Volume 109, Issue 10

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper opinions

Arts and entertainment

February Feels:

Adoptions with an Asterisk

The Spectator presents a Valentine’s Day themed playlist for a school in need of some affection.

Sophomore Anne Rhee analyzes the systemic issues plaguing one of the world’s largest adoption systems and presents a solution.

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Volume 109 No. 10

NEWSBEAT Twenty-nine Stuyvesant students won gold in the 2019 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. See page 22 for this issue’s featured pieces.

The Stuyvesant Computer Programming Team, StuyNaught, placed first in the International Zero Robotics High School Tournament for the second year in a row.

Junior and team member Ivan Galakov was the winner of the Stuyvesant Zero Robotics Blake Elias award.

The Stuyvesant Math Team’s top team, Tin Man, comprised of sophomores Ethan Joo and Max Vaysburd, juniors Akash Das and Kimi Sun, and seniors Matthew Kendall and Milan Haiman, finished in fourth place nationally in the Carnegie Mellon Informatics and Mathematics Competition.

In the power round, Tin Man placed fifth nationally. In the individual rounds, Haiman placed fifth in the combinatorics round and fourth in the geometry round, Das placed eighth in the algebra and number theory round and second in the geometry round, and Sun and Joo tied for sixth in the geometry round.

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February 14, 2019

stuyspec.com

Required Renovations: Tribeca Bridge Temporarily Closes for Repairs

By Subyeta Chowdhury and Emma Donnelly Additional Reporting by Maddy Andersen Stuyvesant’s second-floor entrance has reopened after being closed due to a routine painting of the Tribeca Bridge.

The bridge must be painted periodically to ensure that it does not rust. However, due to the paint’s strong smell, the school administration closed the bridge entrance, and the main entrance on Chambers Street was opened as an alternative. The bridge is public and not under the authority of the NYC Department of Education, which means that students and staff were still allowed to walk across the bridge.

Though the administration decided to close the entrance and despite circulating rumors of workers using an illegal chemical, the paint did not possess any major health risks. “The scope of work and materials meets all safety requirements,” Assistant Principal of Security, Health, and Physical Education Brian Moran said in an e-mail interview.

Additionally, Principal Eric Contreras was deeply committed to ensuring the air was safe, walking on the bridge every day to test how intense the smell is.

An employee from an independent company measured the air cleanliness using a device that ranged from zero to 50, with 50 being the most harmful.“We asked Battery Park City to send an independent company to test the air,” Contreras said.

“The level never went above 11 on the bridge.” He indicated that the air was more than safe

Julian Giordano / The Spectator

Seniors Samantha Adrianzen, Kerwin Chen, Shayan Chowdhury, Suzanna Liang, Stella Ng, Nten Nyiam, Summer Shabana, and Julie Zheng were semi-finalists in the Jack Kent Cooke College Scholarship Program. The winners will be announced in April.

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

for students and pedestrians.

Instead, the administration made the choice to temporarily close the bridge entrance in order to be courteous to students and employees of the school who preferred to avoid the intense paint smell. “Though we had the air tested as safe, some people felt that the odors were offensive,” Contreras said. “We are respectful of people’s feelings about that, specifically for the adults [who] work near the entrance, such as the safety agents and people in the front offices.”

Safety was Contreras’s main priority while the bridge entrance was closed, as students had to cross the West Side Highway in order to enter the building. “We

were able to get two additional crossing guards; we asked for extra school safety and created a posting assignment so guards are at each [street] corner during entry and exit,” Contreras said.

The administration also worked with Battery Park City to ensure that the painting did not occur during school arrival and dismissal times, allowing students to reach the building safely. Contractors working on the bridge repairs were compliant with the administration’s requests. “The contractors have accommodated our school by ceasing work during high traffic times and working on weekends as much as possible,” Mo-

ran said in an e-mail interview.

After weeks of renovations, the scaffolding and tarps were removed from the bridge, with the bridge entrance reopening on February 11th. “Even though it was a slight inconvenience, there were not really any shortcomings to the new entrance plan,” sophomore Angelina Mustafa said.

While some students perceived the alternate entrance as an inconvenience, others tried to see it in a positive light. “Some students said they enjoy[ed] the downstairs exit to get lunch because it’s closer to Terry’s and Ferry’s,” Contreras said with a laugh.

Discovery Program Expansion Draws Backlash from Parents at Christa McAuliffe I.S.187

By Stephy Chen, Ian Lau, Hanah Jun, Katie Ng, and Misaal Tabassum

Every fall, 30,000 eighth graders take the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) to compete for a limited number of seats at New York City’s elite specialized high schools. Due to the disproportionately high number of Asian American students accepted into these schools, the SHSAT has been deemed a subject of controversy by the mayor, the Department of Education, and many parents. Mayor Bill de Blasio referred to the racial demographics of the specialized high schools as a “monumental injustice,” saying that “these high schools should look more like the city as a whole.”

In an attempt to diversify the

student population across specialized high schools, de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza recently expanded the SHSAT Discovery Program, an initiative that allows lowincome students who just miss the cutoff score on the SHSAT to earn admission into specialized high schools. Students from middle schools that score at least 60 percent on the City’s Economic Need Index, which measures the percentage of students in poverty, qualify for the program. These students attend summer classes and work with administrative staff and members of the Big Sib program to improve their emotional, social, and avocational skills. At the end of the program, students are offered admission to specialized high schools based on progress evaluations conducted by the various teachers and

staff members of the school.

“The students [who] were accepted through the Discovery Program and through the SHSAT are achieving in similar levels academically in biology.

In the end, they are Stuyvesant students. I had such a positive experience. The [classes] of students were relatively small in size so it was very laid back.

Within the classes, we built glucose models, took notes, and even had presentations,” biology teacher Marianne Prabhu, who participated in the Discovery Program over the summer, said.

The expansion of the Discovery Program has allowed for an increase in diversity in many specialized schools. Previously, only five percent of seats in all specialized high schools were allotted to students in the Discovery Program. However, de Blasio’s press conference in

October 2018 advocated for an increase in the number of seats to 20 percent for the 2019 admissions. The number of African American and Hispanic students who attend Stuyvesant has already increased from five percent to 10.4 percent for the graduating class of 2022 due to the introduction of the Discovery Program.

De Blasio’s end goal is to reform the admissions process so that only the top seven percent of students from every middle school are admitted into specialized high schools. However, the expansion of this program comes at the expense of students who score just above the cutoff, significantly decreasing their chances of admission.

Fewer seats will be available for students who rely solely on the SHSAT for admission, since more places will be re-

served for students who qualify for the Discovery Program.

In response to the proposed changes, parents at Christa McAuliffe Intermediate School filed a lawsuit on December 13, 2018, against the mayor and the chancellor. Alongside the plaintiffs of Christa Mcauliffe are the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York Organization, the Asian American Coalition For Education Organization, and individual parents supporting the SHSAT. They are accusing the mayor and the chancellor of discriminating against Asian Americans and violating the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the government from enacting policies with the intent to discriminate against a specific race.

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The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

News

Discovery Program Expansion Draws Backlash from Parents at Christa McAuliffe I.S.187 Continued from page 1

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and NASA

WORLDBEAT President Trump delivered his second State of the Union address on February 5. Stacey Abrams gave the Democratic response afterwards.

The New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in the 53rd annual Super Bowl, the lowest scoring Super Bowl in history.

More than 1,600 inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison in Brooklyn, were without heat, hot water, medicine, or basic hygiene products for a week, ending on February 3. Through the work of the NYC Justice League and Federal Defenders, visitation rights, heat, and electricity were restored, and multiple lawsuits and investigations are underway.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced their framework for the “Green New Deal,” which aims to convert 100 percent of the power usage in the United States to clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources over the next 10 years on February 7.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos publicized the National Enquirer’s attempts of extortion and blackmail after recent events regarding his affair and subsequent divorce.

Each year, McAuliffe sends more than 200 students—most of whom are low-income Asian students—to specialized high schools, making it one of the so-called “feeder” schools. However, the school misses the Discovery Program’s minimum Economic Needs Index by just over two percent. Consequently, its students are not eligible for the Discovery Program and must instead face increased competition in regular admissions.

“According to [the] Defendants’ own public statements, their plan to expand and reorganize the Discovery Program for admission into New York City’s Specialized High Schools is intended to racially balance the schools by limiting the number of Asian Americans who are admitted.

[These] facially neutral policies enacted with discriminatory intent are subject to strict Scrutiny. Because Defendants’ changes to the Discovery Program were enacted for a racially discriminatory purpose and [didn’t] further [any] compelling government interest, they violate the Equal Protection Clause,” said the plaintiff ’s final complaint from the United States Southern District Court of New York.

Though the lawsuit was spearheaded by the parents at Christa McAuliffe, parents around the city support the lawsuit. “The [PTA of Mcauliffe] is awakening and defending essential interests of the whole NYC or even America. By using limited resources to defend essential interests of the whole New York or even America, it deserves everyone’s appreciation, and I strongly support this lawsuit,” Zhiyong Qiu, a current parent of a Stuyvesant student and a member of the administrative staff of City University of New York, said in an e-mail interview.

There is no direct evidence that supports or rejects the supposition that the mayor intended for the program to be discriminatory against Asian Americans. “Regarding the lawsuit, one of the big parts of Discovery is that it has to do with income. We have plenty of students in this school [who] are admitted traditionally, [who] are qualified for free or reduced lunch, which is what Discovery requires. I’m not sure if it really does target what the intended group was. At the end of the day, it was still bringing low-income kids into specialized high schools,” Prabhu said.

However, Prabhu understands why the parents at Christa Mcauliffe are suing the mayor

and the chancellor. “Change is something that is hard for people to understand and accept.

This is a huge historical and systemic issue. As a parent, it is really hard to not be able to stand up for your kid. If something was in place for 50 years and had automatically changed, I would be upset too. To have prevented this, I believe that the mayor team should have done a better job of explaining how [the Discovery Program] works and why it works,” she said.

The first changes to the admission system will begin with the 2019 results. The plaintiffs are hoping that the results of the case will prevent the mayor and chancellor from enforcing their changes. There is no trial date set as of now, but based on the timeline of the New York City court system, it is almost certain the changes intended for 2019 entry will not be affected by the decision made. If the court deems the proposed adjustments to the SHSAT as unconstitutional based on the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza will be forced to undo their changes. This does not mean, however, that their efforts to improve the current specialized high school admissions process will be silenced.

Stuyvesant Hosts CyberStuy 2019

By Tina Zheng and Theo Schiminovich Stuyvesant’s computer science (CS) department hosted their third annual CyberStuy on Saturday, January 19. Middle school students from around the city interested in CS were invited to learn about computer science at Stuyvesant and about Stuyvesant in general.

The day included interactive workshops like Computer Vision in Robotics, Introduction to Virtual Reality, and Web Design, followed by a Q&A panel with current students and alumni. In between workshops, Stuyvesant students provided demonstrations of their projects from classes like AP CS. Students were able to interact with these projects, which included games and simulations.

One game shown was Plants vs.

Zombies, which was made as a final project for AP CS. CyberStuy is run and organized by students. The workshops and demonstrations are presented by students, and the event is led by student coordinators and seniors Amit Narang and Winnie Lin. “I am here really to support the students, and the event succeeds because the organizing team and the students who are running the workshops and the students doing project demos put a lot of time and effort into it,” CyberStuy faculty advisor JonAlf Dyrland Weaver said.

CyberStuy currently aims to educate and introduce middle school students to computer sci-

ence. However, this was not always the case. Weaver explained that the original idea was, “a CSplash-type event where there were workshops that were all student-led and other students could come in and learn various things,” he said.

This vision changed though,

ing workshops. Junior Yaru Luo taught Introduction to HTML and CSS, two programming languages used to create websites.

“Teaching an entire workshop at CyberStuy definitely helped develop my skills as a CS student. As any of the Stuy[vesant] teachers will tell you, if you’re

that involves how computers process and interpret information. His workshop caught the attention of both students and parents. “I could personally see the excitement in the students’ eyes as they saw how robots could move around the field to find blue wiffle balls through

“In a world that is moving [toward] technology it’s really important that we expose children at an earlier age so that we can develop their interests and so that they can grow and pursue it as they go through high school and reach college, and I think that the earlier you expose them to these kinds of fields, the better.”

—Winnie Lin, Senior

mostly due to influence from Ms. Yulia Genkina, who no longer teaches at Stuyvesant.

“She got involved with the initial planning and morphed the idea into this concept where our Stuyvesant students, who are advanced from a computer science standpoint, more than the rest of the students in the city, would be able to share what they’ve learned and their skills with the younger students,” Weaver said.

Students who are currently taking or have taken AP CS demonstrated their knowledge dur-

able to articulate what your code is doing and explain it to other people, that shows you know you’ve understood it yourself,” Luo said.

Likewise, middle schoolers were also given the opportunity to develop their computer science skills. One eighth grader at the event, Oliver, said it was “really cool.” “I now know how to make a website in HTML,” Oliver said.

Senior Joe Suzuki gave a workshop on the uses of computer vision in robotics, a field

the use of computer vision. I was even contacted by a parent to see if I could mentor their children to [teach them] how to code,” Suzuki said.

Junior George Zhou, a CyberStuy volunteer, also noted that many parents, as well as students of all ages, got involved.

“Even though the program was mainly for middle schoolers, I saw some elementary schoolers and even some adults trying to get into CS,” Zhou said.

Luo said, “I was teaching students who were learning how

to code for the first time plus their parents who are an entire generation apart. It just goes to show […] that you can learn CS or how to code at any age, at any time, as long as you have an interest in it. It’s just important in this time period because we are getting more technological.”

The students involved with CyberStuy see the benefits of the event, as they wish the program existed when they were in middle school. “I did FLL [First Lego League] but I didn’t get any exposure to computer science until high school, and I feel like if I had gone to an event like this, I would have gone on my own to pursue it and learn something about it,” Lin said.

CyberStuy has also become a way to raise awareness about specialized schools in general and about Stuyvesant in particular.

“It’s something many Stuyvesant students take for granted, that everybody knows about the specialized high schools, and that’s not the case,” Weaver said.

The organizers of CyberStuy have worked to attract students from middle schools that are underrepresented at Stuyvesant, so those students have the opportunity to learn about the Stuyvesant community. “A lot of students are coming from these schools where they don’t send a lot of kids to Stuy[vesant], so being able to show them that Stuy[vesant] has all these cool programs […] will hopefully help inspire them to actually think of it as an option,” Narang said.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

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News ADVERTISEMENT

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The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

News Stuyvesant Offers New Cancer Research Elective

By Neil Sarkar, Nina Shin, and Mahima Khan The biology department is offering a new elective this semester, Cancer Research, which will teach students the mechanisms of cancer and allow them to perform inquiry-based research. The one-semester class, open to sophomores but mostly comprised of juniors, is being taught by biology teacher Jason Econome, who has been a researcher in the field for over 10 years.

Econome took part in The American Physiological Society’s 2018 Frontiers in Physiology Research Community Leaders Professional Development Fellowship program. As part of the program, he spent last summer at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research with a globally-renowned lupus scientist, a scientist studying a disease in which the immune system attacks its own tissues, in hopes of passing on his knowledge of research techniques and the scientific process to Stuyvesant students.

Econome pushed for the elective and found the approval process fairly simple. “We’re implementing research which gets everyone excited in the biology [department] and [Principal Eric] Contreras was excited as well. This is a scienceoriented school, so this is what we live for,” Econome said.

The elective will provide students with the opportunity to design and conduct their own controlled experiments to investigate how organisms react to extreme situations. However, Econome plans to balance learning content in the classroom with applying the topics in the lab setting. The course begins with lectures and activities meant to familiarize students with

the mechanisms of cancer. Simultaneously, students will delve into research projects and academic papers. Once given a primer for cancer, which allows the disease to be identified, students will begin the experimental process using simple organisms, such as yeast and C. elegans.

Students are expected to understand aspects of both cancer and the research process upon completion of the course. In addition to grasping the fundamentals of cancer and applying them to cancer prevention measures, students should be able to operate in a laboratory setting. “I hope [students] will take away […] how to work independently and be able to design their own experiments, which is something that is missing at Stuyvesant, but a much-needed skill for college and any type of research career,” Econome said.

Cancer Research stands out among the wide variety of science courses offered at Stuyvesant due to its research opportunities.

In addition, the class has a more relaxed classroom dynamic. “In regular biology, you often rush to copy down as many notes as possible, but in Econome’s class, it’s not unusual to see kids just listen to what he has to say and admire the pictures of cells on the board,” sophomore Michael Nath said in an e-mail interview.

The class was in high demand and many of the students taking it are enthusiastic and looking forward to the rest of the term. For some, this class is making a real impact on their personal lives. “I have family members [who] are dealing with cancer so I wanted to learn more about it, how to fight it, and what medical breakthroughs have occurred,” sophomore Sharnom Chowdhury said.

Two Math Teachers Move On

By Subyeta Chowdhury, Evelyn Ma, and Chloe Terestchenko With the start of the spring semester, two math teachers, Gary Jaye and Lisa Daniels, announced their departures from Stuyvesant High School. Irene Mouzakitis and Stacy LoCascio will be taking over their Algebra II classes, while math teacher Gary Rubinstein will be teaching Mouzakitis’s former geometry classes. In addition, math teachers Ciprian Ghita and Catharine Maitner are both teaching an extra class.

Jaye retired from his position as an Algebra II and AP Calculus teacher after being a member of the Stuyvesant community for 30 years. “I loved the five times a day that I taught. That was a constant for all 30 years,” Jaye said in an email interview. “In October, I realized that I couldn’t teach to the level that I expected of myself. [...]

I never wanted to give my students anything less than my best effort, and that’s what they would have received had I remained for the spring semester.”

Despite the fall term being Daniels’s first semester at Stuyvesant, she stepped down from her teaching position due to personal reasons. Prior to her departure, Daniels taught five classes: four Algebra II classes and one Advanced Algebra class. However, Daniels was absent for about a month during the weeks leading up to the final. She later informed her students that she would no longer be teaching at Stuyvesant.

Adjustments were made to fill their positions for the spring semester. Mouzakitis is taking over Jaye’s Algebra II classes while Ghita and Maitner are now both teaching a sixth class in his absence.

Mouzakitis’s previous geometry classes are now taught by Rubinstein, leaving him unable to teach the Math Research elective for the

spring semester. “[For] Jaye’s classes, there was a lot of reconfiguring that had to happen with some of the courses. A couple of the other math teachers are teaching an additional class,” Assistant Principal of Mathematics Eric Smith said.

“During times of crisis, you’ve got to really be a team player,” Rubinstein said. “If really the only way to do it is for you to change what you were hoping to [teach], [then] you just have to chip in for the team.”

For Daniels’s classes, LoCascio will be taking over as a substitute teacher for the rest of the year. The replacement process for Daniels was different from Jaye’s. “To cover both Ms. Daniels and Mr. Jaye, we had two options: [one], hire a substitute teacher who has a math license. We did this in hiring Ms. LoCascio. [Two], have the DOE assign an ATR [Absent Teacher Reserve] teacher who does not currently have an appointed position at another school,” Smith said in an e-mail interview. “It made it harder because we could only bring in math substitute teachers, so it was finding substitute teachers [who] had math licenses, and that’s a very short list.”

In preparation for second semester, the departmentalized final made sure to cover all topics taught in the fall semester. This made sure that the students were taught these certain topics. “The [departmental] final exams that the students took […] were meant to put a punctuation mark for the end of the semester. Now, it’s just a question of covering the spring section,” Smith said. “The [new teachers] are picking up where the other teachers left off.”

For students who previously had Daniels, further arrangements were made to make up for her absence during the two weeks leading up to the final exam. “I think that [Daniels’s absence] did probably affect the performance on

the final exam but we are making adjustments for those students,” Smith said. “Most of the material had been covered, but I provided review materials so that they would at least get review in preparation for the final exam.”

Most of the students found this to be helpful, but they still would have preferred having a teacher present to help clarify and address any misunderstandings they had.

Students in Daniels’s Algebra II classes were concerned about their performance on the upcoming final exam and felt unprepared due to Daniels’s early absence. “I definitely do believe that [Daniels’s absence and departure] affected how I [performed] on the final, considering that we did not cover several things in class and we had much less practice time and help covering the other subjects,” sophomore Michael Russo said.

