March 2021

SJSREVIE W.COM

r THE REVIEW

VOLUME 72

. ISSUE 2

ST. JOHN’S SCHOOL . 2401 CL AREMONT LN . HOUSTON, TX . 77019

MARCH 9, 2021

SEEN but NOT HEARD How medical bias endangers Black women PAGE 12 STORY BY Noura Jabir and Ella West ILLUSTRATION BY Celine Huang

WINTER STORM BLACKS OUT CITY

RELATIONSHIPS IN ISOLATION

SHE’S THE KICKER

Students endure days without power, water

How Covid-19 has changed dating dynamics

Seventh grader steps onto the football field

PAGE 2

PAGE 8

PAGE 20

NEWS

2

MARCH 9, 2021

Power grid failure leaves

On the outside, snow blanketed the Great Lawn early Monday morning. Inside St. John’s, pipes burst, flooding bathrooms and caving in ceilings.

PHOTOS BY Charlotte Curtin and Marco Flores

By Ella Chen and Ella West

A

mong the long list of unprecedented events to take place in Houston over the last four years, Winter Storm Uri was a frigid yet unwelcome change of pace, blanketing the city in ice and snow and leaving over a million households without power or drinkable water. What began as mild Valentine’s Day flurries turned into a weeklong struggle for warmth — and for some — survival.

W

hen freshman Naina Pai’s 7-year-old neighbor asked to see snow on his birthday, his parents set out to make his dream come true by renting an artificial snowmaking machine for the weekend that generated five feet of powder for all the neighborhood children and pets to play in. Little did they know that in the coming days, the inside of their house would drop to a frigid 40 degrees, and the snow outside would pile up even higher.

For days, Houstonians knew a volatile weather system was heading towards the city. The St. John’s maintenance team spent the weekend preparing for the freeze by purchasing pipe parts and lining up plumbers in case anything burst.

Instead of the usual rush to buy roses and chocolate, Houstonians waited in long lines to purchase bottled water and nonperishables. At home, they wrapped pipes and covered bushes and flowers in a desperate attempt to salvage their landscaping.

“We had these old tarps that we used to wrap our citrus trees,” junior Nyla Hartigan said. “We also wrapped our well with old bed sheets that I hadn’t seen in awhile.”

Two days before the storm hit Houston, it contributed to a 133-car pileup in Fort Worth that left six people dead. In Dallas, the temperature plummeted to below zero — the coldest day on record in over 70 years.

“My family really didn’t prepare because we didn’t think it would be that bad,” junior Anshul Nayak said.

“We were also super busy the week before that all happened, so we didn’t have any time to prepare for the storm.”

Nayak ended up losing power for three days.

K

ennedy Black, a junior, woke up at 3 a.m. to find her house out of power. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) had just begun to introduce rolling blackouts, and the Black hou-

sehold was one of the first to go dark. Several hours later, when the temperature inside of her house dropped to 45 degrees, her family searched desperately for a hotel with power and available rooms until they found one that had been closed but temporarily reopened to house people without power.

To make matters worse, Black and her family could not find food that night since most of the restaurants were closed. The understaffed hotel finally fed them at midnight.

“That whole week, I survived on protein bars, almonds, cranberries, bananas and the leftover turkey burgers that I made,” Black said.

On a trip back to their house on Tuesday to pick up supplies and shower, they discovered there was no running water. When they returned to the hotel, the pipes had burst.

Monday was a school holiday, but classes would later be canceled for the entire week.

“It didn’t feel like a break,” Black said. “It wasn’t relaxing in the slightest bit.”

While some students were enduring blackouts that lasted from a few hours to several days, other students didn’t feel the effects of Uri until days later.

W

hen junior Sophie Trammell went to turn on the water in her upstairs bathroom, all she heard was a slight trickle. The pipes

had burst.

“We were all panicked,” Trammell said. “Nobody knew where the water was coming from, where it was going or how to turn it off.”

Running outside to the water meter in a desperate attempt to shut off the water supply, Trammell and her family reached elbow-deep into the freezing water, which had submerged the meter.

“It was pretty damn chilly,” she said.

With temperatures remaining below freezing across the greater Houston area, Tuesday marked the arrival of a long stretch without power, cellphone service or drinkable water.

“We wrapped and insulated all of our faucet bibs and water pipes that ran outside, but we couldn’t reach any of the pipes under the house,” Trammell said. “We figured that they would stay warm from the heat of the house, but then the power went out.”

While many Houstonians thought the blackouts would be temporary, the number of households losing power grew exponentially. After junior Meeah Bradford lost power, she spent most of the day in her car listening to NPR. With no power, people sought alternative means to

stay warm, including fireplaces and space heaters. Bradford wore two layers at night and slept in her parents’ bed to keep warm.

Across town three children whom Bradford coached in fencing passed away.

After starting the fireplace to stay warm, the Nguyen family home caught on fire, and the children, aged 5 to 11, along with their grandmother, were unable to escape.

Bradford was heartbroken. “They were so little and had so much more to experience,” she said.

During her time coaching the children, Bradford became particularly close to Colette, the youngest.

“I’m at the point in my life where, although it is unfortunate, I have had to deal with sudden loss many times,” Bradford said. “But this one just knocked the wind out of me. It’s a type of pain that I think I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”

W

ith an estimated 1.4 million households without power, junior Charlie Leach and his family were fortunate to still have electricity due to their close proximity to the Bellaire police station, so they opened up their home.

Leach described his house as a kind of “sanctuary for people without power.”

His mother Kristen, who runs Challenger League, an organization that enables children with disabilities to play baseball, took in one of the league families.

Leach worked with his family to reduce any loud noises that could trigger the children who had autism.

They disabled the doorbell, placed towels under pots and pans and tried to stay as quiet as possible.

Charlie and his two brothers also housed several friends. All told, 14 people stayed at the Leach home.

Leach and his brothers spent the week sleeping on the floor in their parents’ bedroom to create more room for the guests.

“Everybody had to pitch in on the meals,” Leach said.

“There would always be someone else that would walk in the door saying that their power just went out.”

Having more than a dozen people under one roof solved one problem but presented another.

“Obviously, we were concerned with Covid, but at the same time, you can’t just let your friends freeze,” Leach said.

The medical community, including St. John’s parent Dr. Christina Propst, expects an uptick in the number of Covid-19 cases in Texas over the next few weeks.

“It’s the perfect storm,” Propst said. “People have to cluster indoors for warmth and shelter, so they are going into an indoor situation with multiple people

MARCH 9, 2021

SJSREVIEW.COM

3

Houstonians on thin ice who are not in their day-to-day household.”

Joshua Pesikoff (’87), an SJS parent, has worked in the energy industry for over 20 years. Seven years ago he founded Infuse Energy, a retail electricity provider. According to Pesikoff, at the time of the winter storm, ERCOT grid operators had no choice but to shut off power to a third of Texas. If they had not, the grid would have become imbalanced, causing blown transformers that could have taken months to repair.

“The deeper question is why did one-third of the state’s generation go?” Pesikoff said. “And why didn’t it produce enough power?”

Power plants were not properly weatherized, even after state officials recommended such precautions after a winter storm hit Texas in February 2011. While the most recent freeze shut down some wind turbines, the bigger issue, according to Pesikoff, involved gas-fired plants.

“Wind works in Antarctica. Solar works in space,” said Eleanor Cannon, who teaches a senior elective on oil and energy. “It’s not that we can’t use those. It’s that they were not fully winterized.”

Rather than seeking assistance from the federal government, Gov. Greg Abbott spent the day tweeting about frozen wind turbines causing power failures. Abbott later walked back his statement to place the blame more on ERCOT, but by then social media posts blaming inoperative wind turbines — and by extension the Green New Deal — had been widely circulated.

“I was upset that politicians decided that during this human crisis, it was a great time to start bashing on wind power, when they should be focusing on making sure that their citizens are safe,” AP Environmental Science teacher Graham Hegeman said.

D

espite preparing for the freeze, the prolonged time without power left St. John’s with over 20 burst pipes.

“Some of the problems we had were because the temperatures were so low,” said Richard Still, Director of Safety & Facilities & Physical Plant. “But having no power magnified them a hundred times.”

In English teacher Allyson LaBorde’s classroom, the porous ceiling tiles collected water from a leaking pipe and collapsed, filling the room with over two inches of water. By Monday, the maintenance crew had the room back to normal.

The storm also damaged the Chao Center, gym basement and Mewbourne Hall.

The St. John’s maintenance crew, including Salvador Aquino, Byron Ortiz, Jose Florez, Marco Florez, Carlos Chavez, Jose Hernandez, Rubin Hernandez, Jorge Valero, Jim Fussell, Ahmed Tibary and Marco Gonzalez spent the entire week on campus making repairs and preparing for students to return.

“We wanted to have all of the kids back on campus as soon as possible,” Still said.

Despite dangerous driving conditions, the maintenance team came to campus every day, then left school to address damage to their own homes.

“I would leave here around midnight and go home and start working on water pipes and my house,” Still said.

Preparations made before the storm saved the school from more damage that could have taken weeks and tens of thousands of dollars to repair, according to Still.

While not all water fountains are functional, they were not as important as fixing classrooms and the fire sprinkler system since students are not allowed on campus if the sprinklers are out of order.

Over the coming weeks, Still expects to see residual effects of the storm, including weakened and broken pipes.

“The repairs were more difficult than after Hurricane Harvey,” Still said. “With Harvey, there was standing water. This time we had to wait to see if the pipes would leak because many were frozen.”

A

s cellular service slowly returned, people took to social media, not only to share their experiences but also to vent their frustrations over how so much devastation could have been avoided.

“It’s so annoying because this could’ve been an entirely different situation,” Black said. “El Paso had the same amount of snow, and they didn’t have any problems.”

Those who have lived in Houston for more than 10 years were frustrated by how similar this storm was to the one in 2011.

“The federal government told Texas that we had these problems,” Cannon said.

On Wednesday, Feb. 17, former Texas governor and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry posted a blog on the website of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in which he wrote, “Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business.”

While recommendations were made for energy companies to winterize equipment, the lack of regulation meant that they were not required to make changes.

“Even though these events are going to be rare, we’ve had two in the last 15 years,” Hegeman said. “We can be pretty certain that we’re going to have another one, and it’s a pretty huge risk to public health to not winterize because we don’t have them every year.”

Cannon attributes this situation to deregulation in Texas, which began in 1999 under Gov. George W. Bush. Two power grids provide electricity to the continental United States, while Texas maintains its own grid in order to limit federal oversight and ostensibly keep prices low. Yet according to the Wall Street Journal, electric bills in Texas were $28 billion higher than those of customers in a regulated system.

E

lizabeth Schaefer has worked at the Houston Food Bank every Saturday for the past nine months. When she went in to volunteer on Feb. 20, she got to meet Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

“This was one of the top 10 days of my life,” Schaefer, a junior, said. “I have looked up to her work since I started really getting into politics.”

Schaefer did not know that Ocasio-Cortez would be there to help. All she knew was that there would be more people in need of food and water than usual.

“I was really impressed,” Schaefer said. “She really did work and volunteered among us. It felt like more than just a photo op. I hope to see more politicians do that in the future.”

The Food Bank delivered 30,000 boxed meals over the next two days, and Ocasio-Cortez raised over $5 million to help Texas families recover from the polar vortex.

For many across the state, Saturday was spent trying to make repairs.

When English teacher Warren Rawson tried to call a plumber to fix his broken pipes, he was the 160th person on the waiting list. His leak was not fixed for another 10 days.

With the Texas Legislature preparing for their biennial session in May, Rawson hopes that lawmakers will finally take action to prevent another weather-related disaster.

“I want ERCOT to prepare for the worst disaster they could imagine, because people’s lives depend on it.”

Additional reporting by Russell Li, Indrani Maitra and Afraaz Malick SNOW GLOBE BY Julia Smith GRAPHICS AND DESIGN BY Grace Randall

Storm sparks volunteerism

By Russell Li and Afraaz Malick

M

ackenzie Rice woke up on her 15th birthday to the most snow Houston has seen in decades.

Less than 10 hours later, her family had lost power, and her birthday was soon forgotten.

“The snow was fun in the morning, but as the day progressed, the lost power [situation] shifted from celebration to What can I do to help?” Rice, a freshman, said.

Alongside her mother, an executive at Texas Children’s Hospital, Rice delivered meals to thousands of healthcare employees who were working around the clock and sleeping at the hospital during the winter storm.

“I stepped in because they were dealing with a ton at the hospital,” Rice said. “They experienced water breaches, and their water shut down — it must have been rough to sleep there for days, let alone without food or water.”

Rice began by calling grocery stores and restaurants — hundreds each day. Many establishments, such as Sprouts Farmers Market, Raising Cane’s and French Quarter Cajun Seafood, opened solely for the flurry of orders that Rice and her mother delivered to the hospital.

Rice jokes that the dozens of trips she and her mother made between the hospital and food establishments qualified them as “temporary Uber Eats drivers.” Even though she could not reach many businesses, she persisted: “Whatever challenge I was going to face today, there were going to be so many people who would be willing to find a solution.”

Rice observes that crises like Winter Storm Uri reveal the selfless nature of Houstonians.

“It was cool to see that just like in a flood, people were still willing to do whatever they could,” she said. “During hurricane season, I would also help however I was able. Now that I’m in high school, I have more accessibility to serve the community.”

On Sunday, Feb. 21, senior Ken Matsunaga helped set up donation stations for food, toiletries and water at Finnigan Park. In conjunction with Mutual Aid Houston and the Houston Democratic Socialists of America, he aided over 1,200 people. Matsunaga also recorded the Cash App or Venmo information for those in need, such as a single mother with multiple children, who received donation funds.

“I realized how fortunate I was,” Matsunaga said. “I had enough food and water at home to sustain myself, I wouldn’t be in massive amounts of debt if my electric bill spiked, and I had clothes to keep myself warm.”

Matsunaga says that mutual aid collectives like those he volunteered with are becoming increasingly common as more people are in food lines and facing eviction. The pandemic and winter storm have strained social safety nets.

“They want to do something about this economic inequality we are facing,” Matsunaga said.

4

THE REVIEW

Alig returns as Head of School

By Cameron Ederle

L

ong before he was named the eighth Head of School, Dan Alig began amassing his iconic bow tie collection in high school while working at an Ohio grocery store.

The store owner made all employees wear bow ties because they scream, “May I help you?”

Alig said.

During a Zoom interview, Alig wanted students to know that while he loves wearing bow ties, “I’m not going to make it the new uniform.”

Alig worked at St. John’s for 13 years before leaving in 2013 to become Head of Upper School at The Lovett School in Atlanta. During his tenure at SJS, he was a college counselor, cross-country coach, Dean of Students and Chair of the English Department, among other positions. Although his new job officially begins July 1, Alig has been on campus twice, including a three-day stint, March 1-3.

Alig's hiring was the culmination of months of extensive work by a search committee consisting of current and former board members and faculty.

Working with search firm Spencer Stuart, the committee interviewed and assessed candidates.

Over 900 community members completed a survey evaluating traits they desired in a new Head of School, and the committee conducted Zoom meetings and calls with parents, faculty, staff and student groups.

“Moving forward the committee focused on the key themes the community was seeking in the next head of school, namely a community builder, a transparent and genuine communicator and a commitment to the St. John’s School tradition of academic excellence,” said Liz Stepanian (`92), co-chair of the search committee along with Mark Rodriguez.

Dozens of faculty members, including Math Department Chair Martha Childress, were colleagues when Alig first began working at St. John’s.

