absolute and vital to diplomatic work, but it also acknowledges that these immunities must only adhere to the job at hand.

Diplomatic immunity should not be used to excuse offenses like vehicular manslaughter and sexual assault. There is a clear distinction between official acts of diplomacy and private crimes.

Proponents of diplomatic immunity suggest that pardoning such crimes is important for maintaining stable relations between nations. Yet, relations can remain stable even while preserving justice. In fact, upholding justice improves relations because it continues a mutual respect between nations and it ensures that international affairs will be the primary focus.

AP Comparative Government teacher Peter Cirincione believes that due process is a vital component for keeping diplomats accountable. “I think it undermines the promise of what America stands for when we don’t live up to those ideals and when we act as a

November 14, 2019

By Lilia Wong Staff Writer

diplomatic immunity lies. “[Diplomatic immunity] is meant to insulate [diplomats] politically for anyone who wanted to get them on a trumped up charge, [or] a fake charge,” Moose said.

David Atwood, a former foreign service officer who was granted immunity in Mali, Egypt, and Bangladesh, shares this sentiment. He believes that the full security that diplomatic immunity provides gives a sense of safety. “Knowing that you have diplomatic immunity in a country where you’re never sure [about] corruption in the police… is reassuring,” Atwood said.

Governments of other countries could easily detain diplomats for political gain without immunity’s full scope of exemption.

If immunity pertained exclusively to crimes related to official diplomatic missions, the ability for countries to conduct dangerous arbitrary arrests would increase. In 2018, many believed that the arrest of a Candian ex-diplomat and business consultant in China was in retaliation to a Chinese tech executive’s arrest in Vancouver earlier that year. The two are still detained in China. Were they to have immunity, they wouldn’t have been used as political pawns in a conflict that had nothing to do with them.

Atwood considers immunity that accounts for many crimes valuable. “I think [a range of immunity] is quite beneficial to avoid the kinds of potential harassment [that] someone without diplomatic immunity might otherwise face.”

Furthermore, if foreign officials were to face arbitrary arrests and continual harassment, diplomacy’s power would fail. Atwood believes immunity promotes efficacy in work overseas. “Not having [a] guarantee that the government can’t harass you would affect how you did your job and make you less active,” he said. This would lead to catastrophic global consequences.

There are also ways that diplomats can be punished for crimes committed, even with immunity. Home countries can waive immunity so that the diplomat faces prosecution and host countries can expel the diplomat for any reason. This is a better solution than imposing stricter limits, and has been done in the past.

In 1997, a diplomat from Georgia killed a teen from Kensington, Maryland when he drove drunk near Dupont circle. Georgia decided to waive diplomatic immunity, and the diplomat served three years in prison for his crime.

The U.S. has indicated they might behave similarly in Sacoolas’s case. Upon widespread protest, Britain said that Sacoolas’s immunity is not “pertinent.” Sacoolas has agreed to be interviewed by British officers, and Britain’s former secretary requested that the U.S. waive her immunity.

Although diplomatic immunity has allowed some crimes to go unpunished, imposing stricter limits would put meaningful global relations in grave danger. Diplomacy is a cornerstone to our safety and the protection of diplomats is essential for a peaceful world.

Ayyoob Berhane

Francesco Berrett

Nolan Dubois

Jessica Muchiri

Sparks Halloran

YES “Giving immunity... is not a good idea unless the crime is justified.”

YES “It’s so easy for them to... not have any consequences for actions that really hurt other people.”

NO “Diplomats would be afraid to venture into other countries.”

YES “It can cause a lot of problems allowing people to do really serious and heinous crimes.”

YES “They are also capable of committing crimes and they should be punished for doing crimes... “

Sophomore

Junior

Freshman

Junior

Junior

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November 14, 2019

Op/Ed B2

The interfaith approach

Investing in interfaith services has the potential to unite our community

By Anika Seth Staff Writer

AN OPINION

As the first police officer in Texas to wear a traditional turban, Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal was a trailblazer for the Sikh community, epitomizing religious tolerance and equality.

Dhaliwal was shot and killed on Sept. 27, sending shockwaves through the religious community internationally.

In light of his life and service, people—especially Sikhs—across the world are reflecting on the role of religion and prejudice thereof.

As this reflection continues, it becomes glaringly clear that there is an ever-increasing need to reduce biases and stigmas specifically based on religion; one way to accomplish this is through activities like interfaith services.

Deputy Dhaliwal joined the police force in 2009 as a detention officer, but it wasn’t until 2015 that he was allowed to wear his religious beard and turban while on patrol. Thensheriff Adrian Garcia warned Dhaliwal of the added difficulty this would pose: “In uniform, you’re a target; when you wear a turban you become a bigger target,” Garcia said, according to Houston Public Media.

However, he recalled Dhaliwal’s resolve, as the officer responded, “Don’t worry about it, Sheriff. They’ll understand and we’re going to change minds and we’re going to touch hearts.”

In Western culture, the turban has long led to an association of religion with violence.

“The major lack of understanding… came back with catastrophic force with the 9/11 attacks, when people saw bin Laden [or the Taliban’s] images with [a] turban, that kind of reinforced a very negative perception of Sikhs and us being associated with violent groups,” explained Dr. Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education and a Board Member of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington.

This sentiment couldn’t be farther from the truth. Sikhism, with approximately 27 million followers worldwide—half a million of them living in the United States—is, at the most basic level, centered around equality

and love for all. The turban, therefore, is often taken grossly out of context. “The turban stands for equality, justice, and respect. It is often taken as a symbol of violence and [a] symbol of extremism or negativity, but it really is the symbol of equality… peace, and love,” Singh said.

This sort of misunderstanding and ignorance is exactly what Dhaliwal hoped to rectify by joining the Harris County police force, and it’s something that smaller religions face every day: People are simply not aware. In a community as diverse as Montgomery County, we have an even greater duty to promote cultural awareness.

Paul Moose, who teaches Comparative Religion at Blair, explained that he wants to make less publicized religions a big focus of the curriculum this year. “I want to make [smaller religions] part of the class and it’s a big undertaking… if you ask most adults in the street, ‘How many people practice Judaism in the globe?’ Everyone’s shocked by the answer,” Moose said. “[It’s] less than 20 million… But, it’s in the news a lot; it catches headlines. We forget about the 800 million

This is our world, and we all have a shared responsibility.”

- Rajwant Singh Hindus, the 400 million Buddhists.”

Comparative religion is a great start at bridging the gap, but its reach is limited to the students who go out of their way to take the class. Religious organizations are also responsible for increasing awareness. One way this can be implemented is through interfaith projects and services. “I feel that we need to have open houses within different faiths,” Singh said. “We should invite people to

GABE WINSTON-BAILEY

come and speak about their faith in churches and mosques.”

After Dhaliwal’s death, the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, a Sikh gurdwara in North Potomac, held an interfaith service to honor his life and legacy, which representatives from multiple religious communities attended.

Events like these reinforce the idea that we are united more than we are divided. “[They] spread that message that you can believe differently, that’s fine,” Moose said. “But you have no right to throw a rock at me or kill me, and [they emphasize that] the major tenets of belief are really all the same [across most religions] anyway.”

Interfaith services are only the first step.

They get us talking, but we need to be taking action. The Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington and other religiously inclusive organizations are actively working to bring together different religious groups to combat global issues.

“Climate change is a great opportunity.

It’s [the] one single, most important threat that the entire world is facing,” Singh said.

“EcoSikh, an environmental initiative of the Sikh community, [organized a cleaning of the Anacostia River], but we had people from all different backgrounds—Hindus, Christians, and Jews—they all joined us. And cleaning up our Anacostia River is our future and is our faith; it’s our environment.”

These are crises that face us all. The sooner we can get past our religious denominations and misgivings---the sooner we realize that we are united more than we are divided---the sooner we can tackle these universal issues. “This is our world. It’s not a Sikh world versus a Hindu world versus an Islamic world. This is our world, and we all have a shared responsibility,” Singh said.

One of the main tenets of Sikhism is the eternal soul: After someone dies, their soul leaves their body and carries on. Dhaliwal’s legacy must carry on by encouraging individuals across Houston, Montgomery County, and the country to actively make an effort to understand and work with other faiths to build a stronger future.

Dual or don’t Why concurrent enrollment courses are an underappreciated option AN OPINION

Near the end of his sophomore year at Blair, junior Billy Scott received a letter in the mail. With the words “Montgomery College” sprawled across the front in large font, the letter invited Scott to take classes at MC. He considered his options, and then decided to accept the college’s offer.

He hasn’t regretted that decision since.

College Board reports that over five million high school students across America enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement (AP) class during the 20182019 school year. Still, the number of students participating in dual enrollment classes has drastically increased since 2000, according to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University. Dual enrollment classes are an alternative to AP classes that allow high school students to save money and hasten college graduation time, while providing a more rigorous workload.

“I’m going to graduate with an associate’s degree by the time I’m done with high school,” Scott said, “and it’s only ten percent of the cost, so it’s going to be a lot of money saved, a lot of time saved.”

Scott plans on transferring to another college once he graduates.

Dual enrollment courses may be taken at any in-state institution, so classes are available at the University of Maryland, Towson University, and Montgomery College, among a variety of other schools.

Although most courses require certain test scores and/or grades to enroll, there are classes available for any and all students, regardless of academic experience

and success.

A key benefit of dual enrollment courses is easing the switch between the dramatically different high school and SEOYOUNG JOO

By Charlie Wiebe Staff Writer

college experiences. Dual classes can help students prepare for the academic adversities and rigor they will face at the University level.

Leslie Blaha, Blair’s AP coordinator, explains how dual enrollment classes expose students to the college environment,

while comparing the benefits of AP and dual enrollment.

“It’s really all about transition,” Blaha said. “There’s this learning curve where you’re trying to figure out how to be an independent person, but also trying to learn all this new content that you’ve never had before, so dual enrollment is good for that kind of thing.”

Furthermore, AP classes are often taken only in response to external pressure from family and friends.

T h i s can be dangerous to

high school students in this situat i o n , since they will feel less compelled to learn and succeed.

“Some students take AP

classes because they think they’re supposed to, and some students are forced into AP classes because somebody else thinks they’re supposed to,” Blaha explained. “If you go into an AP class with the perspective that you’re there to learn… that’s different than when you’re taking an AP class because… you don’t want to take this class in college.”

In addition, classes taken at local institutions show a more accurate representation of the college workload and experience than AP courses taken within high schools. The academic rigor universities or colleges require can often catch high school students off guard, whereas dual-enrolled students gain a view into what is necessary to stay on top of work and assignments beforehand.

The current cost for a three-credit dual enrollment course at Montgomery College (MC) without a grant is $532.30, although that number is subject to change. When compared to the daunting price of college tuition, this appears minuscule. Though AP classes are free, the exams that qualify students for college credit cost $94 each.

When it comes to making the decision between dual-enrollment and AP, every situation is different, and the right options for two separate people are circumstantial. Although both dual enrollment and AP courses supply high school students with opportunities to earn college credits and lower the cost of future college tuition, dual enrollment courses are an underappreciated option for high school students who desire a more rigorous level of education.

B3 Op/Ed

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November 14, 2019

When protesting goes too far

How student protests at Georgetown Law limited beneficial discussion and dialogue

By Anna Fisher Lopez Staff Writer AN OPINION Protesters shouted a controversial speaker off of a stage during a keynote address at Georgetown Law School, disrupting a conference on immigration law and policy. The speaker, Kevin McAleenan, was the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security at the time of the conference, which occurred on Oct. 17.

Because McAleenan was forced to leave, the audience could not engage in a scheduled questionand-answer session that would have started a dialogue between multiple opposing viewpoints.

Student activists should be encouraged to voice their opinions, but they should not go so far as to prevent controversial speakers from engaging in dialogue about contentious issues.

Many members of the Georgetown community were angry that McAleenan, who crafted and implemented the family separation policy, had been invited to speak at the conference. They believed that the speaker’s views were so far from their own that nothing would be gained from being able to question him.

“I don’t think there is value in dialogue with that type of ideology,” Jeremy Penn, a second-year student at Georgetown Law School involved with the protests, said.

But experts say that there is value in engaging with someone who holds different beliefs than one’s own. Diana Hess, the dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, has done ex-

tensive research on the discussion of highly controversial political issues. “As a general rule, I think it’s important for people to hear multiple competing views,” Hess said.

Andrew Schoenholtz, a professor at Georgetown Law School and one of the conference planners, said that he and the other organizers try to invite speakers with a variety of viewpoints. “[The conference] is meant as an opportunity to hear from different sides,” Schoenholtz said.

When the student protests stopped one of those sides from speaking, they prevented professionals working in the immigration field from gaining the multiple different perspectives that the conference was trying to provide, as Randy Barnett, a professor at Georgetown Law, pointed out.

“There are other people in the audience who are not the protesters who would have benefited from hearing what the speaker had to say,” Barnett said.

While protestors certainly have the constitutional right to peacefully demonstrate, protests can

sometimes be detrimental to the democratic principles of freedom of speech and expression.

“Not allowing multiple competing views, is, in many ways, the antithesis of democratic SHASHI ARNOLD

discourse,” Hess said. A healthy democracy depends on the ability of every voice, no matter how small or unpopular, to be heard.

The type of unyielding protest that the students displayed may have been fitting for an organized rally, but the audience members

at the conference came for discussion and dialogue, not a one-sided, opinionated outburst.

“Protest is not dialogue,” Barnett said. “Protest is an outpouring of opinion.”

The first amendment protects assembly, but it first and foremost protects the freedom of speech. Although the protestors may have had the legal right to assemble, they should have considered that in expressing their own rights, they were limiting others.

When assembly causes one opinion to drown others out, it contradicts the belief of our country’s founders that every voice deserves the opportunity to present itself to a willing audience.

Even audience members who vehemently disagreed with McAleenan’s policies still believed that attending his speech was worthwhile.

“The people who came to hear him, [most] thought that [McAleenan] was worth inviting for the opportunity to challenge him,” Schoenholtz said.

Audience members were hoping to ask questions to force McAleenan to explain his political choices. Explaining a policy as controversial as the family separation policy before an audience of immigration experts would increase McAleenan’s accountability for the Trump administration’s actions and compel him to respond to public concerns.

Creating a dialogue between McAleenan and his audience could also have encouraged communication between the different parties about why their views so heavily differ.

Although the multiple sides would most likely not have reached a consensus, the conference was a rare opportunity for different groups to civilly discuss controversial issues and gain new perspectives.

“The way that I think about deliberation and discussion is [that] the primary objective is not to get people to agree with one another,” Hess said. “The primary objective is to build understanding.”

While the student activists may have seen a shutdown of the speaker as the most effective way to bring about desired change, the international professionals, immigration lawyers, and NGO workers in the audience who have the power to craft and change policy rely on discussion and dialogue to create change within their fields.

“My community doesn’t have a choice,” Schoenholtz said. “We either engage with the government officials, or we don’t have any opportunity to try to… convince them to operate in a different fashion.”

Funding the fundamentals

Crowdfunding benefits teachers in need of extra supplies

By Khayla Robinson Staff Writer AN OPINION

Regardless of grade level, teachers take on significant out-of-pocket costs to stock their classrooms with necessary school supplies, such as pencils, paper, notebooks, and erasers. For some, the best way to supply classrooms with these materials is through crowdfunding, a way of supporting school projects by allowing community members to donate money online. When the freedom to utilize such programs is taken away, it becomes difficult for teachers to provide resources to all of their students, especially in schools that do not properly fund their teachers.

In Nashville, Tennessee, public school systems have recently banned crowdfunding due to the concern that teachers will raise money for items that are not related to school. “Such sites are problematic for school districts because of lack of adequate controls,” K. Dawn Rutledge, a communication officer for Nashville public schools, said.

Although these sites may be difficult to regulate, that is not a valid reason to ban crowdfunding altogether. School districts can find ways to monitor how teachers use crowdfunding sites because many districts allow teachers to crowdfund.

George Mayo, teacher advisor for Blair Network Communications, used crowdfunding sites to fund a new studio set and teleprompters for his classroom. In order to set up an account and begin raising money, he had to go through administrators that made

sure his use of crowdfunding was ers can buy, teachers are unable appropriate and followed MCPS to use cheaper supplies. As class policies. sizes grow, so does the amount of “Before you go live with your students that need to be accommopage, there’s a lot of backend work that you have to do,” Mayo said. “Part of that is… talking to Mr. Funk and Ms. Franklin, NOLD HI AR [then]… doing the right paSHAS perwork, and… [then]… going through the school so that the teacher does not get dinged on their taxes.”

This makes the “lack of adequate control” excuse unreasonable because it highlights two flaws within Nashville’s district: laziness in enforcing policies that give teachers freedom to crowdfund, which adds onto the lack o f f u n d ing that teachers receive.

According to Education Week Teacher, a website that provides information on teachers and school curriculums, Nashville’s school district funds their teachers with only a dated. This results in an increase $200 stipend. This causes prob- in expenditures, causing teachers lems for teachers as they struggle to spend amounts that exceed the to provide for their students within $200 stipend and making it useless.

In a survey conducted by the Dethat limit.

According to Learning Lift Off, partment of Education, 94 percent a website that provides learning of U.S. teachers reported spending resources for families, stationary an annual average of $479 of their items, like pens or markers, can own money on school supplies. If exceed $10. When schools man- school districts allot only $200 and date which stationary brands teach- ban crowdfunding, teachers are

practically helpless. The only option is to struggle and spend their own money, or supply their classrooms with little to nothing.

Crowdfunding is beneficial because even if the teacher cannot afford to spend money, it allows them to support their classrooms.

Alison Russell, a social studies teacher, used crowdfunding to supply her classroom with books. “We used DonorsChoose, which is specifically for teachers, and that was hugely helpful in raising $1,200 to buy… almost 150 new books for the Women’s Studies classroom,” Russell said.

When schools adequately fund their teachers with supplies, the need for supplies becomes less urgent. Additionally, the average costs that teachers spend out-of-pocket on supplies stays low, so teachers are less reliant on crowdfunding. This means that the concerns for regulating crowdfunding would rarely be an issue, because teachers are funded and have everything they need.

Robin Lively, a geometry and ESOL teacher, expressed that MCPS has many resources that as-

sist students, so teachers do not have to focus on supplying students with items.