Students were also concerned about their overall grade in the course. “It felt like it [was] [...] difficult for me to pull out a good grade because a lot of the kids [who] weren’t taking Daniels were learning a lot of things that I was not able to learn,” sophomore Sayan Shil said.

In the first few weeks of the second semester, students have been finding it difficult to adjust to a new teaching style. “Both teachers have very different teaching techniques and I adapted to Mr. Jaye’s technique, but now adapting to Ms. Mouzakitis’s technique may take some time,” sophomore Asifuzzaman Sami said.

Despite the transition, Smith, Jaye, and their students are confident that the performances on standardized exams, such as the Regents in June, toward the end of the school year will not be affected drastically. “If I [do] my job and my students [do] theirs, their capacity to thrive should be and will be unaffected,” Jaye said.

Alex Lin / The Spectator

Dead Art

“At this time, we have a train delay in front of us. wE wiLL bE MoViNg ShOrtLy.”

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

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Features Between the Pages: The Story Behind Dr. Lisa Greenwald’s New Book, “Daughters of 1968”

Fion Sin / The Spectator

By JENNIFER LIU

“Women are and have been a sex class; feminists must advocate for a social transformation where women are not the ‘second sex’ and where an egalitarian society born of all sexes is formed.” —Dr. Lisa Greenwald, history teacher

Social studies teacher Dr. Lisa Greenwald strolled onto the streets outside her temporary residence in Paris in 1986, an apartment owned by a Parisian bohemian’s son with floors and walls decorated with layers of carpets brought back from a trip to North Africa. Between the hours she spent conversing with the bohemian’s son and having formal lunches with a bourgeois military family that resided in the suburbs, Dr. Greenwald was taking French courses at the University of Paris, famously known as the Sorbonne. Yet, her visit that afternoon to the university’s Women’s Center turned her excursion in France into an academic adventure.

Dr. Greenwald breathed the fresh city air and witnessed dozens of changes in the traffic lights as she struggled to locate the Women’s Center. The building turned out to be situated on a small dark street. From talking to about 20 older women who frequented the place, Dr. Greenwald learned that French feminism was vastly different from American feminism in surprising ways. “Unlike in the U.S., fewer women complained about access to childcare because there was a solid network of statesponsored nurseries,” she described in an e-mail interview. “Women weren’t strategizing to maintain contraception and abortion rights because they had been enshrined into parliamentary law.”

However, French women were concerned about matters other than their rights, including how they were culturally stereotyped and how gender stereotypes affected the ways they perceived their societal roles. “The ads on the subway for most products featured halfclothed women in submissive positions,” Dr. Greenwald noted. “And reasonably educated women—my peers—thought that feminism was a thing of the past.”

Dr. Greenwald challenged this point of view, asserting that “feminism had existed quite intensely but had dissolved because of larger political forces,” she said. These forces included the Socialist Party, which achieved an electoral majority win in the National Assembly in 1981, and a group of anti-feminists who claimed to be feminists and created

an organization called Mouvement de Liberation des Femmes (MLK, translated as Women’s Liberation Movement).

Though French women had achieved suffrage in 1944, Dr. Greenwald was inspired to write a dissertation advocating for another step in women liberation.

This dissertation ended up being a 426-page book called “Daughters of 1968: Redefining French Feminism and the Women’s Liberation Movement.” The writing process based on such a complex research project was, not surprisingly, long.

Dr. Greenwald had her book edited five times before it was published, the first four times by herself and the final time by her publishing press’ copy editor. “When I went to publish the book, I edited it entirely for the third time, received a contract, [and] edited it again, reducing it by a third,” she recalled.

“Daughters of 1968” recounts the story of French feminism between the years 1944 and 1981, when feminism played a significant role in politics and in French history, producing widespread social change in the women’s liberation movement and “revamping the workplace and laws governing everything from abortion to marriage,” Dr. Greenwald said. The book zeroed in on the May Events of 1968, when the rise of radical individualism and anti-authoritarianism led to a break from the past and a split in the women’s movement into two groups. One became intensely activist, “demanding justice and the reinvention of social norms,” Dr. Greenwald wrote, while the other distanced itself from feminism, becoming less activist or even anti-activist.

When asked whether she identifies as a feminist, Dr. Greenwald responded enthusiastically, “Yes!” To her, being a feminist means acknowledging female oppression and promoting change in the way society views women. “Women are and have been a sex class. Feminists must advocate for a social transformation where women are not the ‘second sex’ and where an egalitarian society born of all sexes is formed,” she elaborated.

One step toward this social transformation would be the expansion of reproductive rights.

While the Supreme Court’s deci-

sion in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case granted Americans access to safe abortion, Dr. Greenwald hopes that in the future women will be able to have an abortion through a law as well. “Regardless of how anyone feels about it personally at any given moment, the reality is that women sometimes get pregnant accidentally and can’t or don’t want to make a baby with all [of ] its attendant demands on a woman’s body in utero or once it is a living, breathing individual,” she said.

Connecting to her research about the history of France in the lens of feminism, Dr. Greenwald pointed out that prior to the legalization of abortion, 750,000 unsafe abortions were performed annually. This had resulted in thousands of infections, hemorrhages, sterilizations, and deaths in a country with a population one-tenth of that of the United States. “As a civilized, wealthy, and technologicallyadvanced society, we need to make [abortions] possible in a safe way,” Dr. Greenwald maintained. “The problem is that for two generations Americans have had access to safe abortion and they can’t remember what it was like before this. Time to go back to the history books!”

Dr. Greenwald stood between the arrays of wooden bookshelves in Barnes & Nobles, hosting a fundraiser on Wednesday, January 9.

“The fundraiser was meant to provide an opportunity for me to talk about my book and raise funds for Stuyvesant without a remuneration [...] for me,” she said. Despite her efforts in her research and writing projects, Dr. Greenwald did not want extra pay for herself; she wanted the money to go to her community.

Dr. Greenwald has transplanted her passion for writing into the classroom and has taught her students to practice writing. “Some students come into my class thinking that being ‘brilliant’ is enough.

But being ‘brilliant’ is worth little if you can’t explain your ideas on the page. It takes years,” she explained. “I’m still practicing.” In fact, Dr. Greenwald has already started planning for another book project. Her path of activism in the community does not cease with the conclusion of “Daughters of 1968.”

Vipers, and Lobsters, and Peglegs, Oh My!

By HAYEON OK and NICHOLAS MARTIN From the Greyducks to the Vixens, the Penguins to the Peglegs, Stuyvesant High School, like many other schools, has a wide range of sports teams that involve hundreds of student-athletes.

However, Stuyvesant deviates from other schools with its 23 different mascots for 42 sports teams, instead of having just one mascot to represent the whole school. Sophomore and junior varsity football captain Derek Fang commented that the situation at Stuyvesant is different from that at his previous school: “Back when I was in North Carolina, everything was the Cougars, just for one school. Pretty much every other school has a single mascot expect for us,” he said.

The mascots are determined through a vote among school officials involved in sports. Health and Physical Education teacher Peter Bologna explained, “A couple of years ago, [the SU] tried to take a vote to see if the school as a whole would like to go to a single mascot or keep it as each team has its own

name. The vote was almost a split vote, but a few more points went toward keeping it as is with different names.”

Current Stuyvesant students were also split about their opinions toward this decision. In a poll set up by The Spectator asking whether Stuyvesant sports teams should be under the same name, almost twice as many people voted “no” than “yes.”

Fang, who was part of the minority who voted “yes,” argued that a universal team name would unify the school. “I think we should all have a central name. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the Peglegs, but I feel like that’s probably the best place to go to because it represents the school,” he said.

Bologna agreed that a universal name would be better for the school. “I do see more school camaraderie when they are under one name as a whole, but that’s just purely my opinion,” he admitted.

On the other hand, sophomore Zoe Shah, a member of the track and field team, explained that having different mascots “creates individual team spirit,” she said. She

added, “We’re all for Stuy, but it’s just different teams.”

The track and field team has arguably one of the oddest names because most people do not associate ducks with running or speed.

Despite this, senior and co-captain Jeanette Cheung had an explanation for the name: “We go to cross country camp over the summer every year and the story goes that the boys’ team may have had too much to drink and they were playing “duck, duck, goose” and one guy just thought it would be funny to go ‘duck, duck, greyduck,’” she said.

Cheung also believes that each team should have a different name and she gave her take on what the student body might think, explaining, “I think a lot of athletes would be opposed because their team name has a meaning to them, and non-athletes won’t really have strong feelings for one side.”

If this were true, sophomore Isabel Leka would be an exception. Leka, who is on the volleyball (Vixens), basketball (Phoenix), and softball (Renegades) teams, does not like any of her team names.

When questioned on her choice of name, she chose one of the lesserknown teams: “Personally, Peglegs isn’t my top choice because I feel like it doesn’t really epitomize our school, but I do like Spartans [boys’ bowling and wrestling] because it goes along with the alliteration. ‘Stuyvesant Spartans’ sounds nice,” she said.

For people like Leka, there is hope that one day the names will be unified. Bologna explained, “There’s always been a rumor that some people would like to try to get that single name moving forward.” Bologna hopes that the student body can sway the decision.

Sophomore Saurar Fahim represents the majority of non-athlete students who want to see a single name. Fahim supports the name “Peglegs,” which is the most popular, representing five of the 42 teams. He also sees some names, like the Pinheads (girls’ bowling), as silly substitutes for a name. “It sounds weird, kinda like an insult,” Fahim admitted.

Some other student suggestions for uniform team names were Vikings, Wildcats, Spiders, Kings,

and Dolphins, displaying much of the same variety as the current team names. Though Spiders goes along with the Stuyvesant alliteration, it is very similar to the nonPSAL ultimate frisbee team name of Sticky Fingers. Kings and Dolphins were criticized for not being intimidating enough, while Wildcats, though pegged as generic, seemed to be the most popular suggestion.

Even though some names might be odd or extraordinary, most students, athletes, and nonathletes alike, want to keep them different, holding an optimistic view that Stuyvesant is unified through its support for each team’s individuality and representation of Stuyvesant.

Some teams, such as boys’ and girls’ badminton, do not even have an official team name, which is something that students are looking to change to make the Stuyvesant sports community more relatable and accessible to everyone.

We hope that the school will be unified not by names, but by a love of sports.

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The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Features

Features

courtesy of Denny Chin

From the Schoolhouse to the Courthouse

By TALIA KAHAN “I, Denny Chin, do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.” When Stuyvesant alum Judge Denny Chin (‘71) swore these words on April 26, 2010, he became the only active AsianAmerican judge on the federal bench. Judge Chin was appointed to the Second Circuit, one of the 13 United States Court of Appeals, after serving on the bench in the Southern District of New York for 15 years. But before Judge Chin achieved such high legal status, he went through many of the same experiences many students at Stuyvesant have.

Judge Chin was born in Hong Kong in 1954 but joined his grandfather in America at the age of two, in 1956. Living in Hell’s Kitchen in midtown Manhattan, a primarily Irish neighborhood, was not easy for the Chin family.

“Life was challenging,” Judge Chin recollected. My parents did not have very much money; my father was a cook [and] my mother was a seamstress. We had five children and my parents living in a onebedroom apartment. I went to school in the public schools in the neighborhood.” As a child, Judge Chin spent a large amount of time

studying, as he was “pushed” by his parents, but also behaved like a kid. He played sports, including stickball and softball, and spent hours reading in the public library close to his apartment.

All this reading and studying paid off for Judge Chin, when he took the SHSAT and was accepted into Stuyvesant High School in 1987 without any preparatory courses or study materials. In some senses, the Stuyvesant that Judge Chin had attended was very different from our own. For one, Stuyvesant was located on the East Side. Judge Chin was part of an all-male graduating class (the last one, in fact), and Asian-Americans made up only seven percent of his class. Today, Asian-Americans make up more than 10 times this amount (74 percent) of the students at Stuyvesant. Furthermore, the breakdown among the Asian-Americans at Stuyvesant has changed dramatically: “Of the 40 Asian-Americans, all but one was Chinese. There was one JapaneseAmerican student. There were no Koreans,” Judge Chin described.

Now, more diversity is seen within the umbrella term of Asian.

Despite differences in geography and student diversity, Judge Chin’s experience at Stuyvesant was very similar to our own. Judge Chin played as the defensive end on the football team and described himself as “very much part of the team and the sports culture,” he said. His love for athletics has carried into his adult years; signed bas-

ketballs, tickets to Princeton Tigers basketball games, and bobbleheads are scattered around his office, with a wall-mounted basketball hoop that keeps the door to one of his closets ajar.

Like many of us, Judge Chin sometimes struggled with the academic side of Stuyvesant: in his senior year, he received a 23 on his Advanced Calculus final, but fortunately retook it and passed, and was allowed to graduate. Judge Chin’s love for writing, a trait that he temporarily lost during his college years, also began at Stuyvesant with his English and history classes.

After graduating from Stuyvesant, Judge Chin attended Princeton University. There, he majored in psychology. Looking back on this decision, Judge Chin is not sure if he would choose the same major again. He explained, “By the time I graduated I really did not know what to do with myself. If I had to do it over again, I probably would major in something else. [...] I think I would have enjoyed history and English more.” But Judge Chin was able to embrace his interest in the humanities through The Daily Princetonian, the school newspaper, of which he eventually became the managing editor.

Judge Chin was not certain what field he wanted to pursue as a career, so like many college graduates, he entered law school.

“I didn’t know what to do with myself, and so I decided to go to law school to delay making a hard decision.” Judge Chin quickly realized that this was the best decision he could have made. He loved his experience as an intern for Judge Henry Worker the summer after his first year of law school. “I loved it. I knew then, after only one summer, that I had made the right decision and that the law was for me,” Judge Chin said. “I enjoyed it so much, that first summer, that I decided that I would come back one day and be a judge. I loved the excitement of the courtroom, being on trial, being able to participate in the administration of justice.”

Judge Chin graduated from Fordham University School of Law in Manhattan in 1978, where he was the Managing Editor of The Fordham Law Review. Following law school, Judge Chin worked in many different positions. He recounted, “I was a law clerk for Judge Worker for two years, and then I worked at a big law firm

for two years, and then I went to the United States Attorney’s Office for about four years.” These various positions exposed Judge Chin to many different fields, including everything from corporations to criminal trials.

Next, Judge Chin did something very unusual: he started his own law firm with two colleagues.

Campbell, Patrick & Chin was a general litigation boutique. Judge Chin explained, “The idea was we would go to court and take on different types of cases: commercial cases, we did some immigration work, some environmental work.”

But generating business and dealing with the business side of practicing law was very difficult, so after four years, Judge Chin joined another law firm, where he specialized in labor and employment law.

President Bill Clinton nominated Judge Chin as a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1994. During his tenure as a district judge, Judge Chin covered a number of high-profile cases, both criminal, like the Bernie Madoff case (2009), and civil.

“In criminal [trials], there is more drama and there is more at stake,” he described. “It is important because it goes to the heart of the administration of justice, which is enforcing the laws.” Because of this, Judge Chin thinks that criminal trials can create the most difficult decisions. One criminal case that stands out to him was about the mother of five children, who was also a caretaker for her sister because both their parents were gone. This woman was accused of being an accessory to a bank robbery. Judge Chin had to grapple with difficult questions—if the woman is sent to jail, will the kids be forced into foster care? What will happen to her sister?

Civil cases can be difficult in other senses. Judge Chin explained, “Most of the time [in criminal cases], the law is fairly well-settled and it is more about applying the law.

The civil side, the law is constantly evolving. A good example would be copyright laws. They were passed many years ago, but we have to apply them now to new technology, to the cloud, to social media. [...]

Applying these long-standing legal concepts to modern technology is challenging, but fun.”

Civil cases can be particularly difficult when they deal with emotions. For example, Judge Chin

presided over a property case in which a famous ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, had left most of his property to a dance foundation in his will. But family members argued that Nureyev was not in a sound mental health state when he wrote his will due to his recent diagnosis of AIDS. Judge Chin heard testimony about his physical and mental state when he was sick and dying.

In 2009, after serving as a district judge for 16 years, Judge Chin was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Second Court of Appeals in 2010. He was approved unanimously with a 98-0 vote by the United States Senate in April of 2010. Judge Chin became the only active Asian-American on the federal bench, and today is one of four active Asian-American judges on the Court of Appeals.

Life as a judge on the Court of Appeals is very different from that of a District Judge. Judge Chin described, “A lot of the time [as a District Judge] you would be on trial, either on a jury trial or a nonjury trial. A lot of the time you are involved in case management.”

He was also used to “being on [his] own” and making independent decisions.

As an appellate judge, Judge Chin works at the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse. In fact, he works in Thurgood Marshall’s exact office and keeps Marshall’s dictionary right next to a painting of himself presiding over the Madoff case. One major difference between the position of a District Judge and that of an appellate judge is that as an appellate judge, decisions are made in groups of three. This transition was both difficult and gratifying for Judge Chin; the challenge of reaching a compromise yielded a stronger result due to the input of his colleagues. Finally, as an appellate court judge, much more time is spent reading over briefs. There are not even any trials or witnesses in the appellate court, just oral arguments by the lawyers.

Judge Chin has reached great heights over the course of his career as a lawyer and later a judge. For any Stuyvesant student, whether he or she has or lacks an interest in law, Chin simply suggests to work hard and to “keep an open mind as you head off to college,” he said.

After all, he reminded, “I had no idea when I went to Princeton that someday I would go into the law.”

Rethinking Trash: The Bottle Cap Mural

Fion Sin / The Spectator

By CHRISTINE CHANG Ever since the founding of the Environmental Club, Stuyvesant has taken up many environmentally-focused projects to help improve the school and the community by initiating movements from proper sorting of trash to the rooftop garden, which is run by the Environmental Club to provide fresh food for the school lunches. This year, the Environmental Club has tackled a new project: the bottle cap mural. Biology teacher and Environmental Club advisor Marissa Maggio has been urging students and staff to bring in colored bottle caps to create a big, colorful mural made entirely out of the collected caps. The mural, which will be displayed on the back wall of the cafeteria, aims to raise awareness for recycling and incorporate the policy into the Stuyvesant community.

“We have a really big issue for some reason in school right now with students not cleaning their waste, not cleaning their garbage in the bins and leaving it on the tables,” Maggio said. “We’re hop-

ing this will be a really big, colorful reminder that you need to clean up after yourselves and ideally when you do that, you put everything in the right bins.”

The idea for the mural came from a trip that Maggio takes every semester to a recycling plant in Yonkers. “As we walked through the hallways I always noticed this really big mural that is on the wall [and] it’s made out of bottle caps,” she explained. The project went from a hopeful thought to a reality when she presented to the Environmental Club the idea of a mural similar to the one in the recycling plant. Junior and Vice President of the Environmental Club Julia Hart recalled, “Ms. Maggio came up with this idea a couple years ago, and she’s been bugging me about it ever since, and I decided, well, let’s do it.”

The mural has many focuses that collectively aim to better the Stuyvesant environment. “It’s supposed to show people exactly how continued on page 7

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 7

Features Rethinking Trash: The Bottle Cap Mural continued from page 6 much waste we produce and what impact it has on our earth and the things that we can do to reduce the amount of waste going into our system,” Hart said.

Senior and President of the Environmental Club Kenny Wong added that the bottle-cap project is part of a bigger project that is in place: “It’s part of the upcycled art project that we are working on.

The upcycled art project is where we take normally what we think is trash and we make art out of it,” Wong elaborated. The upcycled art project has been incorporated in various other places, including

the use of bottles in the rooftop garden.

The mural connects back to the cafeteria, where there is a prominent problem of waste. The Green Team, a branch of the Environmental Club, has been working on making new signs to try to combat this. “What we are doing is trying to make it simpler for students to sort their trash because a majority of kids said that they were either lazy or the signage in the cafeteria is unorganized,” sophomore Kyron Liu explained. “What we plan to do is to combine all the items that might be commonly misplaced into different bins and put it onto one poster and [place] it around the cafeteria.”

Junior Thomas Creighton added, “The problem is that people would leave their trays on the table and then janitors, or custodial, or cafeteria staff [would] have to pick them up and they frequently just don’t have enough time to sort through the numerous different trays that are left on the tables.”

The source of this problem could be numerous things, from the size of the student body to the laziness of students. However, this is something that can be overcome by the awareness and message promoted

by Green Team’s posters and the bottle cap mural.

Stuyvesant’s academicallydriven nature might be a cause of a lacking environmental pres-

ence. When Maggio first arrived at Stuyvesant, she realized the mindset of Stuyvesant students. She recalled, “There [are] a lot of great things about Stuyvesant but it definitely was not a very green school or very environmentally-driven.