“I won’t be calling him ‘young Dan’ anymore,”

Childress said.

Marty Thompson, Director of Experiential Education, appreciates Alig's institutional knowledge.

“It’s really valuable to have a leader that knows the school he’s about to lead,” Thompson said. “He understands who we are at our core.”

Alig looks forward to creating meaningful change. At The Lovett School, Alig fostered relationships with colleges and universities including Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and Morehouse College to “move beyond traditional hiring pipelines” and recruit more faculty of color. He also ushered in affinity groups and alliances at Lovett’s Upper School.

“We enjoyed the largest, most diverse student population in the school's history,” Alig said.

“This ongoing work is hugely important for students today and for the future of independent school education. I'm excited to lead it.”

Stepanian lauded Alig’s hiring initiatives at Lovett.

“That innovation and that willingness to think differently really appealed to us, and it's the mindset he’ll bring here,” Stepanian said. “He believes in efforts to put more people of color in front of children, in administration and faculty.”

Alig aims to continue diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at St. John’s.

His once-and-future colleagues say that Alig will bring fresh energy to the job while remaining true to the school’s founding principles.

“St. John’s is many things to many people — it can be a complicated, challenging community,” Thompson said. “He is someone who knows our school and community. His choice to come and lead our school comes from a place of understanding who we are.”

Alig is excited to return to St. John’s.

“I started my teaching career at SJS and built wonderful relationships with teachers and students,” he said. “It feels great to be heading back.”

60 SECONDS WITH DAN ALIG When you were at St. John's, what sports did you coach?

I mostly coached cross country with Coach Mercado. He was another influential person in my time there, and he taught me how to coach running sports. I coached distance track with him, and I also coached JV softball for a time.

MARCH 9, 2021

Leaders of the Storied Cloisters: A Timeline Alan Lake Chidsey 1946-1966

E.K. “Charlie" Salls 1966-1976

Thomas Read 1976-1981

James R. Maggart 1981-1991

E. Philip Cannon 1991-1998

How many years were you a college counselor?

I was in the counseling office for 11 years. And in my last two years, when I was English Department Chair, I cycled out of the College Counseling office.

What were some of your activities in high school?

I worked a lot. I was involved a good bit in student government, and I was also involved in my church. Some of my best memories in high school involved a job that I had at a grocery store. That was a real growth experience for me; it was hugely impactful.

John Allman 1998-2009

What college did you attend and what was your major?

English Literature. I went to Emory University.

What senior English seminars did you teach?

I taught the Shakespeare seminar, African-American Literature, Literature of War, and I co-taught a Russian literature class as well.

Do you have any pets?

I have a Vizsla dog. She is 14 years old, so she's a little slow right now, but I'll always have a dog.

What is your favorite SJS tradition?

What stands out most in my mind is that every graduation, right after we had handed out the diplomas to the seniors and said goodbye to their families, all the faculty would head to the Head of School's house to have dinner together. That was always a great feeling at the end of the year, saying goodbye to another class.

Mark Desjardins 2010-2021

PHOTOS COURTESY OF St. John's School DESIGN BY Matthew Hensel

MARCH 9, 2021

SJSREVIEW.COM

5

SAC looks to refashion uniform policy, promote gender inclusivity

By Annie Jones

W

hen Prefect Anna Center was sorting through the Student Affairs Council suggestion box last year, she found that the most common requests involved changing the uniform guidelines.

Last year, former Head Prefect Mark Trautner (`20) asked which SAC members were interested in “messing with the uniform.” To that point, Center had only been involved in the “day-to-day” responsibilities of a SAC officer, but she was excited to learn that SAC had the power to push for uniform policy reform.

SAC did not want to rewrite the uniform policy without input from students, so SAC asked what changes they wanted. The fall semester's weekly infographics, sent to Upper School students, included a link to the survey.

“I have certain things I want to change, but my priorities might not be the most important,” Center said.

“We don’t want to be bringing forward suggestions that the student body doesn’t care about.”

Prefect Lauren Fulghum sees greater liberties in clothing policy as conducive to a comfortable learning environment. She is focused on making the uniform inclusive because she has heard complaints about its “restrictiveness.”

“The uniform guidelines are very gender normative,” Fulghum said. “If people want to wear shorts and pants, why isn’t there an option for them to be comfortable in them? They’re not made to fit every individual.”

While girls can wear Sue Mills shorts, they are tailored for traditionally male bodies, which leaves some students with traditionally female bodies the option of either wearing an unwanted skirt or ill-fitting pants. Yet amending the school’s contract with Sue Mills to buy more or different garments is beyond SAC’s sphere of influence.

“Everyone should be able to wear what makes them comfortable,” Prism board member Liv Rubenstein said. “At the end of the day, [wearing gender nonconforming clothes] isn’t a distraction if you don’t make it into a distraction.”

Prism leader Romit Kundagrami says “rigid” guidelines prevent many people from expressing their gender identity, even though the rules on male hair length and earrings have changed. Skirts are not allowed for assigned-male students, no matter their gender identity, and shorts lengths are only regulated for assigned-female students.

“We have definitely made a lot of progress in the last couple of years,” Kundagrami said. “Before, my length of hair would not have been allowed.”

The perception among students like freshman Anya Yalamanchili is that there are “twice as many” uniform regulations for girls as there are for boys.

“

The uniform guidelines are very gender normative.

LAUREN FULGHUM The St. John’s Statement on Community and Inclusion pledges that every student will be known and loved and that it will provide an environment “in which everyone can feel comfortable, heard and included.”

However, not all students can feel comfortable in the traditional clothing of their assigned sex, a sentiment echoed by many student leaders.

With separate dress codes for male and female students, transgender and nonbinary students face the dilemma of wearing the uniform of their assigned sex or getting a detention hall for breaking uniform guidelines.

“If someone whose pronouns are she/her wants to wear a skirt, and to administration they’re male, it’s not fair that they can’t wear skirts,” senior Cai Flowers said. “I know girls are allowed to wear the shorts and pants, but it’s not encouraged.”

The next most common requests were for laxer rules on piercings and hair dye. The Student and Parent Handbook states that the only acceptable piercings are on the ears and the only acceptable hair dyes are “natural” colors.

SAC is hopeful that the school will also loosen restrictions on

ILLUSTRATIONS BY Gabe de la Cruz & Diane Guo

piercings and hair dye, because the definition of what is acceptable has softened.

Finally, students frequently suggested more leniency with wearing non-school outerwear on cold days, which Center says will likely be one of the first rules to change since it is already loosely enforced.

Center expects new regulations to take effect next school year.

“The administration has been super helpful,” Center said. “Most of the work is just getting people’s opinions.”

THE REVIEW

6

MARCH 9, 2021

Luck, persistence often determine vaccine access For those seeking a vaccine, it's all about timing — or who you know NOT THROWING AWAY THEIR SHOT

Outside Ben Taub Hospital, seniors Ainsley Dodson and Matthew Hensel brave the cold for four hours waiting for a vaccine.

PHOTO BY Ali Dodson

Senior Anna Prillaman receives her vaccine at Texas Children's Hospital.

PHOTO COURTESY OF Anna Prillaman

Camille McFarland, a senior, receives her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Texas Children's Hospital.

PHOTO COURTESY OF Camille McFarland

By Russell Li

A

insley Dodson and Matthew Hensel stood in the parking lot of Ben Taub Hospital, waiting in freezing temperatures for four hours, hoping they would be lucky enough to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.

Due to a power failure at a Harris County storage facility, public health officials needed to distribute 8,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Monday, Feb. 15, before they became unusable around 7:25 p.m. Dodson and Hensel braved icy roads to reach the hospital, which was distributing the vaccines first-come, first-served.

“I was caught off guard, but at the same time, I was very excited because I’d always planned on getting the vaccine as soon as possible,” said Hensel, a design editor for The Review. “It had always felt like a no-brainer.”

The seniors, both 18, received their shots around 7:17, eight minutes before medical staff ceased administering the vaccine.

“We were very, very lucky — there wasn’t even an opportunity [the previous day],” Hensel said. “If we hadn’t made it that day, you’re looking at another month to two months of waiting at least.”

Power outages notwithstanding, most teenagers who have received the vaccine have done so in a more organized fashion.

Over the weekend of Jan. 23, senior Jack Goldstein’s phone buzzed with an alert from MyChart, the health app that Texas Children’s Hospital uses for patient-doctor communication. Officials had just deemed Goldstein eligible to receive the Covid vaccine under Texas’s Phase 1B provision, and the notification contained instructions to make an appointment as soon as possible.

Weeks prior, Goldstein had been unsure of whether or not to get the vaccine, but after reading articles from medical journals and speaking with pediatricians who recommended him to sign up, he decided to “take their word for it. They’re the trained professionals.” The following morning, he and his parents scheduled his vaccination appointment for Jan. 30.

“It’s really beneficial that everyone get the vaccine if they can so that we can all work towards normality,” Goldstein said. “Vaccination is how we fend off the virus over the long term.”

St. John’s has partnered with Houston Methodist to help the faculty get vaccinated. According to Medical Director Scott Dorfman, faculty members 65 and older have already received both doses.

Tesa Stark, Director of Clinical Services, says that the School is “highly in favor of and recommending vaccination” for all faculty and students, yet Texas does not mandate a Covid vaccine for students, so the School does not plan to require anyone to receive a vaccine. If statewide authorities make a Covid vaccine mandatory, then the School will alter its policy.

In the meantime, the School’s medical advisory team is urging community members to “keep their eyes and ears open” for vaccination opportunities because the vaccine is the “best weapon we have to take a stand against the virus,” Dorfman said.

“You have to be an advocate for yourself and your family members — that’s just how the system works,” Dorfman said. “Scour the newspaper and read through emails that people send you if they reference any urgent care

clinics that have the vaccine available. That’s how some of our faculty members have received the vaccine.”

Although English teacher Kimberley Roquemore did not qualify under Phase 1A or 1B, she and several other faculty members recently received the Pfizer vaccine.

In early February, one of Roquemore’s friends told her that University of Texas Medical Branch locations were offering the vaccine. When she visited the website, Roquemore noticed that 1A and 1B qualifications were not listed as necessary. She passed on the link to her family, department colleagues and church group before making an appointment. By the end of the week, the information had spread throughout the faculty.

“We all jumped on it,” Roquemore said. “I could easily not have a vaccine right now if my friend had not sent that to me.”

Senior Aiden Dowd follows news outlets and describes the public health situation as “urgent and not getting better that quickly,” which necessitates mass vaccination.

Dowd says that taking the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines is an “obvious decision” for him.

“I understand some of the skepticism surrounding a brand-new vaccine,” said Dowd, who attributes his confidence in the vaccine to a utilitarian perspective. “That doesn’t warrant enough risk to not take the vaccine. The U.S. has such a lengthy review process that if there were any side effects, regulators would have encountered them during testing.”

For Goldstein, the potential drawbacks to the vaccine did not deter him from receiving his second Pfizer shot on Feb. 20. The side effects that he experienced were “not major” and “didn’t last very long.”

Goldstein knows that several people who have already been vaccinated have experienced side effects yet are still eager to get the second dose. “I’m the same way — if anything, I was more ready for the second dose than before I got the first dose.”

Dowd questions why anyone would be actively opposed to receiving a vaccine.

“The anti-vaxxer effort is founded on no logical evidence and hurts the population,” Dowd said. “There needs to be some way to address anti-vaxxer groups. If enough people don’t get vaccinated, we can never move out of the pandemic.”

For those who are trying to decide whether or not they should get the vaccine, Goldstein suggests studying the question more closely.

“To know more about the vaccine, do your research and talk to your doctors and people who have gotten it already. If you have any doubts, try to get someone to explain the science behind it to you,” Goldstein said. “This is our ticket to get back to normal — I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m more than ready to get back.”

As more community members receive the vaccine, Dowd urges people to remain vigilant about adhering to health protocols.

“Just like it’s hard to tell whether or not you have coronavirus without being tested, there is no easy way to tell who is vaccinated and who is not,” Dowd said. “Even if you’re vaccinated, you don’t have a free pass to do whatever you want. How you act matters to the people around you.”

Source: Texas Department of State Health Services GRAPHIC BY Matthew Hensel

MARCH 9, 2021

FEATURES

7

Full-time hobby: Senior creatives make professional music, videos

Matthew Samson edits at his home studio. His videos have collectively surpassed one million views on YouTube.

PHOTO BY Matthew Samson

Nicholas Fenouil has become a popular music producer who has worked with local artists including rapper Don Toliver.

PHOTO BY Maxx Shearod

Samson collaborates on, produces viral videos

Fenouil works with 'cutting-edge' musicians

By Afraaz Malick

By Gabrielle Solymosy

t was easy for Matthew Samson to get discouraged when he direct messaged hundreds of artists without a response, but with some perseverance and luck, his videos have collectively surpassed a million views.

Samson, a senior, started his film career by shooting drone videos and recording memorable moments of family vacations. By the time he began high school, he was trying to catch the interest of YouTubers and gamers on Twitch, so he transitioned to professional music videos.

When he first started contacting artists and musicians, he received only one or two responses a month and often worked for free.

“Artists don't have to hire videographers,” Samson said. “The only way we [can] work with a fairly big artist is for free.”

Most projects Samson works on now are from artists and streamers including Knox Hill and Shofu, but the most impactful project he worked on was VI Seconds’ song “Etika,” a tribute to a fellow YouTuber who passed away in 2019.

“The passion that he had behind the song, and all the effort that I put in, meshed really well,” Samson said.

He has edited videos for St. John’s College Counseling and Admissions as well as a video for the Athletics Banquet. Samson gained recognition across campus for his work on a football hype video, which was shown during the 2018 Upper School Pep Rally after the annual Kinkaid Video.

“It got everybody so hyped for the game,” senior Pierce Glanville said. “It did a lot to make that assembly more exciting.”

Samson has branched out to making corporate advertisements, including for the clothing brand Seek Discomfort. As its name implies, the brand inspires customers to step outside their comfort zone — a philosophy that resonates deeply with Samson, who treats each video as a chance to incorporate new techniques.

Music video directed by Samson The pandemic provided Samson an opportunity to learn Blender, a 3D visual effects software, which he has incorporated into many of his most recent video projects.

“Learning is the best thing to do,” Samson said. “There's no ceiling to what you can make, how good of an edit you can have, how good a story you can write. It is all about what you're willing to do and how much effort you're willing to put in. Every time I do a project, I try to add something new.”

While the majority of Samson’s professional work is focused on music videos, lyrical videos and advertisements, he has also directed and edited three short films.

“Every time I see a new edit, I'm impressed,” Glanville said. “Not only do [his effects] fit narratively, but in a lot of cases, they look 110 percent realistic.”

Samson has used his short films for film school and college applications since he aims to become a professional director for a music video production company called Lyrical Lemonade.

“I love the story element of short films,” Samson said. “There's only so much self-expression you can do in somebody else's song about their own issues.”

Film production is not without its Long-form music video edited by Samson challenges. For each project, Samson creates a shot list, which is essentially a script for the camera, but “half the time the list goes into the trash can” as he freestyles in the moment.

Once the shooting is complete, post-production poses a different challenge, especially when he spends hours working at his computer only to have a program crash or an effect not save.

But for Samson, the “grind” is worth it, which is why he keeps making videos.

“When I had my videos hit a million views, it was insane,” Samson said. “But the next day, I woke up and made more videos.”

icholas Fenouil started casually experimenting with GarageBand at the beginning of his freshman year. Now, he’s a budding music producer.