“It’s amazing how some students don’t know how many resources are out there for them, within MCPS,” Lively said.

“The supply rooms in the middle schools and high schools are stocked with pencils, composites, paper, pens, highlighters; everything is really highly supplied.”

Beth Hanak, an English teacher, agrees that Montgomery County schools are wellequipped with supplies, which benefits her because a lot of money is being saved. “This year I didn’t spend a lot at all yet, maybe 50 dollars,” Hanak said.

Once adequate funding for teachers is enforced, the concern on regulating how teachers use crowdfunding sites no longer becomes an issue. In MCPS, teachers are provided proper funding and are given the freedom the crowdfund.

However, because proper funding is in place, teachers rely less on crowdfunding because stationary items are covered.

School districts have to either fully fund teachers or allow them to crowdfund. Asking them to use their own money is immoral, as it does not consider the circumstances teachers face which may make providing for classrooms challenging. Crowdfunding is beneficial because it allows those who cannot afford supplies to fully support their classrooms without any complications.

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November 14, 2019

Op/Ed B4

My Blair: Personal Columns

Blair Theatre: another way for Please no child brides at Blair: to the 12-15 people who might get married before they graduate One Blair

By Kelly N. O’Connor Teacher

By Marika Campbell-Blue Guest Writer

On Nov. 14, we open Tales of 1,001 Nights, the twenty-first fall play of my tenure as proud drama director, and a theatrical event that celebrates a wealth of stories from around the world, from China to North Africa. I have worked with so many talented young theatre practitioners over the decades that I have lost count, but one thing has remained constant in our shows: the wonderful diversity of student actors, singers and dancers that Blair affords. In fact, I make a priority of the casts’ reflecting the whole student population. Since 2011, we have made the two-cast system a tradition of the fall play, allowing twice the number of students the opportunity not only to grow as performers in the Blair Theatre family, but also to work alongside students from all areas of the Blair student population. For the past six years, the spring musicals have welcomed every student who auditioned, and this year’s and last year’s fall plays have given speaking roles to every student who auditioned—Tales has almost 70 speaking parts! Chief among the benefits of this system is watching the mentoring that happens at all levels, as the veteran performers and novice actors learn from each other and take pride in each other’s achieve-

Maryland recently raised the age to purchase tobacco and nicotine products to 21. They failed, however, to raise the minimum age on the condition of pregnancy or parental approval to get married to 18. Why are 18 year olds not old enough to understand the consequences of tobacco/nicotine products, but a child as young as 15 is mature enough to decide that they should get married? I can’t possibly imagine getting married right now.

I can’t imagine changing the rest of my life because I am to be married.

I can’t imagine getting married with my parents’ permission right now because I got pregnant or I’ve already had a kid. I can’t imagine that some of my peers can currently get married, are pregnant or have had a kid before.

Nonetheless, it’s true, despite the numerous attempts to convince myself otherwise. “The United States State Department has called marriage before 18 a ‘human rights abuse’ that produces devastating repercussions for a girl’s life, effectively ending her childhood,’” quotes Unchained at Last, an organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States. Of recorded data, Maryland has one of the higher rates of child marriage per thousand of the population, at about 4.5, which is essentailly the same rate as New York.

People who get married as minors

ments. I don’t expect that every student involved in the school productions will make theatre their life’s work (though our re-

ELENORA RUE

cent bright lights include Audrey Tchoukoua and Alex Michell, both of whom strongly represented Blair’s diversity and are now professional actors in New York and D.C.), but I vividly see the benefit to every student that such involvement affords: empathy, confidence, leadership skills, time-management, and strong community-building. A huge shout-out to all cast and crew who devote their time and energy to making the shows possible— you are my favorite part of my job. Looking ahead, our spring musical this year is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, his first Tony-winning show, and one that celebrates Latin culture.

I am eager to start working with another beautifully diverse group of talent to bring this show to the Blair stage. Come and be a part of it—all are welcome! Hope to see you on opening night!

AUDREY LI

often lead lower quality lives.

Facts about child marriage are shocking. Worldwide, girls who marry before 15 are 15 percent more likely to face physical or sexual violence from a partner.

207,469 minors were married in the US between 2000 and 2015. In that same time, 87 percent of the minors married were girls and 13 percent were boys. People married under the age of 18 are more likely to experience increased risk of psychiatric disorders, face serious health conditions, have higher rates of contracting STIs, earn low wages and live in poverty, and are less likely to access education and work opportunities.

Although the rates of child marriage in America continue to go down, that doesn’t excuse the fact that a large number of children still get married under 18, often to adults. If you’re married, your spouse’s income counts towards

your public benefits, such as food stamps or cash assistance, regardless of whether or not you even have access to that money. You lose autonomy over yourself and your children as a minor and as a spouse, so if there were any issues in your marriage and you told the police, they’d most likely send you to your parents, who might’ve gotten you in the situation in the first place.

If writing this column does nothing other than sway the opinion of someone who might not know the consequences of underage marriage, then so be it. Even if Maryland refuses to raise the marriage age, you are now aware of the potential consequences of getting married as a minor. To the 12–15 students at our school who might get married under the age of 18, seriously consider how getting married as a minor might negatively impact your life.

Corrections: October 2019 National Merit Scholar finalist ‘Justin Y. Zhang’ name was incorrectly spelled as ‘Justin Y. Zhan’ on page A3 Soapbox commenter, Svetlana Semenova’s name was incorrectly spelled as ‘Suetlana’ on page D3.

Lilia Wong wrote “Not en pointe” and was attributed to Anika Seth.

The subhead for “Not en pointe” misspelled Lara Spenvers name as ‘Laura” Ayush Dutta’s story was cut off on page F2 A link to Media Manager Tarun Mattikalli’s video should have been placed on page A3 Find the video here: https://youtu.be/5UBLYSXOMCE

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B5 Op/Ed

November 14, 2019

Cancel #cancelculture

In late October, President Obama shared a hot take about cancel culture and internet activism In late October, President Obama shared a hot take about cancel culture and internet activism.

According to the former President, “This idea of purity, and you’re never compromised, and you’re politically woke, and all that stuff—you should get over that quickly.

The world is messy. There are ambiguities.

People who do really good stuff have flaws.”

As Obama said, no historical role model is a perfect individual, especially according to our current values. Yet, although it is important to call attention to outdated practices, that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from these historical figures’ contributions to society. Furthermore, we can look at their flaws as ways to improve our own modern society.

Recently, many have pushed for Mahatma Gandhi to be #cancelled because of surfacing evidence that he was sexist, racist, and classist. Last year, a Gandhi statue was removed from a university campus in Ghana.

Activists in Ghana and Malawi are trending the hashtag #GandhiMustFall.

These activists are not acting without reason; Gandhi undoubtedly published many offensive works and some of his values were questionable by our modern standards. In 1903, Gandhi wrote that white people should be “the predominating race” in South Africa, claiming that black people “are troublesome, very dirty, and live like animals.” Though Gandhi championed women in public, privately, he used women for personal experiments with his sexuality.

He was unsupportive of the Dalit, the lowest class in the Hindu caste system.

With such evidence stacked against Gandhi, it seems natural for Internet activists to jump to cancel him. A Medium article

by Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a self pro-

claimed “Dalit Diva,” published in 2017 wrote, “Gandhi is simply not the social movement hero we want for our movements today. Period.”

Yet, nobody is purely good or bad. To

simply write off Gandhi as cancelled would be to disregard Gandhi’s countless positive contributions to society. He pioneered the principles of peaceful protests. He drove British oppression out of India. He made

mistakes, but it is also important to note that he was a product of his environment. Most around him at the time likely voiced those same opinions to the same, or greater, extent.

Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. both took inspiration from Gandhi. We should not add an asterisk to all mentions of Gandhi simply because he was only the best of his generation—not of ours.

Yet another toxic aspect of cancel culture stems from the immediate dog-piling of hate onto an accused person. Last year, beauty millionaire Tati Westbrook accused makeup guru James Charles of being a sexual predator, of trying to turn straight men gay.

Immediately after her expository video made its appearance on YouTube, fans took to Twitter, Instagram, and the YouTube comment section to disparage his image. James Charles lost nearly three million subscribers on YouTube due to the escalating tensions. But the allegations turned out to be greatly exaggerated, even though the damage was already done. The reactionary elements of cancel culture are detrimental. By taking seemingly “credible” claims from seeming “credible” people as fact, #cancelculture doesn’t allow room for even a semblance of due process. #cancelculture is the Gen Z phenomenon of noncommittal protesting. We’ve removed the gritty part of protesting—it’s become a social media event rather than an effort to bring about institutional change.

Canadian trees and financial unease

How a tariff on a Canadian newspaper cost Silver Chips $900 Dedicated readers of Silver Chips may have noticed we printed our last cycle on a slightly larger-sized paper.

Last year, our staff made the executive decision to switch to a Washington Postsized paper and lower the number of pages, retaining the amount of content we publish.

We made this design change for more creative freedom with our layouts.

With a larger area to work with, we tried our best to make page designs more exciting and avoid the monotonous pancake formation (pages with one article on top of the other).

We also made this change because our printing company claimed this larger page size was $100 cheaper.

However, when we readied our page layouts for printing, we received an ominous response from our printing company. They explained that their financial estimate last year didn’t take into account a new tariff on Canadian newsprint enacted by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Instead of decreas-

To connect with Victoria email her at ombudsmansilver chips@gmail.com

Scan the code with your phone’s camera to provide feedback on Silver Chips layout

ing by $100, the price increased by $800.

We ended up paying a $900 difference from our forecasted cost. With an operating budget of approximately $1,500 each cycle, that hit hard. As a paper already under financial strain, we could barely afford to lose that much money in the beginning of the year.

The print journalism industry depends heavily on Canada’s trees for their classic wood pulp. Canadian newsprint accounts for 60 percent of the total newsprint produced globally.

Previously, it was cheaper to purchase newspaper from Canada. After the tariff went

up, paper costs for news companies across America rose drastically.

Although big-time newspapers like The Washington Post and The New York Times may not feel as big of a blow, our small school newspaper felt it full force.

When local community and school newspapers shut down, there will be a lack of young, enthusiastic, experienced journalists for tomorrow’s news industry. Without the nurturing environment provided by these papers, the journalism field may be losing the Pulitzer journalists of tomorrow.

In late August, Congress’s International

Trade Committee repealed the tariff. But the damage had already been done. Besides costing Silver Chips a shiny penny, other professional local papers such as the Storm Lake Times in Iowa were forced to cut back on color printing. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had to cut down on entire printed cycles. The Tampa Bay Times let go of 50 staffers.

Silver Chips does not reLUCY MARTIN ceive a penny of school funding. That grants us the freedom to critique any injustices we witness in our building and across our community. It gives us students the true right to a free press.

Other schools face critical administrations that may refuse to fund cycles containing controversial discourse. Because of our financial independence, Silver Chips doesn’t.

That tariff hit too close to home. The real world ramifications of this policy were drastic. It threatened our ability to publish. It put a spotlight on the vulnerability of free press to governmental and business influence. It hurt.

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14 de noviembre de 2019

La Esquina Latina C1

La Esquina Latina

Silver Chips el 14 de noviembre de 2019

Los Latin Grammys parten el corazón de los reggaetoneros Los artistas protestan “injusticias” de parte de la Academia Latina de Grabación ESCRITORES

Los Latin Grammys, creados por la Academia Latina de Grabación, se otorgan anualmente con el objetivo de reconocer la música latina. Las nominaciones oficiales fueron anunciadas el 24 de septiembre y con esto se inició una serie de protestas por parte de varios reggaetoneros dada la falta de nominaciones al género urbano y la forma en la que manejan la categoría.

Maluma, un cantante colombiano, fue el primer reggaetonero en expresar su desacuerdo con las nominaciones. Él escribió via Instagram, “Una desilusión… no tener [ni] siquiera una nominación a los Latin Grammys, tanto esfuerzo, el mejor disco que he hecho en mi vida… no puedo esconder este sentimiento que me duele por dentro. Felicidades a todos los nominados de todo corazón”.

Luego, Daddy Yankee creó el #SinReggaetonNoHayLatinGrammy y escribió por medio de las redes sociales, “A pesar de estar nominado, no estoy de acuerdo de la manera que trataron al género (reggaeton) y a muchos de mis colegas. Recuerden una cosa muy importante, su plataforma no fue la que creó este movimiento. Esto va más allá de un premio. Esto es cultura, credibilidad, pertinencia y respeto”.

El hashtag se volvió viral y más reggaetoneros utilizaron las redes sociales para expresar su opinión. La cantante Natti Natasha escribió vía Twitter, “Somos una cultura, somos un movimiento ya establecido, nunca hemos dependido de los premios. A nosotros nos hicieron la gente … #LatinGrammys aprendan

a respetar nuestro género y nuestro producto”. Otra reggaetonera que mostró su apoyo al movimiento fue Karol G, “El año pasado fui ganadora de un Latin Grammy, fue un momento increíble en mi carrera...Pero me siento en necesidad de apoyar esta iniciativa, ya que es la única forma de hacer un llamado a que la Academia... sea más incluyente con un géner o que trabaja, se esfuerz a , que evoluciona y representa con grandes logros a nuestra comunidad latina en el SHASHI ARNOLD

Por Alzhara Rodríguez Gómez Río Sánchez

mundo entero”.

El reggaetonero J Balvin, quien tiene dos nominaciones en la categoría de mejor canción urbana, no dudó en unirse a sus demás colegas. El cantante por medio de un video explicó el propósito del movimiento, “Lo que queremos...es utilizar nuestro poder mediático porque manejamos masas, eso no

quiere decir que… sea la mejor musica, la mejor producida o la mejor escrita, pero si tenemos una historia que viene de años atrás del género donde en si ha sido denigrado… como la parte de las nominaciones donde le dicen urbano… Debería haber una categoria que sea rap, una categoría que se llame reggaeton… otra trap y no meter todo eso en ese gran nombre urbano”.

J Balvin tamb i é n compartió s u des-

acuerdo

sobre las personas que deciden las nominaciones, “...una persona que sepa mucho de salsa no puede tener... todas las condiciones para decir que es un buen album de reggaeton”. Por último, aclaró que el movimiento no está en contra de otros géneros, “El hecho que yo no esté de acuerdo como están calificando nuestro reggaeton no quiere decir que no esté de acuerdo con los otros géneros y con los artistas que están brillando”.

Después de los comentarios de los cantantes, la Academia publicó una nota donde aclaraba que, “ [la Academia] nunca ha influido en sus decisiones y siempre se ha adherido y respetado sus selecciones, incluso cuando hay gente que no concuerda con los resultados.” También, invitaron a los reggaetoneros a participar en debates y conversaciones para mejorar la Academia. Incluso, después de la declaración de esta entidad, varios reggaetoneros dejaron saber su insatisfacción y decidieron no asistir a la premiación de este año.

Pero no todos en la industria de la música mostraron su apoyo a los reggaetoneros.

El rapero René Pérez Joglar, mejor conocido como Residente, grabó un video junto a su hermano, Gabriel Cabra Joglar, donde se burlaban del movimiento. Residente escribió en la descripción del video, “En estos últimos meses han ocurrido tres desastres mundiales: Primero el incendio en el Amazonas, luego el huracán en Bahamas y ahora el abuso dictatorial de los Latin Grammys contra el reggaeton”. Residente recomendó, “ Lo que yo creo... [es] que se deben relajar porque los premios no determinan la calidad de la música... y deben disfrutarlo… yo no me voy a molestar. Lo que deben hacer es apoyar a los que nominaron… porque si nos quejamos por los Grammys nos tenemos que quejar por los Premios lo Nuestro, Premios Juventud, los Billboard imaginate vamos a estar todo el año quejándonos… Protesten por las cosas que valen la pena”.

La decimosegunda entrega anual de los Latin Grammys se realizará este jueves 14 de noviembre y las nominaciones seguirán como fueron anunciadas a pesar de la controversia.

Todavía queda por ver si la situación cambiará para el género urbano en las próximas premiaciones. ¿Qué piensas tú al respecto?

Noticias breves Monumento conmemorativo en Flower Branch Nuevo requisitos para VISAS La administración de Trump publicó el 4 de octubre que añadirá un requisito para inmigrantes que solicitan una VISA a los Estados Unidos. La proclamación dice que solicitudes de inmigrantes que el gobierno determine que no pueden pagar el costo de seguro médico requerido dentro un mes de la llegada al país serán rechazadas. El requisito será efectivo desde el 3 de noviembre.

El requisito será implementado a inmigrantes que soliciten VISA en consulados extranjeros con la intención de vivir en los EE.UU. Las excepciones a esta nueva regla incluyen a inmigrantes que ya tienen una VISA válida, hijos de residentes legales estadounidenses, niños viajando sin compañía, ciudadanos estadounidenses que vivan fuera de los EE.UU. más de un año y a los beneficiarios de VISAs específicas para inmigrantes afganos e iraquíes que han contribuido al gobierno de los Estados Unidos.

La proclamación firmada por el presidente Trump no implica procedimientos claros que determinen si los inmigrantes cumplen con los requisitos, todo depende de los consulados individuales y el Departamento de Estado encargados de evaluar las solicitudes de VISA. Si el peticionario no cumple con los requisitos de pagar el seguro médico dentro de un mes de vivir en los EE.UU. tendrá que comprobar que podrá tener recursos o ayuda financiera para pagar los costos médicos “razonables.”

Muchos inmigrantes cuya intención es venir a los EE.UU. con una VISA serán afectados dado a que el gobierno podrá rechazar sus solicitudes y ser protegidos por la nueva ley.

La noticia breve fue escrita por Tony Calderón González

Después de tres años las víctimas recibirán un merecido tributo

Por Cecilia Clemens Vargas Lugo ESCRITORA

Hace tres años, la comunidad de Flower Branch Apartaments fue cambiada drásticamente cuando una explosión de gas destruyó uno de los edificios de los apartamentos y ahora las siete víctimas de la explosión serán homenajeadas en un memorial que la organización CASA de Maryland y la compañía Kay Management, quien maneja los apartamentos, están construyendo.