There was sort of an environmental club trying to get started for a while and when I came we really did some heavy recruiting and really got it off the ground.”

There are many projects that the Environmental Club is undertaking with a far bigger scope that anyone observing from the outside can perceive. “We do the TerraCycle project, which is recycling aluminum foil […] and we also recycle ink toners, and juice pouches,

so it’s just so many things that we do,” Wong described.

The Environmental Club’s bottle cap mural is still some ways from being finished, but the message of environmental sustainability is clear. The mural, as well as the other projects initiated by the Environmental Club, is a way to encourage the community in Stuyvesant, as well as the public, to be more eco-friendly. “It’s just kind of giving the idea that materials can be reused and not everything needs to be thrown away right away [as well as] getting the message of environmentalism out across the school,” Maggio said.

Release of JUUL Increases Instances of Vaping at Stuyvesant

By VERONICA KOWALSKI While 64.2 percent of Stuyvesant students reported never or seldom having sought out reliable information concerning the effects of vaping, as many as 61.7 percent asserted they are well-informed on the subject, according to the results of an anonymous survey sent out to all students. There were 587 responses.

Invented by Stanford graduates James Monsees and Adam Bowen, JUUL is a brand of e-cigarette that was released in 2015. In its earliest stages, JUUL flaunted its device to young people in order to secure a generation of lifelong customers, according to reporting by the New York Times. The device has the dimensions of a person’s ring finger and is shaped like a USB stick. A square-shaped pod, which contains a transparent liquid, is inserted at the top. Within a mile radius of Stuyvesant High School, there are now 49 shops that sell JUUL products.

Among recently released vaping products, JUUL has gained the most popularity, according to a study by CBS. Vaping has been an available alternative for smokers for more than a decade, with brands such as Joytech, Aspire, and Charlie’s Chalk Dust competing in the market. Prior to PAX Labs coming out with JUUL, only 2.6 percent of Stuyvesant used any of the devices. Following JUUL’s release and the use of marketing strategies targeted at teens, as many as 15.7 percent of Stuyvesant students report vaping currently, and 24.2 percent report having vaped at some point. The introduction of this product to the market has increased the rate of vaping at Stuyvesant by a factor of six.

What makes JUUL appealing to teenagers across the nation also makes it appealing to Stuyvesant students. “JUUL has made vaping into an Apple product,” a surveyed student said. “The LED light on the JUUL shines rainbow colors if you shake it after you take a hit.

That is so obviously targeted [toward] a younger audience.”

The number of freshmen who vape is increasing. “It’s becoming a lot easier to get. When I was a freshman, there were only seniors who JUULed, but now it’s every single class,” said Student 2, who requested to remain anonymous. Some people may choose to purchase equipment from JUUL’s website using someone else’s identification. “They’d buy packs, and then they’d sell them in school,” the student reported. “It’s mostly for Manhattan people,” he explained, since many of the bodegas in Brooklyn do not check for ID. “It’s not even their fault. They have to keep up with the economy, too.

It’s just a big business. If you don’t ID, everybody comes. It’s like a sex party.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s way better for you, in comparison, than cigarettes. It’s very addictive, but in comparison to cigarettes, it’s not as harmful,” Student 3 admitted.

The only argument the individual has heard against the case of vaping is that not enough information

“I started JUULing because a bunch of other people were,” Student 3 said. “When I came to Stuyvesant, the first day, I saw kids JUULing in the escalators. I thought, ‘Whoa, this is so cool.

I’m in high school, and kids are smoking around in the school.’ It

class. It would be so easy to just hide it.” He pulled his sleeve past his wrist and held his hand to his mouth. “You keep the smoke in your mouth until it’s gone,” he instructed. In instances where this method is used, the act of vaping is seldom noticed. “It’s so small, too,”

“I thought, ‘Whoa, this is so cool. I’m in high school, and kids are smoking around in the school.’

It was shocking, it was cool, it was intimidating.”

— anonymous student has been gathered about the topic.

The lack of current widespread knowledge about the effects of nicotine on the body without tar testifies to the few effects it might actually have. “I think that JUULing is not as bad as cigarettes,” Student 3 said. “Cigarettes release tar in your lungs. The nicotine is just addictive, but the tar actually gives you lung cancer [Prager University]. JUULing doesn’t give you lung cancer, I don’t think. I’ve never seen or heard of anyone getting lung cancer off JUUL.” It is common knowledge that one JUUL pod is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes in terms of nicotine content, but the effects of nicotine other than its addictive properties are frequently glossed over. According to the National Institutes of Health, “Nicotine is associated with erectile dysfunction and decreased sexual arousal.”

Student 1 reported using JUUL on and off for a period of time. The device is simultaneously calming and energizing. Student 1 noticed having better performance in a memorization-heavy class when she used the product before an exam. She does not vape very often, though, because JUUL pods are expensive. “I care about FDA regulations ever since pharmaceutical companies jacked up their prices,” she said in an e-mail interview. The use of nicotine does, in fact, increase short-term memory retention, as well as reduce one’s chance of acquiring Parkinson’s disease (Scientific American). It also increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and stroke (TIME), in addition to weakening the immune system, speeding the skin aging process (drdayan.com), and causing attention deficits (NIH).

Between 2009 and 2016, there have been 195 documented explosions of electronic cigarettes, at least two of which have been lethal, according to reporting by CNN.

was shocking, it was cool, it was intimidating. It’s a lot more of a mature environment. People are doing that stuff, and no one cares.”

Witnessing others vape thus became a new normal.

Student 4 was first offered to try a JUUL product in the beginning of his sophomore year, when his friend described the head rush it caused. “Yo, look at this. It makes your head feel crazy,” the friend said. “It makes you feel nice in your head.” Student 4 initially declined, but the friend persisted.

Student 4 ended up trying it out, and after a year and a half of use, the head rush is not as intense as it used to be. “Now, it doesn’t do anything, actually,” he affirmed.

“It’s just addictive.” Student 3 added, “Once you do it a lot, you don’t feel it as much, but when you don’t do it, you start to feel a headache.”

It gives the user a relaxing sensation, and it is a social activity. “I do it when I’m around other people, and when people offer it to me, I don’t feel like saying no,” Student 3 continued. “If other people at Stuyvesant didn’t do it, I don’t think I would be doing it.

The only reason I’m doing it is because all my friends do it.”

According to students, one becomes less attractive if one smokes cigarettes, though that is not the case with JUUL devices. “There’s this really hot girl in our grade who smokes cigarettes, and I think she’s less attractive now because of it,” Student 2 confessed. JUULing, on the other hand, does not seem wrong. “Cigarettes are more dangerous and more unattractive,” the student said. Student 3 also witnesses other Stuyvesant students smoking traditional cigarettes on infrequent occasions. In his view, traditional cigarettes have negative overtones because of the way commercials depict adults with lung cancer.

During the interview, Student 2 demonstrated a way one might vape discreetly. “Let’s say I’m in

Student 3 added. “A lot of people say it looks like a flash drive.”

Since JUUL’s domination of the market, some companies have implemented a similar design to products of their own. MYLÉ, which has a durable charger and comes in a few different colors, is another popular brand of e-cigarette. It “hits stronger” and can be charged via USB rather than by a cable, allowing for greater mobility. “Everybody in Brooklyn is on the MYLÉ,” Student 2 said.

Student 4’s parents are aware of his use of the product. “They think poorly of it. But they’re not super mad about it,” he said, though he still believes it is right for parents to feel angry about the situation.

Vaping can be an inconvenience, he continued. Student 4 has to make the decision between going to the bathroom for a hit and getting to class on time. When he chooses the former option, his grades decline as a result. And as one survey respondent stated, “A lot of users don’t know how to get help without getting into really big trouble.”

Another survey respondent expressed similar feelings. “People all around the school, including me, are using it every free second they have,” the student said. “[They’re] doing almost anything to get their hands on more pods when they run out.” When they do run out of pods, individuals become “more irritable” and “aren’t themselves,” the student continued. Furthermore, JUUL is intermittently used as a gateway drug. “When kids are introduced to JUUL, they become much more likely to use THC oil pens and marijuana in its more potent form, oil,” the survey respondent said.

An anonymous teacher who reported having some students who vape is suspicious of the company’s true motives. The advertisements make the product appealing and attractive to young people. JUUL products look like

flash drives; they are not seen as cigarettes. They are assumed to be safer because they do not contain all the chemicals from tobacco, but some of the ingredients in ecigarettes can become carcinogenic when heated (Washington Post).

In addition, their study found that people who preferred using fruitflavored vaping products showed higher concentrations of the carcinogenic chemical acrylonitrile in their urine. The chemicals formaldehyde and acrolein, which are included in the vapor of e-cigarettes, can cause “irreversible lung damage” (American Lung Association).

When inhaled, formaldehyde can cause leukemia, a form of bone cancer.

“Years ago, smoking cigarettes was not considered dangerous or unhealthy,” Brian Moran, Assistant Principal of Safety, Health, and Physical Education said in an e-mail interview. Today, the harmful effects of traditional cigarettes are common knowledge. There is a parallel in that mentality with vaping.

One of the anonymous teacher’s students, who had moved on to using traditional cigarettes from JUUL products to reduce spending and nicotine intake, approached the teacher about her concerns. Currently, the student is in the process of quitting the product. “It’s not easy,” the teacher affirmed, especially since the JUUL device delivers more nicotine to the user per puff than a typical cigarette. The teacher is willing to assist students who approach her.

“I’ll be honest,” she said. “I’m actually very happy when a student is able to openly approach me about the product. It takes a lot of trust, and it takes a lot of courage for the student to come and talk to me openly about it.” If a person notices she isn’t able to control her nicotine intake, she might want to take a step back and seek help.

“It doesn’t have to be a counselor,” the teacher elaborated. “It can be maybe someone you trust. It can be a teacher.”

SPARK counselor Angel Colon defines success by a student’s progress. “It can be a small progress, or eventually, enough of a progress that they’re doing better than they were,” he said.

Some students have noticed that what started as a social activity has become a legitimate dependence. “I commonly describe it as being in a desert for two to three days without any liquids or water, and all of a sudden [you] find a cold Gatorade and you can quench your thirst. That’s what every breath of a JUUL feels like: pure satisfaction,” one student noted in the survey.

Another student said, “Moderation is key, and being knowledgeable about the product and the choices you make [is] very important.”

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The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Features The Use of JUUL: What Students are Saying “JUUL has been absolutely dominant in the e-cigarette market, especially for teenagers. Something weird I’ve noticed is that if you are in a group of friends [who] do use e-cigarettes and you don’t use JUUL, you are kind of an outsider.”

“For people who have never done it, it makes [them] cough, hurts your throat, and tastes bad.

For people who are addicted, on the other hand, I commonly describe it as being in a desert for [two to three] days without any liquids or water, and you all of a sudden find a cold Gatorade and you can quench your thirst. That’s what every breath of a JUUL feels like: pure satisfaction. And though I know that that description sounds very over the top, it is absolutely true.”

“Advertisements used to be what teens looked at for what was cool to do. Now the ads are a lot more neutral, which has contributed to the decrease in smoking, as it has gotten a lot harder to make a widespread message [toward] millions of teens that smoking is cool. However, with the rise of social media, teens no longer look at advertisements to see what is cool. I feel like most teens couldn’t care less about ads. Now social media is what teens look at for what is cool to do. Without stuff like Snapchat, YouTube, etc. I don’t think there would be many teen JUULers at all. As long as social media is around to perpetuate the idea that JUULing is cool, it won’t go away, regardless of any campaigns/movements against it. The only real solution would be to regulate social media that glorifies JUULing. However, that leads to limited self-expression, which never works out well with social media. Social media has a way of spreading things, regardless of whether the social media platforms themselves condone such content.”

“JUULing is one of the most devastating issues currently facing Stuy. People all around the school, including me, are using it every free second they have, every time they can do it discreetly, and doing almost anything to get their hands on more pods when they run out. When I see my friends who are out of pods and need to wait one or two days to buy more (because their seller is unavailable or because they don’t have enough money yet), they become more irritable and aren’t themselves. Yet, we all keep doing it either because it has a connotation of being cool, or because it drastically helps reduce stress once you are addicted.”

“Quitting [JUULing] is not as difficult as you may think. It does not have the same craving effect as if you stopped smoking cigarettes. It [has] a much more bearable withdrawal. I do it because I’m bored. [I] spend a lot of time working, doing homework, and being stressed. Why not spend the little free time I have rewarding myself with a [JUUL] hit to relieve stress?”

“JUUL is terrible. I hate that I do it, I hate that my friends do it, and I wish I could stop.

It’s just so hard. When I don’t have it, it’s always on my mind. Then when I go out and buy more pods, I don’t even feel happy or anything, just depressed that I gave into my addiction yet again.

I’m worried than in 10 years it’ll be common knowledge that vaping causes cancer or something. That keeps me up at night sometimes.”

“Quitting [JUULing] is not as difficult as you may think. It does not have the same craving effect as if you stopped smoking cigarettes. It [has] a much more bearable withdrawal. I do it because I’m bored. [I] spend a lot of time working, doing homework, and being stressed. Why not spend the little free time I have rewarding myself with a [JUUL] hit to relieve stress?”

“If people want to go ahead and [JUUL], that’s their problem, but my problem is when they go ahead and try to influence others with it or do it in a school.”

“I’ve seen the change in people once they start JUULing. The people I know or I’ve heard of [who] JUUL end up trying other drugs as well and I do not want to end up as lost as them. Also, I know someone [who] has tried to stop JUULing but it was very difficult, and when they stopped, they realized how terrible their life was just because of JUUL.”

“Don’t call us names for vaping, and don’t blame us for just being teenagers. And don’t forget that us teenagers, not adults, are being targeted by vaping companies.”

“I hit up every [7-Eleven] in a [two-mile] radius over the course of two nights until someone sold it to me without ID.”

“Many students at Stuy provide reliable service of JUUL products at low prices, ever since it has been harder to buy JUUL products in stores.”

“I think the rise of vaping is quite sad especially because we have almost eliminated smoking within our generation. Ask any of us [three] years ago and most people would’ve called smoking gross and [said] that they’d never do it. Now, JUUL has made vaping into an Apple product. The LED light on the JUUL shines rainbow colours if you shake it after you take a hit. That is so obviously targeted [toward] a younger audience. PAX Labs, which owns JUUL, is backed by major tobacco companies. The same people getting rich off of our parents’ addictions are enslaving our generation and [it’s] extremely disturbing. I have seen kids go from a casual user to being unable to sit through a class period without taking a hit. I have had friends who’ve quit JUULing and are now smoking actual cigarettes to [...] decrease spending and nicotine intake which is somewhat ironic considering JUUL’s mission statement. The entire situation is just very sad.”

“Personally, as a member of [a] relatively prestigious club, I do not want my image, nor the image of any of my friends [or] teammates to be affected in the off chance I get caught vaping. As a result of this, I vehemently refuse to pick up a JUUL pod or any other drug for that matter.”

“Many radio advertisements portray JUUL use as something exclusively for adults quitting smoking, explicitly stating that teens should not begin using a product containing nicotine, but a huge company must know exactly what they are doing in terms of generating huge profits selling to teens.”

“The idea of my body relying on a substance, a drug, is scary and horrifying. The fact that my entire body can change, my mentality, etc. scares the shit out of me— and it should scare the shit out of everyone. It grosses me out when I see dropped [JUUL] pods on the stairs or when my friend takes it out to vape.”

“Seeing people scare me, and my dad smokes.people I’ve seen “While addicted I was addicted, I sold pods to other to addiction and don’t want any part of it.” afford my own.”

The Use of JUUL: Survey Data Out of a sample of 587 Stuyvesant students, 92 individuals reported having vaped within the past year. Juniors reported the highest rate of vaping, with 34.9 percent of individuals, followed by seniors with 29.3 percent, sophomores at 21.7 percent, and freshmen at 14.1 percent.

AVERAGE GPA of ALL SURVEYED STUDENTS: 91.5% AVERAGE GPA OF SURVEYED STUDENTS WHO VAPE: 87.9% Did you vape before the release of JUUL products in 2015?

97.4% said YES. 2.6% said NO.

If you have never used a JUUL device, do you ever intend to do so?

8.6% said YES. 91.4% said NO.

Do you feel informed about the effects of vaping?

61.7% said YES. 38.3% said NO.

*1 being negative, and 10 being positive

94.7% of all surveyed didn’t prefer for a potential friend to use JUUL products.

Possible Sources of Error

There are a few possible sources of error from the results of the survey. Since many of the answer choices for the required questions were limited in options, the true answers are likely much more nuanced and varied.

For the question, “What is your GPA?” it was not originally specified that answers should be put on a 100-point scale. I used the values given by the respondents instead of rounding all the values to the nearest whole number.

For the question, “What is your sex?” there was no option for those who are neither male nor female.

There was a question formatted, “Do you vape currently? (If you have vaped in the past but have not done so in a year, choose ‘No’).” “Vaping currently” meant having vaped within the past year because someone who has only tried vaping once might be likely to come back to it. The longer it has been since a

person’s last vape, the less likely they might be to return to the activity.

There was no distinction made between the continuous and once-in-a-lifetime use of traditional cigarettes among either students or their parents.

For the questions, “Would you prefer for a potential romantic partner to use JUUL?” and “Would you prefer for a potential friend to use JUUL?” there were no distinctions made between whether a person was apathetic to the proposition or whether they strongly preferred the friend or partner to not use JUUL. These questions were intended to test whether the use of JUUL products does, in fact, make a person “cool.”

Presumably, there was voluntary response bias, since students chose whether or not to take the survey. Students may have chosen not to complete the survey because of its length, or because they were hesitant to share their information.

** FOR ALL DATA, REFERENCES and MORE INFORMATION, CHECK stuyspec.com

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 9

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The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 10

Editorials STAFF EDITORIAL

EDITORIA L

The Perfect Teacher Doesn’t Exi— physics final exam showed, the variety of teaching styles and lack of a unified curriculum affect students’ academic experiences. After it surfaced that students in one teacher’s class had been granted access to some of the questions on the final, many other classes demanded that the exam be dropped. Though the students who had access to the test questions did not know that they would be repeated on the final, the incident represents a serious lapse of coordination on the part of the physics department. It also represents the larger need for unity, direction, and clarity in Stuyvesant’s grading and testing systems.

A universal grading platform for all students (for all classes and departments) would go a long way toward addressing the issue, as it would allow for grades to be constantly updated and teachers to be transparent about grading rubrics. Websites like JupiterEd even go so far as to break down the weight by percentage of each component of a student’s grade: tests, homework, classwork, and participation.

This makes it ideal as an online grading tool. In summary, a unified system would increase grading transparency, standardize the wide varieties of subject curricula and teaching styles, and streamline the administration of departmental finals.

Beyond the concrete proposal to create more uniform and coordinated approaches to teaching and grading, students would also benefit from teachers who consider the well-being of their students more generally. In its most basic form, high school students still need teachers who have a friendly demeanor and want to engage with students—both inside and outside of the classroom. During class, students should feel safe asking any question, without feeling nervous about a possible hostile reaction from a teacher. Outside of class, students should feel that when they approach their teachers, they will be open and even interested in conversation. This expectation should not be confused as a request for teachers to serve as guidance counselors, since teachers ultimately aren’t guidance counselors. However, as influential adults in students’ lives, teachers should still care about their students’ state of mind. Guidance counselors cannot be students’ lone sources of emotional support. Indeed, all of the Stuyvesant community should take an active interest in students’ emotional well-being. After all, there is a lot of truth in the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Nobody disputes the quality of education that students receive at Stuyvesant; it is arguably the best in New York City. However, as the recent frenzy over program changes demonstrates, students have strong feelings about what constitutes a good or bad class and teacher. For students, better classes are ones that use a universal grading platform, are transparent about how grades are calculated, teach a standard curriculum, and have a friendly and supportive classroom environment.

These modest proposals would go a long way toward making students feel that the particular teacher to whom they have been assigned is not such a consequential matter. Having the security of knowing that one’s teacher, like all other teachers in a department, will meet these criteria will create less stress and anxiety during program changes and throughout the whole year.

Ultimately, such a scenario would benefit the entire Stuyvesant community.

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

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Kerry Garfinkel We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and length. © 2018 The Spectator All rights reserved by the creators.