Fenouil, a senior, predominantly produces rap, hip-hop and trap music and has worked with musicians including Houston-born rapper Don Toliver, who has over 1.2 million Spotify followers.

Fenouil composes tracks using electronic drums. He listens to a few tracks from artists, then composes his own tracks to accompany the song.

“I’m just trying to make what the artist wants,” Fenouil said. “I’m limited in that way, but it’s good to have a place to start.”

Senior Natalie Brown is a singer-songwriter who considers herself a pop artist. Last spring, Fenouil worked with her to produce the single “Deja Vu,” which she released on Spotify. Fenouil was excited to produce a different style of music.

Brown and Fenouil worked independently on the track, aside from a few calls during the process.

“I’m very meticulous about what I want my songs to sound like,” Brown said. “It was good for both of us to step outside our normal genres.”

Fenouil would send Brown multiple tracks for the song, and she responded with notes about specific time-stamps.

“I would text him all of these tiny notes like ‘I don't like the way the drum sounds at 34 seconds’ or ‘I don't like the ambiance of this section,’ and he got it,” Brown said.

Fenouil has come a long way in just four years. During his freshman year crosscountry retreat, he pitched in to help create a lighthearted “diss track“ about another teammate using GarageBand.

Before long, Fenouil started making melodies that he sent to other producers. As he progressed, other artists began sending him melodies. When he started making completed tracks, he reached out to artists Notable songs produced by directly.

Fenouil Fenouil uses social media to network and find new projects. In 2017, he direct messaged a producer on Instagram who connected Fenouil to a friend of Don Toliver, who in turn introduced Fenouil to one of Toliver’s producers. Fenouil received production credits for two of Toliver’s songs, "Around" and "2 Lil Shorty."

“It felt like a turning point in my attitude towards making music,” Fenouil said. “It made me realize that maybe this could be more than just a hobby.”

After "Around" reached 100 million streams online, Fenouil received a milestone plaque from the Recording Industry Association of America and Toliver's record label Cactus Jack.

Fenouil signed a deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

Fenouil’s discography has secured him invitations to work with artists in recording studios. During pre-pandemic studio sessions, he collaborated with local artists and received live feedback. He used the opportunity to network with artists so later he could produce for them.

“He’s got a huge network online, and he's really pushing himself to get himself out there. It’s really inspiring,” said senior Henry Miller, an electronic music producer and close friend of Fenouil.

Since the pandemic began, the studios where Fenouil once worked are now closed, so he has returned to producing remotely.

“It’s kind of just going back to the roots of what I used to do before when I was emailing people loops, melodies and beats,” he said.

Fenouil has also been focusing on his trap music skills using a professional digital audio software, taking the opportunity to hone his sound, which emphasizes bold-sounding drums.

“For as much as he’s developed his own style, he’s also super versatile,” Miller said. “He’s very good at producing and creating whatever the situation calls for.”

Miller said that the key to Fenouil’s success is his ability to adapt to different artists while retaining his SCAN ON SPOTIFY: Playlist of songs by Fenouil own distinctive sound, which Miller describes as “psychedelic, wavy and dreamy.”

“Fenouil is on the cutting edge,” Miller said. “He’s going to be pretty big in a few years.”

I

N

8

MARCH 9, 2021

THE REVIEW

Lovebugs: A year Students navigate a transformed dating _ Due to the sensitive nature of this story, some names have been changed.

By Julia Smith uring spring break of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic became an increasingly real threat, seniors Casey Propst and Gabrielle Solymosy began venting to one another about the situation, a process that slowly brought them closer together.

“We learned a lot about each other,” Propst said. “By saying what we really cared about — what we were scared of — we got to a point where we could really confide in each other.”

While the pair’s friendship began back in ninth grade, Covid and the subsequent quarantine provided the catalyst for their current relationship.

“The pandemic allowed me a lot of time to reflect,” said Solymosy, a copy editor for The Review. “If school was going at the same pace that it was when it ended, I don’t think I would have allowed myself a lot of time to reflect about how I was feeling.”

The pause in normalcy wrought by the coronavirus has changed more than daily life. Many individuals, like Solymosy and Propst, have experienced the impact of the pandemic through distinctive developments in the romantic facets of their lives.

Greta and her boyfriend went from acquaintances to significant others in a matter of weeks. While she thinks mutual friends would have brought them together eventually, she attributes her relationship’s quick transition to social distancing guidelines, particularly limiting the number of people at gettogethers. After meeting at two sparsely attended ended get-togethers, “it sort of escalated fast.”

With only six others in attendance, there were fewer people to mingle with, which allowed Greta to get to know her now-boyfriend.

While smaller gatherings brought Greta and her partner together, Iris says that summer cancellations gave rise to her current relationship.

“I would’ve been at camp, and he probably would’ve been out of town,” she said. “I don’t think we would’ve worked out if we weren’t both stranded in Houston.”

Social isolation also created a profound sense of boredom.

Like many others, Rafael dealt with the tedium by reaching out to people on social media, including his most recent girlfriend, whom he met on Instagram.

“When you’re quarantining for that long, you get bored and start texting people,” he said.

Social media and other forms of technology have not only sparked new relationships but also kept established couples connected throughout the pandemic.

For Lorelei and her boyfriend, a decrease in face-to-face interaction has increased the number of conversations on FaceTime, which has proven beneficial.

“We’ve talked so much more through FaceTime and have more deep or fun conversations,” Lorelei said. “It’s definitely made our relationship stronger.”

Eli Maierson and Juliana Aviles (both ‘19) dated throughout high school and have remained together. In the fall, she attended online Trinity University classes in Houston, and he went back to Amherst College. After dating for over five years, the pair is used to being apart, but the pandemic has shifted the nature of their separation.

D

When Aviles didn’t get to go back to campus, they tried to stay connected by watching movies on Netflix Party.

“We did it more than we have in normal long-distance semesters because she didn’t have other social things she was doing,” Maierson said.

In order to reduce the number of social contacts, couples have turned to each other. For Macy, her boyfriend was the one person she did not practice social distancing with.

“Even though the world around us changed, our interactions were still normal,” Macy said. “He was the only person I felt comfortable seeing often. It definitely helped.”

The profound differences in day-to-day life can be stressful.

Even when the tension of living in a pandemic became too much, Solymosy and Propst had each other. Communication became the constant in their relationship.

“We were faced with so much unknown with the way that the world was going,” Solymosy said. “It’s been really comforting knowing that I can rely on somebody completely.”

Relationships have eased the stress of the pandemic, bringing couples closer together, whether literally or emotionally.Yet increased intimacy can make romance more difficult.

Macy’s boyfriend was set to leave for college at the start of the fall semester, but when his university’s campus closed, he remained in Houston for virtual classes. While the unexpected change allowed them a little more time together, it also made his eventual departure more challenging.

“Because we spent so much time together, because I was the only friend he had in town and he was the only person I felt comfortable seeing often, we got even closer,” Macy said. “It made it even harder when he left, but I’m still thankful.”

As couples get closer, they become more concerned about what their partner is doing when they are apart.

On New Year’s Eve, Rafael’s then-girlfriend wanted to take him to a social gathering that was likely to have a large number of attendees, many of whom they did not know.

“I didn’t really feel comfortable with that,” Rafael said.

After a lengthy conversation, they ultimately decided to attend a smaller gathering with people they knew.

Rafael’s communication included setting boundaries in regards to what kind of activities he was comfortable with during the pandemic. Trust has become the critical component in pandemic relationships.

“We trust each other to stay safe,” Lorelei said. “Setting the lines of what you want and what you expect from your significant other is huge.”

Maierson and Aviles count on one another to continually practice safe social conduct. The pair has also agreed on certain limits in order to stay safe, including wearing masks while together and getting a weekly Polymerase Chain Reaction Covid test.

“There are annoyances, but we recognize it more as things that have to get done, rather than imposing unfair boundaries,” Maierson said. “We’re trying to be as safe as possible.”

For the majority of the pandemic, Maierson and Aviles have stayed close — but always six feet apart. The lack of physical intimacy required adaptation.

Physical contact is often integral in relationships, whether individuals are dating or engaging in hookups — that often

DESIGN AND CANDY HEARTS BY Bailey Maierson; ILLUSTRATION BY Fareen Dhuka

MARCH 9, 2021

SJSREVIEW.COM

9

of Covid dating landscape amID pandemic restrictions vague concept referring to any form of physical intimacy with another consenting individual. Even during a pandemic, people are still hooking up, but there are added layers of caution and concern.

Before Rafael began dating his most recent girlfriend, he hooked up with two people. The second experience involved added safety measures.

“It’s a different process,” Rafael said.

“When people are wearing masks, you have to take your masks off and then ask if they have a sore throat — it’s very awkward.”

Lana’s one and only pandemic hookup was a “split-second” decision back in October. The duration and stress of the pandemic increased her willingness to take a risk, but afterwards she became worried and distanced herself from social situations for a long time.

After her momentary lapse of judgement, Lana was concerned about the health of her family and friends, so she has abstained since then. As she got to know the boy better and saw just how many parties he went to and how many times he went out each week, she considered herself “lucky” that she did not contract Covid.

Greta and her boyfriend make a concerted effort to follow CDC guidelines, a precaution that allows them to remain close without undue anxiety.

“We’re a very Covid-conscious couple,” Greta said. “We’ve learned about what health risks we have in each other’s families. I’m willing to be more careful if it means I can hook up with him.”

The lack of normalcy, including the inability for typical dates at restaurants or movie theaters, has prompted couples to get creative. Iris and her boyfriend’s first date consisted of take-out and a visit to the bat colony underneath the Waugh Bridge.

“We watched the sun go down on the horizon and got

attacked by bats while eating Whataburger,” she said.

While not all dates are supremely unconventional, many people have taken advantage of the break in routine to spend some quality outdoor time with their significant other. Propst is planning a romantic picnic for Solymosy, complete with stargazing.

“Given the limited experiences that we can have together, maximizing the time we can spend outside while still having those really good experiences is my goal,” Propst said.

With many food and entertainment venues either closed or too crowded, dates consist more of sitting together and engaging in conversation. Maierson has come to appreciate Aviles even more during the pandemic: “She’s someone I never really get tired of talking to.”

Maierson also noted that the nine months apart from Aviles has helped him understand just how resilient their relationship is.

“We just want to be with each other, and if circumstances dictate that it’s going to be hard to see each other, we’re going to find a way to do it,” Maierson said. “The pandemic has been a reaffirmation of our commitment to each other.”

In the face of Covid, appreciation between partners has flourished, revealing what is important in a relationship.

“We learned how to have more fun together and make up our own fun,” Macy said. “It didn’t matter what we were doing, it just mattered to be together. Even if we were just sitting at the park for hours doing nothing, it was still something we both appreciated.”

Covid has not only changed perspectives on relationships but also changed perspectives on the pandemic itself. For Solymosy, her relationship with Propst has been a lifeline in an exceedingly stressful time.

“I don’t think I would see Covid in the same light had the relationship not developed,” she said. “I have somebody to rely on when everything else always seems to be unprecedented.”

OPINION

PROM: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER . . .?

By Julia Smith derived my earliest understanding of prom from “High School Musical 3,” the 2008 installment in a series of Disney movies that permeated my childhood. The prom theme, the “promposals” and the glitzy musical number “A Night to Remember” informed my concept of what prom should be.

Over the last 13 years, I have incorporated additional elements into my understanding, including a burgeoning middle school cynicism which gave way to a content, realistic outlook in high school.

By junior year, I came to appreciate prom as an exciting opportunity to dress up, spend time with friends and enjoy a quintessential high school event.

Prom did not, in my mind, connote the transformative experience I once believed.

The pandemic led to the cancelation of my junior prom and was still in full swing as I entered senior year, so I fully expected to finish high school promless. The loss, amidst the absence of football games, Homecoming and Senior Country, felt minor.

And then, some unexpected good news arrived in my inbox.

On Feb. 23, Head of Upper School Hollis Amley announced a modified seniors-only prom, which will take place April 25 on the baseball field. There will be an actual theme! decorations! music! and food! Despite years of indifference, I was elated. The return of prom, however modified, enables a sliver of normalcy in a year that has otherwise remained

I

tumultuous and unpredictable.

My feelings of excitement have faded. While the Class of 2021 will finally experience prom, the dance will be far from the traditional event many students imagined.

Covid-19 still looms large, so prom will take place outside, masks will be required and there will be fewer afterparties thrown with reckless abandon (hopefully).

But perhaps the unique nature of our senior prom reflects an experience that more closely resembles the famous depictions we grew up with.

Movies like “Mean Girls,” “Radio Rebel,” “Lady Bird” and “10 Things I Hate About You” portray prom as an unforgettable moment, a venue for overnight transformations and life-changing realizations.

In “Mean Girls,” new girl Cady Heron uses her moment as Spring Fling Queen to apologize to her classmates, distributing pieces of a tiara and beginning the process of healing the divided student body.

In “Radio Rebel,” shy girl Tara Adams uses Morp (prom backwards) as her moment to reveal her secret identity as Radio Rebel. After abandoning her friends to hang out with the cool kids, Lady Bird McPherson rekindles her true friendships on prom night, and in “10 Things I Hate About You,” all the drama culminates at the Padua High School prom.

These dances are all classic and glamorous, but they also share the common trait of truly being nights to remember.

At a conventional prom, St. John’s students would likely have few tales to recount for years to come.

Real high school students do not give impassioned speeches or undergo cinematic transformations. Betrayals and physical violence are kept to a minimum.

In a normal year, prom would blur together with Cotillions, graduation parties and a multitude of social events. But this year, prom is it.

Covid has upended the school year, canceling beloved traditions and altering those that remain. Our senior prom might not be what we envisioned, but it will be unique. Just like the movies of our adolescence, it will be a dance we are unlikely to forget anytime soon.

ILLUSTRATION BY Grace Randall

10

THE REVIEW

MARCH 9, 2021

Alum opens up about risk-taking in debut book

By Abigail Poag

I

t is morning in Taipei, and Amy Dong (`16) has just gotten off the phone with the publisher of “Twenty-One Years Young,” her debut essay collection that was released in December.

Dong is “terrible at sitting still,” but she’s going to give it a try as she logs into a Zoom interview from her government mandated quarantine in Taiwan where she is preparing to teach English for the next six months as part of her Fulbright Scholarship.

In January, I spoke with Dong about her book of 14 personal essays. A recent NYU Valedictorian, she draws upon her experiences venturing across 25 countries in pieces including “Oyster Omelettes in Singapore” and “How to Get Your Money Stolen and How to Deal with All Your Emotions Afterward.” (See sidebar for excerpt.)

Whether she is reflecting on her eating disorder recovery or her misadventures as a pet owner, Dong seeks to “impose some structure” on her two decades of living.

“Perhaps I am too young to weave this patchwork of stories together,” Dong writes, “but at twenty-one years young, at least I am not afraid to try.”

Did you ever meet with any opposition during the publishing process?

My biggest opposition was my parents, and it still kind of is.

They're very private people in the sense that they just want to keep their family close. Every single time I bring up the fact that some people's favorite essays of mine are “My Mother Voted for Trump” and “He Means Well,” I can see the physical tension in their bodies.

As an author, I felt really guilty. Joan Didion, one of my favorite authors, puts this really well when she said, “Writers are extractors.” They have to steal from other people's lives.

That stuck with me so deeply because I know full well that I extracted from my experiences with my family, yet I still chose to write about it because it mattered so much to me.

You started your personal blog, The Little Apple, in 2016. Did having a blog influence how willing you were to open up in your essays?