La explosión tuvo lugar en la noche del 16 de agosto en 2016 y destruyó un edificio, dañó otro, hirió a varias personas, incluyendo tres bomberos y siete residentes fallecieron, entre ellos dos niños.

El 23 de abril del 2019, la Junta de Seguridad de Transportación Nacional, o NTSB por sus siglas en inglés, explicó que la explosión fue causada por un regulador de mercurio que se desconectó y dejó que se acumele gas natural en el cuarto de calibradores de gas. Los residentes de los edificios habían llamado a los bomberos unas semanas antes de la explosión, indicando que habían olido gas pero los bomberos no encontraron evidencia de una fuga de gas. Unas semanas después el trágico siniestro tomó lugar.

Después de la explosión, un edificio nuevo fue construido en el lugar donde estuvo el edificio viejo. Kay Management trabajó con CASA, que es una organización de defensa para inmigrantes, para construir el memorial para las víctimas. Los representantes de Kay Management dice, “Entonces, trabajamos con los defensores en nombre de las familias de las víctimas para crear un diseño que fuera respetuoso, pacífico y que pudiera ser al mismo tiempo un lugar apropiado para la reflexión donde y al mismo tiempo es un espa-

cio público cerca de la entrada a un negocio, e la oficina de manejo y alquiler”.

Ana Martínez, la organizadora principal de CASA, dice que, “La Asociación de Inquilinos de Flower Branch y CASA han estado trabajando con la compañía administradora para crear un espacio para las familias”. Las dos organizaciones querían estar seguros que las víctimas y sus familias sean respetadas.

Martínez continúa, “Los miembros de la comunidad no querían que los edificios fueron reconstruidos en primer lugar y sienten que un memorial es lo mínimo que la compañía de gestión puede hacer para mostrar respeto a las familias”.

La construcción del memorial está por ser terminado, pero aún falta el marcador que será dedicado a las víctimas de la explosión.

El marcador es un pedestal de granito con una placa de bronce que dirá, “En memoria de nuestros seres queridos” en español, amárico e inglés, que fueron los idiomas principales de las víctimas y tiene los nombres de las víctimas en la manera que las familias de las víctimas querían.

Kay Management dice que la idea del diseño fue crear un espacio que “si no supieras que hay un monumento allí, caminarías y verías un lindo muro de piedra, una bonita plaza, una pequeña plaza, un patio, si quieres llamarlo así, algunos asientos, macetas y jardines… Pero

si supiera que hay un monumento conmemorativo allí, podría caminar y sentirse como si estuviera en su propio espacio semiprivado cerrado”.

Las familias de las víctimas trabajaron con Kay Management para estar involucradas en el diseño del memorialA través del proceso dieron sus ideas para el diseño y las decisiones finales fueron hechas por ellos.

Representantes de Kay Management indicaron “que pudimos conocer las necesidades, lo más cerca posible, de las familias. Quién, cuyos defensores nos dieron su opinión, a lo largo del proceso”.

Este memorial tiene la intención de recordar a la gente que falleció en la explosión del 10 de agosto en 2016 y para que la comunidad nunca olvide este trágico evento.

SE

YO U

NG

JO

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C2 La Esquina Latina

14 de noviembre de 2019

Latinoamérica bajo la lupa México El 17 de octubre Ovidio Guzmán López, uno de los hijos de Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, fue detenido en la ciudad de Culiacán como parte de un operativo de la Guardia Nacional de México para poder detener una batalla entre los carteles de Sinaloa y las fuerzas armadas de México.

Los pistoleros de Sinaloa suelen tratar de exponer su dominancia y aprobación de México aunque “El Chapo” no siga siendo el líder. Mientras los oficiales del gobierno tratan de obedecer las leyes y mantener control sin poner en peligro a las comunidades.

En el 2016, “El Chapo” fue capturado por los Estados Unidos en una operación llamada cisne negro.

Hace unos meses “El Chapo” fue convicto de cargos de traficante de drogas y matanzas. Hoy, Guzmán López está siguiendo los mismos pasos que su padre y liderando el grupo de los carteles en Sinaloa.

Las fuerzas armadas detuvieron a Guzmán López temporalmente, solo para después dejarlo ir libre para no crear más destrucción y combate en la ciudad. Esto demuestra la dominancia que los carteles tienen en México.

Nicargua El régimen dictatorial Ortega-Murillo ha censurado los periódicos nicaragüenses ya que estos han sido críticos con la corrupción del gobierno.

Desde hace un año el gobierno ha retenido el papel y la tinta en aduanas.

La falta de materiales, la actual crisis económica y las constantes amenazas por parte del gobierno han hecho imposible que muchos de estos medios continúen circulando. Por el momento, La Prensa es el unico periodico que no ha cerrado, pero continúa siendo amenazado por el régimen.

Varios periodistas han salido al exilio y otros estuvieron injustamente encarcelados.

Ecuador El 1 de octubre del 2019 el presidente ecuatoriano Lenín Moreno anunció un paquete de medidas económicas, una de ellas era el incremento del costo del combustible. La mayoría de la población no estaba de acuerdo porque al subir el precio de la gasolina también sube el precio de las mercaderías, ya que incrementa el costo del transporte. La Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas (CONAIE), el Frente Unitario de Trabajadores (FUT), el Parlamento Laboral, el Partido Unidad Popular y el Frente Popular se mostraron en contra de las medidas económicas. Además, anunciaron un paro nacional, un evento donde las actividades económicas de un país se detienen. Durante el paro nacional, que duró 11 días, se realizaron manifestaciones que fueron reprimidas por el gobierno. El 11 de octubre el presidente llamó a diálogo para cesar las protestas. Al día siguiente, CONAIE aceptó la propuesta del gobierno.

El diálogo entre el movimiento indígena y el gobierno inició el 13 de octubre. El presidente anuló el decreto que incrementó el precio del combustible y se formó una comisión para crear un nuevo decreto. El 14 de octubre, la Defensoría del Pueblo, organismo que defienden los Derechos Humanos en Ecuador, reveló que en las dos semanas de manifestaciones en el país hubo 8 fallecidos, 1,340 heridos y 1,192 detenidos.

Bolivia

Las elecciones presidenciales de Bolivia tomaron lugar el 20 de octubre, provocando protestas alrededor del país después que el presidente del Partido Movimiento al Socialismo, Evo Morales, se declaró el ganador de la elección presidencial por 10 puntos más que su rival, Carlos Mesa, un candidato del partido Revolucionario Frente Izquierdo.

Los ciudadanos bolivianos sospechan que hubo fraude en los resultados presidenciales después que se interrumpió la transmisión en vivo del conteo electoral, por e Tribunal Supremo Electoral, la máxima autoridad electoral de Bolivia.

Las argucias del presidente Morales por lograr la reelección después de 3 periodos de gobierno consecutivo abonaban a la desconfianza ante los resultados electorales.

El gobierno de Bolivia aceptó la ayuda de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), para verificar la transparencia y legitimidad del sistema del proceso electoral.

La OEA informó el 10 de noviembre que la votación de octubre debería ser anulada después de haber encontrado manipulaciones claras del sistema electoral y que recomendaba la realización de una nueva primera vuelta de elecciones.

El presidente Morales depuso su cargo debido a la sugerencia de las Fuerzas Armadas, lo que es interpretado por algunos políticos como un golpe de Estado, pero que otros consideran como la consecuencia de fuertes críticas y protestas civiles por parte de los ciudadanos bolivianos. La nueva fecha para las elecciones todavía no ha sido concretada.

Uruguay

Las elecciones presidenciales de Uruguay tomaron lugar el 27 de octubre y resultaron en una victoria de Daniel Martínez del partido Frente Amplio, que recibió 39.2 por ciento de los votos y Luis Lacalle Pou del partido Nacional que recibió un 28.6 por ciento. Sin embargo, los candidatos necesitan por lo menos 50 por ciento de los votos para convertirse presidente. Debido a este resultado, la segunda ronda será el 24 de noviembre. Los candidatos que se medirán en una segunda vuelta. Ellos están intentando atraer a los otros partidos para hacer la victoria. Por ejemplo, el Partido Colorado que quedó en tercer lugar ha anunciado que apoyará al Partido Nacional. Estas elecciones ponen en juego la permanencia del modelo de centro-izquierda que ha gobernado los últimos 15 años.

Chile A partir del 6 de octubre muchos chilenos se levantaron contra el gobierno de Sebastián Piñera. Lo que motivó las protestas fue el aumento de precio de los boletos del metro, que subió de $1.08 a $1.12. Pero la principal causa es la gran desigualdad social que existe en el país. El informe de Panorama Social de América Latina reveló que en el 2017 el 1 por ciento de la población de mayores ingresos retenía el 26.5 por ciento de la riqueza de Chile. Por otro lado, 50 por ciento de la población de menores ingresos tenía sólo el 2.1 por ciento de la riqueza del país. El pueblo chileno también reclama por los sueldos bajos, argumentando que el sueldo mínimo de $414 al mes no compensa el alto costo de la vida. Igualmente, las pensiones en Chile son bajas siendo la pensión mínima de $472.40 al mes. Al mismo tiempo, están protestando contra las empresas mineras destructoras del medio ambiente que están localizadas en el país. Además, la gente está disgustada por la falta de recursos médicos. Por otra parte, los estudiantes no están felices con las exorbitantes deudas universitarias. Todo esto ha causado violencia de ambos lados.

Argentina

Escritores: Tony Calderón González Alzahra Rodríguez Gómez

El 27 de octubre se llevó a cabo las elecciones de Argentina. Después que el 97 por ciento de los votos fueron contados, el candidato del Partido Distrito del centro-izquierda, Alberto Fernández, fue declarado ganador con una victoria absoluta recibiendo más del 45 por ciento de votos. Fernández le debe su victoria a la ex presidenta Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, quien gobernó entre 2007-2015 y regresa a gobernar, pero eligió postularse para vicepresidenta. Los dos comparten la misma ideología del cambio económico en Argentina.

El presidente actual, Mauricio Macri, quien fue elegido en el 2015, había prometido que la línea de pobreza bajaría a “cero” y tendría una economía creciente. En cambio, dejó el cargo con una inflación que aumenta diariamente y un nivel de pobreza que incrementó del 29 por ciento a 35 por ciento.Uno de los objetivos de Hernández y Kirchner es restablecer la recesión económica en Argentina desde el 10 por ciento que está en desempleo hasta el 35 por ciento de los ciudadanos que viven debajo la línea de pobreza. En el fin de este año se espera una inflación monetaria de 55 por ciento.

Fernández tomará posesión del cargo presidencial el 10 de diciembre. Ha prometido mejorar los salarios y los beneficios y pagar el préstamo del Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) que le otorgó en el pasado a Argentina.

Arte y diseño por: Jasmine Méndez-Paredes Renata Muñoz

La Esquina Latina C3

silverchips

14 de noviembre de 2019

Las diferentes interpretaciones de los piropos Estudiantes de Blair brindan sus opiniones sobre el tema

Por Ariel Lemus Godoy Ivania Valladares ESCRITORES

UNA OPINIÓN

Los piropos pueden tener un significado diferente dependiendo de la persona quien lo envía y sus intenciones. Algunas veces las chicas se sienten acosadas e inseguras de sí mismas, ya que varios piropos hacen refe-

Por Yenmis Quiñones ESCRITORA

UNA OPINIÓN

¿Alguna vez se le ha antojado un pollito peruano a las 12 a.m.? ¿Ha tenido un mal día y lo único que quiere es quedarse en la cama sin tener que cocinar nada? Está de buena suerte. Este ciclo en La Esquina Latina, nuestros fabulosos escritores decidieron probar el pollo peruano ofrecido en varios establecimientos en esta área. Es de notar que todos ofrecen servicio a domicilio, ya no tiene que salir de su casa. Así que, abrace a su perro o gato, agarre una cobija y encienda la televisión. Aquí están los mejores lugares para ordenar pollo peruano en el área.

Sardi’s Pollo a La Brasa está localizado en Langley Park, ofrece una increíble variedad de comida desde pollo a la brasa hasta mariscos y carnes. Sardi’s también ofrece algunas opciones de comidas más ligeras como pupusas,milanesas, burritos y quesadillas, al igual que varios postres y bebidas. Su jugoso pollo viene con dos acompañantes de la selección de coleslaw, arroz, puré de papa o papas asadas, vegetales, arroz chaufa o frijoles, también cuentan con varios acompañantes que dependen del establecimiento como plátanos maduros frito, yuca frita, ensalada césar, entre otros. Sardi’s ofrece servicio a domicilio, carryout, y catering dependiendo del área. En mi opinión es la mejor opción!

Crisp and Juicy

SEYOUNG JOO

Pollo Rico El Pollo Rico es un restaurante peruano localizado in Wheaton, MD. Su menú cuenta con una diversa variedad de tamaños y tipos de pollo. Cada pollo viene con un acompañante delicioso como coleslaw, papas fritas, arroz, frijoles o tortillas. Aparte, tiene la opción de elegir una bebida y un postre, el cual puede ser un rico flan, unos alfajores, o un rum cake. El Pollo Rico ofrece servicio a domicilio rápido y seguro. ¡Que mas podria pedir!

Sardis Pollo a la Brasa

Crispy and Juicy está localizado en Kensington, MD aunque tienen dos sucursales en Silver Spring, una, localizada en 1314 East West Hwy y la otra en 3800 International Dr. Leisure World Plaza. Ambas ofrecen gran servicio y tienen un ambiente amigable para familias. Su comida es bastante placentera, su menú incluye diferentes tamaños de pollo, varios acompañantes similares a los de Sardi’s y Pollo Rico. También ofrecen emparedados y ensaladas de gran variedad.

Estos tres restaurantes en el área son muy buenos y definitivamente los recomendamos a los tres. Personalmente, a mi me gusto más el pollo de Sardi’s pero a muchos de mis colegas les gusto el pollo de Pollo Rico. El pollo de Crispy and Juicy aunque comparativamente con los otros ofrecían una variedad parecida a Sardi’s y Pollo Rico, estaba desabrido y un poco seco, aunque su salsa picante estaba deliciosa. Cuando se trata de precio entonces, definitivamente Crispy and Juicy gana el premio al más barato, comparado con los altos precios de Sardi’s. Yo recomiendo para calidad Sardi’s pero si lo que quiere es simplemente pollo entonces le recomiendo Pollo Rico, obtendrá buena comida y no se acabara todo el salario en una noche.

¡Use este código de QR para recomendarnos restaurantes o tipos de comida para probar para el próximo ciclo!

LI

Los mejores lugares del área

destacar que no importa el género de quien lo emite y quien lo recibe ya que puede ser del mismo sexo o del sexo opuesto, dada la diversidad que hay en estos tiempos.

En definitiva, muchas chicas se sienten mal cuando un chico les dice un piropo.

Ahora bien depende de la persona que dice el piropo que se asegure que sea apropiado para que se interprete como halagador y respetuoso.

LEY

Pollo peruano

bien se siente una [reacción] bonita”. Ella dice que no se siente acosada cuando un chico la piropea. Para Álvarez, un piropo es un comentario halagador que la hace sentir bien.

Los estudiantes de la comunidad de Blair tienen perspectivas diferentes acerca de la razón por la que las personas piropean a las chicas. Jonathan Monge, un estudiante del décimo grado, dice, “La verdad [es que] yo no piropeo a las chicas, pero digamos que lo haga...le voy a decir ‘oye estás bonita pero no insultandola”.

El estudiante William Portillo, también del décimo grado, está de acuerdo con Monge y añadió, “Hay dos tipos de piropos: uno que está bonita y otro hablando de su cuerpo”.

Sin embargo, algunos alumnos piensan que cuando piropean están halagando a una chica, cuando en realidad les hace sentir incómodas.

Si alguien va a piropear a una chica lo debe hacer de manera respetuosa, no con la intención de faltarle el respeto, que le hará sentirse mal. Es importante pensar en las consecuencias de lo que se dice. Cabe

KEL

rencia a sus cuerpos. Los piropos pueden ser palabras o expresiones de admiración sobre los atributos de una persona. Al otro extremo, también pueden ser considerados comentarios sexistas. Por ejemplo, cuando un chico le dice un piropo a una chica acerca de su cuerpo esto podría ser sexista, y no ser bien recibido. El piropeo negativo es un fenómeno que no solamente ocurre en las calles, sino que también en los pasillos Blair.

Para algunas estudiantes un piropo les hace sentir acosadas y tener miedo porque no saben lo que está pensado la otra persona. A Geizer Navidad, una estudiante del noveno grado, no le gusta cuando un chico le dice un piropo porque, “me hace sentir como alguien cualquiera...que solo me está faltando el respeto por ser mujer”.

Muchas chicas de diferentes grados tienen la misma opinión con respecto a este tema. Sandra Saravia, una estudiante del doceavo grado, dice “A veces me siento un poco mal...como acosada”. No obstante, no se puede dejar de lado la connotación positiva de los piropos. Paola Alvarez, una estudiante del noveno grado, dice, “Pues

silver

November 14, 2019

Click. The world opens up chunk by chunk, revealing a mosaic of multicolored biomes, winding rivers, and sloping hills. The landscape is littered with stone brick castles, towering skyscrapers, complex farms, and incomplete projects long abandoned. It all remains in pristine condition, just how it was painstakingly built, one block at a time all those years ago.

This is Minecraft, the famed blocky game making a sudden resurgence. Players gather materials, build monuments, craft tools, fight monsters, and explore the virtual world. Across Blair, students who had quit the game years ago are logging back on.

According to Google Trends, online searches for Minecraft peaked in 2013, followed by a steady decline in popularity—until 2019. In September, searches for the game jumped to 66 percent of their all-time high, easily surpassing Fortnite, the world’s most popular game of 2018.

Junior Avi Kedia believes that the ability to play the game with others has brought people back into playing Minecraft, on desktop, console, and mobile devices. “People were picking up the game again, people were getting Minecraft Pocket Edition,” he says, referring to the mobile Minecraft application. “I saw people play in class, and I saw people playing with their friends, and talking about it, posting about it.”

Many who decided to pick up the game for the first time in years are once again hooked. “Probably about last winter

to spring, people started talking about it a little bit, saying, ‘You know, it’s actually not that bad of a game,’” junior Coltin Chao says. “When school let out last year, most people I knew were playing it.”