R E COR D

In Issue 9, our article “Student Union Financial Report: Winter 2019” incorrectly reported SING! allocations for years 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016. Those numbers represent the expenses for those years instead. However, the allocations for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 are correct.

Dead Art

Jade Lo / The Spectator

A new semester brings with it the long, arduous process of program changes.

Thousands of students exchange courses, teachers, and schedules in the bi-annual rush to get the perfect program. Last year, to deal with these overwhelming demands, the program office implemented an online system called Talos for schedule requests and changes. The new website brought with it an added element of paranoia to the process, as multiple Facebook advice groups for Stuyvesant students were flooded with questions like the following: “How does one survive in X’s class?”; “How’s the homework load for Y?”; or “How can I get into Z’s class with a low average?”—among others.

It’s clear that Stuyvesant students are divided on which qualities constitute a good class or teacher. Based on the questions posted on Facebook, some of the most common characteristics students favor are easy (or at least manageable) tests, plenty of one-on-one feedback, and comprehensive preparation for finals, Regents, and AP exams. But many students are also drawn to less concrete qualities. Some want their teachers to provide more emotional guidance and support, and others appreciate fair assessment of tests, projects, and class participation.

The wide variety of standards among teachers only leads to further confusion among the student body and program office. Without clearly articulating what qualities make a “good” teacher, students cannot expect the administration to facilitate meaningful reform in hiring or assigning teachers. If the criteria for a “good” teacher aren’t universal, how should students manage their expectations? What should the administration do to meet their demands? Does a “good” teacher have an obligation to be nice? And in the end, is it the students themselves or the teachers who are responsible for the grades received?

These questions—and their answers— are rooted in Stuyvesant’s competitive atmosphere. Many students attribute our school’s stress-laden academic environment to the many hours of homework and studying that classes require, and more often, to what they deem an unreasonable or unnecessarily strict teacher. Every year, students get to vent these feelings about the school environment in anonymous surveys, which ask students if they believe that their teachers would support them if they were visibly upset in class. In Stuyvesant’s 2017-2018 survey results, only 52 percent of students said this was the case. A little more than half the student population believe that their teachers would provide academic or emotional help to students falling behind in class. These results would suggest that some teachers fail to recognize the obstacles their students face—or that they disregard them entirely. In addition, the opaque nature of Stuyvesant’s grading system creates an unfair academic environment for teachers and students alike.

Students often rely on grading curves, dropped tests, and rough estimates to figure out what their overall average will be.

The widespread practice of curving among the faculty heavily affects program changes, as most students will seek out teachers with “legendary” curves.

The disparity in grading among the faculty, sometimes within the same department, is further exacerbated by the administration of department finals. As the recent controversy surrounding the

BOA RD

“Back to basics.”

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 11

Opinions How The Media Ruins Lives

By KAYLEE YIN A large group of teenage boys from Covington Catholic High School attended the annual March for Life rally in Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 18. As the event concluded, the boys gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, which was their designated meeting spot after the end of the rally. Earlier in the day, a group partaking in the Indigenous Peoples March had gathered at the same monument.

As the boys were waiting for the rest of their schoolmates to arrive, a Native American man named Nathan Phillips made his way into the middle of the large crowd as he beat a ceremonial drum. At one point, he stood directly in front of one of the high school boys, Nicholas Sandmann, for several minutes.

In a video of the encounter,

Sandmann can be seen smirking while other students chant loudly in the background. Only a day later, that video was uploaded online.

The video sparked outrage as it went viral across multiple social media platforms and news outlets. Many liberals were quick to call the boys out, scorning them for interrupting the Indigenous Peoples March and threatening Phillips, connecting their “Make America Great Again” apparel to white supremacy, and belittling their alleged screaming of “Build the wall.”

Though the media’s reaction may seem reasonable (impulsive actions often result in undesirable consequences), what actually happened isn’t as straightforward as many had claimed.

By Sunday, more videos regarding the entire occurrence had surfaced, showing no evidence of the boys shouting support for any wall. More than that, the videos showed that there was a completely different side to the story.

Just prior to the moment that went viral, a small group of Black Hebrew Israelites can be seen hurling prejudiced and derogatory words toward the teenagers. Many of the boys retorted by yelling and chanting back at the men, and soon after the onset of the incident, Nathan Phillips can be seen gradually approaching the large group of boys as he plays his drum. In an interview with The Washington Post, Phillips stated that his do-

ing so was an attempt to defuse the situation.

Though he had good intentions, Phillips’s goal to break the tension was unclear to most of the boys, especially as he began to make his way toward the middle of the crowd. Additionally, Phillips told the Detroit Free Press that he decided to intervene because “the boys were in the process of attacking [the] four black individuals,” he said.

A clear video of the entirety of the event shows no evidence of this.

Moreover, left-wing activists decided to place much of the blame solely on Nicholas Sandmann for simply smirking.

Many liberals called his smirk disrespectful and degrading, while others defended Sandmann, stating that it is natural to nervously smile in a way that looks like a smirk when put on the spot in a confusing situation. The situation regarding Sandmann’s facial expressions could have gone either way.

However, in an interview with the Today Show, Sandmann stated that he hadn’t wanted to disrespect Phillips and he hadn’t been smirking.

Regardless of the debate over Sandmann’s facial expression, the events that took place can justify neither the death threats that he has been receiving, nor the harassment of other students from his school who didn’t even attend the march. Many social media users have shared Sandmann’s career goals, asking their followers to “ruin his future

by making sure he doesn’t go to college.” Some internet users have even gone as far as to reveal Sandmann’s parents’ address and send his family threats throughout the entire week.

Additionally, a vigil for peace led by Native American activists was held outside the school, and it brought at least 20 people together on January 22. School officials stated that Covington Catholic High School was closed that day as a result of the vigil. Activists who appeared at the school held signs that read “God doesn’t teach hate...

Why do you?” and “Racism is a learned behavior.”

However, when Sandmann was interviewed on the Today show shortly after the incident, he stated, “We’re a Catholic school. And [racism] is not tolerated. They don’t tolerate racism. And none of my classmates are racist people.” With no evidence of Sandmann or any of his classmates having made any racist remarks, it is concerning why so many activists would call out the students for something they did not do.

Overall, the entire situation—from the event itself to the media’s reaction to it—has proven to be a perfect example of society’s more recent blatant rushes to judgment. Especially with the polarity of the political climate in America today, people are quick to twist part of the story to support their views and make unsupported assumptions. As Julie Irwin Zimmerman put it, “The story is a Ror-

schach test—tell me how you first reacted, and I can probably tell where you live, who you voted for in 2016, and your general take on a list of other issue.” And if you take away the video and ask why millions of people across the country care so much about a confrontation they didn’t even observe, they would be blank in expression.

The Covington incident is only the most recent instance of a media rush to judgment.

Another event that exemplifies this behavior is when many left-wing activists called out the movie “The Great Wall” for whitewashing before its release. Many assumptions were based on the fact that the lead actor was white. The movie was also filmed in China. However, the movie’s main character was not another “white savior,” and most of the directors, producers, and cast were Chinese.

As America continues to live with Trump’s presidency, which has been regarded as a strong divisive force within the country, the Covington incident must be seen as a pivot point into the right direction for contemporary society. It must teach us to be wary of what we are exposed to online—to be more proactive rather than reactive when it comes to waiting for all the facts. If we continue to make assumptions and call people out as quickly as possible, more innocent lives will be at stake, and the country will only diverge further.

The Right to Revolution

By AARON VISSER The gun control debate has an all-too-familiar rhythm: a cycle that starts with a mass shooting, then calls to action, and then, nothing. America returns to square one, no closer to preventing another tragedy. The debate is stagnant. One reason for this lack of change is that Democrats and Republicans are talking past each other. As a step to break the stalemate, Democrats should engage the Republican rationale for why the Founding Fathers included the Second Amendment in the Constitution. Most leading conservative commentators and thinkers interpret the Second Amendment as an effort to enshrine the right of the people to take up arms against a tyrannical autocratic government. In order to pass gun control legislation, Democrats must explore and thoroughly debunk this argument, because the idea that violent uprising is a moral and effective way to overthrow tyranny is fundamentally wrong, regardless of the Framers’ intent.

Many leading thinkers support the right to revolution, and it is likely that our Founding Fathers did too. The idea originates from the leading British Enlightenment thinker John Locke. He relays in his book, “The Second Treatise of Civil Government,” that “The people have a right to remove [a government] by force. In all States and Conditions, the true remedy of Force without Authority is to oppose Force to it.” Locke argued that people have the right to remove a government by means of revolution, should the government act “without authority”—or in other words, tyrannically. The Founders crafted a constitution

that sought to best emulate the ideas of the great philosopher.

The Founding Fathers added the Second Amendment to the Constitution a few years after the American Revolution. By modern standards, the American Revolution was one of the most successful violent rebellions ever.

An armed civilian army overthrew a tyranny against all odds and installed a democracy that endures to this day. It was quite likely they thought the right to a similar revolution should be protected by their young constitution.

Recently, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia declared the importance of armed civilians in resisting tyranny in 2008’s District of Columbia v. Heller, which struck down a Washington D.C. handgun ban.

Scalia wrote that “When the able-bodied men of a nation are trained in arms and organized, they are better able to resist tyranny.” In this quote, Justice Scalia outlines the basis of the right to revolution.

According to its proponents, the right to revolution is a failsafe—a nuclear option—that is to be invoked only if our government has failed. The threat of revolution acts as a deterrent to potential tyrants who would seek to curtail American liberties. If the deterrent fails, the people will rise up against the tyrannical government to reform it or install a new republic. The most important aspect of the American creed is our freedom from government control of our lives. Mass shootings, which should be prevented by law enforcement, are a small price to pay for the defense of our liberties. Tyrannies like the Soviet Union would have fallen much

sooner had its starving farmers been armed.

The right to revolution works on a broad conceptual level, but it falls apart under close scrutiny. The Founding Fathers ratified the Constitution in the wake of a successful revolution against tyranny, one that not only expelled the British but also established the longest lasting democratic republic in the history of humanity. They had every reason to believe that a revolution like theirs could be possible again.

and a favorite of school shooters, is military grade, civilians do not have access to automatic machine guns, airplanes, or most other military weaponry.

Defenders of the right to revolution point to Vietnam as an example of an “underdog victory,” but Vietnam was the exception to the rule. Throughout history, there have been many revolts quashed by better armed governments, from Rome putting down Vercingetorix to the countless examples of the Soviet Union quashing revolt.

The right to revolution works on a broad conceptual level, but it falls apart under close scrutiny.

Yet, that’s not the case. The American Revolution is a historical anomaly. It remains the only violent revolution that established a well-functioning republic. If a group of guerrilla, freedom-loving revolutionaries could somehow overthrow a tyrannical U.S. in 2050, history shows that the most likely outcome would be a military dictatorship, like that of Napoleon or Simón Bolívar. Furthermore, 232 years ago, the military used technology similar to that of the civilian population. Today, the U.S. military is by far technologically superior to the civilian public. While the AR-15, a semi-automatic assault rifle

The right to revolution also does not work as a deterrent to tyranny. A deterrent theoretically puts a line in the sand that any potential tyrant would not cross—for fear of inciting revolt.

Most defenders would claim that the line lies at either government gun confiscation or the repression of free speech. First, gun confiscation is not tyrannical, and it probably is the proper way to prevent shootings. Second, examples of tyranny are rarely stark and are usually built up to. Hitler didn’t originally advocate for the final solution.

Instead, he pushed policies restricting Jews in government.

Ten years of gradual persecution

later, the public did not have the proper perspective with which to view the mass murder of millions of civilians. History shows that instead, an American tyrant would slowly erode freedoms.

The American people would be like “a frog in slowly boiling water.” There is never a point where the pot is obviously too hot, but eventually, we will boil. The people have already tolerated real tyrannies such as McCarthyism and the internment of 100,000 Japanese people. The populace will never recognize the exact point when the government has gone too far.

The right to revolution also incorrectly assumes that tyrannical demagogues are unpopular.

Dictators tend to be popular. Julius Caesar, the original dictator, was greatly loved by the people of Rome; on the Lupercal, they encouraged him to thrice accept the crown. The German people happily let Hitler take away their republic. Today, Turkey, Poland, Russia, and Hungary are ruled by popular authoritarian leaders.

Once tyrants arrive, it is too late. Killing Caesar did not save the republic. Instead, to protect our republic from tyranny, we must repair it again and again.

Julius Caesars do not arise in corruption-free systems of effective governance.

As exhibited by the recent 35-day government shutdown, we are experiencing historic governmental ineptitude. The American experiment has no fail-safe. The responsibility falls on the Americans of today and the future to maintain the freedoms that exist in our society. It is that political maintenance— not armed revolution—that will be the protector of democracy and liberalism in our republic.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 12

Opinions Amazon’s HQ2: A Step in the Wrong Direction for NYC Schools

By ANNA LU When Amazon announced its search for a prime location for its second headquarters back in 2017, many cities across the country put their best feet forward in grand attempts to entice the e-commerce entity. Amazon promised 50,000 jobs to the city it chose and an average annual salary of $150,000 for the workers it hired. After a long wait of many months, Amazon finally announced in November 2018 that “HQ2” would be split between Arlington, Virginia, and Long Island City in Queens, New York City. New York State governor Andrew Cuomo and

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to give Amazon huge tax breaks and a $5 billion investment in the hopes that the company’s headquarters would fulfill its promises of economic revitalization in the area.

But with the arrival of new, affluent residents in Long Island City—which has undergone post-industrial development at an unprecedented pace over the past decade—will come a surge in housing prices, potentially displacing many lowincome families who call the area home. This economic phenomenon, popularly known as “gentrification,” is not a new concept in NYC (think Williamsburg and Brooklyn Bridge Park). The gentrification of the neighborhood may well induce many positive changes: local businesses will see more success, and community infrastructure will improve. However, countless studies of gentrification have shown that its transformational influence does not extend to the public school system.

According to The New York Times, less than 25 percent of the children in gentrifying neighborhoods that have historically been home to people of color (such as Bedford-Stuyvesant and Har-

lem) attend their zoned school.

“Gentrifier parents” tend to avoid sending their children to poorly rated zoned schools, instead choosing schools with higherincome student populations and comparatively higher test scores.

These affluent and exclusive schools are more often than not populated by a majority of white

Emily Tan / The Spectator

students.

This means that the seats in the undesirable zoned schools are filled by lower-income students who don’t have the advantage of being able to afford tuitions to go to independent or private schools. Many come from elementary schools that do not prepare them for selective state tests that determine acceptance into so-called “magnet” schools.

As a result, zoned public schools in gentrifying neighborhoods become less diverse in terms of race, socioeconomic background, and academic performance.

All of this mean problems for Long Island City’s overpopulated and underperforming public schools. The Gotham Gazette, a local newspaper, reports that the area’s sole zoned public school is already at 135 percent capacity.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz has announced a plan to add 18,000 more seats to the area’s school system, but such a solution

i s only temporary and fails to account for the many new students who will arrive once Amazon’s employees move into the neighborhood.

While the lack of diversity in New York City schools is commonly attributed to widespread racial segregation in neighborhoods across all boroughs, the trends in the educational choices and preferences of parents show that even as middle and upper class masses migrate into lowincome areas and the areas become more ethnically integrated, the exact opposite occurs within zoned public schools. This shifts

the blame for lack of school integration from the scapegoat of racially divided neighborhoods onto the more likely culprits: parents and school choice.

However, eliminating school choice entirely would likely not make a difference. Gentrifier parents would be less likely to move into low-income neighborhoods with schools that are failing in terms of student performance if they did not have the choice to send their children to a better academic environment. Schools would remain largely racially homogenous. Thus, it seems that a solution lies in the ability of New York City parents to cooperate with city of- ficials in their pursuit of a desegregated school system.

The fact that New York City has such an ethnically diverse yet heavily segregated student population isn’t Amazon’s fault. It is very much inherent within the public school system and New York City as a whole. But it will be made that much more difficult for New York City students to be equitable in education if Amazon arrives before city officials. NYC parents have to work together to implement changes to the school system and its approach to integration.

The Crown Juul

Imagine you’re a freshman at Stuyvesant High School on your first day. You’ve endured an hourlong commute to school, and you’ve found yourself on a bridge, almost unable to move in a crowd of students and completely surrounded in a sea of smart kids you have yet to meet. You crane your neck for even the smallest glimpse of the prestigious school you’ve worked so hard to get into.

When the floodgates open and the crowd finally begins to pour in, you take your first step, taking everything in. Going from class to class feels a bit like a unique journey in its own right.

The enrapturing sunset view of the Hudson and skyline from the cafeteria, giant (and probably ancient) paintings on the walls of the school, and brilliance of the students are all stunning.

That is, until you reach the bathrooms.

One can only go so far into one’s Stuyvesant career without encountering vaping, whether one sees friends, fellow students, or even complete strangers on the street near the school sucking on their USB drive-inspired pens. The most widespread form of vaping is Juuling, which is simply vaping using the massively popular e-cigarette called

Jennifer Sun / The Spectator

By CLAIRE SHIN

the Juul; the Juul itself is named after the company that produces it, Juul. Juul is that prevalent.

And no wonder. It spends millions of dollars on youth influencers that appeal to teens, and this month, it announced a new $10 million-ad campaign in an attempt to reconstruct its image, just after it partnered with Big Tobacco and Altria. The partnership benefited both parties immeasurably in the form of billions of dollars obtained through marketing. However, it is done so at the cost of public health. Juul’s actions have been questionable at best and atrocious at worst. The company’s attempts to bar teens from buying its products started only after it got a caustic letter from FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who excoriated Altria (one of the world’s largest tobacco corporations, which also happened to have a 35 percent stake in Juul) for enabling Juul to expand its market almost threefold—when Altria had agreed to do essentially the opposite. The FDA shocked tobacco companies by threatening to take e-cigarettes off the market if they couldn’t prove in 60 days that they could take the products out of minors’ hands. It would seem that this is not the case even after Juul and Altria have designed detailed, deceptively convincing plans to accomplish this, which include an ad campaign designed to heavily discourage teenage use. But given Juul’s incredibly high sales, which only continue to climb, it seems that they are taking advantage of the leverage that comes with low awareness about nicotine’s catastrophic effects.

Juul’s addictive component is nicotine, which has been proven time and time again to be incredibly harmful to the brain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nicotine use leads to abnormal development of the brain’s synapses, which impact learning. It’s especially detrimental to the developing teen brain, which learns

skills much faster than adults. It may over time also have significant impacts on one’s life. E-cigarette smoke also contains trace amounts of cancerous substances, and scientists aren’t entirely sure of the adverse effects of vaping itself. For all we know, Juuling could have many more disastrous effects than previously realized.

We must also keep in mind that Juul, like most other corporations, probably doesn’t have our best interests in heart. Making profits is its utmost priority.

The FDA is correct in trying to stop teen Juuling, but it still has a very long way to go. Even if it takes Juuls off the market entirely, teens will still be able to obtain them on the Internet and from much shadier and riskier sources. Juul claims to help tens of millions of smokers quit cigarettes and transition into a much safer device (though it’s still far from safe) and a tobacco-free life.

We shouldn’t doubt their claims.

Juul’s $10 million-ad campaign is titled “Make the Switch,” targeting former smokers only and making sure to let any visitor know that by blaring it across

their website. An age verification on the website prohibits anyone younger than 21 years from even making an account and receiving newsletters. That means any adult can buy Juul products.

That seems good at first glance, but teens can just buy Juuls from adults, and there’d be almost no way the government could know.

This fact holds true for any other product that’s only partially contraband, but teens using Juuls far more than anything else because they are unaware of their dire long-term consequences.

It would be incredibly expensive, time-consuming, intrusive, and probably unnecessary for the FDA to track down every single Juul store and enforce strict regulations on sales. Such is the addictive power of nicotine.

But what has been proven to be effective—in fighting everything from obesity to cigarettes to STDs—is education. If more people learned about the negative effects of the Juul, its use would almost certainly drop dramatically. Don’t force people to make decisions—give them knowledge, and let them choose for

themselves. That isn’t to say that the FDA’s approach to controlling the Juul is entirely wrong. It should still regulate the Juul more tightly, but that will not ultimately bring us to the goal of rooting out Juuling in 3.48 million teens.

Education will.

Granted, the Juul is a relatively new product; as a result, schools haven’t had very much time to address the problem.

Education is a long-term strategy, but it almost always works.