Definitely. I was in such a pit when I was recovering from my eating disorder. I finally had published that blog post about my recovery and that whole semester of just horrible Could you talk a little bit illness. But the visceral reacabout your background as tions I got catapulted me into a writer? thinking, “I really, really have Growing up as an Asian to keep talking about this.”

American, we're rarely You would not believe the taught to value writing as number of people who wrote something that will get us back. So many of them were further in life. It was my St. St. John's friends, and so many John's teachers who first of them were people going gave me the inkling of hope through the same thing. There that I could actually share have been people who I hamy stories. ven't spoken to in years who I got some Scholastic will message me out of the awards for my writing, and I blue and say, “Amy, can you never, never expected that to recommend me a dietician or a happen. And then in college, therapist or an eating disorder it was not so much about specialist?” getting awards or getting I feel like the more I share, Amy Dong is now teaching English in Taipei as a Fulbright Scholar. known. It was much more the more other people will about how I use writing as a PHOTO COURTESY OF Amy Dong also be willing to share. No one is tool to make sense of my life. ever alone for anything that they Ever since high school, I have been keeping a journal, and when experienced. Sharing is a great way to reach out to people that you I was bored in class or when I was in a really happy mood or in a don't even realize you're reaching out to. really sad mood, I would just write. It sounds cliche — cliches are cliches because they're true — but after every time I wrote, I felt What do you hope readers learn from your book? calmer. I'm generally a very Type A, neurotic person, and writing One: If you're young, don't discount your experiences. The quote is one of the only things I can do where I'm not trying to compete that I put on the back of the book is “Two decades is not nothing. with anyone. I can get to know myself better through my words.

It is everything we know.” I fully believe that our feelings are It's definitely a lens into my inner world. valid; they're strong and they're important.

Two: Don't be afraid to take that risk that you're thinking about.

Were you always drawn to creative nonfiction?

You never know where you'll land, but just the act of taking a I was, and I still am. I am a horrible fiction writer because there risk will make you realize that you are capable of taking risks and are limits to fiction — literally anything could happen. My best you're capable of bouncing back. writing comes when I have a certain limit or a starting point. I Three: I know at St John's a lot of people are very stressed out have to write about what is true, but within that realm of truth about college decisions — that was totally me. I wrote the essay, there are infinite ways I can bend or shape that truth.

“Had I Gone to Harvard,” because of that. But you will develop a Everyone has parents, everyone has a family. Everyone has stovoice that is uniquely yours, no matter what you do or where you ries where they either succeeded or failed at something. But how end up. A college decision is just a decision that you get to make, does one individual person make that their own? That is what I'm and the decisions that you make afterwards are just as important. fascinated with: how the personal is universal in so many ways.

How did you decide to publish a book?

Many things in life are serendipitous. The summer before I started senior year of college, someone on LinkedIn messaged me, “I think you look like someone who really wants to write a book or has a lot of interesting stories to tell.”

He turned out to be a Georgetown professor trying to teach entrepreneurship by getting people to write a book from start to finish. I met my publisher through him and worked with a whole team of editors and designers to make this book come true.

There's a weird joy and sadness that comes with making dreams realities. There’s a sense of relief and accomplishment, and at the same time, there's that anticlimactic feeling of, “I did it. What's next?” My life’s question is answering, “What’s next?”

Had you been working on the essays you included in the collection for years, or did you write them specifically for this book?

This is going to be one of those cheesy moments: I've been working on them my whole life. I have been nurturing some of these ideas in my brain or in the Notes section of my iPhone or in my journals for years.

I wrote everything in 2020, but I had been doing my research for years. A lot of the writing process was not even writing, it was just sitting with a stack of 20 books around me and saying, “Okay, this is what I really like about this book. How can I match that with this one essay idea I wrote in my journal three years ago?”

Your collection includes some very humorous essays (“On Taking Care of Pets,” “How to Get Your Money Stolen and How to Deal with All Your Emotions Afterwards”). Is it more difficult for you to be funny in writing as opposed to real life?

People think I'm not funny in real life, but I love puns. I love jokes. I actually think it's easier to be funny in writing. Some of my favorite essays are humor like David Sedaris. I would like to think that I am funny in writing and in real life, but I do think you can study the art of humor writing. There are many, many books that teach you how to do it, so you could totally fake it till you make it.

I feel like teaching someone to be funny in real life may be a little bit more difficult.

Do you have any advice for young writers?

Everyone says it because it's true: read a lot. You cannot be a good writer without also being a diligent reader because you will learn so much about the styles you like and how to craft beautiful sentences and complex characters. It's totally a shortcut into writing.

Another one is carry a journal with you wherever you are. You'll never know when you’ll eavesdrop on a fascinating conversation.

I like to think that writers are sometimes the best stalkers because they’re always on the lookout for interesting tidbits from other conversations.

An excerpt from 'Twenty-One Years Young' "How to Get Your Money Stolen and How to Deal with All Your Emotions Afterward" Part 1 of Amy’s Guide to Getting Your Money Stolen: Diddly Squat Common Sense 1. When traveling, make sure you always carry a nice purse with you in the most crowded, touristy part of town. Give someone the opportunity to take advantage of you, or as locals in Colombia say, “Give papaya.”

2. Make sure you’re squeezed against as many strangers as possible so they can, at any second, unzip your purse and snatch away your cute maroon wallet like the ripe little papaya it is.

3. Don’t check your purse for suspicious activity until you need it to buy tampons at a random convenience store.

4. Realize your wallet is gone and say “oh my God” one hundred times fast because you know this is the foolproof way to get God Himself to appear and deliver not one, but two new wallets to you, pronto.

5. Cry a lot when God doesn’t show up.

6. Tell yourself you’ll make up for the loss by not spending any more cash. Because starving yourself of future food and fun is the only way to regain happiness.

7. Attempt to place blame on someone and then ultimately blame yourself.

8. Feel guilty.

9. Continue to feel guilty and cry about it every night in the Airbnb.

10. Make everyone around you feel awkward because they’re all lying in bunk beds next to you.

P.S. While you’re out traveling, make sure to leave excess cash in an obvious place in the room. Make sure it’s practically out in the open and that it’s all in one spot, too. Don’t bother wasting the precious minute it takes to hide the cash in different places around the room — this makes you that paranoid jerk who has no chill.

Twenty-One Years Young can be purchased on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

MARCH 9, 2021

SJSREVIEW.COM

Turning the page on Houston's bookstores

By Olivia Doan

A

PHOTO BY Maxx Shearod

By Abigail Poag

M

READING HABITS TRANSFORMED

The pandemic has not been all bad news for the book industry. With fewer options outside the home, people have more time to curl up with a favorite read.

Print book sales rose over 8% last year, the largest increase since 2010, according to NPD BookScan. In addition to Amazon and other online retailers, customers purchased books from big-box stores such as Target and Walmart.

Burnett, who hosts the literary salon “Conversations from a Page” with fellow St. John’s parent Krista Hensel, has found herself “passing around books to people like crazy.”

With more free time on his hands, Book Club co-president Kushal Kandel turned to books as a respite from Zoom calls and screen time. On weeknights, he aims to spend at least 30 minutes reading a book of his own choosing after he finishes his homework.

“I want to give my brain and body a break from electronics

Finding Sushi Pet fish buoys

advisory morale

After 47 years, the nearby River Oaks Bookstore shut down in December. The store was one of the few remaining independent bookstores in the Houston area.

ichael Jones knew the end was coming. As the co-owner of River Oaks Bookstore, the independent bookshop located across from Lamar High School, he had long struggled to compete against online book sites. Still, Jones and his wife Josie (’78) held on, hoping business would turn around.

When the pandemic accelerated Internet shopping practically overnight, Jones knew it was the last straw. At the end of December, he closed the doors on the bookstore that his mother helped found nearly five decades ago.

“The world is changing,” Jones said, “and it’s leaving some of us behind.”

Bookstores across the country have labored to stay afloat amidst lockdowns and social-distancing concerns — bookstore sales fell 31% the first 10 months of 2020, according to Publisher’s Weekly.

Cindy Burnett, the mother of an alum and two current students, has worked for three years at independent bookstore Murder By the Book. She said that being unable to host in-person author events and book signings has been a blow to bookstores.

Author events are a “big deal”: “That’s one thing that really helps their business,” said Burnett, who is also a literary podcaster and book columnist for the Buzz magazines.

Online retailers like Amazon offer convenience and low prices that threaten the viability of brick-and-mortar stores.

When customers buy from Amazon, they take business away from independent bookstores and even national chains like Barnes & Noble.

“People don’t fully understand that when they’re saving $5 on one book, they’re helping drive all these [bookstores] out of business,” Burnett said.

Even in pre-pandemic times, Jones did not think Houston’s independent bookstore culture was as “vibrant and healthy as it ought to be.”

Brazos Bookstore near Rice Village and Blue Willow Bookshop in Memorial are a few of Houston’s only remaining full-service, independent bookstores. Specialty stores such as Murder by the Book (across the street from Brazos) and used shops such as Kaboom Books in the Heights are the only other options locally.

“I’m disappointed and a little surprised that a city like Houston doesn't have more independent bookstores,” Jones said. “Houston is a town that is intelligent, loves to read, loves the arts. It’s just how things have shaken out.”

Jones loved interacting with customers, many of whom have been coming to the store for decades, accompanied by their children and eventually their children’s children.

“We’ve all really enjoyed our time here,” Jones said. “We’re sad to close, but we can’t be sad about what we’ve had. It’s been a great run.”

11

before I hit the pillow,” Kandel, a senior, said.

E-books have also experienced a surge in popularity.

Book Keepers Club president Anika Ayub, who considers reading her main hobby, used to visit the public library every few weeks to pick up a stack of books. The sophomore has increasingly relied on the library media streaming platform Hoopla and sites such as Internet Archive to acquire new titles.

Upper School librarian Suzanne Webb has noticed an uptick in checkouts through the School’s OverDrive digital library.

Students and faculty have checked out over 700 e-books since March.

Although Kandel often gravitates towards nonfiction — he recently finished a biography on Steve Jobs — he also enjoys science fiction and fantasy for their ability to transport him to “different realms” anytime he wants.

Junior Eve Kroencke appreciates the escapism of reading and enjoys books that allow her to “dive into a world and get lost in it.” She considers reading a “relaxing breather” at the end of a long day.

“It’s nice to be in a world that’s not our own — where the issues are different,” Kroencke said.

Although several of Kroencke’s friends are also avid readers, she does not think that reading for pleasure is widespread among Upper School students.

While visiting St. John’s in eighth grade, she was shocked to hear that her student host did not read for pleasure.

“I figured a lot of people were going to be readers, but there just wasn’t that big of a reading community,” she said. “It’s not booktopia.”

Kandel said that many Upper School students simply lack free time.

“Students focus on their academics and homework a lot,” he said, “so it’s hard to find time to do other things outside of classes.”

Based on the results of a survey English teacher Brian Beard sent to his English I classes, more than a third of his students anticipated reading one or two books for pleasure in the next year, yet less than 10% anticipated reading seven or more. A majority of his students reported reading less than they did when they were younger.

Before Ayub switched over to e-books, she would carry around two books at a time: one in her hands and one in her backpack. She reads every spare moment, foregoing social media.

“Instead of taking out a phone, I take out a book,” she said.

Beard notes that reading requires “higher activation energy” than other forms of entertainment.

“Social media and video games are packaged and marketed and designed in such a way that it’s hard to get out, hard to stop,” Beard said.

Kandel combs through the carts of returned books at the Bellaire City Library to see what others have been reading.

Rather than talk books with his “in-real-life” friends, he communicates via GroupMe and Discord with a group of friends he met at a virtual camp last summer.

“We talk about our daily lives, but usually we’re talking about books,” he said.

His online friends share a love of reading he does not always see in his classmates.

“St. John’s students focus a lot on grades and homework, but a part of anyone’s education comes from sources outside school,” Kandel said.

Beard encourages his students to pursue what interests them, rather than solely “giving a teacher what they want.”

Books continue to shape Beard’s worldview. “[Reading] informs your thinking,” Beard said. “It informs your conversations; it informs the type of person that you are, that you’ll become.”

fter a pet python escaped from its cage and slithered out of a classroom at Elizabeth Willcutt’s previous school, the French teacher vowed never to have a classroom pet.

Last year, when one of her freshman advisees suggested the advisory get a pet, Willcutt immediately vetoed the proposal.

After persistent pleading from her advisory, Willcutt relented. They settled on a fish — a pet that could not escape its habitat.

Sushi, a blue betta fish, joined the Willcutt advisory last February, quickly becoming a mascot and perpetual topic of conversation. During the pandemic, Sushi’s adventures remain a beacon of optimism for the sophomores.

Willcutt advisee Elizabeth Harris says that owning Sushi came with a fair number of responsibilities. When Sushi was in Willcutt’s classroom, advisees were responsible for feeding him, cleaning his bowl and, generally, just being nice to him. Sushi now lives in a tank complete with sushithemed decorations at Wilcutt's home.

Taking care of Sushi was, according to advisee Mark Helwig, not the only reason that Sushi “caused a lot more stress than anticipated.”

Sushi has had numerous brushes with death, including one scare in which he spent days neither moving nor eating. Another time Sushi developed a strange white spot, prompting advisory members to fear for his health.

Fortunately, the spot disappeared after a few weeks.

Despite putting the advisory on an emotional roller coaster, the betta fish has become a beloved advisory icon. In an advisory group chat, Willcutt frequently sends pictures and memes to provide updates on Sushi’s life.

Over the holidays, the advisory fawned over Sushi’s miniature Christmas tree, which Willcutt had placed on the table behind his tank.

Helwig said Sushi has brought the advisory closer together, dissolving barriers between members.

“Our advisory can be naturally quiet,” Harris said. “It’s good to have the fish because it’s something we can all talk about.”

For Willcutt, the fish is a welcome distraction.

“Sushi is an easy, lighthearted way to stay connected with our advisory, especially during a challenging time. We don’t have to focus on what’s hard about learning during a pandemic.

Instead, we laugh over pictures of a fish.”

ILLUSTRATION BY Georgia Andrews

CEN

12

WHEN THEY ARE IN PAIN, THEY DON’T GET THE CARE THAT THEY NEED — AND IF THEY DO, IT IS ONLY AFTER UNNECESSARY DELAYS. FOR BLACK WOMEN, A HISTORY OF MISTREATMENT HAS LED TO A DISTRUST OF MEDICINE AND A FEELING THAT THEY ARE

SEEN BUT

NOT HEARD STORY BY Noura Jabir & Ella West Due to the sensitive nature of this story, some names have been changed.

W

ith h cot mor

room

Wall, a Lower School art teacher, suffers from sickle cell anemia. She knew she wasn’t receiving the proper care. When she reaches a pain level of 10, signifying the worst possible pain, she should be comfortably resting, not waiting in agony.

“I am supposed to have an IV in my arm and oxygen going up my nose,” Wall said.

Even after a doctor finally attended to her, she was denied pain medication because the doctor insisted that a blood sample be analyzed first. When the lab results eventually came in, they showed nothing seriously wrong.

“Sickle cell can happen like that,” Wall said. “It doesn’t mean I’m not in pain.”

The doctor informed Wall that she had to be cautious when fulfilling patient requests for medication because “some people come in here seeking drugs.”

At that moment, Wall considered dialing 911.

“I could feel my body shutting down,” she said.

“This was the worst I’d ever felt — and this woman was telling me that I was drug-seeking.”