Minecraft’s resurgence has not only been among groups of friends, but on popular online platforms like YouTube and the live-streaming website Twitch, where gamers can film themselves playing the game and share it with millions.

Kedia, for example, considers YouTuber PewDiePie’s involvement in Minecraft particularly instrumental to its newfound popularity. “As [PewDiePie] started playing it, he started getting a lot of followers, and it became a mainstream thing to play Minecraft again,” he says. “[My friends and I] were also following PewDiePie’s Minecraft Let’s Play, so we were like, ‘Everything he’s doing, we have to do.’”

With over 101 million subscribers on YouTube, creators like PewdiePie can focus their audiences on the games they are playing, almost certainly providing a boost to Minecraft’s numbers.

Junior Judy Goldstein rediscovered Minecraft on other platforms. “It was less YouTube and more about the kids at Blair talking about their Minecraft servers,” she says. “On my [Instagram] explore page I kept on seeing Minecraft memes.”

Beyond the hype, certain aspects of the game are uniquely fun. “I like Minecraft because there is nothing else like it,” junior Mark Kokiyelov says. “There’s no other game where you can destroy the entire world and rebuild it in whatever way you want.”

Digging deeper

Minecraft has two main g challenges players to find fo while creative mode lets pla towering structures or intri dreams without the worry of Sophomore Sophia Shen game’s duality. “It’s all up to play to find out how long yo skilled you are. Or you can pl fun.”

Aside from the game’s much of Minecraft’s comeb the nostalgia it evokes in retu when I went on my iPad aga nally had played on [as a kid just thought back to a simpler Like many other Blair stu the game in elementary scho experience of playing the gam is just as it was when he was y ing it up for the first time wi ‘wow.’ Even after all of these have grown, but the wood is still the same, the animals are thing was the same… You felt joy that you had as a kid play

Building an empire

First marketed as an expan without any rules or instructio diate success after its official took the world by storm, fillin the media.

Minecraft’s earliest player rience with the game, record time, published tutorials, “le song parodies—remember “ press their enthusiasm.

As Minecraft ga age, new players fl spread. Minecraft reaching its peak mer of 2013, a dicate.

On Se bought M opment c necraft inte

Features D1/D2

rchips

game modes: Survival mode ood and stave off enemies, ayers focus on building the icate contraptions of their death. n enjoys the freedom of the o you,” she says. “You can ou can survive, or how well lay creative [mode] and have

distinctive design qualities, back could be attributed to urning players. “I remember ain, my old iPad that I origid], and I saw my old world, I r time,” Kedia says. udents, Kedia began playing ool and reminisces that the me today in all its simplicity, younger. “I remember loadith my friend and… thinking e years, I myself as a person s still the same, the dogs are e the same,” he says. “Everythat sense of enjoyment and ying it.”

dia says changed the game for the worse. “I think [Microsoft] blew it up a lot more than they needed to, and it ruined it for a lot of people,” he says.

Junior Carlos Hernandez disagrees; he says that Microsoft’s involvement has been a positive force. “[The acquisition] has honestly been pretty good for the game.

I feel like that also may have had a contribution to the game’s popularity now,” he says. “People are hopping back on and seeing all of the familiar cool stuff, plus all this crazy new stuff that they can explore.”

This year at Minecon, Minecraft’s annual convention, Minecraft revealed a long-requested update to the Nether, something that excites Hernandez. He believes that

e

nsive open-world experience ons, Minecraft was an immerelease in 2011. The game ng headlines and dominating

rs, eager to share their expeded their prolonged gaming et’s play” series, and wrote “Fallen Kingdom”?—to ex-

ained more media coverlocked to the game as word t quickly built momentum, search interest in the sumas Google Search trends in-

ept. 15, 2014, Microsoft Mojang, Minecraft’s develcompany, along with all Miellectual property in a staggering $2.5 billion deal, something that Ke-

it is important that game developers listen to the feedback from their players, and incorporate it into the game.

“That feeling of having some user input into the game really makes whatever the new stuff that they build feel as if it came from us and not just some obsolete, disconnected company,” Hernandez says.

Following Microsoft’s purchase of Mojang, Minecraft merchandising spilled into the real world. “Minecraft is so pure and good and fun, [and] that was tainted by the cringe culture from the apparel,” junior Judy Goldstein says. Minecraft-related books, toys, and apparel flooded the market.

“I remember when it was very cringy seeing people with creeper hoodies on,” Kedia adds. “That’s what killed it; it was not cool [anymore].”

This phenomenon was repeated with Fortnite as aspects of the game started spilling into the real world.

Most notably, learning Fortnite dances was all the rave, with videos of children dancing going viral.

Hernandez isn’t bothered by this perception of Minecraft. “I think that it doesn’t really matter; it doesn’t affect whether you should play a game or not,” Hernandez says.

“If you’re really going to seriously judge somebody over whether they play a certain game that you consider cringe or not, I think it’s more of a ‘you’ problem.”

Traversing the end

Most recently, gamers all around the globe have latched onto Fortnite. The game blew up unexpectedly and inherited the label of a “kids game” from Minecraft.

“With Fortnite getting as big as it did, a lot of people stopped looking at Minecraft as just a kids game, and some people came back to it after a couple of years after not playing it, and saw that it was still actually an unironically good game,” Chao says.

Minecraft’s comeback is an example of how nostalgia and good memories can bring videogames and other media back into relevance, but Hernandez considers the idea applicable to other games. “I feel like… there’s gonna be like a Fortnite resurgence and they’re all going to be like, ‘Oh, man, remember? Oh, it’s so good, the Fortnite nostalgia,’” Hernandez says. “It’s going to be the same thing all over.”

Kedia finds it natural for videogames to lose popularity over time, and he believes that even established games like Minecraft will ultimately die out. “Video games aren’t meant to stay, and there is no game that is timeless,” he says. Nevertheless, “you can go back to [old games] once in a while, and be like, ‘Hey, remember this old game and how much fun we used to have?’”

D3 AD

silverchips

November 14, 2019

Features D4

silverchips

November 14, 2019

Sound-Cloudy with a chance of heatballs How SoundCloud provides a platform for everyone

By Teddy Beamer & Ayush Dutta Columist and Staff Writer

Brandon Spreddie begins to spit his lyrics over a beat downloaded from YouTube.

His friend’s Xbox headset microphone records. “I thought it was fun so I was like ‘Yeah.’” Spreddie says, “I just been doing it ever since.” The track was uploaded to SoundCloud, and he has continued to make music under the name “Trapsmoke.”

His songs, released exclusively on SoundCloud, have totalled more than 6,000 plays. SoundCloud, a free music streaming platform, has allowed millions of users to release their music to the world and gives upcoming rappers, like Spreddie, now a sophomore, a platform to grow and further their careers.

Worldwide audience

With over 190 million tracks posted from some 20 million users located worldwide, SoundCloud describes itself as the “world’s largest open audio platform.” Genres stretch from vaporwave to Latin funk, but most significant is hip-hop and rap. Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, and XXXTENTACION, three of the most popular rappers of this generation, gained their popularity because of SoundCloud’s open platform.

These artists began posting their mixtapes to SoundCloud, which gave them a platform to eventually receive major record deals and sell millions of records. XXXTENTACION gained a massive cult following on SoundCloud through his grimy underground aesthetic with lyrics dealing with depression and heartbreak. His breakthrough single “Look At Me!,” released exclusively on Spotify and SoundCloud, peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100.

XXXTENTACION and rappers with similar backgrounds prove to aspiring artists that success in the music industry can be possible for anybody, inspiring them to begin their careers on SoundCloud. “Kids

dent.” This leads to the growth and creation of unconventional and unique music genres and subcultures.

DMV rap is an example of SoundCloud’s ability to create a genre. A new generation of artists such as XanMan, Yung Manny, and Q Da Fool, all from the D.C. metropolitan area, use SoundCloud to create and popuDMV rap SoundCloud provides artists the creative larize this new regional style, labeled simply freedom to decide what music their genres through the tag “#dmvrap.” Unconventional view them as people who have come from similar situations that they’ve been in, and kind of made something out of a rap career,” sophomore Max Nieman says, “which I think is pretty [influential to] people who want to start rapping.”

fies these styles in his song “Yung Manny x XanMan,” rapping, “Call him Malcolm he get shot In The Middle!/I pull up with four n***** like the Wiggles/Serve on the bus n****, Ms. Frizzle.”

This unique combination of unorthodox techniques appeals strongly to many. “I just like their styles, their choice of words,” senior Andrew Blower, a self-described DMV rap enthusiast, says. “Especially with XanMan, with the punchlines and really clever wordplay.”

SoundCloud at home

As Spreddie has gained popularity, he has begun to improve his music by updating from YouTube beats to working with a producer, which has made it much easier to distribute his music. Once he records his vocals, he sends a copy to his producer, and his work is done. “I’ll send [the song] to my producer who will mix it and post it on his Soundcloud page.”

Junior Che Moorehead, known on SoundCloud as Che AM, finds that SoundCloud’s simple procedure for uploading is favorable to other platforms. “With SoundCloud, you don’t need third parties to have your music distributed,” Moorehead says. “[With] SoundCloud; no royalties, no bulls***, no anything, you just upload. It makes the entire process much easier… especially for people who are still trying to find their sound.”

Moorehead also uses Pulse, SoundCloud’s partner application, which allows MILES GROVIC him to keep track of his plays and popularRISING ARTISTS Moorhead plays piano and raps an unreleased track for ity. “It surprises you,” he says. “Sometimes Silver Chips, debuting on the Silver Chips social media acccounts. you have 13 people from Denmark listen to your song and you’re like ‘What?’” fall into using tags, unlike Spotify and Apple and technical techniques of flow are presIn the mainstream, in the local music Music, which rely on algorithms to categorize ent, and when combined create the unique scene, and in the Blair music scene, Soundand label artists and songs. Not only does sound that is DMV rap. “It’s different,” TasCloud has begun to play an important role, this give the artists more creative freedom, mini says. “Their flow is different than othgiving audiences and platforms that they but can connect them directly with audiences ers.” Unique song elements include rapping once did not have before. As a resource, as a looking for underground or local non-indus- ahead or behind the beat, clever wordplay, platform, and as a community, SoundCloud try artists. “They don’t like getting signed setup/punchline schemes, and references to has fundamentally changed the way music to labels,” freshman Niaza Tasmini says. “I popular culture, particularly from the late can be made, shared, and heard. think it’s cool that they’re going indepen- ‘90s. Local rapper Yung Manny exempli-

Drip or drought

Making waves with the current trend: Hydro Flasks

By Kathryn LaLonde Staff Writer Whether they’re placed on the sidelines of a soccer game, resting on the bright red lunch tables at Blair, or tucked into someone’s backpack, today’s reusable water bottles are most likely brand name ones. One of the newest trends is the Hydro Flask. Known for their trademark stick-figure design and colorful exterior, the Hydro Flask has become part of the water consumption trend that replaced the soda-drinking habit of our parents’ generation.

Hydro Flask began in 2009 in Bend, Oregon by Travis Rosbach and Cindy Morse who were dissatisfied with the quality and temperature of their drinking water. Although the company started small, a consumer products company, Helen of Troy Ltd., bought Hydro Flask as a subsidiary for about $210 million in 2016. According to the Portland Business Journal, as of 2015, Hydro Flask was ranked fifth among Oregon’s private businesses and has grown significantly since then.

Junior Sarah Kapstein-O’Brien, a Hydro Flask owner, has noticed more people with these water bottles. “It just became a trend, especially [with] the… VSCO girls,” she says. “[For] a lot of people… their friends will have it so they’ll get it.”

“VSCO” is the name of a popular photoediting and social media platform. According to an article in CNBC, a “VSCO Girl” is typically a young woman who dresses and

acts a certain way, generally characterized by wearing Birkenstocks, an oversized T-shirt, and carrying a Hydro Flask decorated with stickers.

Freshman Ananda Simpson describes the type of student she believes uses a Hydro Flask. “My assumption of people who have Hydro Flasks is that they are white, have money, and they are a follower of the VSCO [Girl] trend.”

Hydro Flasks are known for being expensive. Junior Selam Yesuf believes Hydro Flasks often give people a wealthier image.

“There’s off-brand ones, like the Hydro Peak or the Thermo Flask,” she says. “Everybody says that off-brand is cheaper, but if you have a Hydro Flask you look like you have more money.”

The average Hydro Flask costs between $30–40, compared to plastic Nalgene reusable water bottles, for example, which cost under $20. Not only is the price part of the status appeal, but the design of the Hydro Flask is considered high quality. According to Popular Mechanics, Hydro Flask uses a vacuum seal that “keeps beverages cold for 24 hours… with an inner steel bottle, outer steel bottle and vacuum between, the natural insulator doesn’t give cold—or heat—a medium to travel.”

Kapstein-O’Brien has a Hydro Flask because of the quality. “Mine is really big and it’s very good at keeping cold water throughout the whole day… They are expensive, but I think they’re worth it because they do keep

the water insulated.”

Not only is having a reusable water bottle like a Hydro Flask popular, according to the Beverage Marketing Company, but water has also now become the top beverage that

many students like senior Wilfred Mbobdanono carry water bottles with them during the school day, rather than a plastic soda bottle. Several students are citing environmental reasons as a major factor in turning to reus-

CHRISTINA CHEN

HYDRO FLASKS EVERYWHERE The VSCO-famous water bottles have become a common sight in Blair hallways, often personalized with decorative stickers.

Americans drink. Soda has been eclipsed by water in the past decade and a half, according to an article in USA Today, which states, “A new report from Beverage Marketing found that bottled water consumption grew 120% between 2000 and 2015. That rapid rise has occurred as carbonated beverages have slowly fallen out of favor, going down 16% in the same time period.”

Whether for sports or personal health,

able water bottles. “Seeing the events around the world, how the environment is changing and all, I kind of decided to stay a little more clean… ” Mbobdanono says.

Although people with Hydro Flasks have been called “trend followers” or titled: “VSCO girls,” for many students, the environmental benefits and high-quality design of the Hydro Flask checked off all the boxes for it being a perfect reusable water bottle.

soapbox What is the appeal of bottles like the Hydro Flask? Why do you think brand name bottles have grown in popularity?

“They represent a certain lifestyle that many people aspire to have.”

— Ella Schrebler, freshman

“Because of the rising awareness of climate change, Hydro Flasks have been heavily encouraged and embraced in today’s society because of how they are eco-friedly and have an aesthetic appeal. ” — Jadelyn Ramirez, senior

silverchips

D5 Features

November 14, 2019

Turning a profit: Blazer resellers Blazers resell everything from old clothes to hundred-dollar shoes.

By Aviva Bechky SEOYOUNG JOO

By Teddy Beamer Columnist This cycle, I wanted to SPICE things up by breaking free from pumpkin spice’s seasonal domination with an equally-spicy alternative: tacos. Though satisfactory tacos can easily be bought from large chains like Chipotle or Taco Bell, I have again decided to stray off the beaten path and visit lesserknown, local taquerias and taco trucks for this cycle of Ted’s Tastes.

LA PREFERIDA Though my 17 years of eating, I have often found that the best tacos come from taco trucks. This was again my experience with La Preferida Taco Truck, located in the parking lot of the New Hampshire Ave. Sunoco. The service was quick and prices were incredibly affordable, but the tacos were even better.

Cloaked in a single corn tortilla, the tacos were filled with delicious, fresh vegetables, and topped off with radishes, cilantro, and a house green salsa that I personally believe was the best part of the whole meal. Though spicy, the salsa brought out the flavors of the other ingredients and provided a necessary layer of texture to the tacos.

4/5 stars.

DISTRICT TACO A local food chain with 13 locations in the District, Maryland, and Virginia, District Taco has one of the most impressive menus for tacos I’ve seen, and even had a faux meat option that I ordered excitedly.

However, when I saw that 3 tacos and a drink came to almost $15, I was far less enthused. And when I opened my carry-out bag and peered inside, I stopped in my tracks--I’m positive tacos aren’t supposed to be wet.

I gingerly unwrapped my first taco, and immediately noticed that three tortillas were used to hold a small scoop of cold guacamole. The guacamole itself was superb, but the starchy flavor of the numerous corn tortillas overpowered it greatly. My next taco, the veggie-based Itza, was also wrapped with multiple tortillas and squished to the point that it no longer resembled a taco. The Itza, like the guacamole, was delicious, but the experience was ruined by the presentation and excessive number of tortillas.

2/5 stars.

Staff Writer

Junior Karandeep Singh is stuck in shoe-store lines for more than ten hours some Friday nights. He stays there—at Ubiq or Foot Locker or Eastbay—past two the next morning, waiting for the release of a pricey commodity: limited-edition sneakers.

Singh grabs the new shoes as soon as they come out, allowing him to pay less than retail price. Getting the sneakers cheap and then marking up their cost is essential to his reselling business.

Take, for instance, the crimson Jordan Foamposite Doernbechers he landed last November. He bought the shoes for $180.

In just ten minutes, Singh sold them again for $650.

To her, reselling is not about the money; Lin earns much more through tutoring. “[It] is more of me making sure other people have the opportunity to use prep books that aren’t super expensive,” she says.

Lin calls reselling a “side thing.” But for people like Singh, it can be all-consuming.

He gets only three to four hours of sleep a night because of the time he devotes to reselling.

He dropped his extracurriculars to concentrate on his business. “I used to do track, but then when I realized I need to spend more time on this, I pretty much gave everything else up,” he says. “Now all my focus is on [reselling].”

This intense, demanding business is nowhere near what Singh envisioned when he started out. He had just been looking

CHEROS GRILL There are few things in life more beautiful than a $3 taco, and Cheros provides just that. Despite working out of a food truck in the parking lot of the R&S automotive on Carroll Ave. in Takoma Park, Cheros Grill has managed to create a lovely dining environment by setting a table and some chairs for customers to dine at.

The tacos themselves are delicious, and though not on the menu, veggie tacos were made on request without any additional charge. In terms of taste and flavor, the tacos are not quite as good as those from La Preferida, but the clear effort put in to make a positive and friendly atmosphere makes me give Cheros a higher rating.

4.5/5 stars.

GABE WINSTON-BAILEY

Yearbook Ad Scan here to order your yearbook. Order by 11/27 for a $7 discount!