It doesn’t take up a substantial amount of time or effort to put up ads in public spaces, especially in dense cities like our own where many people are likely to see them. The very same social media “influencers” that Juul utilizes so often should also be sure to mention that it is addictive and contains harmful chemicals.

Many teens start Juuling because they think it’s nothing more than water vapor. They also think that nicotine doesn’t have harmful effects on their minds. And it isn’t their fault that they don’t know.

We need to make sure from this point on that they do.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 13

Opinions Betsy DeVos’s Proposed Sexual Harassment Guidelines Would Protect the Wrong Victims

By KRISTIN CHENG Over the past two years, the #MeToo movement has elicited a tsunami of stories and critical conversations. It has been the vehicle through which women worldwide have made their voices heard, and newspaper front pages and social media posts alike have driven increased public scrutiny and accountability in cases of sexual misconduct. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, however, is pushing the pendulum in the opposite direction and inhibiting further progress with her proposed campus sexual harassment policies.

In a November 2018 proposal, she presented drastic alterations in the way that schools handle sexual misconduct complaints. DeVos plans on narrowing the definition of sexual harassment significantly, increasing protections for accused students, and drastically reducing liability for educational institutions.

Though attention is largely focused on higher-education facilities, the policies would also apply to elementary and secondary schools.

The Education Department claims the proposal would be fair for both accusers and the ac-

cused, and proponents argue that it would restore balance in a system that has been skewed too far in favor of the former. In defense of her proposals, DeVos asserted that “Throughout this process, my focus was, is, and always will be on ensuring that every student can learn in a safe and nurturing environment.”

The new policies are to replace a set of guidelines created in 2011 under the Obama administration, which provided schools with an outline on how to handle sexual misconduct complaints.

When DeVos rescinded these guidelines in September of 2017, she justified her actions by claiming that the Obama guidelines had pressured schools to take heavy action against accused students without giving them a fair chance to defend themselves.

With these changes, for the first time, the federal government would venture beyond mere guidance and recommendations in affairs pertaining to sexual misconduct. Instead, the ways sexual harassment is defined in our nation’s schools and the steps institutions are legally required to take to address it would be codified, a marginal benefit.

Moreover, DeVos’s proposal would certainly add protections for the accused, giving them a presumption of innocence throughout the disciplinary process and the right to review all evidence a school collects. They would also be able to indirectly cross-examine their accusers through a representative to avoid personal confrontation.

The rights of the accused would undoubtedly be protected and affirmed. However, if finalized, these rules would above all not protect students—they would protect schools. Minimization of the burden on institutions would take priority over justice for victims and guarantee of their safety. The Education Department projects that schools

would save $286 to $367 million over the next decade from no longer having to take action, but no amount of money compensates for the cost of violating the rights of students.

Limiting what qualifies as sexual harassment, the new definition would require misconduct to be “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to education.” Some courts, such as the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, claim that rape would not “count” as harassment under these qualifications because it is a one-time act of violence and therefore not “severe” or “pervasive” enough. Thus, a victim of rape may not even be entitled to have her claims investigated by her school, let alone have them resolved. Thirty-four percent of sexual harassment victims drop out of college, yet DeVos’s new definition would enable claims that rape is not “severe” enough to “effectively deny a person equal access to education.”

Furthermore, under these new constraints, a school would only need to respond and act upon sexual misconduct if the act occurred within a school program or activity. If a 14-year-old freshman were to be raped at a park by her classmate, her school would not even be required to address the situation or provide basic measures of support, such as placing her in a different class from her rapist. At a press conference in late November, senator Patty Murray (D - Wash.) highlighted these concerns, arguing that the rules would bring the country back “to a time when sexual assault survivors were ignored and felt they had nowhere to turn.”

In addition, the Education Department would only hold schools accountable if it considered them “deliberately indifferent” to sexual harassment—

a proposal that would benefit school lawyers but act to the detriment of students. In 2012, when a ninth grader was raped and incessantly tormented by her classmate, her school’s only response was a suggestion for her to drop out and enroll in an “alternative” school for poorlyperforming students. When the victim sued the school in Doe v. Round Valley Unified School District, the judge decided that the school’s response wasn’t bad enough to render it “deliberately indifferent” or hold it liable.

By granting local school leaders copious freedom to decide whether or not, as well as how, to respond to their students’ claims of harassment, DeVos would nearly relinquish her department’s ability to hold schools accountable for mishandling sexual harassment. Without accountability, the risk of serious misconduct and cries for help going unaddressed heightens significantly.

The occurrence of sexual harassment may be compounded by a lack of consequences for offenders. Protecting our schools by exempting them from some degree of responsibility comes at the cost of the safety of the students— which should be top priority.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, nearly two-thirds of college students experience sexual harassment, but over 90 percent of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault. Should DeVos’s policies be passed, an even more hostile environment for victims would be the result. They would be further discouraged from sharing their stories and seeking justice due to fears that their plight may be cheapened or invalidated by school officials no longer responsible for taking action. John B. King Jr., who served as education secretary under the Obama administration, has echoed these concerns. His recent statements

express “dismay with the Trump administration’s cruel proposal that will have the effect of putting power in the hands of abusers and dissuading survivors from coming forward.”

The Trump administration’s new rules will have the force of law behind them and can go into force without an act of Congress after the set public comment period, which ended January 28, 2019. The allotted period for public input may have come to a halt, but the issues and implications that remain demand urgent further action. Research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control reveals that approximately one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. Thus, as high school students, these policies concern and impact us just as much as they affect those who live on college campuses.

DeVos’s proposal would enable a significant inflation in the number of cases regarded as not “severe” enough to be addressed.

To combat this silencing of victims and obstruction of rights, it must not be left up to schools to decide whether or not to have an appeals process. When presented with a victim’s claims, intervention, investigation, and aid should all be obligatory. No victim deserves to feel discredited or belittled by alleged lack of severity or accusations of dishonesty.

It is of utmost importance now that as students, we stand by and advocate for the rights of the afflicted one in four girls and one in six boys with whom we share classes. We’re obligated to make our voices heard so that theirs can be too. Succumbing to the new policies and the Trump administration’s desires to reduce the amount of money a school must spend to investigate, rather than to reduce the amount of harm that students experience, would be an attack on fundamental student rights.

Bloodshed in Burundi

By ELENA HLAMENKO The Rwandan genocide took place during the country’s civil war, a conflict which erupted in 1990 between the government—led by an ethnic group called the Hutu—and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The underlying tensions between these two groups could be traced back to decades before the beginning of the war when the Hutu population suffered from postcolonial serfdom at the hands of their Tutsi counterparts. The Tutsis were overthrown and forced into exile in

Uganda following yet another civil war in 1963. Decades later, the RPF, made up of former Tutsi exiles, invaded Rwanda and set up camps along the northern border. Spurred on by propaganda, nationalism, and decades of ethnic conflict, the Hutus began the infamous 100-day period in 1994, slaughtering over a million people.

This number included both Tutsis and moderate Hutus alike, along with any minority group deemed threatening in the power vacuum present. Ultimately, 70 percent of the Tutsi population and 20 percent of Rwanda’s total population were killed by the radical Hutus. Their most powerful weapon became the mandated identification cards left over from colonial Belgian rule, which allowed for the collection of ethnic data by the government—in particular, the distinction between Hutu and Tutsi citizens.

Following the genocide, many Tutsis and other refugees found themselves in the neigh-

boring country of Burundi, whose own president had been assassinated during its civil war.

Since then, Burundi Presi-

Katherine Kibatullin

/ The Spectator

dent Pierre Nkurunziza’s rule has plunged the country into a steep economic decline. After defying his constitutional term limits in

2015, Nkurunziza has depended on underground vigilante groups to carry out his bidding, sending the economy into a tailspin. Afraid of the president’s frequent intimidation of opposition groups, the unstable economy, and growing ethnic tensions between the various groups in the country, over 300,000 refugees have fled Burundi into neighboring African states.

Yet, none of the president’s actions compare to his controversial reforms aimed at the countless humanitarian aid groups active in Burundi.

Nkurunziza has set in motion a series of laws that require all foreign aid groups to deposit a percentage of their annual budgets in the Burundi National Bank, meet an employee quota of 60 percent Hutu and 40 percent Tutsi workers, and—most disturbingly—report the ethnicities of all locally employed workers to the government. If a foreign non-government organization (NGO) fails to comply with the measures, their operatives

are forcibly removed from the government and, in some cases, arrested. In protest, many aid groups have withdrawn from Burundi entirely, with others opting to have their operation status suspended indefinitely.

Yet, Nkurunziza’s stance remains firm, as it is no secret that his new regulations provide him with ethnic data he can exploit for his own agenda: intimidation, kidnappings, and blatant murder. The president threatens to reawaken centuries-old tensions between the two ethnic groups, putting Africa at risk of another devastating genocide.

The lack of Western media coverage and foreign intervention in a human rights crisis that could mean a repeat of the 1994 genocide is appalling. After launching an internal investigation, the United Nations released a public statement acknowledging the missteps taken by the UN during the Rwandan genocide. Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan also confirmed rumors that a cable warning of an impending genocide sent to UN headquarcontinued on page 15

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 14

Opinions Homophobia in our Blood Drives?

By RAE JEONG

plied to donors according to their individual level of risk rather than on sexual orientation alone.

But, this has yet to achieve any tangible change. Numerous other organizations, like the American Association of Blood Banks, America’s Blood Centers, and the American Red Cross, have all advocated for more science-based approaches to blood safety. And because blood is constantly in short supply across the world, the consequences of exempting gay men from donating are drastic.

According to the LA Times, an additional 219,200 pints of lifesaving blood could safely be donated each year if the FDA policy were to be revised. Donated blood also has a very limited shelf life. The New York Times reports that after just 24 hours, donated blood begins to decrease in effectiveness as cell membranes stiffen and concentrations of nitric oxide, a crucial chemical in circulatory health, also decrease.

A study by the American College of Emergency Physicians also found that patients who received transfusions of 22-day old blood face a five percent increase in risk of death. The long-term ramifications of transfusing aging blood include clot formation, infection, sepsis, organ failure, and eventually, death.

Furthermore, shortages of donated blood result in higher rates of death among the people who need it. A 2014 UCLA study estimates that lifting the restrictions on blood donations for sexually active gay men in America would increase the country’s blood supply by two to four percent, which could potentially save millions of lives. The ultimate impact of the

ban is simple—a lack of available blood forces hospitals to use older, unsafe donations to treat their patients.

latest chapter in a narrative that casts gay men as untrustworthy, promiscuous vectors of disease,” he told NBC News. “We know

While numerous LGBTQ advocates welcome the introduction of a deferral period to replace an indefinite ban on donation, many remain firm in pushing for complete equality in blood drives. Mark King, who tested positive for HIV in 1985, says that deferral periods are holdovers from the era of panic over AIDS. “They are just the

scientifically we pose no greater threat than anyone else, but fear is a really powerful thing—especially fear of HIV.” Britain has reduced its deferral period to three months, and countries like Spain, Mexico, and South Africa have gotten rid of restrictions for sexual minorities altogether. The United States should follow suit.

Millions of lives depend on it.

Sammi Chen / The Spectator

In his senior year of high school, Nicholas Cuneo helped organize a blood drive in his school’s gymnasium. Weeks later, when he received his American Red Cross Donor Card indicating that he is “O-negative” (a universal donor), he became all the more motivated to help his community. But now, despite both he and his husband being emergency paramedics who regularly deliver blood to patients in critical conditions, neither is legally allowed to donate his own blood. Today, the Red Cross continues to make headlines as a worldwide blood shortage crisis persists and the World Health Organization tirelessly urges blood donors to come forward while countless victims die from a lack of timely access to safe blood. Despite the shortage, gay men are not permitted to answer the call. Millions pay the price for an outdated and discriminatory federal law.

The United States banned the

homosexual community from donating blood in any capacity until 2015. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initially put the ban into effect in 1985 at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, when transmissions of the deadly virus by blood transfusion were at an all-time high. But even though the ban has since been lifted, the FDA continues to require gay men to abstain from sexual intercourse for one year before donating blood. The requirement is based on studies that indicate that gay men are at a higher risk than the general population of contracting HIV. But this is no reasonable justification for a blanket ban on blood donations from gay men, since today’s blood screening technology detects HIV exposure with near-perfect sensitivity regardless of sexual orientation.

Blood donations are run through 13 comprehensive tests—10 of which screen for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis, and a number of other sexually transmitted diseases.

The chances of contracting HIV from any blood transfusion are estimated at one in 1.5 million.

Even without testing, highly reliable processes exist that determine a patient’s risk for infection by evaluating sexual behavior and responsibility. Under the current system, a heterosexual man with multiple concurrent partners and an active chlamydia or herpes infection is not prohibited from donating blood, even though such infections suggest recent highrisk sexual contact—while a homosexual man is. The American Medical Association has urged the FDA to ensure that blood donation bans or deferrals are ap-

Up For Grabs: Guatemala’s Adoption Crisis

By ANNE RHEE Sixty four year-old Californian Susan Bailey was thrust into the public eye in 2011 when she was accused of trafficking numerous Guatemalan adoptee children by doctoring various documents and paperwork. Since the ‘90s, Bailey had been running a Guatemalan school called Semillas de Amor, or Seeds of Love, that focused on educating children in poverty. She also encouraged people from the U.S. to adopt some of the orphans who resided at her school. Bailey was reported to federal authorities in 2007, after foreign adoptions from Guatemala were outlawed by the government under the premise that these adoptions would result in corruption and the forceful taking of children.

Guatemala was one of the most popular countries for hopeful parents to adopt children in the world before 2007. However, the Guate-

malan government, lacking any standardized regulations for the operation of the public adoption system, introduced a moratorium on all adoptions of Guatemalan children, one to be lifted only after the development and implementation of a more efficient and less corrupt system. The revamped system itself has had several consequences both on adoptees and families who want to adopt. The first is that there is a significant delay of up to an added seven years due to the government’s insistence on first placing a potential adoptee with any family members and then with a Guatemalan family within the home country. If that didn’t work, only then would the government allow the paperwork for the intercountry adoption to take place.

Another serious issue arose as a result of the government’s mismanagement of the adoption system: widespread and unregulated child trafficking.

In some cases, Guatemalan children in stable and welcoming homes stand the chance of being forcefully taken from their guardians and adopted by another family. Lawyers and agencies who facilitate these forced adoptions can doctor documents of identification and other important paperwork, further entangling the system in fraud and graft.

The adoption system also lacks comprehensive and thor-

ough background checks, which, as reported by a Guatemalan teenager, once resulted in her adoption by a pedophile.

Though she eventually escaped, her brother is still currently living with the man. Having a standardized system that follows international law makes it han / T

Serena C

tator

Without the international support of other countries, the CNA has much to do. First, it should establish far stricter standards as a prerequisite for adoption. Yet simply revamping standards and legal procedures will not be enough; enforcement must foll o w.

he Spec

easier to predict, track, and address different scenarios and cases.

The Guatemalan government attempted to fix the systemic corruption in 2007 by creating a new political entity: the National Council of Adoptions (CNA). It was tasked with reporting unwarranted cases of trafficking and adoptions as well as introducing necessary regulations. Though 10 countries—including the U.S.—expressed interest in participating in the CNA’s mission, many withdrew, hoping that their rejection would spur the CNA to speed up the process of cleaning up Guatemala’s adoption system.

Past misdemeanors and criminal histories need to be addressed, and addressing them together represents international resistance to the structural violence that has resulted when corruption occurs. Though enough can never be quantified, especially in a situation like this, the process of addressing and shedding light on the past is what moves the current situation away from the status quo into a more progressive direction, which is key to establishing a better system.

There are several benefits to lifting the moratorium. First, it would streamline the adoption process greatly, decreasing artificial bureaucratic barriers and ensuring efficiency. It would also help more children find stable homes, as establishing thor-

ough background checks will serve the purpose to hopefully ensure that trafficking and child violence won’t occur. Though expectations that people will immediately come flocking to Guatemala to adopt are misguided, an improved system would undoubtedly increase the number of successful and stable adoptions. Some may argue that this will strain the capabilities of the various legal agencies in Guatemala. However, this argument fails to take into account the fact that the adoption system will inevitably improve in efficiency as it grows in popularity because of the increasing number of adoptions with time.

The corruption and inefficiency of the adoption system within Guatemala has become deeply normalized because of the seeming inaction by the government when it comes to addressing it. One of the largest factors is a lack of media attention from Guatemala and other countries, which have also been affected by the legal crisis. This is why rediscovering and addressing problematic issues deemed irrelevant to the status quo are especially key to challenging their normalization—particularly because we have the opportunity to change the world we live in. Otherwise, the resulting negative consequences will continue to fester and expand in impact, causing the world to remain complicit to violence rather than engaging it.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 15

Opinions Bloodshed in Burundi continued from page 13

ters six months before the violence began was ignored. These momentous mistakes reflect an alarming sentiment that continues to survive in the modern day. With its long history of overdue intervention, the UN should place the tense political situation in Burundi at the top of their watchlist. This is not only to ensure that such oversights are not repeated, but also to act upon the very principles

the organization was founded on.

Unfortunately, major steps have yet to be taken in Burundi. In response to the current refugee crisis, the UN has been providing only basic aid, including necessities for the 300,000 refugees who have fled Burundi. Sending temporary supplies while ignoring the root of the problem in Burundi is a policy the UN should reconsider. Legitimate change starts with Nkurunziza’s resignation or removal from the presiden-

Sending temporary supplies while ignoring the root of the problem in Burundi is a policy the UN should reconsider. tial office. The African Union, an alliance of 55 countries on the continent, should tighten regulations and play a greater

role in Burundi’s legal processes.

Treaties to increase funding for anti-corruption efforts should move forward, and the list of

prohibited governmental actions should be expanded. All of these steps should coalesce into a peaceful election, its legitimacy ensured and enforced by the African Union and the United Nations. The winning candidate of any presidential election should have a vision for a stable and peaceful Burundi and move forward to leave decades of ethnic tensions behind. The consequences of inaction have been high before. And this time, everyone knows the result.

Social Media: A Tool for Authoritarian Leaders?

By JULIAN GIORDANO

cial media, while the appropriate corrections take a lot longer to spread—and rarely with the same impact.

The spread of fake news and misinformation on social media, especially during election cycles, only serves to weaken people’s trust in democratic institutions, paving the way for populist, authoritarian, and (more often than not) rightwing leaders to take to power.

At the moment, we are only at the beginning of an era marked by the authoritarian takeover of social media. But it won’t be long before powerful regimes like those in Hungary and Turkey begin to harness the power of the Internet to push their own political agendas and tighten their hold over their people.

When such a takeover of social media occurs, it is unlikely that much will be done by social media companies. Even now, many platforms avoid using censorship to protect their platforms, as the practice goes against the basic idea of unhindered free speech. Some companies (i.e. Facebook, Twitter) have taken steps to promote fact-checking of news sources referenced on their sites, but it is unclear what impact that will have, if any.

A more effective way to fight back against fake news on social media is by creating laws specifically focused on reforming preexisting defamation policies.

Defamation is the damage of one’s reputation, whether with written (libel) or spoken (slander) words. Many countries, including the U.S., do not make defamation a crime. Rather, they make it an intentional tort (a civil wrong) that can only be punished through a lawsuit.

These type of laws would allow for fake news-promoting publications to be sued. But

The spread of fake news and misinformation on social media, especially during election cycles, only serves to weaken people’s trust in democratic institutions.

became a right-wing tool to prop up now-president Donald Trump.

“clickbait” headlines mean that they are far more likely to be rapidly spread throughout so-

there are two main loopholes that could feasibly prevent it from being effective. In the first

Adrianna Peng / The Spectator

With over 200 million Americans using various online platforms to broadcast their political views and 62 percent of adults using social media as their primary source of news, the role that social media played in the 2016 presidential election was unprecedented. Politicians used Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram as some of their primary forms of voter outreach, whether by live streaming debates between candidates or having aggressive back-and-forths and social media “battles” among themselves.

In addition, certain news outlets used the massive reach of these platforms to publish sensationalized or fake news stories in order to sway voter opinion on candidates or even discourage certain voter populations from going to the polls. Many hoax websites spread false information that discredited candidates or misinformed voters about how to vote on election day. And, according to a recent study in Science Advances, conservatives were four times more likely to share fake news on Facebook than liberals; spreading such false information

Two years later, social media continues to play an ever greater role in elections around the world. Perhaps the best example of this was the 2018 Brazilian presidential election, in which far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro won after massive social media campaigns that spread fake news about his leftist opponent, Fernando Haddad. Authoritarian governments, such as those in Russia, China, and the Philippines, have also begun mobilizing social media platforms as propaganda machines that suppress and disrupt democratic movements that threaten their rule.