Seven years later, Wall is still unsure why the doctor refused to give her adequate care.

“I don’t know if she didn’t care because she actually thought I was taking drugs, because she was racist or because she didn’t believe that I was in pain,” Wall said. “But I believe that she just did not care for Black women.”

Racial and ethnic disparities in pain treatment are rarely intentional, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Often, the inequities are “the product of complex influences, including implicit biases that providers don’t even know they have.”

Doctors like Valerae Lewis, Professor and the Chair of the Department of Orthopedic Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, are cognizant of how some colleagues treat patients “that don’t look like them.”

“Minority pain isn’t addressed as much as the majority’s pain,” said Lewis, mother of seniors Olivia and Isabella O’Reilly. “Doctors may underestimate a Black patient’s pain, and as a result, under-prescribe pain meds.”

According to a 2016 National Academy of Science study, nearly half of white medical trainees believe Black people have “thicker skin” or have “less sensitive nerve endings” than white people.

These misconceptions demonstrate the destructive consequences of 19th-century racial pseudoscience.

While more medical schools now emphasize bridging the cultural gap between doctors and patients, the term “culturally competent” did not consistently appear in medical literature until the late 1990s. Thus older physicians, many of whom are medical school professors, struggle to adapt.

“A lot of the older faculty didn’t have cultural competency as a part of their curriculum when they were first studying medicine,” said Daniel Bland (`14), a student at Baylor College of Medicine. “They’ve had to learn on the job.”

The diversity of medical school students and faculty can also affect the education an institution provides, according to Joanne Armstrong, an obstetriciangynecologist and Associate Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center.

“When doctors live closer to the experience of their patients, they can understand their challenges — or maybe engineer systems to accommodate some of these challenges,” said Armstrong, the mother of an alum and current student. “That understanding is why diversity matters in medicine — at all levels.”

MEDICAL GASLIGHTING

For the last few months, junior Kennedy Black has watched anxiously as her grandmother — an 84-yearold African-American woman — was checked in and out of hospitals. While undergoing a recent treatment

ILLUSTRATION AND PAGE DESIGN BY Celine Huang

NTER

13

her newborn baby and husband by her side, Carla Wall lay on a in a hospital hallway as doctors ignored her cries of discomfort for re than four hours. She needed fluids, pain medication and a warm

m with blankets, or the consequences could be fatal. for a urinary tract infection, her grandmother began displaying Covid-19 symptoms.

Because she has dementia, Black’s grandmother often relies upon her son, an ER physician, to communicate with healthcare providers. Black’s father identified signs of the virus in his mother and requested that she receive a Covid test. Her doctor, who was white, declined.

“The doctor was so convinced that he was right and that what my dad was suggesting was wrong,” Black said. “He didn’t want to be told by a man of color that he wasn’t doing his job correctly.”

The doctor eventually sent Black’s grandmother home, where her condition worsened. Concerned, Black’s family insisted that she return to the hospital and seek care from a different physician who gave her a Covid test.

It came back positive.

According to Dr. Lewis, who is Black, race impacts relationship dynamics between patients and healthcare providers.

“Because of a history of mistreatment, AfricanAmerican families may not fully trust the medical establishment,” Lewis said. “They’re in an all-white, unfamiliar environment, so they can often be very protective of their relative, the patient.”

A 2018 Stanford University study suggests that racial and ethnic concordance between physicians and patients improves health outcomes. Black patients were more likely to talk freely with a Black doctor about their health, and Black doctors were more likely to listen to their patients’ concerns.

When Savana was in eighth grade, her mother sent her to the pediatrician for a rash. Instead of addressing the issue, her doctor said she should “stop inspecting [herself] with a microscope.”

Now a junior, Savana realizes that her doctor was teaching her to disregard her intuition and not listen to her mother when it came to matters of her health and well-being.

‘I WAS BASICALLY A TEST DUMMY’

Following her first ever surgery, Angela Anderson was in immense pain. Her nurse did not follow proper post-surgery procedures, and for two hours, she waited in tears.

“I had to actually start crying for her to call my doctor.”

Even before Anderson’s “disturbing” post-surgery experience, she did not always feel comfortable around healthcare providers. Two years ago, her primary care physician noticed that some of her hormone levels were high. After a 10-minute conversation, her doctor prescribed a medicine that ultimately exacerbated the situation.

When Anderson returned months later, her health had not improved sufficiently, so her doctor prescribed a different medication. Anderson asked him to specify the intended results and side effects of the medicine, but she received a lackluster response.

“They weren’t really listening to me, and it was clear they didn’t really care about me,” she said. “I was basically a test dummy.”

Distrust of the medical establishment has long pervaded communities of color, due to a history of experimentation on Black and Brown bodies.

James Marian Sims, often credited as the “Father of Modern Gynecology,” pioneered surgical techniques for women’s health. In 1876, he was named President of the American Medical Association and later served as President of the American Gynecological Society, which he helped establish.

Sims operated under the misconception that Black people did not feel pain. To advance his practice, he operated on at least 10 enslaved women, never using

anesthesia. One of his patients, a 17-year-old named Anarcha, endured nearly 30 surgeries over the course of four years.

When Sims opened the country’s first women’s hospital in New York in 1855, he treated his white patients with anesthesia.

“Looking at the things he did to some of these women,” Wall said, “I could pass out.”

More familiar to the American public is the 1932 “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” in which the Public Health Service partnered with the Tuskegee Institute to develop treatment programs for syphilis. Over the course of 40 years, researchers selected a group of 600 Black men, roughly half of whom had syphilis, and began conducting experimental treatment on them. The study was completed without the informed consent of the subjects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“

I could feel my body shutting down. This was the worst I’d ever felt — and this woman was telling me that I was drug-seeking.

CARLA WALL

On their official website, the CDC acknowledges: “In truth, they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness.”

Even when penicillin became the treatment of choice for syphilis in 1947, the Tuskegee Study researchers actively prevented subjects from receiving it.

While the study has been denounced as unethical, its consequences still resonate.

“The Covid pandemic highlights the legacy of institutional racism in the medical field,” an SJS teacher said. “I turn on the TV, and all over the nation there are white people standing in line for the vaccine, but I rarely see Black people or people of color. There’s so much distrust.”

The teacher, who is eager to get vaccinated, cites the large number of white recipients as evidence that the vaccine is safe.

“If the medical community — or the government — were specifically targeting minority groups, saying they’d come to our communities first and give us the shot, then I’d be more hesitant,” the teacher said.

HELPING DOCTORS DO THE RIGHT THING

Because the business structure of many medical practices emphasizes efficiency, physicians can struggle to balance compassion and quality medicine.

Time-restricted appointments pose a “fixed challenge” to patient-centered care, according to Dr. Armstrong.

“I have never encountered a doctor who didn’t want to do the right thing,” Armstrong said. “But they need time to connect with patients, and it’s often not there.”

As the medical field relies more heavily on technology, maintaining humanity in healthcare is

increasingly important.

“We are moving into an age of medicine — machine learning — where artificial intelligence is shaping medical diagnosis and treatment recommendations,” Armstrong said. “Regardless of new technologies introduced into clinical practice, the focus should be on the individual patient.”

Before she enters a patient’s room, Dr. Lewis will pause at the door, grip the handle, take a deep breath and smile.

“It slows me down,” she said, “and I enter the room smiling.”

Lewis said that sitting down immediately after greeting a patient — as opposed to standing and firing questions at them — sets the stage for collaboration.

It also makes the patient feel as though she has spent more time with them.

For Lewis, laying hands on the patient is important, not only for diagnosis but also for establishing trust.

These techniques, which Lewis learned in medical school, help doctors meaningfully connect with patients during brief visits.

In 2014, Lewis edited an orthopedic surgery handbook, “Culturally Competent Care Guidebook,” which explains “how to be courteous to patients in their own culture.”

“Communication competency is a patient care issue,” Lewis said. “Doctors who successfully communicate with their patients provide a better patient experience and thus experience better patient outcomes.”

As cultural competency becomes a more integral part of the medical school curriculum, medical school students like Daniel Bland appreciate the value of holistic education.

Bland, who majored in English while on a premed track at Notre Dame, said that his work in the humanities has proven useful in medical school.

During clinical rotations, Bland considers himself well-equipped to communicate with patients and colleagues.

“I’m able to think on my feet in terms of how I can phrase things,” Bland said, “or how I can rephrase things to make more sense to people.”

Bland recognizes that medicine “is not perfect,” but he’s also observed how medical institutions are attempting to remedy inequities.

“We get a lot of hands-on learning about social determinants of health and how they present in a hospital setting,” Bland said. “We’re not just learning some medical concept — we’re also learning how that concept can manifest as a consequence of disparity.”

Senior Carolyn DePinho serves as co-President of the Womxn of Color affinity group and plans to study medicine in college. While she has always “found comfort in science,” she has become attuned to the intersections of social justice and medicine.

“Once I stopped viewing science as something removed from the social systems that determine a community’s health, it became impossible to ignore inequities in medicine,” she said.

Last semester, DePinho collaborated with leaders of the African-American Affinity Group and the Pre-Med Club to host a forum series about medical discrimination, exploring how social identifiers like gender and race play out in a healthcare setting. The next forum, which is scheduled for March, will address classism in medicine.

“People forget that medicine is an institution that has upheld systems of oppression and structural barriers,” DePinho said. “We think we can just focus on science because science is fair — but that just isn’t true.”

As the medical field ushers in a new generation of healthcare professionals, DePinho is hopeful that doctors will recognize and strive to correct its flaws.

“People think that science is an escape from reality,” DePinho said. “It absolutely is not.”

14

THE REVIEW

MARCH 9, 2021

Life-long learners: Faculty pursue postgraduate degrees

By Ella Chen

O

n her mantle at home, English teacher Kristiane Stapleton has created a menagerie of lopsided ceramic pots and misshapen animals — reminders of the times she needed a break from writing her dissertation on 17th-century women’s writing in England. She made the figurines in a summer ceramics course while working towards her doctorate.

“I needed something low-stakes and creative, something I could be bad at and just do for fun,” Stapleton said. “I’m epically bad at ceramics, but that was what made that summer course so great.”

Stapleton’s love of reading inspired her to become a teacher, so as a Ph.D. candidate, she became a Ph.D. tutor, helping fellow students write their dissertations on diverse topics ranging from Japanese language learning to the benefits of teaching algebraic proofs and reasoning in elementary school.

“I got to be a cheerleader and a coach,” Stapleton said. “In a weird way, being a teacher meant being a permanent student — I was such a nerd, I still am such a nerd — so that was hugely appealing to me.”

Stapleton earned her doctorate before becoming a professional educator, yet some St. John's teachers received or are pursuing postgraduate degrees while teaching full time.

English teacher Clay Guinn worked through several professional jobs before finding his passion for teaching through his postgraduate degree program, where he earned a Ph.D. in English and American Literature at the University of Houston.

“I thought I was going to grad school for the degree and to study,” Guinn said, “but it was when I got to teaching, I was like, ‘Oh, wait. This is why I’m here.’”

While many people attend graduate school immediately after graduating from college, several teachers work full-time before pursuing an advanced degree.

While history teacher Barbara DiPaolo was working on her master’s degree in gifted and talented education, she received disks with weekly lessons on them.

DiPaolo earned her degree without ever stepping foot on the campus of the University of North Texas, which offered one of the first all-virtual programs.

At one point, a UNT professor wanted DiPaolo and other grad students to travel all the way to Denton to take a test. “We sent an email to the professor saying, ‘Look, we’re old women in Houston. Do we really have

to drive six hours to take a two-hour test?’” The professor took pity on them and allowed DiPaolo to write a paper instead.

For math and computer science teacher Austin Garvin, working towards a master’s degree allows him to further pursue his interest in computer science in addition to teaching math exclusively.

Garvin didn’t take a single computer science class in high school and only studied it as an undergrad as an elective requirement.

“I just loved it,” Garvin said. “I always put that in my back pocket as something I would want to go get a degree in later.”

When chemistry teacher Sarwat Jafry pursued her Ed.D. in professional leadership in education at the English teacher Clay Guinn received a Ph.D. in English and American University of Houston, she conducted Literature at the University of Houston last year. research at St. John's about gender distribution in Advanced Placement PHOTO BY Willow Zerr tests.

“It was extremely stressful,” Jafry a student is confused or when a student isn’t quite said. “I could not have done it without the support that following a conversation.”

I had. My family at home was very supportive, and so Being a teacher has broadened Garvin’s were my colleagues and the school, who set up labs and understanding of education. gave me access to data of students’ AP scores and to our “It helps me relate with my students because I know school history.” what it feels like to have a bunch of deadlines, how hard Between balancing her teaching responsibilities, it is to imagine how they’re going to get everything parenting and schoolwork, Jafry recognizes how done and just feeling a little overwhelmed at times,” important it is to give students an opportunity to find Garvin said. “At the same time, I’m more sympathetic balance in their lives. and less critical of my teachers, just because I know “I’m more appreciative of students balancing all what it’s like.” that they do: academics, family life, extracurriculars, As educators, being back in school shaped the way athletics, fine arts,” Jafry said. “All those balls are they teach, whether it’s through acquiring expertise juggled in the air.” in their fields, mastering PowerPoint or designing Pursuing a Master’s of Arts in English Literature at assignments inspired by favorite professors.

Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College For Dennan, taking classes “really informs everything allows English teacher Kyle Dennan to remember what that I do in the classroom; just having subject it’s like to be a student and thus better connect with his knowledge really helps me be a better teacher. Every own students. time I’m reading something, I’m always thinking about “There’s something about putting yourself in the how I can bring it to my students.” position of a student that helps me be a better teacher,” Dennan said. “It’s easier for me now to recognize when

TRENDING ON

BIG BEND CANCELED An on-campus Big Bend Lite will replace the traditional Big Bend trip for eighth graders.

Story by Dawson Chang

ELLIE MONDAY

SENIOR CREATES CURBSIDE PICKUP APP Senior Ethan Saadia won the Congressional App Challenge for his new mobile app Wayt.

Story by Arjun Maitra COURTESY OF WAYT

HYPING UP SWIMMING Watch the dramatic highlights from the racing lanes, captured on video.

Video by Fareen Dhuka

MARCH 9, 2021

CULTURE

15

ILLUSTRATION BY Max Stith

Pronoun specification enters into community discussions Due to the sensitive nature of this story, some names have been changed.

By Ellie Monday

F

or Harper, an Upper School student, there was no “a-ha” moment when it came to gender identity. Harper had always felt a lingering disconnect with their assigned gender, so at the start of the school year they began using they/them pronouns.

In recent years, the St. John’s community has grown increasingly aware of gender diversity and pronoun specification. When the school year began online, some students and teachers began displaying their pronouns on Zoom.

“It made them feel very happy knowing that faculty were in support,” said Romit Kundagrami, a Prism board member.

Prism has taught community members how to include their pronouns in their Zoom display name. While listing one’s pronouns online has become increasingly normalized, Kundagrami still notices that people are hesitant to specify pronouns in person.

Last year, the School brought in Speak About It, a sexual education non-profit organization, to hold consent training assemblies for the students.

Kundagrami remembers insensitive comments from his peers after speakers introduced themselves along with their pronouns.

“The presentation went off in directions that were a little harder to grasp,” Kundagrami said.“They talked about someone, for example, using ‘glitter’ as their pronoun.”

Kundagrami, now a junior, recalls the aftermath of a Prism assembly during his freshman year in which students joked in the hallways about the use of nonbinary pronouns.

“People should show that they are willing to hear you out and be respectful rather than immediately dismissing you,” Harper said.