Although not all sales yield such high profits, Singh resells similarly expensive shoes on a regular basis. He devotes at least two to three hours a day to reselling— time he spends scouting out shoes to buy, getting the newly released sneakers, and marketing them online.

He is far from the only reseller at Blair.

A growing number of students use social media and reselling sites like Depop and StockX to sell items ranging from shoes to old clothes to textbooks. Some, like Singh, go out of their way to find things to resell; others offer items they bought for themselves but no longer use.

Sophomore Paula Kloehn is one of those who sells her own clothing. A few months ago, she noticed one of her favorite influencers reselling on Depop and decided to follow suit.

For her, reselling is a way to make some money and to counter fast fashion, the wasteful practice of throwing out old outfits when trends change. “It’s just better for the environment not to contribute to fast fashion, and to sell your clothes that you’ve already used,” Kloehn says.

Before selling, though, Kloehn often adds her own touch, embroidering bright patterns on the clothes. “I did this one [pair of jeans] where it was really colorful… for pride month and it was a rainbow,” she says. On another pair, she embroidered waves on the cuffs, and sold it for $40.

Senior Liang Lin, like Kloehn, operates an Instagram account through which she and her friend, senior Jennifer Ren, sell old clothes. This account, however, is new.

Lin has been reselling old books for much longer. “I usually resell AP prep books [and] SAT books that I’ve used in the past that I no longer need,” Lin says.

She sells her books at about half price.

for a cheap way to buy the shoes he wanted. Once he figured out how to get them, he says, “I realized… instead of keeping the shoes, I could sell them and make money myself.”

He struggled at first. “When it started, I was really, really bad at it,” he says. “The first drop I ever went for, it was a Supreme drop… I lost over $200 that day.”

With practice, Singh worked it out.

Today, he earns $1,200 to $1,500 profit monthly.

His next priority is expanding his brand.

“My goal is selling to celebrities,” he says.

“I DM a few celebrities now and then, and they respond back.” Those celebrities include collegiate basketball players and a local rapper.

Junior Ben Finlay, another shoe reseller, approaches promotion differently.

He pays Instagrammers who have larger resell pages to promote his business. “[I] pay them, I don’t know, $20, to post about [my] account,” he says.

Finlay, Singh, and other shoe-resellers at Blair help each other out sometimes.

“We all have a group chat,” Finlay says.

“We share information in there. We’ll sell to each other, sometimes. Make trades and stuff.”

As for the future, it varies. Kloehn wants to continue reselling on the side. Lin has similar plans. Finlay is looking at business school. And Singh?

He hopes to make this his career. He plans to get a college degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, just in case this falls through, but his real goal is to hire people and start his own reselling business. “Instead of $1,500 profit a month, [I want to] change it to $3,000, $4,000 profit a month,” Singh says. “Basically make it a liveable feature.”

November 14, 2019

Features D6

silverchips

Diverse but divided

Blair’s hallways are rich with diversity, but separations along racial lines remain

By Oliver Goldman Staff Writer Blair is widely recognized for its diverse student body. Niche.com, an online academic ranking site, gives it an A+ rating for diversity and lists it as the most diverse public high school in Maryland.

Colors, cultures, and experiences of all kinds abound as you walk down Blair Boulevard. According to statistics compiled by MCPS in 2017-18, of the 3,083 students enrolled at Blair, 33.9 percent were Hispanic, 23.8 percent were Black, 22.5 percent were White, 15.1 percent were Asian, and the remaining 4.7 percent identified with another race.

“You can find any type of person from any background, and that’s notable and great about this school,” senior Sadie Groberg says.

Cultures and experiences are shared throughout the school in club settings and at events like Sankofa, a performance students put on every February to celebrate Black History Month.

However, students also say that the wealth of diversity at Blair paves the way for complex racial issues.

Junior Mihret Asfaw expresses that Blair’s diversity in numbers doesn’t translate to intermingling between races. “I think Blair is pretty diverse, but people do tend to self-segregate,” she says. “If you see in the lunchrooms, there’s a group of White kids sitting here, a group of Black kids sitting [there] and Hispanics sitting [elsewhere].”

Senior Sadie Groberg agrees.

“Everyone’s there, but not everyone’s interacting,” she says. She points to social comfort zones when considering the root of these divisions. “Certain people are comfortable with different things… [and] a lot of people just go through high school without really considering who they’re hanging out with,” she adds.

SHASHI ARNOLD

Senior Noa Dorah puts the limit of her comfort zone bluntly.

“I wouldn’t walk up to a group of white kids and be like ‘that’s who I want to be friends with’ because that’s just not a comfortable situation for me,” Dorah says.

Students notice that social separations along racial lines are pronounced outside the cafeteria too, such as in classroom settings.

“Even in demographically diverse classrooms, there [are] still major

racial lines between every race,” senior Jonathan Jeffrey says. “You’ll find that races gravitate towards each other, even in classrooms that have every kind of person.”

Leslie Blaha, a biology teacher and the AP program coordinator, feels that separations within classrooms exist because students develop their social circles in elementary and middle school, making it harder to branch out in high school. “I notice, in my classes, kids already have a social group and it’s hard to insert yourself into one if you’re not already part of it,” she says.

Students at Blair participate in a variety of clubs and student organizations, ranging from Cybersecurity Club, to South Asian Dance Fusion Club, to Young Republicans Club.

Of this wide-ranging list, many address race and minority groups.

Clubs and groups such as Minority Scholars Program, W.E.B. DuBois Honors Society, and BlackCAP create forums for student reflection and critical discussion to tackle this self-segregation.

Even with this profusion of clubs, students are quick to point out that further action needs to be taken. Groberg, a member of OneBlair, explains that sharing out in the club setting seldom translates to impactful action. “Pretty much everyone can give their opinion on race, or on gun control, or segregation, but people aren’t [doing] something productive with it,” she says.

Senior Mary Nkafu, who is not a member of OneBlair but attends their dialogues, also acknowledges that problems persist despite clubs’

efforts. “It’s just like ‘oh, good meeting, good day’ and then we all disperse,” she says. “[We’re] not making a plan to diversify groups in classrooms and in [social circles].”

Asfaw adds that students aren’t joining forces to bridge the divide.

“We’re not working together to do what we want,” she says.

The racial makeup of Blair presents students with a unique opportunity to develop a culturally and racially aware worldview.

According to Queens University of Charlotte, “Studies show that students work better in a diverse environment, enabling them to concentrate and push themselves further when there are people of other backgrounds working around them.”

Jeffrey recognizes this opportunity and hopes that his peers can better realize it. “Most people in America or elsewhere [don’t] have this much diversity [and] don’t have the opportunity as young people to see all these different cultures and

understand people’s differences,” he says. “I think we should take more advantage of our situation than we actually are because we talk about being a diverse school all the time, but we don’t ever do [anything to capitalize on it].”

Blair’s diversity is coveted. Recently there has been an effort to heighten diversity in other high schools in the county. At an MCPS Board of Education meeting in March 2019, students from more than 30 schools advocated for a countywide boundary study with a focus on finding ways to better integrate schools.

Despite this push for diversification, Blair students are aware of the self-segregation that manifests and know that it takes more than just statistical diversity to foster a beneficially diverse learning environment.

Students know more must be done to eradicate self-segregation from within Blair’s walls so that opportunities afforded to them can be better realized.

soapbox

Do you feel that Blair is racially segregated?

“Blair is not racially segregated at all. [At] Blair, there is remarkable diversity in every class and every racial group is represented.”

— Milan Tenn, freshman “Blair is a textbook example of a self-segregated community.”

— Shariar Vaez-Ghaemi, junior

Reading into our books What English teachers hope to communicate through literature

By Ashley Thommana Staff Writer Hidden within the English department office is the book room. Paired with a musky smell, looming stacks of books stand tall on rows of metal shelves. Every shelf houses hundreds of books: Hard-copy, paperback; comics, novels; the classics, the contemporary.

Each book has a unique story and message to share. English teachers have the opportunity to use these very stories to spark a love of reading in their students.

Donna Whitney, an AP English Language and Composition and English 11 teacher, strives to choose books that will teach her students about the innate nature of people. “At the end of the day, a book should teach you about the human condition,” she says.

Additionally, Whitney attempts to foster a passion for literature by including diversity within her chosen texts.

Books, she explains, should not be a window, where students are simply peering into someone else’s life. Instead, they should be mirrors, reflecting the readers. “I want students to see themselves in the books they read,” Whitney says.

Recently, there has been an increase in works by underrepresented authors within MCPS curricula. “We have more diverse texts, [and] more Latino and Asian American writers,” Erika Rao, Honors English 9 and 10 teacher, says.

This movement towards representative and contemporary books has also caused English teachers to reconsider the need for older texts. “The question is: The books that [teachers] grew up on, do they still work for students now?” Andrea Lamphier, the media specialist at Blair says.

Some teachers believe that certain classic books should be required reading. “There are some texts that I think are just essential … books that I see are highly alluded to,” Leigh Tinsley, an AP Language and Composition

and English 12 teacher, says.

Familiarity of these widely known texts, such as The Great Gatsby, according to Tinsley, will give students the skills to better interact and converse with others. “I really want my students to be able to enter mature conversations armed with the knowledge and background [so] that they can be a voice for change,” she says.

Others, like Rao, don’t think that students need to read the classics. “What’s more important is that you get something out of the book that you read,” she claims. “If you love Romeo and Juliet, that’s awesome, but does everyone have to read it? No.” Despite their differing book choices, all teachers strive to make reading enjoyable. For example, Adam Clay, an Honors English 9 and 12 teacher, includes Our Town in his curriculum, noting it gives students a fresh perspective against the broody stereotypes of literature. “Students often complain that books are depressing and sad, and I think Our Town is a way to combat that,” he says.

To encourage reading, some teachers may want to include books they love in their classes because they believe their students will share that passion. “I think when I love something, it translates pretty well for the students,” Tinsley says. “I think I do a better job teaching [a book] if I love it.”

However, teachers can face limitations when choosing books for their classes. “There [are] a lot of restrictions on how we choose books because we only have certain numbers of copies of certain books, and books are expensive,” Tinsley says.

Some books may not even be in the curriculum. Teachers can choose to incorporate a non-MCPS approved book if they are willing to face administrative processes. Tinsley, for example, wanted to teach Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. “I chose [it] because it’s… narrative non-fiction [and] it is about a passion of mine, which is food,” she says.

To teach the book, she had to apply for

MCPS book approval. This process can take several weeks of multiple reviews before a decision is announced. “Five professional staff [within the school]… have to sign [an] approval [indicating] what [the book] will cover, why it is maybe the best example… and whether it might be culturally relevant to more than one group,” Lamphier says.

The process continues after staff have signed the approval. “The staff member who wants the material… sends a hard copy of the book to this 30-day evaluation room… where [the central office] discuss the merits of the book,” Lamphier adds.

Once MCPS approves the book, it is up to the teachers to create a relevant curriculum.

“There is a lot of work that you have to do [when teaching a new book] because you have to create all the materials for it,” says Rao. Regardless of the books they choose, Blair English teachers hope to inspire their students through literature. “I want to teach citizens of the world, not just the writing strategies, the reading comprehension strategies, [or] figurative language,” Whitney says.

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November 14, 2019

silverchips

Why so serious?

KAREN YANG

A look into the controversy surrounding Joker

By Ayush Dutta Staff Writer Since its first screenings in festivals in Toronto, New York, and Venice, Todd Phillips’ Joker has been deemed dangerous and irresponsible by critics around the world, leaving it banned by multiple American theater chains. Despite the outrage, Joker makes an important statement on the deteriorating state of mental illness treatment.

Released on Oct. 4, Joker follows Arthur

Fleck, a mentally-ill, failing comedian in a 1970’s Gotham. He sleeps on the couch in his sickly mother’s run-down, one-bedroom apartment, with no social life outside of his colleagues at his clown-for-hire day job.

Fleck suffers from several mental conditions, one of which causes him to break into fits of laughter for no apparent reason.

After being mocked and harassed for his illness by three rich businessmen on a subway, Fleck snaps and murders them. These killings set off a chain of chaos in Gotham,

eventually causing the lower-class to revolt against the rich, with Fleck heading the movement.

Some critics have found this perceived glorification of a mentally-ill murderer to be dangerous, as they believe it might encourage viewers who live similar lives to Fleck to follow in his footsteps. “[The film is] a dangerous manifesto for radical and lonely White men who may look to Arthur Fleck’s deranged descent into the Joker of comic-book lore as heroic instead of villainous,” says Kathleen Newman-Bremang, an Entertainment writer for Refinery29.

Junior Will Thorne took to his Instagram story to post about the film writing, “This movie was an offensive glorification of White domestic terrorism that shouldn’t have been made. Save your money.’’ He also said, “[Joker] was the protagonist ...I don’t know if they were supposed to be satisfied or disturbed. I was personally disturbed.”

Joker is a gritty yet real representation of the declining state of mental health treatment in the United States. In President Trump’s 2018 Fiscal Year Budget Proposal, the Mental Health sub-section of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which improves the availability of government treatment centers, faced a $253 million cut. Treatment will stop and thousands of patients will be forced to cope with their illnesses The film gives viewers an exaggerated version of the consequences of this, with Fleck committing his string of murders after his therapy sessions are abruptly ended.

Other reviews have taken the discussion of the film’s social implications a step further, calling Joker “a movie that paints mass murder as the logical conclusion of a socially isolated, debatably neurodivergent White man being failed by the system” and “a toxic rallying cry for self-pitying incels.”

Just a couple days before the release, credible threats of violence were found in forums notorious for threats of violence by incels. In light of this information, the FBI released a statement warning viewers about the potential risk of a mass shooting in theaters. “The FBI, DHS, and (National Counterterrorism Center) remain concerned that the volume of threatening language may lead to lone offender violence,” read a bulletin posted by the FBI. It should be noted that this bulletin was posted before the release of the film, and concern was purely based on speculation.

In 2012, at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater airing The Dark Knight Rises, a lone gunman opened fire killing 12 people and injuring 70. The theater, along with other national chains, chose not to air Joker at all, out of respect for the victims’ families and survivors. With a mass shooting already present in the Batman Universe, it is only fair for critics to turn to violence as the perceived first impact of the film.

Though Joker tells the story of a villain, the connotation caused many to believe they were supposed to idolize the Joker. Director Todd Phillips said in an interview with NDTV, “I think if you’re seeing [the movie] as glorifying [the Joker], you might be looking at it wrong.”

Warner Brothers also stated the public release, “It is not the intention of the film, the filmmakers or the studio to hold [Joker] up as a hero.”

The reaction of critics, many who hadn’t even seen the film before labeling it “irresponsible propaganda,” was extremely hurtful to the film’s reputation.

Thus, a film with a very real and relevant message about the state of mental health treatment in our nation was taken grossly out of proportion and dubbed as an intentional manifesto for incels and White supremacists.

soapbox

Does the premise and plot of the Joker encourage/condone violence? Should the movie have been censored?

“I don’t think anything should be censored especially if it’s already rated R. The viewers should be mature enough to watch it.”

“I saw the Joker on opening night, and I can definetly say that while the movie contained sensitive content and horrible violence, it did not encourage anything.”

“I don’t think the Joker condones violence but I do think it makes having a mental illness seem like a joke.”

— Heidy Flores, Senior

— Lucca Kemp, Senior

— Valeria Paiz, Freshman

‘Tales From 1,001 Nights’ is set up for success Blair’s fall play is an awe-inspiring display of talent

By Charlie Wiebe Staff Writer Tales From 1,001 Nights blends comedy and drama to provide an intimate and entertaining experience. Directed by Kelly and John O’Connor, the show opens Nov. 14 in the Alumni Auditorium at Montgomery Blair High School, and will be performed through Nov. 23.

Kelly O’Connor highlights the importance of strong female leads in performing arts.

“It’s a great adventure story with one of the best female roles in world literature,” she said.

In the story, Shahryar, a Persian king played by Oliver Goldman (a staff writer on Silver Chips) and David Diouf, marries a new woman everyday only to kill them the following morning to prevent them from becoming unfaithful. When Shahrazad, his advisor’s daughter, played by Alanna Sibrian and Hemi Gordy, offers to be his next bride, she attempts to survive by beginning to tell Shahryar stories before they go to bed, only to end the tales on cliffhangers so that the storytelling may pick up the following night.

These tales are performed as shorter productions within the play, and are often re-enactments of various well-known Middle Eastern folk stories, including Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.

Senior Lena Ruther, who plays Dinarzad, Shahrazad’s younger sister, explains that there is an underlying theme of human responsibility within the play. “It tells an important message… that people can change, but you have to hold people accountable for their actions,” she said.

The cast and crew began preparations in September, and are optimistic about the final product. “It’s a really good show, there are a lot of really funny moments,” Ruther said.

Actors began training by learning their blocking—where they should stand on stage— and memorizing their lines. The cast members must pay careful attention to detail when learning their movements in order to give everyone in the audience the best possible view. The opening dance, for example, consists of nearly the entire cast, and all actors on

stage must be visible to the entire audience.

Stage crew director Brandon Crabtree took notice of the precision actors must use on stage. “The cast has done a really good job of keeping focused and now that we’ve gotten past [distractions], I think we’re in a really good spot right now,” he said.

The actors aren’t the only ones hard at

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work; stage crew has their hands full creating platforms, doorways, and arches that fit the many different settings of the play, as well as developing massive animal puppets that will be manned by some of the actors during the show. Additionally, they must paint and cover the enormous set in decorations.

“The painting is going to be really beautiful,” Kelly O’Connor said.“It is a feast for the eyes.”

Additionally, the crew is creating a blackbox to surround the stage. This unique stage set-up lets the audience sit closer to the actors and experience a more up-close and personal show.

“The blackbox setting is a very fun, intimate experience for the audience… as opposed to when we used to do straight plays where the audience was in the auditorium seating and were very removed from the stage,” Crabtree said.

Stage crew members are also responsible for lighting the stage appropriately.

Junior Kanayo Duru, who handles lighting with senior Anna Buffalini, explains that changing the lighting in order to adapt to the actors’ movements is the most challenging part for him in bringing the show together. “[The hardest part is] trying to illuminate those areas that people are standing in as they change around and move around on the stage.”