This marks a dramatic shift from precedent. For years, unrestricted social media was viewed as a tool of democratization, particularly because of the role it played in the 2011 Arab Spring protests across the Middle East. In countries such as Egypt and Tunisia, protesters published articles containing vitriolic (and often anti-authoritarian) political commentary and shared images and videos of human rights atrocities to weaken the grip of the many autocratic governments in the region. This spread of information helped spread protests for democracy around the region rapidly.

But the aspect of social media that made it so promising as a weapon of democratization, its enormous scale, now looks like a double-edged sword.

With mass audiences and ever increasing speeds of interaction, social media also facilitates the spread of misinformation and false content. According to an MIT study on the spread of fake news through Twitter, truthful information can take about six times longer than falsified information to reach 1,500 people. The novelty and appeal of

place, the rate at which fake news articles are published and spread throughout social media makes it extraordinarily difficult for plaintiffs to respond to all fake news articles in time.

Furthermore, not all fake news on the internet is slander, and much of it involves the manufacturing and publication of false facts, statistics, and information—none of which are crimes under U.S. law.

Countries with defamation laws similar to those of the US have set about tackling this issue by creating new laws specifically targeting fake news and false information. For example, last year, Germany announced it would be enforcing its NetzDG policy, which mandates that social media platforms eliminate fake news within 24 hours or face fines of up to 50 million Euros ($58 million). Malaysia’s

laws target people who create or circulate fake news online with fines of over $120,000 or up to six years in prison. But a better policy for most nations to adopt would be a modified combination of Germany’s and Malaysia’s policies, such as a law that would mandate social media companies to remove fake news from their platforms within three days and punish people who spread fake news with fines at low rates between $100 and $500. This law would be far more manageable for social media companies to enforce and would implement a reasonable punishment on people who spread fake news.

As of now, the spread of fake news and false headlines does not promise to end democracy as we know it. But if meaningful action is not taken soon, that may very well come to pass.

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The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Arts and Entertainment food

NYC Restaurant Week—A Celebration of Food

By Jiahe Wang, Hugo Smith, and Nozima Nurullaeva

NYC Restaurant Week is a biannual event when the best restaurants in the city—many Michelin-starred—offer prix fixe meals for only $26 (lunch) and $42 (dinner), which are significantly cheaper than their original prices. Taking advantage of this, we tried several restaurants that we had never been to before and experienced a finedining experience that wonderfully showcases the culinary diversity of New York City.

Jiahe Wnag / The Spectator

Aureole—A Celebrity Restaurant that Doesn’t Live Up To Its Name

Aureole is a hidden oasis in the heart of the most touristy part of Times Square. Its modest entrance goes unnoticed among the flashing lights of the billboards and the zoom of the cars going by. The hostess led us into the spacious dining room, which had sleek furniture and walls covered with dark walnut wood. Yet, despite being elegantly furnished, this restaurant established by American celebrity chef Char-

lie Palmer proves to be disappointingly bland.

The Restaurant Week prix fixe menu offers a selection of traditional courses. The Smoked Brook Trout Rillette was a delicate cylinder of chopped trout and fragrant herbs, garnished with mâche salad and a scoop of bright orange roe. Upon entering your mouth, the flavor is bright and citrusy, but soon, it takes a turn and becomes rich and smoky.

The texture was reminiscent of tuna salad, though not in a bad way. The greens were nutty and soft, contrasting with the salted roe bursting with sharp flavor.

A crunchy piece of buttered brioche was served as a side.

The Scottish Salmon was less exciting. The massive chunk of fully cooked salmon was bland except for the strong taste of butter, and it was extremely underseasoned. Despite the oozing fat, the fish it-

self was too firm, almost hard to swallow. This was served on top of cannellini bean cassoulet, which was undercooked and aggressively salty. The Soft Brioche Dumplings formed a huge unrecognizable lump bathed in a pool of creamy brown sauce. The first thing that hit me was the cheese, which almost masked the earthy taste of wild mushroom ragout and the oregano.

The Russian Tea Room— A czarist wonderland with notso-wonderful food

Hakkasan New York—Cantonese Fine Dining

Dessert, however, is where Hakkasan distinguishes itself from the crowd. I had the chef ’s choice of ice cream, one scoop of apple sorbet and one scoop of ginger ice cream. The apple sorbet, though it was the waiter’s favorite, was rather ordinary, reminiscent of an apple crumble. The ginger, on the other hand, was spectacular.

It was creamy and had the ginger flavor without any of the characteristic burning spiciness, presented on a beautiful handmade plate that looked a bit like a piece of wood.

What sets Hakkasan above the fray of upscale Chinese restaurants in NYC is the combination of spectacular food and atmosphere, two things that are rarely to-

Hugo Smith / The Spectator

This outpost of the international chain feels anything but generic. It has avoided the temptation acted upon by so many other high-end chains (e.g. the Palm) to use a cookie cutter technique.

Instead, they hired the firm Gilles & Boissier to design the space. It truly is like no other restaurant in NYC. The entrance, however, is nothing special, being a small door a couple blocks away from Times Square. Inside, a large, marble, incense-filled hallway 50 feet long leads to the hostess’s desk. Behind that desk is a maze of twists and turns, dividing a large space into many smaller ones. There is a bank of windows facing the street, illuminated with a blue light reminiscent of an alien landing.

I initially was planning on having the Restaurant Week prix fixe, but after considering the menu, I decided to have the Lunch Dim Sum ($42).

I had an iced green tea ($8), which was good but hardly incredible. The scallop shumai was easily the best shumai I have had, though. Another standout, the pumpkin puff filled with roast duck, was amazing with a crisp outside and a soft, chewy filling. The rest of the food was good— what one would expect from a Michelin-starred Cantonese establishment.

gether. This is one of those restaurants that certainly deserve their Michelin star, and it is one that I can see myself frequenting.

The lack of attention to details prevents Aureole from redeeming its title as a big name restaurant in New York. Its food—mediocre at best—will stop any customers from coming back after being initially starstruck. The mere celebrity status of Aureole was evident—the overexcited couple next to us were busy snapping pictures for Instagram instead of actually eating.

The Russian Tea Room can be found two doors down from Carnegie Hall, under a red awning that reaches the street. Once you step inside, you enter a Russian fantasia of sorts, with red walls and red leather booths, paintings in gilded frames, as well as some beautifully ornate plates.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere is the only redeeming quality of the restaurant. The Restaurant Week menu was only a selection of items from the regular lunch menu. For the first course, I opted for the borscht, a traditional Eastern European beet soup. It was disappointing—almost hard to eat—with undercooked beets that still had a bit of a crunch to them and a smoky aftertaste that didn’t belong anywhere near this classic dish. The broth was too watery, with a small pool of oil on top. The presentation was underwhelming, without any sort of garnish and with some minor spillage along the side.

Along with the soup came a small pirozhki, a puff pastry, that was cold and greasy without any of the requisite flakiness.

For the main course, I had another classic called the Boeuf Stroganoff, a piece of braised beef on a bed of noodles with cream sauce. It was bland, and I was tempted to ask for salt just to add a little

flavor to the dish. The noodles were fine—just fine, but also flavorless. The meat was soft, but had no evidence that it had been braised in wine, and the mushrooms were thrown on almost as an afterthought, not delicately plated as one would expect in such an establishment.

The Russian Tea Room will never be a fine dining establishment; instead, it will be a garish spectacle of fantisful czarist decoration, which happens to serve some food. With the Restaurant Week menu ($26), I felt like it was overpriced, and on a normal day, the idea that the meal would run $74 is outrageous. The restaurant claimed to draw on Soviet influences, and unfortunately, it did so too much. With cold service and bad food, I would recommend this place if you don’t care about the food but want a conversation-starting atmosphere action; clearly, the directors didn’t look at CGI films such as “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” to see that even when using CGI alone, something as simple as making a character move realistically is an arduous animation task.

Well, this isn’t going to stop me from grabbing the bag of Caramel M&Ms and watching this again for the sake of Halloween. Cue me protesting at Pyramid Head.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 17

Arts and Entertainment food

NYC Restaurant Week—A Celebration of Food Gotham Bar and Grill—unpretentious good food and tiny slivers of carrot. The raw fish took on the fruitiness of the citrus, paired with a sweet and spicy kick from the aji dulce.

The Tuscan Kale Salad was a mixture of quinoa, frisee, dried apricots, crushed almonds, and pecorino pepato.

The blend made the salad taste slightly sour and bitter at first, with a nutty twist of dried apri-

cots and almonds. The Winter Vegetable Risotto, made of carrots, pearl onions, brussel sprouts, and parmigiano reggiano, was rather sweet at first, with a pleasant savory aftertaste and drizzled over with a smooth lava-like cheese.

The main course, Pan Roasted Chicken, was tender and juicy, seasoned well enough that every single bite

was consistent. The skin was roasted to a crisp perfection, topped with herbs and chicken jus. A buttery mixture of orzo pasta, squash, asparagus, and wild mushrooms served as a more earthly counterpart.

For dessert, I ordered chocolate cake. The tiny wedge was astonishingly soft and moist, reminiscent of lava cake. A generous scoop of salted al-

mond ice cream balanced the luscious bitterness of the chocolate.

The unpretentiousness of Gotham Bar & Grill sets it apart from other Michelinstarred establishments. Its food is consistently comforting, reliable, and warm to the taste buds as if it were homecooked.

Jiahe Wnag / The Spectator

Gotham Bar & Grill is cozily nestled among several other restaurants in Union Square. Unlike many other Michelin-starred restaurants, the atmosphere here was homely and unpretentious. The well-lit space was welcoming and instantly put me at ease.

The starter ceviche was an acidic assortment of pungent pineapple, thinly sliced radish,

Tamarind Tribeca—A Chance Encounter with Adventurous Indian Cuisine realized that most restaurants were booked. Finally, I had some luck when I stumbled across Tamarind Tribeca, a place that I had never heard of.

The dining room was almost empty when the headwaiter led us to our table.

Jiahe Wnag / The Spectator

Tamarind was an accidental encounter. I had reserved another Indian restaurant for a nice Monday brunch, only to find out later that I reserved a table at 10:30 p.m. instead of 10:30 a.m. Devastated, I went into a frenzy of trying to get a table for that day, but soon, I

Hundreds of high school students waited nervously for their chance to be up on stage, performing in front of many more hundreds of their peers on the night of January 19.

They had been practicing their choreography for months in advance, and it was finally time to show what they could do.

When the music started playing, they danced their hearts out, every move contributing to the radiant atmosphere that was on stage and in the audience.

StuySquad 2019 is a show featuring a series of performances by various dance groups with crews ranging from hip hop to contemporary dance to awe-

ied, the noticeable curry flavor heightening the supple texture of the crab. I’m not lying when I say this course was so good I almost licked my plate.

For entrees, the Restaurant Week menu lets diners choose two courses from six different types of meat and cheese.

Not knowing what to order, I chose the ones that seemed the safest—Meen Calwan (halibut) and Kathal Murgh (tandoori chicken). Tomato rice with dried blackened chilis and herbs, along with a sweet pepper salad, was served on the side. The chicken was firm and smoky, and it possessed a subtle hint of the yoghurt it was marinated in. The mint almond chutney added a powerful raw zest to the heavy fragrance of the meat. However, the halibut was less impressive. The sharp spice of fenugreek seeds, coconut milk, and coriander overpowered the tasteless fish; it felt like I was

eating the sauce itself instead of the halibut. Sides included a pillowy naan—which was soft yet crisp on the outside— paired with a purée of curried vegetables.

I didn’t expect too much from the dessert at an Indian restaurant, yet I was pleasantly surprised here. The Gulkand Cheesecake is a dainty meltin-your-mouth cube of pastry marbled with preserved rose petals. The sweetness of the petals is subtle enough to not mask the creaminess of the cheesecake itself.

Indian food had always been a wild adventure for me, since each restaurant serves such different food. But Tamarind Tribeca was a whole other world; its willingness to take bold risks was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Its selfproclaimed title, “The Finest Indian Restaurant in NYC,” is not much of an exaggeration.

StuySquad 2019!

dance

By Agatha Edwards

The space was decorated with simple oakwood elements and lit by modern chandeliers that gave off a soft yellow light.

We started the meal with an amuse-bouche, a chickpea fritter so aromatic that I could smell it before the waiter even set down the plate on our table. The waiter rattled off a long list of ingredients upon my request. I’ve already forgotten them, but my wild guess is coriander, peppers, and chopped chives. They are made into a batter, fried, and then served with chunky green chutney. Though slightly cold, the fritter was crunchy and flavorful.

The appetizer, kekra chaat, is a juicy chunk of crab meat, ginger, lemon juice, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and tiny cubes of tomatoes. A sliver of fresh lemon and radish sango added a zing, along with a smear of green chutney as the base. Its warmth was full-bod-

some light shows that illuminate the auditorium.

I had never watched StuySquad before, but I had seen crew members practicing on all floors after school, so I was looking forward to seeing them perform. Before the show even started, I knew it was going to be exciting as they played hip hop music while all the students and parents began piling in the auditorium. Classmates were waving their friends over as they claimed a few seats each, while others weren’t so lucky and had to scout for somewhere to sit.

As two hosts walked onto the empty stage and announced the first performance, the audi-

ence exploded into cheers immediately. Everyone was ready to lose their voices and get the show started. Boys Hip Hop took the stage in their gleaming blue jackets, black jeans, and white shoes. I thought it was extremely cool how they all matched and looked like a pack of boys from the ‘80s or ‘90s.

They danced to several different songs, all with impressive beats to which everyone cheered along with. The boys were very synchronized, jumping, kicking, and moving their arms at the same time. Some songs started out slower and they moved their heads and arms very smoothly, and suddenly the music would increase its pace and the per-

formers would tag right along with it. It was amazing how much energy the boys had.

“Before the performance I was nervous as heck,” said freshman Pranav Paranji, who was part of the Boys Hip Hop performance. “During the performance I was in the zone; it felt so good. Looking back, it was super fun and I wish I could perform again. It flew by so quickly.”

As Boys Hip Hop left the stage, Girls Hip Hop charged right in with their matching red jackets, black jeans, and white shoes. All of the hip hop performers had essentially the same outfit but with jackets of different colors. The girls captivated us just as much as the

boys did: every arm movement was synchronized, every step, turn, and jump was perfectly planned. They didn’t look a bit tired as one song ended and the next began with just as much movement. For some songs, the main girls in the center would carry out some moves while the ones to the side and in the back would be the accompaniment. Just as I thought the girls were finished performing, the boys came back in and they all finished with amazing energy.

Starting off with hip hop was a great idea by the producers: it got everyone hyped up and ready for more performances. continued on page 18

Page 18

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Arts and Entertainment StuySquad 2019!

dance Continued from page 17 As soon as the curtain opened for Latin, the audience began shouting madly, because they saw boys and girls paired up, looking as if they were going to dance romantically, waiting for the music to begin. As the romantic music started, the boys in their black suits held the hands of the girls, who were in matching blue dresses. They stepped, twirled, and smiled at each other, giving the impression that every pair was actually a couple. The boys and girls all lined up in one line and lifted their partners in the air, who began soaring majestically. In the middle, they all went toward the back of the stage except for two boys who got on both sides of a girl, and they grabbed her and flipped her in the air, landing her perfectly. This got the audience members so pumped and they cheered even louder than before. More stunts like this continued, as girls jumped back and the boys caught them all at the same time. The trust and courage that the girls must have had was huge. This kind of performance was feel-good and not too fast, so the audi-

ence absorbed every move with great interest.

Flow, which is a group that performs with glow-sticks and LED lights in the dark, was next. The lights started off as purple and blue, and were twirled majestically in very fast circles; then they changed to green and blue. Yellow lights came next, and the performers moved them together, creating a picture. Then a multicolored light emerged from the darkened stage, which was much brighter than the other lights.

The audience screamed with glee as this light came out, spinning in circles and figure eights.

Next, people carried out sticks with white and red lights at each end, and they spun them around, throwing them to each other without dropping them.

The finale was great; a diabolo was handled on a sting that was lit up. The person handling it threw it up, spun it around, and caught it perfectly. All of the performances so far had been so unique and special in their own way.

STEP involved boys and girls creating a percussive beat by slapping and clapping. This may have been the biggest group so far. All of the performers wore

Nowadays, TV shows are always under scrutiny for lack of representation and insensitivity and intolerance to race, sexual orientation, and feminism. Given how teenagers face prejudice from the media, their families, and their peers, it’s hard to find enough representation in shows to make people feel accepted and understood. Netflix, however, met every teenager’s expectations, especially mine, when it released “Sex Education” on January 11, 2019.

This brutally honest and hilarious show follows 16-year-old Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) and the sexual, social, and emotional struggles he faces both at home and in school . His mother, Dr. Jean F. Milburn (Gillian Anderson), a sex therapist, lacks boundaries with her son and pressures him to do things, such as pretending to masturbate. Otis feels constantly violated by his mother’s lack of respect for privacy, especially when she writes a chapter about the time he had a wet dream for her new book. Otis’s friend Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa) fills the trope of the “gay best friend,” yet proves to be an extremely important character with amazing development.

My favorite character is Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey), the school’s “loner,” who is constantly shamed by her peers after a boy whom she refused to kiss spreads a rumor that she bit his scrotum instead.

Maeve is the genius behind her and Otis’s grand scheme: a sex

They continued the routine through a series of fast claps and slaps. I liked that there was no background music so the audience could really focus on

dramatic end to an amazing show!

If you didn’t see StuySquad 2019, be sure to check in next year, because the passion and

“The practices were almost every single day from after 10th to 5:00 p.m., but we weren’t just drilling the entire time; we were also bonding.”

—Yaru Luo, junior

have taken a long time to get all of these steps at the same time, and I was impressed by how no one messed up and all the sounds were perfectly matched.

“I remember as a freshman I was really nervous but now it doesn’t take as long to memorize the steps,” said junior Yaru Luo, who has been a part of STEP for three years. As STEP walked off, I got ready to clap but to my surprise, even more performers walked in under a red light wearing red shirts.

the beat.

Kpop was the last group to perform, throwing red confetti to start off, then going into a series of slow motion moves that eventually sped up into fiery leg kicks and arm thrusts. They all joined hands and danced together, a perfect mix of red and black. They waved their arms around in a circle, spread them out, and stepped all across the stage with such passion, ending at the same pose. The audience exploded into cheers. What a

energy brought by this performance was incredible. These performers worked extremely hard every day for hours, while having fun and making incredible memories. “The practices were almost every single day from after 10th to 5:00 p.m., but we weren’t just drilling the entire time; we were also bonding,” Luo said. If you want to perform in a hell of a show and bond with crews that might become like your family, StuySquad is a great choice!

A Lesson in Sex Education

television

By Julie Grandchamp-Desraux

black T-shirts and pants, and they stepped, shouted, clapped, and slapped at the same time, their arms moving perfectly in sync with each other’s. It must

therapy ring within their school that gives advice to anyone in exchange for money. Though Otis isn’t experienced in the sex department, listening to his mother’s conversations with her patients, as well as knowing what it feels like to have sexual problems, helps him empathize with his peers. The show tackles problems almost every teenager can relate to, from the difficulties of understanding one’s sexuality to the hardships that come with the pressure from family members.

It’s clear the show appeals to adolescents, but at the same time, it brings up issues adults

might’ve faced as teenagers. Shows like “Big Mouth” (2017-present) and “Orange Is The New Black” (2013-present) send similar messages, but never has a show attacked so many problems in as blunt and candid a way as “Sex Education.” “Big Mouth” is there for its comical effect and shady political jokes, and “Orange Is The New Black” lacks insight on men’s feelings and opinions on sex, which are topics that need to be brought up

more. “Sex Education” brings every character’s problems to light, showing how people of different races, sexualities, and backgrounds can struggle with different things.

Some of the performances delivered by the show’s cast are so honest that they make watching the show 10 times better.

One of my favorite scenes was in episode five, when an explicit picture of the school’s mean girl, Ruby (Mimi Keene), goes viral across Moordale, sending Otis and Maeve on a hunt to track down the shaming culprit.

The picture only shows a specific part of Ruby’s body, and the culprit demands an apol-

Angel Zheng / The Spectator

o g y from Ruby.