English teacher and Prism co-sponsor Kristiane Stapleton asks students to specify their preferred pronouns on her getting-to-know-you class survey.

“Denying someone’s pronouns makes them feel invisible,” Stapleton said. “Seeing and respecting a student is a basic requirement for them to feel safe in a classroom and be able to learn.”

Over the past year and a half, College Counseling has engaged in conversations about gender bias. All college counselors now include their pronouns in their email signatures.

College Counseling also uses gender-neutral language in their student bulletins. The Junior Questionnaire,

a survey that allows counselors to get to know their advisees better, provides students the opportunity to list their pronouns.

While numerous colleges and universities have prioritized gender inclusivity in recent years, the Common App still requires students to identify their assigned sex, but it allows them to share more about their gender identity elsewhere in the application.

“We are consistently having these conversations with college representatives,” said Jamie Kim, Director of College Counseling. “Students need to enter an environment where they feel included and supported, so colleges are working hard to make sure students feel like it is a good fit.”

The School’s 2018 Statement on Community and Inclusion includes gender identity as one of the identifiers that the School “celebrates, promotes and appreciates.”

“Pronouns have been politicized, but they’re not political — they are personal,” Stapleton said. “I am proud that this respect is in our Community and Inclusion Statement — the foundation and framework are there.”

GRAPHIC BY Alice Xu

By Natalie Boquist

O

f the more than 400 Whataburger-themed stickers available on Redbubble, one of the first results is a Whataburger cup designed

by Chloe West. Although her shop on the website is less than three months old, the eighth grader has designed nearly 60 stickers, earning her a tidy profit of $136.

Redbubble, a global online marketplace established for print on-demand products, features work from nearly 600,000 artists. In addition to stickers, customers can purchase user-designed T-shirts, phone cases and wall art.

Though Redbubble has been around since 2006, the website has been steadily gaining in popularity.

West began working with the digital illustration app Procreate earlier this year. Her stickers draw upon pop culture imagery, especially cartoon characters, logos and TV shows like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Her first design — the iconic Whataburger cup — is still her best-seller, with over 100 units sold. West, whose Redbubble shop is called chloesstickers7, describes her creative process as simple and spontaneous.

“I draw the most random things I can think of,” West said. “The most unexpected stuff blows up. I just draw, and it works.”

Freshman Libby Smith created her Redbubble shop (liibbysmith) during quarantine. With extra time on her hands, she began crafting designs when she was bored.

“Sometimes I’ll draw something and think, ‘That’s cool; I’ll just add it to the shop.’”

Senior Abby Walker (abbywalk on Redbubble) has sold her stickers internationally to customers in Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Walker rarely plans her designs, which allows ideas to come to her while watching TV or listening to music.

West does not plan her designs in advance either.

“It’ll be 3 a.m., and I’ll write down a rough draft and then draw it,” she said.

Redbubble handles the processing, manufacturing, shipping and handling, which makes selling products simple. Artists can set their own prices and royalty rate.

“I just design and upload,” Walker said. “It’s a source of passive income at this point.”

Most Redbubble artists rely on self-promotion to

advertise their products.

Walker showcases her stickers on her shop’s Instagram account, @abbywalkerdesigns. Her brightly-colored art incorporates ABBA lyrics, positive affirmations and Texas-themed sayings like “Y’all Means All” and features several designs promoting senior singer-songwriter Natalie Brown.

Ultimately, designers determine their level of commitment to Redbubble.

“The amount of work I put into it is the amount of yield I get,” Walker said.

Access their creations

abbywalk

chloesstickers7

liibbysmith

16

THE REVIEW

MARCH 9, 2021

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, r e s u r r e c t e d Club enjoys revival of role-playing game

By Lydia Gafford

S

ix intrepid adventurers journey through a big house — and the house does not stop. Ever. If you look, you cannot see the end. There is no end. Welcome to the Infinite House.

Ian McFarlane, Crowned Head of the Dungeons & Dragons Club, is leading a group of sorcerers, bards and druids during a Zoom campaign.

Members of the D&D Club have been meeting virtually since the beginning of the school year to play a campaign — or ongoing game — with McFarlane, a senior, serving as Dungeon Master. This game went beyond the typical medieval setting of D&D: players explored magically connected rooms in what he describes as an “infinite house-scape.”

“It was the perfect way to get me into playing D&D,” said junior Ananya Agrawal, a.k.a. the mighty sorceress Sariel. “I’d never played before, and D&D lets me live in another world where I can shoot spells from my hands.”

The pandemic has made the game more accessible for some.

“My players are online, but it’s easier to connect with everyone,” said sophomore Hanan Wishah, who was a Dungeon Master for the first time last summer.

Since experiencing a cultural high point in the 1980s, D&D’s popularity has fluctuated among young people, competing with video games and virtual entertainment.

But with an estimated 13.7 million players, the iconic fantasy role-playing game is making a comeback.

The D&D Club is riding the current wave as students discover a role-playing game that many of their parents and teachers once played.

“There's less of a stigma against doing nerdy things,” said D&D Club sponsor Evan Hegeman.

McFarlane cites the popularity of “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and superhero movies — as well as a prominent appearance on the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things” — for the game’s resurgence. He says people no longer get bullied for having nerdy interests. Whether it is playing RPGs or enjoying anime, classically “geeky” pursuits now have sizable communities.

“It isn't any weirder than fantasy football,” McFarlane said.

For the initiated, the game is more than an excuse to use magical monikers and colorful polyhedral dice. The style of playing can include elaborate strategies based on calculations and probability, or they can be more focused on storytelling.

McFarlane creates voices for all the characters the players encounter during the campaign. He considers the game a form of “improv comedy.”

In a typical game, the Dungeon Master describes a situation, giving the players an opportunity to respond before telling them the results of their actions and restarting the cycle by asking the players how they wish to react to the outcome.

A session usually takes a few hours, but the campaign can last months — or even years.

“Anything is within the realm of possibility,” Hegeman said. “Whatever the Dungeon Master's mind can dream up is what [players] get to do.”

D&D was published in 1974 as one of the first tabletop role-playing games.

The game has been evolving ever since its creation

by Gary Gygax, but rule changes in the 1990s and early 2000s contributed to its decline, according to SJS parent Sam Gafford.

“When I was a kid, [D&D] really captured my imagination,” said Gafford, known to fellow players as Lord Honzo of Riverdown, Defender of Icewind Dale. “I liked to think about a lot of the possibilities of storytelling and

the campaign worlds.”

(Full disclosure: Gafford is Review writer Lydia’s father.)

According to Gafford, the culture around D&D during the 1980s was quite different. Fewer people played or even understood the game, which led to widespread misconceptions about the players — and even accusations that the game promoted devil-worship.

“Among kids, the stigma was that it was for ‘nerd kids’; none of the cool kids would play D&D,” Gafford said. “Among adults, there were a lot of people who didn’t understand what the game was. There was some fear-mongering in the news, so some people felt it was the gateway-drug to Satanism.”

When Gafford was in elementary school, the father of one of his friends even destroyed a D&D module to prevent his child from playing.

Another roadblock that initially prevented D&D from gaining a greater following was its culture of misogyny, Gafford said. The artwork in D&D guides and magazines — which were a crucial part of D&D culture — often objectified women.

This imagery was problematic for girls, who often struggled to find a welcoming environment.

“In my wife’s experience, she ran across a lot of kids who played D&D and didn’t want to include her,” Gafford said.

The demographics of participants have changed from the days when mostly suburban white males played.

Today, according to the game’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast, almost 40 percent of players are female.

The greater inclusivity means the target audience is practically unlimited. Case in point: of their 43 members, the majority of active players in the D&D Club are girls.

“D&D served as a way for people who feel in any way insecure — or just weird — to project onto a character,” said McFarlane. “The truth is that everyone feels that way, at least a little bit.”

What D&D players love about the game — the opportunity to role play and have a creative outlet — has not changed.

“It is just fun to create and be a different sort of person than yourself,” Gafford said.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY Celine Huang

SJSREVIEW.COM

MARCH 9, 2021

17

Sondheim's 'Into the Woods' brought to Lowe stage

By Mia Hong and Lillian Poag

“I

nto the Woods” seemed like the perfect musical to perform amid a pandemic: small cast and minimal choreography. Little did Director Jamie Stires-Hardin know how complicated staging a musical during a pandemic would turn out to be.

First performed on Broadway in 1987 with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, “Into the Woods” is an amalgamation of classic fairy tales. A film version of the show was released in 2014 starring Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt.

Originally six performances were to be staged outdoors on the Great Lawn over two weekends, but on Feb. 1, it was announced that only four shows would be performed, indoors, in the Lowe Theater. With only 75 audience members allowed in the 650-seat auditorium, every show sold out less than two hours after going on sale Feb. 26.

The Theater Department chose the musical with Covid-19 guidelines in mind: the smaller cast allowed for less physical contact between performers as well as a chance to highlight fantastical elements in the set.

“We wouldn’t be able to do it in a normal year because it wouldn’t have accommodated the number of students we have interested in theater,” Stires-Hardin said.

Actors were required to rehearse and perform while wearing clear masks, which for some restricted their emotional and vocal range.

Jack, played

by Bobby Hlavinka, prepares for the arrival of the giant.

“There are places where I have to kiss people; there are places where we have to hug,” said senior Meridian Monthy, who played the Baker’s Wife.

“The social distancing guidelines inhibit my performance because a lot of the natural things that I want to do cannot happen.”

Set design was also a challenge, according to Technical Director Thomas Murphy, who began designing the set in October. Usually, set construction is a collaborative effort involving around 20 cast and crew members.

As usual, members of Katina Christensen played Jack's Mother in "Into the Woods." Because the show took Johnnycake, the School’s place indoors, all actors wore large, clear face masks. theater club, helped Murphy build the set, but this out,” Monthy said. year only five were allowed to participate.

Choreographer Victoria Arizpe appreciated having Because the Lowe Theatre is used for classes most of the ability to perform a spring musical. the school day, the set pieces had to be stored offstage.

“I am excited to take the musical inside with a smaller “It’s a very simple set,” said junior Tanner Watson, group,” Arizpe said prior to opening night. “We’ve neewho played the Baker. “There is a lot of action based in ded something uplifting. I’m looking forward to having one vague location of the woods, so it makes sense that as much normalcy as we can.” the set’s not super complex.”

“Into the Woods” also featured Casey Propst as the Incorporating the balconies of the Lowe Theater into Narrator/Mysterious Man, Karli Fisher as Cinderella, its design, the set consisted of a series of steps and platGabrielle Solymosy as Cinderella’s Stepmother, George forms accented with forest-themed pieces.

Hagle as the Wolf/Cinderella’s Father, Alejandro Garza “Compared to previous years, the set has fewer eleas Cinderella’s Prince, Lauren Aguilar as Florinda, ments and less detail-oriented pieces,” Murphy said. “It Lindsay Frankfort as Lucinda, Bobby Hlavinka as just needs to have the atmosphere of a forest.”

Jack, Katina Christensen as Jack’s Mother, Natalie Senior Jenny Green, who played Granny and CindeBrown as Little Red Riding Hood, Sophia Groen as rella’s Mother, said that assembling the set would have the Witch, Abigail Poag as Rapunzel, Aiden Dowd as been easier if more students could have helped.

Rapunzel’s Prince, Sarah McClure as the Giant/Birds, Music and dance rehearsals were also affected by Arjun Singhal as the Steward, Amelia Schueppert as social-distancing guidelines.

Snow White/Birds and Maggie Henneman as Sleeping “So far we’ve had big singing rehearsals where we’re Beauty/Milky White. all outside and socially distant, but at the end of the PHOTOS BY Yasmin Stein day, it’s a regular singing rehearsal — just more spaced

'Puffs' reign supreme in wizarding play

By Shreyes Balachandran and Dawson Chang

A

s the lights dim, the audience prepares for a classic Harry Potter story to unfold. Instead of the three well-known characters from Gryffindor, we meet a trio of Hufflepuffs (known as “Puffs”) who are on a new magical adventure.

Directed by Bill McDonald and Kat Cordes with a script by Matt Cox, “Puffs” was staged in the Lowe Theater, Feb. 11-13. The play originally ran off-Broadway in 2015 and is loosely based on the Harry Potter world.

“It’s the story of a certain famous orphan boy wizard told from a humorous perspective,” said sophomore Jay Love, who starred as Wayne, one of the Puffs.

Other main characters are Megan (senior Nicole Doyle), an aloof and cynical girl who thinks that Puffs are lame and Oliver (sophomore Jack Aitken), a studious and socially awkward nerd who excels in math but struggles in magic. Along with Wayne, the Puffs move past their starkly different personalities to form a close friendship.

“For fans of Harry Potter, I hope the play is nostalgic,” Cordes said prior to opening night. “It asks a lot of questions that weren’t answered in the Harry Potter universe. I don’t know if the audience is ready for how silly this play gets.”

Some members of the cast found it difficult to separate their personalities from those of their characters.

“I’m pretty extroverted, so switching to a very introverted, nervous character and embracing that super brainy persona was a little bit difficult,” Aitken said.

While “Puffs” featured some emotionally taxing scenes, Aitken says that much of the play is lighthearted and comedic. In the stage directions, the script even allows actors to choose some of their characters’ attributes, which is why Aitken chose Dallas as Oliver’s place of birth.

To further accentuate their distinctive personalities, costume and wand decorations matched the Puffs’ demeanor. Aitken wore a collared shirt, long khaki pants, glasses and a bowtie to highlight Oliver’s nerdy side while Megan dressed in layers of black.

“It’s really cool to get to dress up in something so different than what I usually wear,” Doyle said.

Originally planned as an outdoor production, directors moved the play from Big Red to the Great Lawn before announcing on Feb. 1 that the play would take place indoors at the Lowe Theater. As a result, the audience size was limited to 75 people.

“We were all over the place for where we were going to perform,” Cordes said.

Due to the licensing restrictions, the performances could not be livestreamed or recorded.

In accordance with Covid-19 guidelines, the cast wore masks and remained socially-distanced during rehearsals and live performances. Although masks hindered voice projection and emotional expression, actors managed to play up pandemic restrictions for comedic effect.

During scenes that originally called for hugging or kissing, cast members held up signs that said ‘Covid Hug.’ Audience members received noisemakers and used them in place of cheering throughout the performance.

Since November, the close-knit cast and crew have been working to bring live theater back to campus.

“Puffs” marked the first live fine arts performance on campus in almost a year.

The cast also included Ananya Agrawal, Ava Steely, Diana Duke, Mia Hirshfield, Noelle Alexander, Owen Paschke, Penelope Macpherson, Sophia Jazaeri, Thalie Waters and History Department Chair Russell Hardin.

The play was stage managed by Nathan Titterington and Lydia Gafford with follow spot operator Adele Wan.

Owen Paschke, as Cedric Diggory, dons Puff yellow during the Triwizard Tournament.

Sophia Jazaeri and Noelle Alexander try to cheer up the Puffs.

PHOTOS BY Drew Adams

18

THE REVIEW

MARCH 9, 2021

SCHOOL SCHOOL EXCLUSIVE! SCHOOL EXCLUSIVE! SCHOOL EXCLUSIVE! EXCLUSIVE!

Sweet Paris Crêperie & Café SweetHighland Paris Crêperie Village& Café SweetHighland Paris Crêperie & Café Village Sweet Paris Crêperie & Café Always enjoy Highland Village Highland Village Always enjoy 15% OFF

Always enjoy 15% OFF Always enjoy 15% OFF 15% OFF Bring your St. John's ID to get discount!