Cast and crew members alike praise each others’ capabilities, proving how connected this team of students is.

“We have a lot of talented people on both cast and crew and they really worked hard for this, and I think it’s going to go really well,” Duru said.

Tickets for the performance may be purchased by students for $7 or $10 for general admission in the attendance office or through a link on the school’s website.

November 14, 2019 International Newsbriefs ISIS leader alBaghdadi is killed in American airstrike After years of searching, the American Delta Force and 75th Ranger Regiment captured and killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi on Oct. 26.

Though President Trump ordered military troops to withdraw from territory in Syria and Iraq twenty days prior, the CIA, Iraqi and Kurdish intelligence forces continued to investigate patterns in the routes and villages that alBaghdadi visited.

An inside ISIS operative provided proof of the ISIS leader’s presence and sent U.S. forces a description of the layout where al-Baghdadi was located. He was found in the Idlib province, a section of Syria still controlled by rebel Syrian opposition groups.

When the intelligence troops launched the airstrike, military dogs cornered al-Baghdadi in a dead-end tunnel beneath the compound. The ISIS leader detonated an explosive vest when one of the dogs charged, killing himself and his children.

Kurdish fighters withdraw from border after Turkish offensive On Oct. 9, Turkish forces launched an airstrike and group offensive against the Kurds, striking six different Kurdish towns.

It was a highly-anticipated assault after President Trump pulled American troops out of Syria three days prior, leaving Kurdish fighters vulnerable to attack.

Afraid that Kurdish fighters were gaining influence near the Turkish border, Turkey planned to push the Kurds back and establish a 20-mile deep “safe zone,” a demilitarized area meant to act as a buffer.

The president’s decision to withdraw troops was highly controversial as the Kurdish fighters were American allies against ISIS. Feeling abandoned, they turned to Russia for protection, leading to a Russian-Turkish agreement of a temporary ceasefire. This gave the Kurds 150 hours to evacuate from the 20-mile zone surrounding the border.

This tension between Turkey and Kurdish fighters is a continuation of decades of violence. The Kurds are an indigenous group in Turkey and Syria that have been fighting for an autonomous homeland for decades, wishing to escape the persecution that they’ve faced in these nations. Though the warfare has temporarily calmed, the Kurds warn that they cannot prioritize the war with ISIS.

International Newsbriefs compiled by Emilie Vigliotta

silverchips

Culture E2

‘We want Silento!’

Student reactions to Principal Johnson disabling her Instagram comments

By Rekha Leonard Staff Writer

Students eagerly awaited the moment Silento would grace Blazer Stadium in all of his “Whip/Nae Nae” glory. A chart-topping rapper best known for his 2015 debut single “Watch Me,” Silento was a major blast from the past for Blazers; needless to say, Blair students were anticipating his performance at the High School Nation assembly. That is, until everything came crashing down.

The night before the High School Nation assembly, Principal Renay Johnson announced on her Instagram that there was a “small change to the artist lineup.” The new headliner would be Kerri Medders, an alternative/indie artist from Texas. Immediately, annoyed students flooded Johnson comments—asking asking for Silento, criticizing Medders, and demanding an explanation for the change.

Students, upset by the sudden change in headliner, felt their excitement for the event drastically diminish at the issue of a few casual words from Johnson on Instagram. “Students were probably pretty mad about it because they were expecting to see Silento, an internet sensation from 2015,” junior Conrad Bohn said.

“Everyone got super hyped up and then she completely turned around on that promise.”

The barrage of comments continued into the following hours with no signs of letting up until Johnson made a decision that would quickly turn into a major controversy: She disabled her comment section.

Johnson’s actions made some students feel like she was silencing their voices. “Silento not coming was pretty bad, but when you stop students from telling you what they

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want, it really shows that you don’t really care what the students have to say,” junior Karandeep Singh said.

Johnson said she disabled the comments to protect Medders

soapbox Do you think that Ms. Johnson should be allowed to block commenters on her Instagram?

“Ms. Johnson should not be allowed to block commenters on her Instagram because comments are a way for people to show their views and give feedback on the topics she posts about. If she blocks people, she is silencing them and their opinions” — Zoe Schoeneman-Frye, sophmore

Alumni of note

By Simran Thakkar Staff Writer

from the hate she was receiving from students on the post. “Kerri is performing, but Kerri has done nothing. She deserves respect, and it looks like [students] are bullying her,” Johnson said. “Her mother even reached out to me and said, ‘You know, I don’t know if we want to perform here. She’s never experienced that kind of backlash.’ I’m like, that’s not Blair. We’re so tolerant of everyone. We don’t care who you are, just come and learn.”

Johnson’s move to protect Medders by disabling her Instagram comments proved ineffective, however. After Johnson prevented students from commenting on her post, students took their anger elsewhere, most notably to Medders’ own Instagram. “The thing is, [Principal Johnson] disabling the comments on her own post doesn’t really do that much because instead, everyone turned to Kerri Medders’ recent post and commented there, which I feel is even worse for Kerri,” senior Jennifer Ren, a manager of the mbhs4 Instagram account, said.

While Johnson had a valid reason for disabling the comments in wanting to protect Medders, she didn’t have to take such extreme measures. Instead of silencing all students’ voices on her post, Johnson could have replied to student’s comments or at least explained why she felt the need to disable the comments when she did.

Bohn was not completely swayed by Johnson’s response.

“That is definitely a fair point of view, but I personally believe, if you’re going to be a public per-

civil and environmental engineering. She would go on to become the CEO of CH2M Hill, one of the largest engineering firms in the country, and one of the only women CEOs of a Fortune 500 company.

Since high school, Hinman knew that she wanted to be an engineer. “The old Blair was on Sligo Creek, and we actually had an environmental club that I was a part of. At that time, in the late 1970s, people were just starting to talk about industries that polluted and what you had to do about pollution because the idea of pollution wasn’t that well known,” she said. “What inspired me was thinking about what I could do to make the world better.”

Although she was inspired by her childhood home and community, Hinman doesn’t feel as associated to Blair as other alumni.

EDSON ORELLANA “I don’t [feel] that connected. My

very best friend from high school As Jackie Crenca Hinman is still my very best friend today… walked into Blair for the school’s [but] it’s hard to remain connected eighty-fifth anniversary celebration, through time,” she said. she had no idea what to expect. “What I will say is that we had Since moving to Colorado, she had our fortieth reunion [on Nov. 1], not had the time to visit the new so I saw a lot of people and while school.

I haven’t remained connected to Hinman graduated Blair in them, we all picked up like we 1979, before attending Pennsyl- hadn’t left each vania State University to major in other 40 years earlier.”

sonality like [Medders is], you’re going to have to have somewhat of a tough skin,” Bohn said. “Because she claims to be a personality, I don’t think that was a good reason to turn [the comments] off.”

Although filtering through hundreds of angry comments would have been time-consuming for Johnson, this situation warranted time as students had such strong opinions. “I think she should have left the comment section open because I feel like her Instagram is supposed to be just a platform where students can express their ideas and opinions and really provide their feedback,” Ren said.

“I think she should have just explained what was going on better.”

Overall, Johnson likely would have received a much better reaction from students if she had been more transparent about the situation. This can be seen in how the mbhs4 administrators, including Ren, reacted when Johnson brought them to her office and explained her reasoning for disabling the comments. “I called them down and they were just really cool about [it. They were saying], Ms. Johnson, yeah, you’re right. That’s not our way and she doesn’t deserve this,’” Johnson said.

Blazers were in the wrong for harassing Medders, but Johnson was also wrong in her handling of the situation. Johnson should have explained to students why their comments warranted such an extreme reaction on her part. Perhaps if Johnson had provided an outlet for students to express their frustration, they would not have been so harsh towards Medders.

Now that Johnson has witnessed the extensive impact of her Instagram on students, she should be more careful in her handling of the account in the future.

For more information about

the High School Nation event, see “Arts advocacy assembly faces backlash” on page A1.

“Ms. Johnson should be allowed to block comments on Instagram [because] people who seek attention and try to misuse [the] public platform can damage the image of Blair more than the idea of [her] stopping them.”

— Phillip Wu, junior

Craig Rice

Jackie Crenca Hinman

EDSON ORELLANA

Craig Rice still remembers his only electoral defeat—a race for a leadership position in Blair’s Student Government Association.

Despite this stain on his otherwise perfect electoral record, Rice has only love for his alma mater.

Rice graduated from Blair’s Magnet Program in 1990 before attending the University of Illinois to major in Aerospace Engineering.

He then transferred to University of Maryland, College Park where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in Computer Science.

In 2010, Rice became the youngest Black official to be voted into the Montgomery County Council.

In 2013, he was appointed by his fellow councilmembers to be the council’s president for one year.

He was reelected to the council in 2014.

Graduating from Blair’s Magnet Program helped Rice understand the inequality in schools across the county. “It made me realize, especially being in the Magnet, that there were still disparities between what some kids have and other kids [don’t],” Rice explained. “So that led me to much of the work I do now, which is crusading around, building more opportunities for students.”

Being a part of the Council has helped Rice remain connected to the Blair community. With many of his former classmates still in the area, he sees or works with them frequently. “I see a lot of them often; I work with my former vice-principal [from when I was at Blair, Judith Docca]. She’s now on the school board and I’m on the county council, so we work hand in hand,” he said. “Montgomery County is such a great place, that a lot of people tend to go off for school and still come back or go to school here and stay.”

Scan QR code for a video about the alumni

E3 Culture

silverchips

November 14, 2019

Feeling puzzled? Ask Google

Following a puzzle fanatic’s journey from Blair to Google

SHASHI ARNOLD

By Clark Zhang Staff Writer Was it spelled “envrioment”?

Or “evniroment”? Or “enrvioment”? Let’s ask Google.

With the tap of a few keys and the click of a button, Google analyzes the intended meaning of the words in this search, matches them to billions of potentially relevant results on the web, ranks them based on what is most helpful, and, in 0.81 seconds, about 4,890,000,000 results pop up in a neatly-organized page—all next to a little link which reads, “Did you mean: environment?”

One of the people behind the search engine that has become so integral to our lives—whether it be finding the correct spelling of words, Pride and Prejudice Sparknotes, or tips on how to write a college essay—is Wei-Hwa Huang.

Huang spent much of his childhood traveling for his fam-

ily’s work. By the time he reached eighth grade, Huang had lived in five states and two countries.

Settling in Maryland, Huang dove into MathCounts, a national middle school mathematics competition, earning a position on the Maryland state team. “Everyone else was from Takoma Park and they were like, ‘Who is this kid?,’” Huang says. Seeing his potential, his math coach recommended that he apply for the Montgomery Blair Magnet Program.

Huang was accepted and found solace in solving problems on Blair’s math team and coding in Blair’s computer science club.

However, Huang’s greatest adolescent achievements stemmed from his passion for puzzles.

Huang’s interest in puzzling and board games took roots early in his youth. “I liked board games as a kid, but I always played [them] with myself and imagined what it might be like to play with other people,” Huang said. Unbeknownst to his younger self, his wish would soon be realized.

In his junior year, Huang became one of four members on the U.S. team for the World Puzzle Championship and had won the championship four times by his college graduation. Even now, he is “in the top six or seven [puzzle solvers] in the country,” Huang said.

On top of his puzzling, Huang picked up even more extracurriculars during his time at the California Institute of Technology. He participated in the Putnam Math

Competition, a prestigious national math competition for undergraduates, and was awarded the rank of Putnam Fellow (given to the top five competitors the country) in his freshman year.

By the end of his freshman year, Huang had gained clout within the small school and was approached by a fellow student who was running for the position of school newspaper editor. With a team of five, Huang and his fellow students won the election. “I thought I was just going to do the computer-y stuff, like layout and choosing the typeface,” Huang said.

However, as the pressure from schoolwork fell upon fellow editors, one by one, Huang saw his team members quit the newspaper, drop out of school, or transfer. Soon, Huang found himself the sole editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. He felt his academic career suffered greatly from his commitment to the newspaper, but “some amount of pride kept me from giving up,” Huang said.

After graduating from CalTech, a friend from Huang’s high school math competition days reached out and landed him a job in California. “I was probably the 500th employee in this small startup that was challenging these search engine giants like Yahoo, trying for a search

engine that actually gave good results,” Huang said. This startup was Google.

LD

O RN

IA

H AS

SH

Starting in the search quality division, Huang focused on improving the relevance of search results, specifically building the foundations of auto-correct. “Adding features where the search engine could guess at [that], maybe you didn’t actually mean to spell it this way or add spaces this way, was something… we had to solve,” Huang said.

From there, Huang helped integrate Google Search with East Asian languages, prevent bot spamming, and even wrote a series of 27 elaborate online puzzles to promote the movie The Da Vinci

Code.

As the company grew in size, the environment that originally drew Huang to Google began to fall away, such as the sense of community being replaced with corporate hierarchies. “When I joined Google, you could just walk over to the head of engineering and just chat about stuff,” he said.

After the The Da Vinci Code project ended, Huang wished for more puzzle projects and “didn’t enjoy as much the other normal programming-type things.”

At the same time, the company relocated, extending Huang’s commute time from 10 minutes to 90. “My productivity was low, my morale was low, and that’s when I left,” he said.

Now, over eleven years after leaving Google, Huang hasn’t taken up another job. Instead, he “spend[s] time turning [his] hobbies of puzzle design and game design into fun projects.” He has authored books on puzzle creation, published his crosswords on the New York Times, designed award-winning board games, and corresponded on Blair’s very own Puzzlepalooza puzzle hunt. With the royalty checks from his games and investments in Google, Huang currently lives comfortably with his wife in San Jose, California, taking care of their two-year-old twins, Titus and Zwyla.

November 14, 2019

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November 14, 2019

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COURTESY OF WEBSUDOKU

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November 14, 2019

Archives

Archives E6

Compiled by Mira Diamond-Berman and Prayag Gordy

In Silver Chips’ 82nd year, we will continue the tradition of our dear predecessors by going through our archives and finding the best, most timely, and most local stories. Without further ado, our favorites...

Love Is Grand But… May 3, 1951

In the springtime a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. But do these thoughts have to be turned into action on the school grounds? What romance is there in kissing your best girl or beau in front of several hundred other people?

A couple that cuddles in front of their classmates in school appears to have little respect for each other. They cheapen themselves by leaving the semblance of doubt in the minds of their observers that if they do this in school, what do they do when they are elsewhere?

They also cast an unfavorable reflection upon their parents by showing a lack of sound home training. Many parents would be shocked if they saw their offspring in action in the halls.

Actions speak louder than words. The impression of Blair that is left with outsiders is the students’ responsibility.

Think twice about love making on school grounds. Love may be blind but other people are not!

Printed Paper Preferred By Students In Recent Poll October 28, 1940

The old adage that nothing can be obtained for nothing seems to have made an impression on high school students.

In a recent poll, sponsored by the 12 LA1 English Class of Montgomery Blair High School, the student body was questioned as to the kind of school newspaper it wanted, if any.

Of the students questioned, only 4.9 percent stated that they did not want any type of newspaper. Of those who wanted a school paper, over 77 percent preferred to pay for a printed newspaper, rather than have a free mimeographed one.

In the matter of payment, 35 percent of the students who wanted a printed paper preferred to pay by the issue, a little over 31 percent preferred to pay by the year, 22 percent by the semester, 7.3 percent by the month, and 1.4 percent desired to pay every two months.

From the above information, one finds that about 65 percent of the students who answered the payment question desire to pay for the paper in one

or several installments rather than by the issue. Four hundred and twentynine students answered the question as to whether or not they would be willing to pay about four cents per issue for a printed newspaper. Of these students over 99 percent stated that they would be willing to pay this amount.

This questionnaire gave indications which guided the newspaper staff in their final decisions governing this year’s Silver Chips. However, the price was raised over the stated in the questionnaire in order to enable the staff to build up a reserve fund, and to use more pictures than formerly.

In summarizing the results of this poll, we find that the majority of students desire a school newspaper, and are willing to pay for a printed paper rather than a mimeographed one. The students were fairly evenly divided as to the type of payment plan they would support, and almost unanimously were willing to pay about four cents per issue for a printed paper.

Hygiene Program To Begin Soon, States Miss Lippy November 19, 1953

“No girls who are not taking physical education classes will be able to attend hygiene classes this year,” recently announced Miss June Lippy.

At the request of parents and students, hygiene classes were held last year for all girls–whether they took physical education or not. The classes proved satisfactory but will be discontinued this year because there are not enough teachers to accommodate the large enrollment of girls.

Miss Lippy, who is head of the girls’ physical education program, said that classes will begin about November 30, and will continue all winter.

The course, which will be taught twice a week, will include safety and first aid for sophomores and personal adjustment and social hygiene for juniors. The courses taught to senior girls are personal adjustment, marriage, and family relationships.

November 14, 2019

silverchips

F1 Sports

Performing at the next level

Blazers continuing their athletic path to college and beyond

By Abby Brier Staff Writer The fascinating stories of former Blazers are hidden in plain sight. A walk through the Alumni Auditorium or Alumni Hall of Fame reveals stories of the most notable Blazers, from groundbreaking journalists to Olympic champions. Among these famous names of distinguished Blazers are former athletes who competed in red and white, carrying the Blazer name with pride.

Whether it is the desire to break records or pure passion for the sport, some of these former competitors have been inspired to play in college and even major league teams after their time at Blair.

Record-breaking Blazers

Occasionally, high goal-setting and personal motivation enables some Blair athletes to exceed prior Blazer records. Cedric Boatman, a former Blair basketball player, is a prime example. Though he only started playing at age 12 and experienced physical injuries, his Blair record for rebounds still holds today.

“Once I became really good at [rebounding] and started developing an art for it, there was no stopping me,” he says.

Class of 2018 graduate Courtney Wyche, who pitched for Blair’s varsity softball team relied on her family and friends for support to achieve new records. During her time at Blair, Wyche prioritized academics, encouraged team bonding, and recorded 256 strikeouts, qualifying her to become runner up Maryland Gatorade player of the year. Wyche’s determination contributed to a team effort in earning a winning record of 15-4, the best season record in Blair history.

Reaching for recruitment

The heralded success of both Wyche and Boatman in high school was bound to draw attention, specifically from colleges looking to add talented athletes to their rosters. But before the triumph of Division One (D1) commitments and official signings came the arduous process of recruitment.