If Ruby refuses, she will be exposed by her humiliator in front of the whole school the next day. Though Ruby has been mean to Maeve by calling her a slag, Maeve knows that “no one deserves to be shamed, not even Ruby.”

At the end of the episode, an assembly in the school is held, during which the picture is discussed. After an immense

amount of awkwardness and pressure, the same person who threatened to humiliate Ruby unexpectedly takes the fall for her and screams, “It’s my vagina!” Seconds later, Maeve does the same thing, creating a domino effect among every girl in the auditorium, and within minutes, every girl is standing up, claiming ownership of the picture. To me, the scene is nothing short of heartwarming and a funny display of strength among the girls at Moordale.

“Sex Education” has some amazing performances, but the soundtrack is also one of my favorite parts of the show. Songs like “Asleep” by The Smiths, “Dancing with Myself ” by Billy Idol, and “Can I Sleep in Your Brain” by Ezra Furman help bring out the characters’ feelings in certain instances, such as when “A s l e e p ” played during Maeve’s abortion. The song made everything seem a little dismal but calm and almost soothing, given the song’s dreamy tone.

The only thing about the show I can criticize is its clichés: a mom with no boundaries, the awkward virgin, the gay best friend, and the jock who falls for the silent, mysterious girl. However, by the end, it’s clear that all of the characters share problems that go beyond their stereotypical facades. For

instance, though Eric is introduced as the gay best friend, viewers quickly realize that he feels alienated by his own family since they’re very religious and make him feel ashamed of his sexual identity. While Eric starts out as feeling unaccepted and even gets beaten up by a stranger while walking home alone one night, by the end of the season he learns to accept who he is and that there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in front of his family. When Eric applies makeup for a party, his dad walks in, extremely concerned. However, Eric explains to him that this is who he is, and that there’s nothing that his family or anyone else can do to change him.

Overall, “Sex Education” is the show that viewers desperately need in 2019. By emphasizing how weird sex and adolescence can be, it appeals to many adolescents who struggle with everything from learning self-love to figuring out their sexuality. A show in which boys talk about sex that’s not demonizing and objectifying is brought to light, making it even more enjoyable to watch. There’s no misogynistic bashing that makes sex seem like an activity that only boys enjoy and are expected to take part in, since we deem sex as the defining factor that turns a boy into a man in society. The show features boys who openly express their feelings, something that’s constantly perceived as feminine yet is important for everyone’s health, regardless of gender. In eight episodes, the show covers body-shaming, slut-shaming, unplanned pregnancies, abortion, sexuality, and mental illness. It includes a variety of representations and couldn’t care less about censorship, making it one of Netflix’s most needed shows for teenagers around the world.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 19

Arts and Entertainment Get A Life: The Cultured Edition

By The Arts and Entertainment Department

February PERFORMANCE 2/1-2/25 New York City Ballet @ David H. Koch Theater $50 and up

WORKSHOP 2/8 Lunar New Year Family Festival @ Museum of Chinese in America FREE

POETRY READING 2/10 Bryant Park Winter Poetry @ Kinokuniya Bookstore FREE

CONCERT 2/10 St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble: Mozart Clarinet Quintet @ Brooklyn Museum $40

CONCERT 2/16 Interpol @ Madison Square Garden $42.50-$85

PARADE 2/17 Chinese New Year Parade @ Chinatown FREE CONVENTION 2/15-2/24 New York Fashion Week @ Spring Studios FREE or $10 depending on show ART SHOW 2/18-2/25 Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts @ MoMA FREE with museum admission $14

CONCERT 2/21 YNW Melly @ S.O.B.’s Manhattan $20

CONCERT 2/22 Vince Staples Concert @ College Street Music Hall $40

CONCERT 2/22 Alan Walker Concert @ Great Hall-Avant Gardner $34.99 PLAY 2/22-3/17 The Lion King @ Minskoff Theater $125-$239

AWARD CEREMONY 2/24 Oscars @ Dolby Theatre (or your couch) FREE

Playlist: February Feels

By The Arts and Entertainment Department For his book, “The Visual Miscellaneum,” David McCandless analyzed 10,000 relationship status posts from Facebook and came up with a startling realization: breakup rates began to climb at the beginning of the new year, peaking in mid-March. February is right in the middle of breakup season, so brace yourselves—couples and singular people alike. A&E comes to you this month with music about love, whether it reminds you of a past relationship, a current one, a relationship you’ve never had, or having some good ol’ self-love.

“Best Part” Daniel Caesar ft. H.E.R. R&B “Legend” Twenty One Pilots Pop Rock

“Oath” Cher Lloyd ft. Becky G Pop

“The Longest Time” Billy Joel ‘80s Pop

“Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis Pop

“Moon River” Frank Ocean R&B

“If I Could Tell Her” Benj Pasek & Justin Paul Musical

“Postcard” Troye Sivan Pop

“Put Your Head on My Shoulder” Paul Anka Pop

“Euphoria” BTS K-Pop

“Do You Love Someone” Grouplove Alternative Rock

Courtesy of http://rome.fontanacountryinn.com

“Crush Culture” Conan Gray Pop

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The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Arts and Entertainment food

Your Guide to the Best Hot Cocoa in NYC

By Isabelle Sanderson and Yasmine Chokrane

In the middle of January, all that anyone can seem to think about is the promise of spring. We expectantly wait for the moment when we can finally remove the scratchy hats and scarves and showcase our shorts instead.

Winter has its highlights, though: the sight of towering piles of pure white after the first snowfall, the prospect of warm pastries after escaping temperatures below zero, and the joy that comes from holding an aromatic, sweet cup of hot chocolate.

A Swiss hot chocolate packet and some boiling water is fine if you don’t have any cafés within a five-mile radius, but if you’re passing through Manhattan, here are the best places to get some good cocoa.

Starbucks—Everywhere ($5) Highly Priced Mediocrity: 2/5 tea cups Can a place so well-known for its inventive coffees pull off a following for its classic hot chocolate?

Well, probably not. Like any Starbucks, the one we went to on 125 Chambers Street was filled with the impatient tapping of black high heels, suited arms being lifted to check the time, and the general sense of a frantic office environment. It is fast, efficient, and satisfies the average rushed New York worker. Therefore, for two high school students seeking to leisurely drink hot chocolate, the environment sadly fell short.

Yet, we paid for our exuberantly-priced drinks and moved to find somewhere to sit amongst the crowd. Once there, the hot cocoa proved to be utterly mediocre. The flavor was overwhelmingly sweet and reminded one of instant hot chocolate. It was neither terrible nor wonderful—just fine.

All of this would be decent, provided it didn’t cost an excessive amount. However, with the high price and chaotic environment, this drink didn’t seem to be worth the trip.

Laughing Man Coffee—184 Duane St, New York, NY 10013 ($7) Brewing Camaraderie: 3/5 tea cups Fueled and nurtured by celebrity Hugh Jackman’s face, this is a company born from the goal of sustainable coffee and supported workers, now nestled between boutiques on Duane Street, NY. Its message is clear: here lies expensive coffee that helps society, and buying it will not only relieve you of the weight in your wallet, but it will also give you that glowy “I did good” feeling.

Despite such a seemingly altruistic business model, we couldn’t help but expect to find the typical rushed barista and harried clientele. Instead, we were met with the kindest people and tiniest shop. So tiny in fact that the inside houses only a small counter and backroom, with seating all outside. On the street, fake grass lines the ground, and large wooden blocks are arranged around it. It’s clearly an attempt to create a little slice of hipster farmland squished into the chill and bustle of New York City. Unfortunately, sitting in the middle of the road only serves to create a frantic and chaotic feeling that we often try to escape from in coffee shops. Furthermore, in the middle of January, this is very simply, too cold.

The hot cocoa itself is small for its price but at least you know the money is benefiting someone—a quick look at their credentials can tell you just how the money helps coffee farmers.

Sadly, the cup itself is thick enough that none of its comforting warmth can escape into your hands, quite a bad design. Well, no worries, it’s what’s inside that matters, right? However, the inside is not much better. Rather lumpy and thick with the bitter taste of cocoa powder alone, it’s the kind of drink that would make you feel healthy only because something this bitter must be.

Ultimately, the cheerful customers and promise of donated funds means this coffee shop produces more feelings of comradery than hot cocoa. It just depends on what you’re looking for.

Sunjung Bok/ The Spectator

Godiva Chocolatier—745 7th Ave, New York, NY 10019 ($6) Hot Chocolate to Make a Religion Out of: 5/5 tea cups This hot chocolate was just so, so, so good.

There were no remnants of hot chocolate powder that sat at the bottom of this cup. Made from Godiva’s chocolate collection, this cup of cocoa was silky in your mouth; the chocolate danced on your taste buds. If you’re lactose intolerant, you’d still be able to recognize how amazing this hot chocolate was.

This particular Godiva store sat on the corner of 7th Avenue and 50th Street, tucked away from the fast-paced movement of Times Square, the sounds of which disappear once you walk into the chocolatier. The hot chocolate totaled to an excessive $6. The price was then compounded by the size of the cup, which was a small. Once you finish the cup in five minutes, you’ll feel both satisfied, as you just found out what heaven tastes like, and unsatisfied, by the microscopic size of the cup.

If you’re trying to stay frugal, this might not be the best place. That was Godiva’s only failure, however, because the rest of the experience made it worth it. The entire room was coated in gold and chocolate adorned every shelf. The room was filled with parents and children, reminding you of a simpler time. It was manned by workers who smiled at you, complimented your belt, and discussed old New York with you. They try to relate to you, and that means they won’t fail to recognize the look on your face when you see the price of the hot cocoa. They’ll give you a pained smile, hand you the tiny cup, and as they bid you goodbye, they remind you that the drink is worth the money.

And of course, it is.

Maison Kayser—355 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10013 ($4.50) Hot Chocolate to Make a Religion Out of: 5/5 tea cups “A piece of Paris in New York City” is their slogan, and it proves to reign true the moment you walk into the store. Traditional French pastries like éclairs, pâte à choux, and Saint-Honoré line the shelves in colorful fashion. French pop music echoes through your ears, as well as the bits of French that float around the restaurant from the French tourists who have decided to stop here for a piece of home. Pieces of French culture are also found in the workers, who attempt to add to the atmosphere by wearing stereotypical striped turtlenecks.

You are reminded that you’re in New York, however, when you see the prices. It’s not nearly as excessive as Godiva, but just expensive enough that you think your wallet feels a bit lighter the moment you walk out of the building. It’s alright, though, because it’s worth it—the quality of food is good, and the hot chocolate proves to be the same.

It’s warm, delectable, and the taste of chocolate is not overpowering—with more of a warm overtone, as if there was more milk than chocolate in the cup.

Depending on the barista, you may or may not get an Instagram-worthy design on the top of your hot chocolate, but most of the time, it’s just bland whipped cream.

That, of course, doesn’t deter from the hot chocolate, which is definitely one of the better ones we tasted.

It was enhanced by the whole dining experience there. If you decide to stay outside on the patio, which has French dining chairs, you can see the Hudson River, peeking from underneath the bridge that connects the buildings of Borough of Manhattan Community College. But with a croissant in your hand, the taste of hot chocolate in your mouth, and the muffled sound of Edith Piaf coming from inside the restaurant, you can pretend you’re overlooking the Seine.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 21

Arts and Entertainment Film

BY Emma Linderman I’m sure that Maggie Gyllenhaal is a perfectly nice woman, but in Netflix’s psychological drama, “The Kindergarten Teacher,” she does a commendable job of convincing viewers otherwise. The film, directed

by Sara Colangelo, follows Lisa Spinelli, a Staten Island kindergarten teacher with a passion for poetry and a desperate need for some sort of intellectual stimulation. Conveniently for her—and only her—this need is satisfied in the form of Jimmy Roy (Parker Sevak), her fiveyear-old student.

Quiet and unassuming, Jimmy seems like an unlikely candidate for Lisa to project her creative desires upon. His presence is mild, and his communication methods are monosyllabic—until he first enters a trancelike state of pacing back and forth and reciting verses he seems to have made up on the spot. Lisa is captivated by his words and proclaims that Jimmy is a vessel for prodigious poetry. Soon, Lisa begins calling on everyone—from Jimmy’s babysitter, Becca (Rosa Salazar), to his uncle, Sanjay (Samrat Chakrabarti)—in an effort to

Maggie Gyllenhaal Makes “The Kindergarten Teacher” Worth Watching lenhaal’s rare ability to make viewers empathize with her ever-present desperation. Prior to her discovery of Jimmy’s unusual skill, Lisa had been writing poems of her own, met only with feigned interest from her husband and children and constant criticism from the teacher of her adult poetry class. The Lisa seen at the start of the film has desires that do not seem particularly unusual: she wants her poetry to be praised, her children to develop worthwhile hobbies, and her students to learn things that extend beyond the core curriculum. In fact, before becoming fixated upon Jimmy, Lisa is a model teacher: she is alert, attentive, and quick to encourage creativity. Initially, she is easy to root for, which only makes it harder to watch as her enthusiasm spirals into an obsession over the course of the film.

The twisted aspect of Lisa’s relationship with Jimmy is further accentuated by the movie’s score, which consists of eerie, purely instrumental melodies that serve to establish tension at all points in the plot. The opening scene shows Lisa scribbling down a poem on the Staten Island Ferry, a visual that would

grows more obsessed over the course of the movie, a sense of danger is established with the help of brooding refrains and Pepe Avila del Pino’s cinematography, which consists of frequent close-ups on Lisa and her growing fervency.

The narrative is intensified by del Pino’s use of focus; when the camera zooms in on Jimmy pretending to be asleep as Lisa presses him about his poetry, it is clear that her intentions have become twisted.

While critics of the “The Kindergarten Teacher” have claimed that the film’s premise is far too disturbing, it can be argued that such a high level of disturbance is exactly the movie’s intent. What starts as a simple story of mediocrity-produced

I’m sure that Maggie Gyllenhaal is a perfectly nice woman, but in Netflix’s “The Kindergarten Teacher,” she does a commendable job of convincing viewers otherwise.

encourage Jimmy’s raw talent.

What gives the film an almost haunting quality is Gyl-

be rather peaceful if not for the vaguely ominous tune playing in the background. As Lisa

frustration quickly turns into a depiction of an obsession that becomes increasingly chaotic

as the film progresses. As her desperation gains momentum, Lisa’s sense of self-control begins to grow shrouded, and she goes so far as to bring Jimmy to a private poetry reading against his fa- ther’s

Though it is easy for the media to emphasize the negative effects of the technological revolution, such as the gap formed between generations, “The Kindergarten Teacher,” in a way, argues that internet-fixated teens are not entirely in need of disconnection. Lisa’s children and Jimmy all own cell phones, and though Lisa looks down upon their value, it is only when she tries to counteract their power that she steps out of line. After volunteering to babysit Jimmy after school, Lisa tries to spark his imagination by taking him to museums and anything else she thinks might produce more poetry. While this doesn’t seem entirely out of bounds, Lisa’s intentions become even more haunting when she tells Jimmy to turn off his phone—not only an additional attempt at artistic immersion, but also another way to keep Jimmy’s family out of the loop and unaware of Lisa’s plan for his success.

Pushing the boundaries too far, Lisa goes to extreme lengths in an effort to nurture Jimmy’s talent, but her blind frustration is what ultimately brings her down. There is never a moment in “The Kindergarten Teacher” where Gyllenhaal’s performance feels lackluster or forced; in each one of her many closeups, she is brimming with fierce intensity. Jimmy is clearly the film’s main victim, but a strange sort of sympathy can be felt for Lisa as well. It is a testament to Gyllenhaal’s considerable talent that the audience is able to understand at least part of where Lisa is coming from, whether they like it or not.

Michele Yi / The Spectator

wishes.

Though not the clear focus of the film, there is a subtle nod to the growing role that the internet and other aspects of technology play in the lives of kids and teens. Lisa, frustrated by the lack of encouragement given to children like Jimmy, observes that her own daughter, Lainie (Daisy Tahan), is often preoccupied with social media. Upon returning home after initially discovering Jimmy’s unique hobby, Lisa encourages Lainie to further pursue an interest in photography, only to be met with half-hearted agreement.

Lisa also laments to the rest of her family, as well as members of Jimmy’s, that the increased dependence upon cell phones hinders the development of the raw talent that children possess.

A&E Votes for the Grammys

music

By The Arts & Entertainment Department

Record of the Year

By Naomi Sacks Record of the Year is always an interesting Grammy category because it gives the underappreciated heroes of songs and production a chance to shine.

This year’s nominees are “I Like It” by Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin; “The Joke” by Brandi Carlile; “This Is America” by Childish Gambino; “God’s Plan” by Drake: “Shal-

low” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper; “All the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA; “Rockstar” by Post Malone featuring 21 Savage; and “The Middle”

by Zedd, Maren Morris, and Grey. The nominees are chosen for their artfully-used production to manipulate the mood of their song.

“I Like It” uses basic production to build some suspense, but not much more.

Many of the nominees are minimalistic in their production, like “The Joke,” “This is America,” “God’s Plan,” and “Shallow.” While the technique works well for each, none of these songs stand out to me as Record of the Year material.

The top three songs for this category are “All the Stars,” “Rockstar,” and “The Middle,” out of which “All the Stars” most deserves the award.

The pre-chorus of “Rockstar” features Post Malone’s vibrato, accompanied by whirring noises. These elements pull the listener in, building a climax towards the chorus. “The Middle” builds up energy by increasing the intensity of Morris’s voice, a common, though effective, strategy. “All the Stars,” which was featured in Marvel’s “Black Panther,” takes production to a whole new level in shaping

the song. The background beat subtly evolves and has a strong influence on the tone. The odd noises that punctuate throughout enhance the unique feel of the song. The voice’s distortion in the pre-chorus calls attention to the contrast between the voices. This song is like no other with its production value.

around consistency that Musgraves’s “Golden Hour” brings to the table. There are a number of weak songs in Drake’s “Scorpion,” like “I’m Upset.”

As for Cardi B’s album, I’m pretty sure that if we’re all hon-

est, nobody ever liked “Bartier Cardi.” From song one to the finale, “Golden Hour” is a consistent masterpiece. Please, voters. Please let Kacey have this one. She deserves it.

Album of the Year

By Morris Raskin If you read my 2018 Best Albums article, you know my great adoration of Kacey Musgraves. If the voters have any amount of sense or decency,

they will find it in their hearts to give this coveted award to someone who deserves it—a small town girl with big dreams, who put her heart and soul into a body of musical work. If they continue on their

usual path, they’ll choose Beerbongs and Bentleys or Scorpion for AOTY, and any faith I have ever had in the Grammys will be lost. Non-Kacey nominees, like Drake and Cardi B, just don’t have the kind of all

Page 22

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Arts and Entertainment A&E Votes for the Grammys

music

By The Arts & Entertainment Department

Rock

By Jacqueline Thom The 2019 Grammy nominees for Best Rock Song represent alternative rock, a subgenre of music characterized by guitar riffs, social commentary, and amazing singing all around. The nominations, including Greta Van Fleet’s “Black Smoke Rising,” Twenty One Pilots’ “Jumpsuit,” Bring Me the Horizon’s “MANTRA,” St. Vincent’s “Masseduction,” and Ghost’s “Rats,” are all well-deserved. “Rats” and “Masseduction” deliver overwhelming catchiness. The great electronica and moody narrative in “MANTRA” evoke images of a futuristic deity foretelling the human race’s doom. But “Black Smoke Rising” and “Jumpsuit” stand more of a chance of winning.

Both songs sound untraditional for the rock genre, depicting triumph over an entity that manipulates and controls the defenseless. Beyond that, both bands should be recognized for their ability to create a put-on-repeat song from a concoction of roaring instruments, experimental synths, and difficult vocal ranges.

“Black Smoke Rising” soars with Josh Kiszka’s highpitched, wavering voice. It provides listeners with a feel-good

piece that makes you want to curl up by the fire depicted on the album cover. “Jumpsuit” is much broodier, accompanied by the earnest, soft, yet engaging voice of frontman Tyler Joseph.

The Recording Academy, a large board of music industry professionals, chooses the Grammy winners. In the end, the digestibility of each band’s song will determine their choice. Greta Van Fleet’s contribution is more radiofriendly. It’s upbeat and catchy, and the messages in “Black Smoke Rising” about political rebellion, corruption, and war resonate. “Jumpsuit” is much more lyrically complex, but bursts with obscure references, including one of a dystopian universe called Dema.