2701 Drexel Dr., Houston, 77027 Bring your St. John's ID toTXget discount! @sweetparis

www.sweetparis.com

Limited time offer.

2701 Drexel Dr., Houston, 77027 your St. John's ID toTXget discount!

Bring @sweetparis Bring your St.www.sweetparis.com John's ID toTXget discount!

2701 Drexel Dr., Houston, 77027

Limited time offer.

@sweetparis @sweetparis

2701 Drexel Dr., Houston, TX 77027 www.sweetparis.com www.sweetparis.com

Limited time offer.

Limited time offer.

MARCH 9, 2021

SPORTS

19

Former Mav heads to Spring Training with Rays

By Wilson Bailey and Cameron Ederle

J

oe Gobillot (’17) knew he had a chance to be a professional baseball player when dozens of scouts showed up to watch him pitch at Randall Field during his senior season. Some days there would be more MLB scouts, all equipped with radar guns, than fans in the stands.

Four years later, the 16th-round draft pick is pursuing his dream of playing professional baseball as he heads off to Spring Training as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The 6-foot-6 hard-throwing lefty pitched his West University team to back-to-back Senior League World Series championships in 2014 and 2015. Senior League is a division of the Little League for players ages 13-16. The tournament takes place every August in Bangor, Maine.

Playing for the Mavericks, Gobillot experienced his greatest moment to that point — hitting a home run against the John Cooper School in the bottom of the 6th inning.

“It was one of the farthest balls I’ve ever hit.

The ball sailed deep right over the scoreboard, and everyone was going crazy,” Gobillot said.

“It felt good to do that in a Mavericks uniform.”

In January 2017, Gobillot attended an invitationonly showcase hosted by the Colorado Rockies. A few weeks later, at the Mavs home opener, about 35 scouts were in the stands to watch him play.

That season, more than 20 MLB teams came to the Gobillot home to interview him.

“That was nerveracking,” Gobillot said. “It was the first time I had ever experienced something like that.”

While he could have gone pro after high school, Gobillot wanted to attend college. He received offers from top baseball programs in Texas, but he opted to venture out of state to top-ranked Vanderbilt University.

“Throughout the entire process, he was talking about Vanderbilt,” said Joe’s younger sister, Lindsay (‘20). “He didn’t want to commit to any school other than Vanderbilt, and when he got an offer, he was just so excited.”

Just days after Joe departed to Nashville for his first preseason workouts with the Commodores, his mother received a call from the Vanderbilt coaching staff. Joe had been taken to the hospital due to heat stroke caused by overexertion. His fever reached 108 degrees.

“I pushed myself too far and wound up in the hospital,” Joe said.

Lori Gobillot flew to Tennessee on one of the last flights out of Houston before Hurricane Harvey struck. She called Lindsay and gave her the news that Joe had been put on dialysis. After two weeks, he was finally discharged from the hospital.

Joe left Vanderbilt before his first semester ever got going. Doctors told him that it would take 14 to 18

months to recuperate. Joe recovered in approximately 10 months.

He returned to Vanderbilt in January 2018 and began playing ball again that summer, but he was still recovering. The Commodores were also loaded with talent (they won the College World Series that season), so he only pitched two innings.

But those two innings were enough to impress Major League Baseball.

Weeks before the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, Gobillot got a call from a scout with the Tampa Bay Rays. He told Joe that they were going to select him in the 16th round — he had five minutes to talk to his parents and get back to them with a decision. After brief conversations with his father and his agent, the decision was made.

“Take me,” Gobillot said. “I’m ready.”

Joe signed his first contract on July 2, 2019.

Before MLB was shut down, he had played in the Gulf Coast League that summer, attended the Rays’ fall camp and was at his first Spring Training in 2020.

A FULL-TIME JOB

On a typical game day, Gobillot gets on the field at about 8:15 a.m. He works out, watches film and practices drills until the game. After about ten hours of baseball, the day is done.

Because MLB teams had tough decisions to make during the pandemic, Gobillot feels fortunate that the Rays have taken care of their players.

"It was a tough situation and a lost year,” Gobillot said. “A lot of players are being cut, and there is a surplus of free agents.”

Although Gobillot does not know which level he will begin the year with in the minor leagues, he is looking forward to what he hopes will be his first full Spring Training. He aims to play in Charleston, South Carolina, with the Rays Low-A affiliate or the High-A team in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

After participating in Little League and College World Series, Gobillot has one more goal to work towards — the World Series.

Last season, the Rays defeated the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series following a Covid-shortened season, eventually losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

“I want to make that debut, get out there and see big-league action,” Gobillot said.

Despite all the obstacles, Gobillot holds onto his love for the game that he discovered at a young age.

“Baseball is a game of failures — it has been a journey with every injury — and with every single one you get better” Gobillot said. “There are plenty of things out of your control on the baseball field — be flexible and get back on your feet.”

PHOTO BY FourSeam Images

GRAPHICS AND DESIGN BY Bailey Maierson SJS PHOTOS BY Jared Margolis and Beth Meaux

20

THE REVIEW

MARCH 9, 2021

Seventh grader kicks off her first football season

By Ella Piper Claffy

A

fter years spent dreaming of cheerleading at football games, Addison Perry stepped onto the football field for the first time this fall, trading high kicks for kickoffs.

During quarantine, Addison, a seventh grader, got lessons on how to kick from her sophomore brother Caden, the starting kicker for the Mavs.

“Kicking is so enjoyable because it's different and not something that everyone does or is good at,” Addison said.

According to Marty Thompson, the Director of Experiential Education and a former kicker for SJS and the Trinity University Tigers, “kickers are usually built differently from your typical football player. The kicker is really the only player on the team who uses their foot, even though it’s called football,” Thompson said. “It's a very specialized role to play.”

Addison has benefitted from eight years of experience playing soccer, both in school and on club teams. She was already well-acquainted with the biomechanics of kicking by the time she tried out for the Southwest Football League in September.

When she went to pick up the paperwork for SFL, she discovered that she would be the first girl to try out for the league as a player, not a cheerleader.

Addison and her mother Angela met with a league director before preliminary practices began. “He was very happy that she was there and was definitely rooting for her,” Angela said. “It was a great experience.”

Before facing off against the boys, Addison and her father Carlton emphasized to coaches that she was only interested in kicking, not tackling. Kickers usually become defensive players after kickoff, but Addison runs off the field after she kicks, a decision made to help her avoid injury.

“I don't think she would ever play outside of being a kicker,” her father said. “She wants to kick.”

When Addison was selected as the new kicker of the Orange Shamrocks, the Perry family waited for a backlash that never came.

“We expected a lot of roadblocks from both opposing teams and her own teammates, but there have been practically none,” Mr. Perry said. “In fact, this has been one of the most cohesive, supportive, kind groups

Addison Perry, who once dreamed of being a cheerleader, now plays on the field as a kicker for the Orange Shamrocks, her club football team.

PHOTO BY Sarah Clark that either of the kids have been involved with.”

Addison says her team works well together both on and off the field. They finished the season 5-3, with Addison scoring seven extra points.

While Addison’s teammates and coaches have encouraged her, she has seen a few shocked looks from opposing players when she steps onto the field.

“I wear my hair in a low ponytail,” Addison said.

“People can definitely tell I’m a girl — it's a lot of fun to see everyone’s reaction.”

In November, Vanderbilt University kicker Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play and score in a Power Five Conference NCAA football game. The same week Fuller made her debut, Addison was featured in the

Memorial, West University and Tanglewood editions of Buzz Magazines. Her SFL coach is trying to facilitate having Addison appear on a podcast with Fuller.

Addison is interested in following in her brother’s footsteps and perhaps one day playing for the Mavs.

Head Coach Kevin Veltri said he would be excited to coach Addison, but added that if she played high school football, “she might have to make a tackle.”

For now, the Perry family is happy that Addison found something she enjoys so much.

“Because she’s different from everyone else playing around her,” Caden said, “it makes it all the more important that she really remembers to be herself.”

FEEDING OUR ST. JOHN’S FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR OVER 30 YEARS

VISIT ANY OF OUR 11 HOUSTON LOCATIONS | becksprime.com

MARCH 9, 2021

SJSREVIEW.COM

21

On the Quad, Eric Strawn comes up just short during a game with classmates Jonathan Gordon, Ken Matsunaga and Maxx Shearod.

Nets across campus allow teachers and students like Elliot Sakach and sophomore Luke Romere to play during their free time.

PHOTOS BY Grace Randall

Spikeball skyrockets in popularity among students

By Max Beard

F

orget about frisbee, cornhole and slacklines: the leisure sport dominating the Quad this year is Spikeball.

With no more Senior Country, seniors have spent less time indoors playing Super Smash Bros. and more time on the Quad. Although Spikeball is not new on campus, some seniors are using it this year to de-stress with friends — while others are even engaging in cutthroat competition.

“It’s really unique because you can learn it quickly and games are so fast,” senior Aidan Via said.

Spikeball pits two teams of two players against each other in a fast-paced format with no boundaries. The only equipment is a spikeball, a yellow rubber ball 12 inches in circumference, and a three-foot-wide round net that sits eight inches off the ground. Like in volleyball, teams can take no more than two passes before they must spike the ball onto the net. If a team fails to hit the net, they lose the point. Games vary from 5 to 25 points, depending on how much time competitors have to play.

Spikeball’s loose structure and rapid pace — points can take just a few seconds — make it an ideal pastime.

“You can play a five-minute game with anyone who wants to play,” said senior Rachel Kim, who started playing this year. “It gives you a quick break in between classes or during free periods.”

Spikeball has brought classmates together, from beginners to seasoned veterans.

“It definitely gives us something to bond over, especially since there’s not much else we can do together,

GRAPHIC BY Bailey Maierson

Kim said. “It's a good outdoor activity that everyone enjoys.”

The ubiquity of the game and its social nature appeal to Via. “You don’t know anybody, but everyone’s there for Spikeball,” he said. “You make friends really quickly.”

The game is beginner-friendly, yet mastering it is difficult. Kim says that constant practice is key to improvement, while classmate Nicolas Muñoz also recommends investing in a net and practicing with a group of friends.

Via has even scheduled regular practice times with friends.

Muñoz and Via have played in local Spikeball tournaments and have even traveled across Texas for games.

Via placed third at the Waco Major, a tournament hosted by the Texas Association for the Sport of Roundnet.

Since December, SAC has been coordinating a schoolwide Spikeball tournament in which 24 teams have been competing for individual glory and house points.

Prefect Lauren Fulghum has also started a March-Madness style Spikeball tournament, which provides a Covid-friendly alternative to traditional SAC events.

“Events like eating contests and large gatherings in classrooms for trivia games aren’t possible,” Fulghum said. “Students have really loved being a part of the tournament and having some competitive, safe fun.”

Rocky Roads: Cyclists seek fresh air amid urban sprawl

By Thomas Center and Abigail Hindman

D

uring the long months of quarantine, senior Karli Fisher found comfort in a black road bike. The senior spent her evenings riding along Brays Bayou with her mother, relishing the fresh air.

“It clears my mind,” Fisher said. “The breeze is enjoyable—I can forget about everything else.”

Fisher is one of many Houstonians who have embraced cycling in the past year. The total volume of cycling trips rose 138% from May 2019 to the same month of the next year, according to fitness tracking app Strava.

Mountain Biking Club co-presidents Jackson Jones and James Sy, both seniors, have been biking together since middle school. They rarely ventured beyond West University Place and River Oaks, but when the pandemic hit, they began exploring new neighborhoods.

“There was nowhere to go in a car that a bike couldn’t get us,” Sy said.

In addition to the 80 miles of bike trails located in parks, Houston has a 345-mile interconnected bikeway network. Popular trails run alongside Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, as well as through the Heights.

In December, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that the city would construct 25 miles of “high-comfort bikeways” each year.

“Bicycles are becoming a more normal form of

transportation,” said Marty Thompson, Director of Experiential Education. “As we try to figure out how to add tens of thousands more people to a small piece of real estate, our tax dollars could be more successfully allocated towards trying to find alternate ways to share the road with bicycles.”

Although Houston has tried to improve its cycling infrastructure, it is still a “dangerous city for road biking,” Jones said.

“Houston’s trying to accommodate bikers,” Jones said, “but in a city of six million people, it’s going to be dangerous.”

Thompson, who has been hit by a car three times in the past 20 years, said that Houston drivers are “not friendly” to bicyclists.

“It's not that I hate cars — I just assume every car can end my life,” Thompson said. “Drivers aren’t paying attention to the 4,000-pound automobile that they’re responsible for.”

In addition to regular encounters with aggressive drivers, Spanish teacher Jessica MacMurtrie, who bikes to work, often struggles to navigate substandard road conditions.

“Sometimes there are sidewalks and then they disappear,” she said. “Sometimes there are bike lanes, but they’re very small and full of debris.”

In November, Thompson was speeding towards what he thought was a small puddle on Inwood Drive. After

realizing he was headed for a pothole, he slammed on his brakes, only for his front tire to sink into the hole.

“It popped the tire and bent the front wheel,” Thompson said. “It threw me to the side and [I] landed on my hip.”

Fortunately, Thompson sustained only minor injuries.

Social distancing concerns have made it easier to navigate around pedestrians, according to senior William Sanders, who has been biking to school since ninth grade.

“When I’m on the sidewalk and there are people walking the other way, they really make an effort to move away from me now,” he said.

Despite these obstacles, many turn to biking as an environmentally friendly alternative to driving.

Head of Lower School Tom McLaughlin, an avid biker, encourages Houstonians to pursue biking “as a means of transportation, not just a source of entertainment or recreation.”

"In the cities where more people commute by bike, there is a positive environmental impact,” McLaughlin said. “The fewer times we start cars and put emissions into the air, the better.”

Math teacher Bethany Goldman appreciates being able to start and end the school day outdoors.

“There are some days when I don’t feel like biking,” Goldman said. “But then the second I'm on my bike and pulling out of my garage, I'm so happy.”

OPINIONS

22

DIAMOND WITHOUT THE ROUGH:

MARCH 9, 2021

THE PRICE OF NOSTALGIA

By Ethan Kinsella

I

n pop culture, nostalgia is the name of the game. The 2010s, for example, were laden with 1980s-worship. In the cinematic world, new properties like “Ready Player One,” superhero films like “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Wonder Woman 1984” and reboots of classic franchises like Blade Runner and Tron inherited the signifiers and neon aesthetic of the ‘80s.

Meanwhile, musicians from The Weeknd to The Strokes reintroduced the decade’s synthpop and new wave styles into the mainstream. Given our culture’s constant retrograde movement, it’s no surprise that many of today’s teens lose themselves in the music of the past.

I've heard more appreciation of the ‘70s and ‘80s from Gen Z than from the generations that actually lived through them. When someone my age gets the aux cord, I’m never sure if I’m about to hear Drake or Tears For Fears. To an extent, this is great: Gen Z’s openness to older music often creates much-needed variety, but listening to music from decades ago can border on closed-mindedness or elitism.

I’m not disavowing the music of the past at all — many of my favorite artists, like David Bowie, Talking Heads and Kate Bush hit their prime a lifetime ago. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with preferring genres common in the ‘70s to those prevalent now. The issue lies in the surprisingly common claims that music was simply “better” in the past. Zoomers with a so-called “wrong generation” mindset typically cite mainstream pop music and hip hop as evidence that music on the whole is in decline.