For Wyche, the journey began in middle school. Wyche received her first offer from the University of Missouri before her freshman year of high school.

“The coach was like, ‘I want you to come play for University of Missouri,’ [and] offered me a full scholarship,” she says. “I’m just sitting there like, ‘What is college, I haven’t even stepped foot in high school yet!’”

For Morgan Casey, a former twelve-season Blair runner, recruiting began later in her high school sports experience. During her time at Blair, recruiters were prohibited from contacting students prior to their junior year. Beginning her junior year, recruitment letters flooded into Casey’s hands, and a few offers from D1 schools inspired her to push herself even harder. “If I am being reached out [to] by these D1 schools,” she says, “then why not try to get there?”

With the use of online platforms, recruiters from far across the country were able to look into Casey as a potential athlete for their teams.

However, for Boatman in 1975, the lack of recruitment websites, videos, and social media accounts forced recruiters to turn to local papers to scout talented youth. “I think… that because of technology, there’s more exposure—we didn’t have that,” he says. “We had the newspaper back then… your local news, if you made that, you [were] saying something.”

College careers For athletes, transitioning to college presents unique challenges such as physical adjustment to weather conditions or new weekend sleep schedules. Kara Madden, a former Blair softball player who went on to play for Emmanuel College, described the physical changes to game play after moving from Maryland to Boston. “Adjusting to have to play with three layers of under armor on instead of only one—learning to have your body adjust to that—could seem miniscule but actually made a huge difference,” she says.

Also forced to adapt to a new lifestyle, Boatman refocused on basketball alone after years of playing three sports. “I only played one sport [in college],” he says. “The money they [are] giving to you in that particular sport, that’s what you play.”

Other difficulties faced by all college freshman can also threaten athletes’ commitment to their sports.

In comparison to high school, the increased amount of leisure time in college allows students the freedom to participate in more activities and events that can disrupt their studies if they manage their time poorly. “[College comes with] a lot more down time where you can get distracted by the social life if you so choose to,” Wyche says.

The missed parties, club meetings, and casual hangouts caused by the time commitment of sports can impact relationships in the lives of athletes. Many athletes let their sport form their friend groups for them, relying on teammates to become close friends.

Matthew Siff, currently a quar-

COURTESY OF MORGAN CASEY

MILES GROVIC

ALUMNI VIP RECEPTION: Former basketball player Cedric Boatman visits Blair on Nov. 2, 34 years after graduation.

COURTESY OF MORGAN CASEY

ABOVE: Casey, pictured fourth from the left, hoists the trophy in the air after winning the Down County Consortium girls’ cross country meet in the fall of 2017, her senior year.

COURTESY OF MORGAN CASEY

ABOVE: Casey running the 800m at 2018 4A North Regionals during her senior year at Blair. RIGHT: Wyche pitching for UMD against Mt. Saint Mary’s in September of her college freshman year. terback at Grinnell College, allowed sports to guide his social life to create lasting bonds with his high school teammates. “[Playing a sport] kept me busy a lot of the time, but also allowed me to make a lot of new friendships I still have today because of football,” he says.

Although the social aspects of sports can forge a path to lasting bonds, many athletes value a balance of outside interests and relationships along with their passion for sports. “My parents made sure that I had a healthy diet, made sure that [I] didn’t just put everything into [improving athletic performance] and I always played other sports and did other things, so I didn’t [only] play basketball,” Boatman says.

Friendships, formed both inside and outside the team, are often a large source of support and motivation for athletes. For Wyche, the value of friendship lies in a friend’s respect for her commitment to reaching her dream. “[If] you have practice or you have workouts and they’re begging you to miss that to go to the mall, then they need to be cut out of your circle because they’re not [going to] help push you to that next level that you know you can achieve,” Wyche says.

Aspirations Unwilling to let go of a life-long passion, many former Blair athletes hope to continue participating in their sport past college through coaching, journalism, or even on professional or Olympic teams.

Madden has decided to stop playing but hopes to pursue coaching as a way to stay connected to softball.

This past summer she coached Takoma Fire, the same travel team she played on for years as a child.

“I started playing when I was eight, and I basically graduated with them.

I played until the summer after my freshman year of college,” she says.

Siff has also decided to step back from game play after he graduates from college, hoping to encourage youth through coaching. “I would love to coach in high school or in college at this point,” he says.

Casey, who is currently the sports editor of the UMBC newspaper, aspires to stay connected to running through sports journalism. “I have a dream of going to the Olympics,” she says. “But to cover them, not to run.”

Despite the diverging paths of her career goal and athletic passion, Casey expects to run longer races and join track clubs to fulfill her competitive drive. “I definitely want

COURTESY OF COURTNEY WYCHE

to be a lifelong runner. I definitely want to try to compete beyond college, like joining a track club,” she says.

Wyche hopes to participate in the National Pro Fastpitch league, a lifelong dream that she continues to pursue on a daily basis. “I have to constantly remind myself that the dream I have is sitting right in front of me,” she says. “I control my own destiny.”

Wyche also wants to compete at the Olympic level and motivates herself with the prospective feeling of accomplishment if she makes it that far. “The significance is knowing that I get to represent my country, with the USA symbol on my… chest, and pitch against some of the best in the country,” she says.

Wherever these athletes end up, one thing is clear: Their experience as Blair athletes has left a lasting effect on their characters and careers.

34 years later, the drive and determination that schools demand of their athletes continues to affect Boatman. “[Perseverance in sports] built character, it gave me an understanding about myself that I don’t want to give up, I want to push harder,” he says. “It’s helped me with a lot of things in life: I always push through, regardless of what the obstacle is.”

silverchips

November 14, 2019

Sports F2

Behind the battle

The history and culture surrounding the Battle of the Boulevard

By Khayla Robinson Staff Writer

Northwood, or other schools within the county.

Generally, the most hyped rivalries are with other schools that are farther away like Sherwood or Paint Branch, mainly because of

High school rivalries—practically every school has them, whether it is against a school miles away or one right up the street. Rivalries normally add on to the high school experience, showcasing school spirit while appreciating sports teams. Sometimes the rivalries become over-the-top, characterized by trash talking and taunting from the stands. But the reason for rivalries always lies in the history of the school. At Blair, one of the well-known football rivalries is with the school right down University Boulevard—Northwood.

When two rivaling schools come together, a battle is bound to occur. In this case, it is the Battle of the Boulevard.

Although many Blazers have heard the term in the hallways or

When two rivaling schools come together, a battle is bound to occur. on social media, the “Battle of the Boulevard” has a history that is often left untold. Through the 1970s to 1990s, Blair’s main rivals were BCC and Springbrook, but after Blair moved to its current location in 1998, Northwood became the main rival. Ever since Northwood reopened in 2004, competition over which school will run Univer-

sity Boulevard has persisted.

While the rivalry has existed for over a decade, the origin of the phrase’s emergence is not completely clear. One veteran teacher, who has been at Blair for 30 years, first heard the term over the intercom, but was also told that former football coach Andrew Fields coined the phrase.

“When I first started hearing it, it was over the announcements years ago,” former Health Education and Physical Education teacher John MacDonald says.

“How that phrase was actually invented, I don’t know. Mr. Nosoff said that Dr. Fields did it, he was football coach before; but I think it’s a catchy phrase.”

But the connection between the origin of the phrase’s name and the reason for why the battle started comes from the fact that both schools are within close proximity. “We don’t always have rivalries with the other schools because we don’t consistently play them,” Athletic Director Rita Boule says. “But we’ve consistently played Northwood… because we’re so close in distance.”

But the Blair vs Northwood rivalry also comes from the fact that students from both schools know each other, creating a connection between familiar faces. “You figure you’re probably going to see some friends at the game, or know people are playing,” Health and Foundations of Technology teacher Michael Rothman says.

Since 2013, Blair has dominated Northwood in football, with a cumulative score of 329-29. This causes the battle to become less of a two-sided competition, and instead, more of a one-sided beat-

SEOYOUNG JOO

down. Because of this winning consistency, most Blazers conclude that Blair will win, shifting their attention from the battle altogether.

This attitude creates a mix of opinions on who our rivals truly are:

the energy at each football game. “From being on the football staff several years out of the last five or six years, I can tell you that [games against] Sherwood… [are] kind of heated,” Rothman says. “Now,

Fueling the inferno

we haven’t beaten them, [but] there have been some really close games… That feels a little bit like a rivalry just because… we’re in the same playoff division. Same thing with Paint Branch.”

When it comes to competing against DCC schools, like Kennedy, Einstein, or Wheaton, the mindset tends to boils down to pride. Since 2013, Blair has beaten every DCC school until Einstein’s 21-0 win this season on Oct. 4, a Blazer defeat that came as a shock to many. “One of the things I took a lot of pride in—and I think we still take a lot of pride in— is during my time here, we have never lost to a DCC school,” Fields says. “It was a big surprise, I think, to the entire county, but certainly to Blair [when Einstein won]… because that was the first time a DCC team had beat us [since 2013].”

Aside from the reactions that rivalries receive, the main purpose behind a rivalry is about having fun, supporting Blazers, and showing school spirit. “Personally, I think it’s a fun little rivalry that they have going, even though it’s usually one-sided,” varsity football player Ricardo Villars Jr. says.

“Just the aspect of it and the name is nice, and usually when the two schools play each other, both sides of the crowd are very crowded. It’s a good atmosphere.

Blazer Ragers promote red hot spirit and a unified school Friday Nights, as the Blazer Ragers bring support to as many teams as they can. “We really want to make an impact on how many people show out to girls soccer, boys socWalking down Blair Boulevard cer, volleyball, [and] handball,” on a fall Friday, one can spot the Davis-Mercer says. huge banner flying from the second Occupying the stands with spirfloor staircase with a weekly mesited Blazers was extremesage of Blazer pride. “Smoke ly important as Blair the Hornets” was brazenly sports teams advanced in displayed for the Blair and Datheir season. When the mascus game, decorated with girls varsity soccer team painted flames and hornets. played in the state semiStudents dressed in red, white, finals for the first time in and black flood the halls as Blair history, the bleachthe school’s most spirited get ers were full of students ready for kickoff later that evethat made the thirty-minning. ute trek to support the This spirit is thanks in part players. Despite the bitter to the work of Blazer Ragers. cold, students dressed in When they aren’t lining the red and black spent their fences at football games or Saturday night cheering leading the student section in for the team. cheers, members of Blazer During field hockey Ragers can be found organizpre-season, the football ing the weekly themes, planteam came to watch a ning different events, and scrimmage, due in part promoting upcoming sports to Blazer Ragers’ engames on their Twitter and Incouragement. “It was restagram pages.

Blazer Ragers is currently BOBBY PADMORE ally fun… to have them in its sixth year as a club and its BLAZERS PACK BLEACHERS Spirit club lines the fence, leading cheers and there, because they were presence as Blair’s main spirit supporting the team at the football game against Springbrook High School. screaming and cheering, even though they had no group has continually grown since its conception. This growth dents were given the opportunity says. “We try to as much as we can, idea what was happening,” says Olhas been especially noticeable this to participate in spirit day with a but that’s a hard thing to do at such ivia Henry, a first-year on varsity year, as the group’s leaders work last-minute tie-dying event. Blazer a big school. I think there are defi- field hockey. “The whole football towards increasing prominence in Ragers also organized the bus to nitely parts that we could represent team did the wave in the stands…

I think it makes the environment the highly anticipated game against but we don’t, at the moment.” the Blair community.

Despite the lack of representa- better and it makes you want to “We’ve been in Blazer Ragers Sherwood, providing students with in the past, and it’s been a very a means of transportation to the tion, Blazer Ragers does its best play better.”

Still to come this fall, the Blazer small group of people,” senior game. “That was our big rival,” Da- to bring the school together. Spirit co-president Elayna Davis-Mercer vis-Mercer says, “and we wanted to days are all-inclusive, as students ig- Ragers plan to sell shirts that give says. “We wanted to create a more get a lot of people out to that game, nore the theme at their own peril, students free admittance to winter since it’s really far away.” risking a lighthearted reprimand sports. They have numerous ideas, unified community.” but have run into some logistical Though these events are open from club members.

Throughout the past two This school spirit for athletics problems with organizing and exmonths, Blazer Ragers has orga- to all, it can be difficult to connized several events and activities nect with the entirety of the stu- extends past the football field on ecuting them.

By Emilie Vigliotta Staff Writer

to boost sports game attendance and spirit. Before the Homecoming football game, they held a barbeque in the courtyard, giving students a place to mingle and food to eat before kickoff.

In preparation for the football game against Wheaton, stu-

dent body at a school as populous as Blair. Blazer Ragers struggles with issues of underrepresentation within its own ranks, as the majority of its members are upperclassmen and white.

“We don’t really represent that much of the school,” Davis-Mercer

“In terms of the scope of the club and what can be done and what we want to do, we had a lot of ideas and a lot of things we wanted to get done,” Davis-Mercer says.

“Then we met with Mrs. Johnson and Ms. Boule, and obviously, some of those things were unrealistic… [We looked at] what’s actually viable and what we’re able to do with the resources we have.”

The club plans to organize events through the rest of the year, as the impending end of football season does not mean the end for Blazer Ragers. Boosting attendance at winter and spring sports is a welcome challenge for club members.

“Football draws the biggest crowd,” senior co-president Elijah Kodjak says. “It’ll be hard… throughout the year, we’re going to have to get [more] people to come.”

Blazer Ragers hope to bring their spirit to basketball games, swim and dive meets and track meets during the winter. In spring, students can attend lacrosse, softball and baseball games.

“Blazer Ragers isn’t just a fall sport club,” Davis-Mercer says.

“Obviously, we’re all seniors and senioritis is definitely a real thing.

But it’s a really fun club, it’s not an obligation for us and we want to make sure… people [come to games].”

For now, Blazer Ragers bring their passion for school spirit to the school at large, hoping to bring the student body together one game at a time. “Ever since freshman year, I’ve been really into school spirit. I think changing at the games is really fun,” Griff Wachter, senior copresident, says. “I’ve always wanted to take over Blazer Ragers and make it as big as it can be.”

silverchips

F3 Sports

November 14, 2019

Brady Mason dominates the slopes, turf, and field

By Ashley Thommana Staff Writer At two years old, Brady Mason had a pair of ski poles clenched in his fists; at six, a lacrosse stick; at eight, a football.

Since then, these three sports— lacrosse, football and skiing—have been an important part of Mason, who still plays all three sports competitively.

Now a junior, Mason is a slot receiver and cornerback for football, an attacker for lacrosse, and an alpine skier. He juggles his different sports, balancing rigorous practices, games, and competitions that fill up his schedule year-round.

Mason, who plays football and lacrosse for Blair, club lacrosse with the Annapolis Hawks, and skis in New York, only has one month in the year when none of his sports are competitively in-season. “My offseason would be July,” he says, “but it’s not really an off-season because we have to go to summer workouts for football.”

Luckily for Mason, the sport seasons don’t coincide much. “They overlap for about a week,” he says.

“But, once I get into it, it’s fine.”

However, practices are both regular and intense, especially in football. For football, Mason has two to two-and-a-half-hour practices with 45 minutes of weightlifting before.

When playing lacrosse for Blair, he has practice every day except Sunday. During the summer, Mason’s club lacrosse team normally practices twice a week with a tournament on the weekend.

Practices in skiing are also quite demanding. “[It] can be pretty brutal mentally because you are freezing,” Mason says. However, it is during the skiing season that Ma-

son’s dedication to his sports truly shines.

Each year, from mid-November to April 1, Mason leaves Blair to live and study in New York as he skis competitively with the New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF).

In New York, Mason’s days are busy. “I’ll wake up at about 6:30 [A.M.]… On a short day, I’ll ski from about 8:15 [A.M] to 12:00… and then I’ll go into a three-hour long study hall,” Mason says. He finishes the day with a trip to the gym and tuning his skis.

In the study hall, Mason works with tutors from NYSEF to review materials provided by his teachers, ensuring that he doesn’t fall behind.

When he returns to Blair in the spring, he turns in the work to get credit for his classes.

Despite the hectic schedule of practices, races, and games for all the sports, Mason enjoys the variation between them. “When you repeat the same movement or the same sport, you are more likely to get injured and burn out and be bored,” he says. But, being involved in different sports ensures that Mason doesn’t get tired of any.

Mason’s success in each sport comes from a constant driving force: passion. “Love of the game keeps me going,” he explains.

On top of the concoction of hard work and enthusiasm, Mason practices certain traditions and routines that he believes will contribute to his success.

Before each skiing race, Mason runs through the same warmup, which “consists of leg swings, squats, running in place… and then [visualizing] the course,” he says.

This warm-up helps him focus on the race ahead, which is as much

DELIA MORAN

TEAM PLAYER After a player was injured, Brady Mason takes a knee.

about mentality as it is execution.

The atmosphere is “just you, the racecourse, [and] mountains… It is really just you and what you have to do,” Mason says.

In addition to warm-up routines, Mason’s pre-game traditions include ritual meals. Before football games and big lacrosse tournaments, Mason likes to enjoy a medium rare steak; before Blair lacrosse games, he grabs a meal from Chipotle at Four Corners.

These traditions, however, are not the only cornerstone in Mason’s sports journey. Through it all, Mason’s main inspiration has been his mother. “She’s awesome,” he says.

“She supports me in everything and always gives me great advice.”

In the professional sports world, Mason looks to the underdogs, appreciating their hard work. At 5 feet and 9 inches, NFL wide receiver Wes Welker is his favorite football player because “he is small, undersized [and he] really worked hard,” explains Mason.

These inspirations have helped motivate Mason to plan on pursuing his three sports beyond Blair.

“My goal is to play a sport at the college level,” he says.

Mason hopes to attend the University of Utah, mainly because of opportunities in all three sports.

“They have a football team… they are 20 minutes away from amazing skiing and they have a D1 college lacrosse program,” he says.

As for a future career, Mason knows exactly what he wants to do. “I want to be a coach. That’s my dream job,” he says. Regarding which sport he coaches, Mason plans on keeping his options open and doesn’t have a favorite sport yet. “I love all my children equally,” he says.