While it’s easy to dismiss this mindset as short-sightedness or a desire to break from the norm, its most probable cause is cherry-picking. Hindsight and nostalgia can absolve entire genres and eras of their more dated features, leaving diamonds without the rough.

For every “Take on Me” or “Heart of Glass” that topped the Billboard charts, there were five one-hit wonders, terrible clones and overproduced messes that lost relevance after four months. The ‘70s and ‘80s seem overwhelmingly great now because the bad has been filtered out through the decades. The 2010s and ‘20s are no different — we just haven’t had enough time for the cream to rise to the top.

And it’s not just that the past is deceptively good — the present is better than it seems.

Some of the most forward-thinking, creative and memorable modern artists rose to underground prominence during the last decade, but they remain undiscovered by the general public.

The internet has revolutionized the music industry for the better. Artists today no longer need to filter their music through a handful of record labels and managers. They can independently release music in its purest form.

Huge cult followings have gathered around so-called Soundcloud rappers (Playboi Carti, Bladee), independent producers (SOPHIE, George Clanton) and cyber-stylized pop artists (FKA Twigs, Rina Sawayama) who upload their music directly to the internet. As a result, music is more diverse than ever. Cutting-edge genres like hyperpop, cloud rap, trap metal, glitch hop and bedroom pop likely wouldn’t have developed without their online communities.

Mainstream genres like rock and metal haven’t disappeared. They simply share the spotlight, and continue to thrive outside the Top 40. Impassioned songwriters like Alex G, Will Toledo and Mitski keep the spirit of ‘90s DIY rock alive as the genre continues to evolve.

Preferring a time in music — a style, a genre or artists, past or present — is understandable.

But claims that music is on a downward trajectory are misguided. Music is more accessible, both to make and publish, than ever before, and creativity pervades the industry. Even if there are no modern musicians who intrigue you — which, considering the diversity of styles available, is unlikely — modern artists should not be ignored.

ILLUSTRATION BY Gabe de la Cruz

Metal Health: Music for a chaotic world

By Indrani Maitra

I

got into metal when I was in eighth grade, the crux of my incessant quest to simultaneously embrace the frigid winds of teenage rebellion and not be like “other” girls. I ended up enjoying the grimy, oppressive, raw sound of this subgenre of music, developing a twisted, insatiable attraction to its relentlessly brutal style.

Early metal music, like Deep Purple and Motörhead, was characterized by brute force: sleazy, distorted riffs, aggressive blast beats, chaotic drumming. Lyrical themes encompassed the fringes of socially acceptable discourse, embodying the messages of individuality and nonconformity that heavy metal music strived to create. Whether it’s blatant occultism or grisly imagery, metal bands used sensationalism and shock value as weapons against mainstream music culture. Such gratuitous themes have exiled metal to the depths of ostracization and taboo.

Metal has spawned an ecosystem of subgenres, each incorporating a unique style or theme. Death Metal, for example, highlights guttural growls, punk-derived blast beats, intricate riffs and a general emphasis on gory lyrical content.

Black Metal embraces a more primitive, muzzled sound, using lo-fi production, tremolo picking, earpiercing shrieks, and bonechilling riffs to craft a frosty and abrasive atmosphere. There exists a trove of metal subgenres and microgenres and niche sounds, but the original message of individualism found in the squalid sound of the ’70s metal scene still persists.

Metal not only pushes the boundaries of music, it eviscerates them and crafts its own artistic sphere with its own rules. It is an awe-inspiring masterpiece of a genre; the tandem between musical brilliance and the rawest, most primal regions of the soul. The gradual, intense releases of passion that are somehow conducive to amplifying our emotions. Before you jump into brutal death or slam, here are some essential metal albums that are more accessible and sonically pleasing for the curious or uninitiated.

Black Sabbath, “Paranoid” (1970) The pinnacle of metal and everything the genre embodies, this irreplaceable classic has earned its position as the framework for heavy metal, with its dark, dripping riffs. “Paranoid” transcends technical brilliance and eclipses into the dimension of unencumbered anger, of conveying raw emotion through music. Black Sabbath, a juggernaut of heavy metal, pioneered the concept of music as a form of catharsis, and “Paranoid” is the masterful result of the group's musical innovation.

Type O Negative, “World Coming Down” (1999) This dreary, sobering album is the crux of Type O Negative’s discography, a now-disbanded gothic doom band from the festering wounds of Brooklyn. “World Coming Down” is steeped in an atmosphere of raw existential nihilism, with its long, monochromatic

dirges of doom and rock, bitterly sardonic melodies, the introspective, lush baritone of frontman Peter Steele.

The album deconstructs stereotypes of goth to craft a cathedral of lurching riffs and lethargic, dissonant notes that flawlessly convey the agonizing hopelessness of Steele's own depression. “World Coming Down” is, quite simply, a metal masterpiece.

Ulver, “Bergtatt” (1995) This enchanting debut from Ulver, an experimental Norwegian collective, harmoniously synthesizes the spheres of gentle medieval folk interludes and enthralling, atmospheric black metal to create an ethereal sonic hybrid. The emotional narrative of a Danish maiden undulates throughout “Bergtatt,” from torrid aggression to sweet tranquility to melancholy and apprehension. The quintessence of romantic black metal, this album harbors an evocative intensity that transfers you into lush worlds of mystical fantasies and fairytales. Ulver incorporates ferocious black metal into the bewitching crux of “Bergtatt,” employing blistering tremolo riffs, delicate neofolk melodies and haunting, angelic chants to craft a breathless composition of dark and captivating atmosphere.

Katatonia, “Brave Murder Day” (1996) Swedish gothic band Katatonia strips down music to its bare bones to create a fabric of masterful, sumptuous riffs that form the basis of “Brave Murder Day.” This album combines the raw ferocity of death metal and creeping, desolate tempos of doom to produce textured, vibrant melodies that create a wondrous atmosphere and leave one with a strange sense of complexity and despair.

Acid Bath, “When the Kite String Pops” (1994) Vulgar, aggressive and utterly unstable, “When the Kite String Pops” is a maniacal sludge album that perfectly encapsulates the addicting sensory assault that is metal. Every track is flawless yet sonically volatile, swaying from a barrage of menacing death metal riffs to crooning, sultry folk ballads to sticky sludge melodies that reek of the sordid paranoia sprawling throughout Acid Bath's industrial sound.

Megadeth, “Rust in Peace” (1990) Amongst the excellent arsenal of thrash metal albums, "Rust in Peace" is the magnum opus. The frenzied sophistication of riffs imbue the album with an impulse, an intoxicating energy of breathless aggression. Dave Mustaine's signature nasal vocals have a bizarrely appealing cadence that snarl their way throughout this thrashy triumph. Unencumbered by societal norms, the sociopolitical overtones intertwine themselves in not only the lyrical basis of the album, but the vigorous atmosphere as well. "Rust in Peace" is a classic of frantic virtuoso that will leave your metal validity undeniable and impenetrable.

MARCH 9, 2021

SJSREVIEW.COM

23

STAFF EDITORIAL

St. John's School 2401 Claremont Lane Houston, TX 77019 review@sjs.org sjsreview.com Facebook SJS Review Twitter @SJS_Review Instagram @sjsreview

Member National Scholastic Press Assn.

Pacemaker 2015, 2018 Pacemaker Finalist 2019, 2020

LEGACY DEPENDS ON HOW WE LEAVE ILLUSTRATION BY Matthew Hensel

By Staff

I

t’s been a rough winter for Houston sports fans. J.J. Watt, George Springer and James Harden, all Houston icons, moved on from the Texans, Astros and Rockets.

Although these three players were once the cornerstones of their teams, change is inevitable.

Like athletes seeking a change of scenery or wanting to explore new opportunities, so too will we one day leave St. John’s. And when we do, what we have done in our time here — and how we leave — will matter. It will define our legacy.

Over eight years, James Harden won an MVP Award and served as the face (or at least the beard) of the Rockets, but this season he showed up overweight, violated Covid protocols and insulted his teammates — forcing his way out of Houston. When he was finally traded to Brooklyn, it was clearly time for him to go.

Like in sports, we as students control our own destiny, and we have a choice to leave the School a better place than we found it.

While St. John’s provides a topflight education, meaningful internship opportunities and a wide range of extracurricular options, we should not let ourselves be defined by just one aspect of our lives.

Beyond his epic prowess on the football field, J.J. Watt will also be remembered for giving back the to Houston community. After Hurricane Harvey, he pledged to raise $200,000. Instead, he helped raise over $37 million, which rebuilt more than a thousand homes and 900 child care centers.

When Watt plays the Texans this season as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, Houston fans will not boo him.

Maybe you have yet to hit your stride. Maybe you feel insecure about your appearance or abilities. Or perhaps, you have yet to discover what makes you tick.

Before George Springer led the Astros to the 2017 World Series and won the Series MVP Award, he was a kid from Connecticut with a stutter. He didn’t make his major league debut until he was 24 — well past the age that most top prospects arrive — yet his enthusiasm and infectious love of the game made him an immediate crowd favorite. When his Astros contract expired, he signed a six-year, $150 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Astros fans won’t just remember him for his Springer Dingers but also for his big smile and thumbs-up. Even though he will be playing north of the border, Springer will be welcomed warmly when he returns to Minute Maid Park.

There are plenty of ways for us to contribute. Go to the musical, participate in a Community Service project or simply be a good friend. We can demonstrate gratitude toward not only our parents and teachers but also our cafeteria and maintenance staff.

As we mark the one-year anniversary of Covid, try to use the remaining time you have left at St. John’s — whether it’s a few months or a few years — to be a Springer or a Watt.

Leave a legacy worth remembering.

Blue and Gold Award 2019

SNO Distinguised Site 2018, 2019, 2020 Print Editors-in-Chief Noura Jabir, Abigail Poag, Grace Randall Online Editors-in-Chief Laney Chang and Fareen Dhuka Assistant Online Editors-in-Chief Megan Chang and Ashley Yen Assignment Editors Julia Smith (News), Ella West (Features), Indrani Maitra (Culture), Russell Li (Sports) Copy Editors Ella Chen (News), Ethan Kinsella (Features), Gabrielle Solymosy (Culture), Afraaz Malick (Sports), Max Beard (Opinions) Design Editors Matthew Hensel, Celine Huang, Bailey Maierson Photography Editor Maxx Shearod Business Manager Rahul Rupani Staff

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

THANKS FOR CHECKING IN Dear Readers, It’s below freezing, we’ve swaddled ourselves in coats upon coats, and we can’t help but feel alone. Dead phones in hand, we clamber into our frigid cars, desperate for battery life and warmth. Our screens flash white with the first surge of power, and then a text appears: How are you doing?

Maybe our pipes have burst, maybe we’ve gone 72 hours without power, maybe we haven’t showered in days, but our response is the same: We’re alright. How are you?

Four years of “once-in-a-lifetime” disasters have made us adept at boiling our feelings down to niceties and generalizations.

After Hurricane Harvey, we fielded your questions about our homes and our families as calmly as we could while our city was still underwater. When Covid curbed our social interactions, we FaceTimed each other, savoring a 20-minute connection we knew could not replace an in-person conversation.

Now, one year into the pandemic, we find ourselves signing off emails with “Stay safe and healthy.” Good morning has given way to “Hope you and your family are well.”

When our entire community is living through the same chaos, our own hardships feel insignificant. We don’t want to burden you with details you already know, so we oversimplify and minimize our experiences, offering up a variation of “We’re not great, but we’re doing okay.”

Time after time, we give superficial answers, yet time after time, you check in anyway. And sometimes, just the asking is enough.

There is comfort in the ritual of exchanging pleasantries, in the consistency of genuine inquiries and small gestures of care. No matter how trite, simple exchanges between friends or even strangers offer a brief moment of warmth in an otherwise dreary day.

Member Columbia Scholastic Press Assn.

Crown Finalist 2021 Gold Crown 2015, 2020 Silver Crown 2014, 2016-2019

The world’s turmoil poses so many unanswerable questions. Although our conversations may not generate solutions, they remind us that we are loved in the most fundamental sense.

So know that when we ask how you’re doing, we really mean it.

We care about you.

No need to respond to this letter—we just want you to know we’ve been thinking about you.

Georgia Andrews, Wilson Bailey, Shreyes Balachandran, Chaahat Batra, Natalie Boquist, Thomas Center, Dawson Chang, Emma Chang, Edward Chen, Ella Piper Claffy, Nico Del Frate, Olivia Doan, Cameron Ederle, Louis Faillace, Lydia Gafford, Diane Guo, Lexi Guo, Abigail Hindman, Mia Hong, Natasha Janssens, Sophia Jazaeri, Annie Jones, Rahul Lal, James Li, Penelope Macpherson, Arjun Maitra, Ellie Monday, Leo Morales, Sierra Ondo, Ria Pawar, Lillian Poag, Jack Ringold, Grace Rustay, Keval Shah, Yasmin Stein, Max Stith, Kate Vo, Alice Xu, Willow Zerr, Chloe Zhao, Evan Zhang

Advisers David Nathan and Shelley Stein ('88) Mission Statement The Review strives to report on issues with integrity, to recognize the assiduous efforts of all and to serve as an engine of discourse within the St. John's community.

Publication Info The Review will be published three times during the 2020-2021 school year. We mail each issue — free of charge — to every Upper School household with an additional 1,000 copies distributed on campus to our 700 students and 98 faculty.

Stay safe and healthy, Laney Chang

Policies The Review provides a forum for student writing and opinion. The opinions and staff editorials contained herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Headmaster or the Board of Trustees of St. John's School. Staff editorials represent the opinion of the entire Editorial Board unless otherwise noted. Writers and photographers are credited with a byline.

Corrections, when necessary, can be found on the editorial pages. Running an advertisement does not imply endorsement by the school.

Fareen Dhuka

Noura Jabir

Abigail Poag

Grace Randall

PHOTO BY Lexi Guo

Submission Guidelines Letters to the editor and guest columns are encouraged but are subject to editing for reasons of clarity, space, accuracy and taste. On occasion, we will publish letters anonymously.

The Review reserves the right not to print letters received. Letters and guest columns can be emailed to review.sjs@gmail.com or hand delivered to the QR room (Q201).

THE REVIEW

24

MARCH 9, 2021

Portraits by Lexi Guo

60 seconds with

ZOE TOY

Nickname Zoodle Dream job Fortune cookie writer Quarantine hobby Stay-at-home mom Quirk Always caffeinated Theme song "My Heart Will Go On" (Bad Flute Cover) Love to hate Gender-reveal parties Hate to love The College Board Relationship status is unavailiable at this moment Red carpet date All 23 members of NCT Phobia Peanut butter sticking to the roof of my mouth Dopplegänger Princess Jasmine Known for Snapchat memories Book Adult Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Patterns Slogan Woah, calm down, Jamal Allergies Secondhand embarrassment Follow me? @zooooooodle on TikTok

ALBERT HE

Nickname Alburrito Dream job Whatever Elon Musk does Quarantine hobby Staring mindlessly, for hours, into the bright abyss that is my driveway Quirk I can miss anything with a ball I throw Theme song "The Final Countdown" Love to hate The rug that keeps getting stuck under my bathroom door Hate to love Spicy Cheetos Relationship status Just sent myself a goodnight text Red carpet date Probably on the weekends when my Roomba cleans the carpets Phobia Locking my keys in the car Dopplegänger Appears when I look in the mirror Known for Sleeping in the car Book "What If?" by Randall Munroe Slogan Never make the same mistake twice. Make it five or six times, just to be sure.

Allergies Epoxy, found that out the hard way after years of using it Follow me? @he_is_stronk