Tensions sky-Rocket with China One tweet causes the NBA to lose millions

By Simran Thakkur Staff Writer AN OPINION Fans filled the seats for the Brooklyn Nets’ final preseason game against the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 18, eager to see NBA superstars like Kyrie Irving and Kyle Lowry. However, among the excitement of the start of a new NBA season sat an unfamiliar crowd. Over 150 Hong Kong protesters wore black t-shirts reading “Stand with Hong Kong” and masks on their faces.

Then, on Oct. 22, another crowd of protesters stood outside the Lakers’ Staples Center in Los Angeles handing out yellow and black tshirts with a similar message to fans.

Only two days after that, even more protesters occupied the stands of the Houston Rockets season opener.

These protests come after Rockets general manager Daryl Morey decided to blindly tweet his support for the Hong Kong demonstrators, despite the NBA’s strong relationship with the Chinese government.

Since the Rockets drafted eighttime All-Star Yao Ming in the 2002, China has been one of the league’s largest consumer markets. For the past 17 years, China has showed NBA games on their televisions, sold celebrity jerseys, and even brought NBA teams to China for exhibition preseason games.

The demonstrators in Hong Kong had originally been fighting against an extradition bill that the Hong Kong government introduced in March. The bill would al-

low Hong Kong to consider sending suspected criminals to any country, even if there is no extradition treaty between them.

The bill was suspended in June after three months of demonstrations in the city. On Oct. 23, the bill was officially withdrawn. Despite this, protests have continued throughout Hong Kong for the region to be-

One tweet was all it took to bring down a treasured relationship.

From one tweet, the NBA and various American companies will lose millions with restricted access to Chinese markets and consumers.

“The Chinese government responded very quickly, encour-

KELLEY LI

come its own democratic state.

The relationship between the National Basketball Association, the Chinese Basketball Association, and Chinese markets was thriving until Morey sent out his tweet.

aging sponsors to pull out and cut ties with the Houston Rockets, taking Houston Rockets games off of their television networks and also pulling Houston Rockets merchandise from their stores,” Ben

Golliver, an NBA reporter for The Washington Post, said.

According to a report by David Carter, the executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute, the NBA gains around 10 percent of their revenue from Chinese markets. It is projected to rise to 20 percent by 2030 if the markets continued on their current course.

Losing that much money will affect how much new players are paid and how new contracts are negotiated.

Players want more money each time they negotiate a new contract, but with 10 percent less money to pay players with, salaries will decrease by about the same amount.

“It’s kind of a supply and demand thing—if there’s no one out there to pay for your services, or they can’t pay as much for your services, of course you’re going to be upset,” Golliver said. “Nobody wants to take a pay cut in that type of situation.”

This hasty tweet cost new players millions of dollars. Morey didn’t even stand by his tweet—he deleted it shortly after—and yet players are still going to be affected because of it and the repercussions that came from it.

Although new contracts will be primarily affected, many of the players speaking out against Morey’s tweet are star players who still have years left on their current contracts.

What they are nervous about is the prospective loss of business with Chinese markets through sponsorships and products: another consequence that Morey evidently did not consider.

Most likely because of his endorsement deal with Nike, Lakers star player LeBron James spoke out against Morey tweeting about the subject. James goes to China to promote the shoes he designs, creating a substantial amount of revenue for Nike and his brand.

Nike earned $6 billion from Chinese markets from June 1, 2018 to May 31, 2019 according to Statista. Losing the money from James’ brand will significantly lower Nike’s revenue in the current fiscal year.

Other companies will also end up losing revenue in the next fiscal year because of their own partnerships with NBA players—for example, Stephen Curry with Under Armour and James Harden with Adidas.

Many players, their teams, and their league are all going to lose millions of dollars because of just one tweet.

Daryl Morey’s tweet may have empowered the Hong Kong protesters, but it forced the NBA to cut back on their expenses and say good-bye to their previously prospering partnership with the Chinese government and the Chinese Basketball League—a ramification that deleting a tweet cannot reverse.

November 14, 2019

silverchips

Sports F4

SMOB Nate Tinbite says: “Don’t sweat it, you’ve got credit” Tinbite works to excuse varsity athletes from physical education credit

By Sarah McKinzie Staff Writer Student Member of the Board (SMOB) Nate Tinbite is pushing forward a proposal which would exempt students partaking in schoolsponsored sports from a semester of Physical Education (P.E.) credit, half of what’s required of students in MCPS. This plan has support from students, but garners concern and anger from P.E. professionals. The open credit would allow more academic mobility for athletes, but it may have unintended consequences for the teachers and departments affected.

Varsity athletes have voiced their support for the policy change. “In my opinion, PE is just like a way to get kids to be active,” varsity quarterback Kai Hinrichs said. “And varsity athletes already get enough physical exercise every day, so I think they’re good. ” At first glance, the proposed policy may seem like a system beneficial to students, that promotes more academic flexibility. But the people who staff the P.E. departments which Tinbite deemed redundant have advocated the value of the classes they teach. “I think it’s totally ridiculous,” P.E. teacher Emanuel Charles said. “Physical education is part of the curriculum.

It’s an educational class. I will teach things in my physical education

class that a lot of coaches will not do… It’s taking away from what we do as physical educators.”

Additionally, with fewer students being required to take the course comes an inevitable decline in teachers necessary for those classes. “If all these athletes are getting credit for their sports, a lot of P.E. teachers are going to lose their jobs,” Charles said. “We take care of our families with those jobs.”

Robert McMahon, Blair’s Health and P.E. resource teacher, recognizes the issue as a familiar fight to those in his line of work.

“This happens every couple of years,” he said. “Usually a student government person will ask to put this up for a vote… where somebody says, it would be easier if we could count something else for a P.E. credit.”

McMahon cited three reasons why P.E. teachers are so staunchly

“Ethan’s Park” is a monthly column where sports editor Ethan Park expresses an opinion on current events in sports.

If you had asked me at any point in the Nationals’ regular season what their record was, I would not have been able to tell you. In fact, if you had asked me anything about the Nationals over the past year, I probably would have answered with a vague and bitter statement about Bryce Harper or a declaration that I’m not a huge “baseball guy.”

However, during the playoffs, my lack of interest transformed into a fanatic and exhilarating sense of team loyalty. Some may call me a fake fan, and they might be right.

However, I am certain that many fans in D.C. who stayed up watching the Nationals win Game 7 were not particularly invested after Bryce Harper left or when the team was 19-31 through the first 50 games.

However, after a mid-season hot streak, a spot in the Wild Card game, and a battle cry of “Stay in the Fight,” hope was rekindled. I was ready for this newfound hope to be stomped out and spit on by the defeat of a first-round playoff exit. But after Juan Soto’s gamewinning hit in the Wild Card game and Howie Kendrick’s grand slam in L.A. that sent the Nationals to the National League Championship Series, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, the fight was still on.

This skepticism surrounding D.C. sports is nothing new—neither

is disappointment. With wasted talent like Robert Griffin III of Washington football and a poorly managed Wizards team that could have been great, it makes sense why Bryce Harper’s departure led to low expectations. However, the Nationals proved doubters wrong, doing it with style and charm that made them that much more fun to watch. Whether it was a soldout crowd clapping along to Baby Shark, Howie Kendrick and Adam Eaton’s home run racecar celebration, or Juan Soto’s imitation of Alex Bregman carrying the bat to first base, the Nationals reinvigorated the spirit of D.C. baseball that was previously defined by first-round playoff exits.

The culture of D.C. sports has been in dire need of revitalization.

Given the reputation of D.C. as a political hub without many diehard, born-and-raised fans, the legitimacy of its sports culture has often been called into question.

However, after the Capitals’ Stanley Cup victory in 2018, the Mystics’ WNBA championship win in October, and now a World Series trophy, the narrative of Washington sports will shift to one defined by hope, not apathy. Although doubters may continue to label D.C. as a city of indifference, it is now D.C.’s turn to follow in the Nationals’ footsteps and prove them wrong.

against the proposal, and why it has never been passed in Montgomery County. The first is the aforementioned threat of physical education jobs dwindling.

The second has to do with equity. Varsity teams, McMahon explained, are certainly a more attainable goal for those with the means to have been involved in athletics since they were young. “It’s very easy for someone with wealth to be signed up for soccer since they’re five years old, and make a soccer team varsity level if they are KAR of high socioecoEN Y ANG nomic status,” he said. Those who argue against Tinbite’s proposal view this exemption as further advancement, in the form of academic mobility, to an already advantaged group.

McMahon’s third argument

cites links between physical health, mental health, and academic performance. “If you delve into physical fitness scores and you delve into states that have more P.E., you find higher math scores in testing, higher literacy scores,” he said. “There’s a lot of correlation to being active and having better academic grades.”

Furthermore, excuse of credit is a slippery academic slope when compared with other departments like art or music. “Are we going to say, ‘Oh, well I took a summer art class, so I’m not going to take fine arts?’” McMahon asked. “Or, ‘I’m in marching band, so I don’t have to take any arts or music credits?’… Who decides who gets what waivers? Make it even across the board.”

Athletes, however, remain in favor of the increased academic freedom that the proposal would grant. “I feel like there’s no reason for us to be doing varsity sports and also having to go through a year of gym,” varsity cheerleader Gemma Volz said.

Although it is uncertain if Tinbite’s proposal will make any sort of headway, McMahon is confident that Blair’s administration will support him in his effort to resist it. For varsity athletes, the proposal could mean increased opportunity for academic movement, but for P.E. teachers, it is a far more sinister idea.

F5 Sports

silverchips

November 14, 2019

Blair sports fall roundup

By Anika Seth Staff Writer

Varsity Football

Varsity football had a fall full of ups and downs. After kicking off the season with three wins, they faced three consecutive losses. The team worked hard and managed to snap back, winning their next three games, but losing 0-58 against Damascus in the last game of the regular season. This brought them to an even five wins and five losses.

Blazer varsity football began practicing immediately after the conclusion of the 2018 season.

“Starting off in winter of last year, after last season, we just got straight to work: [a] lot of lifting, [a] lot of running,” senior captain and linebacker Zaire Cooper said.

According to Cooper, this exemplifies a key aspect of varsity football this year: the team chemistry that the boys have developed, more so than in previous years. “I’ve been on varsity for three years now, and the past two years hasn’t been the same… there were little cliques and stuff like that,” Cooper said. “[But] this year…we don’t play as much just for a win; we play because we love each other as brothers… and that’s why we bounced back from the 0-3 middle stretch of our season.”

The team traveled to Einstein on Nov. 8 for the first round of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association’s playoffs but lost by a score of 21-25.

mark year for soccer at Blair. The boys’ team maintained a record of nine wins and six losses overall and eight wins and six losses within their conference.

The team started the season off strong, losing only one of their first five games. However, this early success may have given way to the team getting complacent. “In the preseason, we faced easy teams, so we came into the season thinking that we had a really strong score,” junior starter Liben Schmidt said.

“But when we saw the realization of how good the other Montgomery County teams were, it really hit us by surprise losing to Northwest, and our mentality really changed and we tried to build upon that.”

Their remaining 10 games were won and lost by narrow margins, most notably an intense 2-1 overtime victory over Paint Branch as well as some heartbreaking losses.

“We had a tough ending to our season, losing to Walter Johnson on our senior night and losing to Whitman… but we’re trying to go all the way,” Schmidt said. “[We won] divisions for the first time since 2016 or 15… and we’re trying to win regionals for the first time in five years.”

down because we weren’t on our winning streak,” Freer said. “But ever since then, we’ve gotten back into the rhythm of things.”

The team hopes that Blair girls’ volleyball will only get better from here. “I’m pretty proud of all the underclassmen who are really stepping up,” Freer said.

Key players: seniors Olivia Freer, Karen Yang; sophomore Samantha Rodriguez; freshman Celine Wu

Co-ed Handball

DELIA MORAN

BRING IT ON Blair cheerleaders perform at the county championship. group can’t operate properly unless there’s all four people there,” junior Gemma Volz said, concerned that the changing routines would affect their performance at their county championship. However, in spite of their extra obstacles, the cheerleaders made Blair proud,

Key players: seniors Zaire Cooper, Chistopher Watkins, Samuel Johnson, Alex Zokouri, Brian Williams Jr., Braxton Peck, Mervin Mancia; juniors Khalif Welch, Roberto Montalvo, Garrett Siff, James Mason, Luis Noda; sophomore Ryan Frank

Girls’ Varsity Soccer

The girls’ varsity soccer team experienced another year of success, adding yet another title to their legacy: regional champions. They were also the first Blair girl’s soccer team ever to make the state semifinals.

The regional win came after the team beat Northwood in a 4-0 shutout, a game that secured Blair’s fourth consecutive division championship. Their overall record was 13 wins and five losses, including playoff games.

Their success qualified the team for the Division 4A Maryland State Championships. They beat Parkdale in the state quarterfinals on Nov. 1 but lost to Perry Hall in a close 0-1 semifinals game on Nov. 9.

For the seniors who have nurtured this team for years, earning their fourth title was a testament to their time spent training the newer members of the team. “Our seniors came in freshman year really, really strong, and there are a lot of them who are really good, and they’ve… helped carry and raise the team to where it is now,” junior midfielder Sophie Kim said.

For the team, group chemistry played a large role in their success this season. “Everyone has really bonded and we all know how each other plays,” Kim said.

Key players: seniors Rachel Dey, Noa Dorah, Janie Pitner; juniors Sophie Kim, Jadyn Harvey; sophomore Marlee Ginyard

Boys’ Varsity Soccer

The boys’ soccer team also brought home a Blazer regional championship this season, a land-

inside SPORTS

suffered two close 0-1 defeats to Clarksburg and Wootton. “We kind of sandwiched the season with two losses at the beginning, a bunch of wins, and then two losses at the end,” junior Aline CharkoudianRogers said.

Junior Jamie Greene Chang said that the main highlights of their season were their games against Sherwood and Whitman. “We beat Sherwood, and that’s never happened in Blair history,” Greene Chang said. In a hard-fought match, the Blazers scored the first and only point of the game with just five minutes left.

Blair’s senior night game against Whitman was a close match, rounding out at 2-1 for Blair. “[The game] started out pretty hard, and they got the ball a lot on our defense… but we were able to recover by the second half, and we won,” Greene Chang said. This marked the first time Blair field hockey triumphed over Whitman in ten years.

After an impressive record of four wins and one loss during the regular season, the Blair Handball team went on to win the 2019 Montgomery County Handball Championship.

According to senior captain Zane Shafer, the team’s strong suit this year has been their defense. “I get blown away at the skill level [of our defense this year] and just the natural talent… people are getting steals more often, taking the ball away from opponents,” Shafer said.

This season follows a loss in the playoff finals last year. “The handball program has been strong for all four years I’ve been here… we won one championship and lost in the finals last year,” Shafer said. “The highlight has just been growing so that over time, we’ve gotten better to the point that we’re ready for playoffs.”

The championship game took place on Nov. 6 against Sherwood High School’s Warriors. At halftime, Blair was down with a score of 14-19, but the team picked up during the second half, resulting in a 34-31 Blazer win.

Key players: senior Zane Shafer; juniors Adam Noyes, Daniel Dao, Lela Hall; sophomores Yvan Matthias Defo, Adil Hall

Key players: seniors Merete Oaks, Ol- Co-ed Varsity Golf ivia Scarano; junior Emma Smith; Though small, the golf team has sophomore Maggie Spire; freshman been working hard to improve their Delia Chen skills and prepare for next season.

“There aren’t very many people our team,” sophomore Sumin Girls’ Varsity Volley- on Choi said, “so we’ve been to a lot ball of co-ed matches, but since… other The girls’ varsity volleyball team schools have a lot more people… concluded their season with 10 wins we can’t really place.” and four losses. The team domi- Despite this, Sumin thinks the EDSON ORELLANA nated early in the season, jumping team has enabled her to get better KICKIN IT Boys’ varsity soccer scores at their game against Paint Branch.

They certainly were successful, beating Northwood in a 3-1 game on Oct. 29 and earning the title of 4A North Region II Champions.

Unfortunately, the team lost a hard-fought battle in the Maryland quarterfinals game against Leonardtown on Nov. 1 by a score of 0-5, ending their season.

Key players: seniors Brennan Moore, Silas Reitsma, Walter Sosa, Wilmer Garcia, Natinael Tesfaw; sophomore Joao Gonzalez

Cheer

Despite a season plagued by injuries, Blair’s cheerleading squad claimed the first place spot at the MCPS Division 3 cheer championships on Oct. 26.

This major win came on the heels of an intense season, as the team had to endure a series of injuries that made it all the more challenging for them to pull off the stunts for which they are most wellknown.

“I think we’ve just gotten our routine together because of all the times that we’ve had to reset everything and redo it… and our full stunt

The Battle of the Boulevard

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placing first in the division competition.

Looking to the future, Blair’s cheerleading squad hopes to climb back up the division ladder. “If we win next year, then we’ll be able to move into Division 2… This is our first year [in Division 3]. Last year we were in Division 1, but we scored last in the county,” senior captain Alysse Swann said.

Key players: seniors Caroline Thorne, Alysse Swann; sophomore Dorian Turner; freshman Anina GonzalezSol

Girls’ Varsity Hockey

Field

The girls’ varsity field hockey team wrapped up their regular season with eight wins and four losses.

They qualified for the playoffs but suffered a first-round exit on Oct. 28 against Walter Johnson by a 1-2 score.

The team lost its first two games to BCC and Walter Johnson but eventually pulled together to start an eight-game winning streak. Approaching playoffs, however, Blair

BOBBY PADMORE

THROWING IT DOWN Handball team wins county championship. ahead to a record of six wins and zero losses. “We started off our season really strong,” senior captain Olivia Freer said. “We were winning a bunch of games. We were undefeated for our first six games.”

However, this dominance gave way to back-to-back losses in their seventh, eighth, and ninth games, which proved to be tough for team morale. “I think we all got kind of

NBA vs.

China Controversy

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at golf. “I like how you can improve, and compete with other people that you haven’t seen before and meet new people,” she said.

Currently, the team is comprised of two sophomores and a senior, so next year, the team will be actively working to recruit new members.

Key players: senior Jack Woodward; sophomores Sumin Choi, Iris Xue

Ethan’s Park: DC Sports

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