It may be hard to understand what’s going on without listening to the band’s songs more than once.

Ultimately, each of the nominated songs have something that makes them stand out. Together, they are dynamic, powerful, and positively vociferous.

R&B

By Shivali Korgaonkar R&B has become extremely underrated, and this year’s Grammy nominees for R&B Song of the Year can hopefully bring back the beautiful genre.

Considering the immense success received after the release of Ella Mai’s song, “Boo’d Up,” it is expected that she takes home a Grammy. However, the song features a tacky beat and ordinary lyrics, and doesn’t do the R&B genre justice. “Long as I Live” by Toni Braxton is old school R&B, which is great, but makes it the odd one out.

“Come Through and Chill” by Miguel has a beautiful chorus with consistent drumming that showcases Miguel’s soothing voice, but because a large part of this song is aggressive rap, it is not the best candidate.

The runner up for me is Childish Gambino’s “Feels Like Summer.” This song is the epitome of summertime. The soft drums create a groovy beat, and the smooth vocals add a dreamy vibe. In typical Gambino fashion, the purpose of the song lies in the lyrics.

Gambino sings, “Every day gets hotter than the one before / Running out of water,

it’s about to go down,” subtly reminding us about the real issues in this world.

In my opinion, the Grammys committee should vote H.E.R for “Focus” as the winner of this category. The song begins with a dreamy harp solo before being joined by a slow drum beat. H.E.R’s raspy and honest voice is undeniably beautiful and bound to get you through a bad day.

Though all nominations are greatly deserving of a Grammy, I personally hope H.E.R’s “Focus” goes home with the trophy.

Country

By Agatha Edwards Though country music is becoming less prominent in an age dominated by pop and hip-hop, there is still a wide variety of songs from this genre being listened to and written each year. Listening to a country song evokes nostalgia and makes you feel all snug and warm inside.

The 2019 Grammy nominations for Best Country Song are Loretta Lynn’s “Wouldn’t

It Be Great?” Maren Morris’s “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” Kacey Musgraves’s “Butterflies,” Chris Stapleton’s “Millionaire,” and Keith Urban’s “Parallel Line.”

Out of these nominees, the strongest two are “Millionaire” and “Parallel Line.” “Millionaire” features a medium-paced, upbeat guitar strumming in the background. In “Parallel Line,” Urban’s husky voice sings cheerfully at a tempo at which you can understand the story

the first time around, giving you the real feel of a country song. It sounds a little bit like a pop song but is rather catchy and still retains the aspects of its genre. “Butterflies” sounds too much like a pop song for this category, and “Wouldn’t It Be Great” is too fast-paced, repetitive, and lacking in story.

“Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” is not a bad choice either, but it sounds too generic to earn a win.

Scholastic Scholars A DISSECTION OF HOMOPHOBIC LINGUA

By Andrew Ng FAGGOT Exquisite beauty, effervescent youth, of lust.

The mean product is somewhat defined In your state of mind.

The complexity of your humanity; Almost celestial, miles of genomic composition.

Reduced to one Word.

THAT’S GAY

An apple is gay.

Mr. Anderson is gay.

Too-hot water is gay.

You are gay.

Comparable?

NO HOMO You’re constantly being followed.

The locker room; The library.

The haunting spectre of-Some kind of hatred? Or fear?

This is the brand you have been given.

You want to rip off your skin.

YOU ARE GAY This time, the words are to yourself.

You find yourself A practitioner of esotericism; Art of the freak, shadow breather.

The gradual degradation of Humanic beauty into a lifestyle--”chosen”.

By Elena Sapelyuk

Love? Is? This?

You chant the words Till they fade into tears One thousand salt crystals Of the night sky.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 23

Humor These articles are works of fiction. All quotes are libel and slander.

LIRR Etiquette

By AARON WANG and KELLY YIP Hundreds of Stuy kids take the Long Island Railroad, commonly nicknamed the “Lur,” to school and back. But according to recent studies, only 1.63 percent of these supposedly “intellectually advanced” students behave with proper respect and expectations on the train. The Spectator presents several pointers on LIRR etiquette so that you and the surrounding people can have a better experience, all the while presenting yourself as the dignified, intelligent being you were born to be.

Don’t have your ticket out ready when the conductor comes. Do forget where you placed it and take as long as possible to find it when the conduc-

have to show your ticket, do it with exaggerated sorrow and be as dramatic and heartbroken as possible. Your conductor and the passengers around you will have deep respect for your admiration and appreciation for the supposedly simple and monotonous job the conductor was trying to get over with quickly.

Be sure to create a scene once the conductor leaves. After all, you just built a relationship with and he was the only one who would listen to your problems.

You spilled your secret about the 99.5 you got on your biology test that will bring your average down by .001 points and now he just leaves you? Disgraceful! He deserves to be humiliated. Stand up and start yelling at the conductor from across the train car.

Mention a tidbit about how you

beian passengers looks at you, be sure to dab on her and then flaunt your monthly ticket in her face. All the inferior passengers will fall before you on their knees and give up their seats in exchange for being in your superior presence.

If the passengers insist on being disrespectful, feel entitled to sit directly on top of them.

Simply plop your luxurious, sacred buttocks onto their laps and form a sitting T-pose to establish your dominance and ownership over them. Be sure to give them your full, honest criticism about how disgustingly uncomfortable their laps are and how disappointed you are in them. Do complain aloud about how sore and neglected your butt feels.

If a seat is available, simply rest your posterior onto the seat.

Don’t politely ask for someone to make room for you or stand when no seats are available.

Do claim and take territory from others as you please.

tor does come.

When the conductor comes around to check train tickets, make sure to really show him your appreciation by making the most of the time you have together on the train ride. As he approaches your seat, invite him to sit down next to you, introduce yourself, and tell him all about your life starting with the day you were born and ending with this fated meeting. Take time to go into detail about your childhood trauma and how you totally bombed that last math exam you had a week ago, and be sure to stare intently into his eyes while speaking to make it clear that you two have a connection. Be slow and suspenseful as you speak. We recommend pausing a couple minutes after each syllable to immerse him in your story. If at any time during your storytelling he interrupts you about a “ticket,” be sure to shush them as harshly as possible to remind him of his disrespect and impoliteness to you as a customer. When you do eventually

thought he loved you, and how you caught him red-handed, provocatively seducing a man over there for his “ticket.” Let the conductor know how sick and despicable his actions are and spit toward his direction (preferably aiming for the man because you’re still secretly kinda jealous, but hey! The conductor totally made an attempt to seduce you first!). Make sure you’re crying to make him feel guilty. If you are feeling heartbroken afterward, don’t worry about it! You’re too good for him anyway.

Don’t politely ask for someone to make room for you or stand when no seats are available. Do claim and take territory from others as you please.

Need you be reminded that you have a holy, first-class monthly ticket? You don’t have to speak politely to those oneway ticket plebes. You are far superior. When you board a crowded train, take long and exaggerated strides down the aisle and clear your throat loudly for all to hear. If one of those ple-

Now, no one can ask for you to move. If anyone does, shoot a disapproving glare and just scoot a tad bit so that your buttocks still cover relatively the same area of the seat as before. If someone asks again, he is the one being obnoxious and you can now legally ask him to get out of your personal space bubble. If he accuses you of being obnoxious (don’t worry, you’re not being obnoxious—you followed this guide), just pull out your trusty Uno Reverse Card and throw it in his face. Always make sure to stand up on top of the seat and scream to assert your dominance.

Of course, you will need a place to take a nap since you were working until 4:00 a.m. writing your research paper. To do this, place your backpack onto a seat one to two seats away from you to serve as a pillow and to create a barrier from the possibility of being awoken by the plebes invading your territory. Make sure you also place your legs on the available seats in front of you if

you are sitting where two rows of seats face each other. Now you have space to stretch out and dream of having a thriving social life.

Don’t clean up litter from the seats or the floor. Do contribute your own garbage and mess.

Whenever you see wrinkled candy wrappers and empty bottles of Gatorade on the train, be sure to leave them. It would be disrespectful if you tried to remove someone else’s contributions from the train. They were obviously left in their places, untouched, for a reason. Instead, whenever you have food and drinks on the train, be sure to leave as many crumbs and spilled liquids in your wake before you leave. Passengers who come onto the train afterward will be grateful for the food and decorations you have left for them.

Don’t respect others’ boundaries. Do use the area as you please.

Feel free to blast your religious anthem “Mine Diamonds” on that Bluetooth speaker that you got for 10 bucks at the dollar store on max volume for everyone in the train to hear. The passengers will have a massive amount of respect for you after learning of your excellent taste in music and will appreciate you for blessing their ears. If someone asks you to turn down the volume, be sure to berate her for being nosy and for disrespecting your godly taste in music.

Another acceptable response is to close your eyes and repeatedly chant “WHAT! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” until she gives up and walk away.

Feel free to rest your tired head on the shoulder of the passenger next to you. You have worked hard in starting your essay (writing the heading) due tomorrow and you deserve a break. Start weeping about your “terrible” grades and confidently rest your head onto her shoulder, and then start complaining about how little sleep you got in this past year. If she pats your head, you have successfully won her over, and you may be promoted to lay your head on her thighs. Feel free to cry yourself to sleep on those luxurious thighs. Or, if they do not meet your taste, express your judgment and target her insecurities in the process.

A very thoughtful thing to do as a fellow passenger is to furiously kick the back of the seat in front of you. The passenger in the seat will be honored to receive such a generous and caring back massage treatment.

It’s an experience that people would normally pay for! Be sure to make it clear to him that you were the one vigorously kicking without pause before he exits the train or before you leave. Expect praise and satisfied remarks.

You may also meditate and do yoga if you please, but make sure to do it in the aisle so that you have room to stretch into a savasana (corpse pose) to represent how you truly feel about your life. If someone tries to walk in the aisles and asks you to move, remember that you are the alpha of this train. Use a low lunge followed by a revolved side angle pose to flex your capabilities on the plebes. As he cautiously backs away from you, be sure to transition into the default Fortnite dance to add some style points to your victory. Expect the surrounding crowd to applaud you after you ward away a disgusting challenger to your position. Then feel free to go into your downward dog.

If you are so unlucky as to not get a seat and need a way to entertain yourself, feel free to practice your pole dancing skills on the poles near the door. You may or may not kick the surrounding passengers in the process, but they are the ones who should have been aware of your personal space. Be reminded that you cannot pivot fully around the pole, but you can still present yourself as the embodiment of pure talent. There are no limits to your wonderful personality, imagination, and upper arm strength! As an added plus, the show that you put on will gain you lots of fame and you’ll be known across the entire LIRR community! All of the trains and even Penn Station will be plastered with posters of your elegant face desperately “wanted” by the officials. That’s a lot of publicity!

Don’t forget these amazing guidelines. Do exert these proper behaviors and educate the impolite fools through method of example.

Be sure to practice all of these etiquette tips for the next time you ride the LIRR, as proper behavior in the outside world is crucial to maintaining a strong and respectable reputation. Perhaps now you will be able to see just how corrupt and flawed train etiquette is. However, there is still hope in demonstrating these tips every time you ride.

Not only will you enlighten the unsophisticated train plebeians, but you’ll be making the LIRR a greater experience for everyone!

You’ll be a citywide hero!

You Go To Stuyvesant? Yikes.

By KIMYA FIROOZAN You can’t be a true Stuyvesant student if you haven’t heard the words “oof ” or “yikes” come out of your mouth at some point throughout your day.

These words epitomize the typical Stuyvesant experience and can be used in a multitude of situations to get a point across.

The word “yikes” was first used in 1941 and has maintained a fair amount of popularity to this day. The “oof ” trend recently came about as the sound made by a game character when he died. Since then, its meaning has changed to represent

indifference in a way that is just slightly less offensive than not saying anything. You have probably heard these words being used before, and if you truly have not used any one of them, then you’re clearly not edgy enough and need to up your game. I am here to personally vouch for and exemplify the practicality of “oof ” and “yikes” in nearly every conversation.

Stuyvesant students are almost always on the lookout for new ways to express their tragic “I don’t have a 99 in this class” and other first-world problems.

This is where “oof ” and “yikes” come in. They have become very

useful for Stuyvesant students and are go-to words for any sort of reaction. For example, got a failing grade on a final? Oof. Didn’t get any sleep for the past 72 hours? Yikes. Broke your leg falling down some stairs and haven’t been able to walk since?

Oof. Such words are best used in one-word contexts and will leave your friend inspired, with glistening eyes and a newfound passion for life, obviously because of your beautiful, heartfelt, and caring reaction.

Many times, these words can be used in an educational setting. If you need more variation—and I assure you, you

will—use the line: “Yikes, don’t get upsetti, have some spaghetti” (per a very reliable Urban Dictionary post). Telling this to one of your English teachers after being asked about the whereabouts of that important essay is bound to work. Saying that the essay “yeeted itself out the window” should work as well. From prior experience, it is guaranteed that your teacher will immediately rescind her efforts. There you go.

Undoubtedly, Stuyvesant students convey their utmost intellectual achievements using such words. In fact, I’ve had conversations with people

consisting solely of “oof ” and “yikes.” For example: Me: The MTA did me dirty again.

Person: Yikes.

Me: Missed three periods.

Person: Oof. These conversations may end in yeeting all chances at a long-lasting friendship out the front door due to your immense conversational vocabulary and intellect, and your friends’ inability to understand that.

But they’re quite worth it. You should try it sometime.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 24

Humor

This section was unintentionally left blank.

— Layout

Stuy Students Collectively Forget School Is Not Over

By CHRISABELLA JAVIER After Regents week ended, a scream came from within Stuyvesant. For once, it wasn’t the scream of tormented souls.

It was the scream of kids excited for summer break to start—finally! “I have so much planned for vacation! First, I’m gonna sleep. Then, I’m gonna eat.

Then, I’m gonna sleep again!

If I have time, I might have an existential crisis about if I am even going to get anywhere in life. Then I’ll be back to this self-inflicted hell. How old do you have to be to drop out?” said junior Ree L. Axe, before she passed out on the floor of the Whole Foods Café with the rest of her mentally-messed-up peers who were hanging out there after finals.

But unfortunately, tragedy was about to unfold. For you see, Axe, like many other students who felt the depressive vibes of the school being lifted off of them, had forgotten that she still had to go to school the following week. In fact, Axe, like many other upperclass-

men, was found on Tuesday morning to be on elaborate, fun vacations in places far, far away from the gates of eternal doom known as Stuyvesant.

The second-term seniors es-

Admittedly, there were a lot of days with no school and a lot of finals. No wonder that when the students were supposed to return to have their souls sucked out, the only person

The second-term seniors especially were reported to have gone on a gap year and haven’t been seen by anyone in weeks.

pecially were reported to have gone on a gap year and haven’t been seen by anyone in weeks.

All of them were totally unaware that school did not end in January.

who showed up was freshman Patty Asheck. And even then, he too thought it was summer break: “Wait, we have school?

I’m only here because I want the math department to be

exterminated from existence.

The geometry final was unfair!

We never learned what a circle was!” Asheck then began waving his homemade sign reading “MATHSMATICS SUX” outside the school, which he had been doing ever since he walked out of his final.

To add to the confusion, all the English teachers also decided not to come that week either. When we looked into this, we found out that they were ditching class as they usually did when break approached. We have not been able to establish whether they thought it was summer break or they just could not take any more of what the students said and ate during class, which included but was not limited to, organic bleach, a truck full of bubble tea, an entire halal cart, and something grabbed from the bottom of the Hudson. Sources strongly point to both, as there were multiple coconut drinks found on the floors of the English classrooms filled with [TOTALLY LEGAL DRINKS] so students could

get through the day.

So, the school has decided to create a mass campaign on Facebook in order to get people to realize that yes, they actually did have to go to school for four more months. This mass campaign included a video of Asheck standing on the bridge crying about his grade, with a caption saying, “This is us.

Please come back. Please. We miss you.” The video has been given 69,420 sad reaccs and heart-wrenching comments saying things like “ultimate Big MoodTM.” They also forced all clubs to send out e-mails informing people that they needed to go to school. Also, the administration has decided to give a 100 average to any person who decides to come to school. As of publication, these tactics have worked on five percent of the school (mostly freshmen), but none of them have yet to attend an actual class. When asked about this, they pointed out, “Look, they never said we had to go to class. Just that we had to be in the building.”

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 25

Sports Girls’ Basketball

Stuyvesant’s Girls’ Basketball Team’s Stagnant Offense Leads to Pivotal Loss

By ETHAN KIRSCHNER and BENJAMIN HAMEL It was a make or break moment in the game. Going into the fourth quarter, Stuyvesant needed to make a run to put themselves back in the game.

They raced up the court, hoping to get a good shot and put the game in their control. They put up a difficult, contested shot and hit the back of the iron, harmlessly bouncing off the rim and sending Millennium on their way to a victory.

Coming off one of its toughest stretches of the season and back-to-back games, Stuyvesant’s girls’ basketball team fell to Millennium High School 40-28 on Wednesday afternoon. Earlier in the week, they had defeated Bayard at home by a score of 57-42. This was an impressive win, as Bayard entered the game with a record of 8-4 but fell to 8-5 after the loss. Stuyvesant’s inconsistent results have a lot to do with deficiencies in the offensive side of their game, as they limited their opponents to about 20 points below their season average. However, the offense seemed stagnant throughout the game, and unlike prior games, the passes were often deflected or intercepted, leading to turnovers and easy Millennium

chances on the other end. After the game, coach Miller remarked on his team’s offense. He said that they were “not getting cutters to the basket,” forcing them to take difficult shots.

Coach Miller also suggested that a mental block may have led to the defeat. These two teams are very familiar with and know each other very well through tournaments, most of which Millennium had won. In addition, they are competing for the top of their division and in the playoffs annually. “We get psyched out when we play them,” noted Coach Miller, while also emphasizing the team’s resilience.

Stuyvesant was trailing 23-12 at the halftime break. After the third quarter, with Stuyvesant trailing by 11, Coach Miller attempted to fire up his team to cut their deficit and overtake Millennium as the clock wound down.

However, Coach Miller’s pep talk was matched by Millennium, as they came out of the quarter break with great energy, extending their lead before Stuyvesant brought it back to 12 in the closing seconds. In key possessions, Stuyvesant was forced to take difficult, contested shots after not getting anything going in their offensive sets.

Though Stuyvesant played solid team defense throughout the game, down the stretch, they

let Millennium’s leading scorer Isabella Park takeover, knocking three triples to put Millennium out of reach. Co-captain Alexandra Archer told us after the game that “Usually if there is one strong player, we usually play a box-and-one,” a tactic they

on defense. This will be helping them get out in transition and scoring easy baskets instead of having to score in the half-court offense.

Stuyvesant’s leading scorer, Talia Kirshenbaum, was forced to sub out of the game twice

With this loss, Stuyvesant fell to 7-5 on the season, still leaving them in a good position for the playoffs, with games against School of The Future and Seward Park at home and away, respectively. If they can perform in these last two games,

After the third quarter, with Stuyvesant trailing by 11, Coach Miller attempted to fire up his team to cut their deficit and overtake Millennium as the clock wound down. However, Coach Miller’s pep talk was matched by Millennium as they came out of the quarter break with great energy, extending their lead before Stuyvesant brought it back to 12 in the closing seconds.

will look to incorporate more often in the future. Though not all teams have tremendous shooters like Millennium, in order for Stuyvesant to compete and make a deep run in the playoffs, the team must do a better job closing out shooters, protecting the paint, and getting easy steals

because of incidental elbows to the face. However, she still managed to put up 12 points, exemplifying the team’s resilience and toughness. The game threatened to become a blowout on a few occasions, but Stuyvesant kept fighting back to keep the deficit within reach.

they have a chance to get themselves in an even better position to gain momentum before the playoffs begin. With the loss, however, Stuyvesant is mathematically eliminated from first place contention, and it will look to hold onto second place in the division.

Athlete of the Issue

How did the Track Runner Get Over His Fear of Hurdles?

He Got Over It!

By AKI YAMAGUCHI An Interview with Harper Andrews Harper Andrews is a junior runner on the boys’ indoor track team, the Greyducks. Last year, Andrews placed first at the Manhattan Borough Championship in the triple jump event, and this year, he qualified yet again for all of three of his events at Boroughs and Cities. This year, he is hoping to place within the top three in all his events and break the school record with his 4 X 200 relay team.

Grade: Junior Height: 6’2” Eye color: Blue Hair color: Blonde DOB: April 9, 2002

2. Do you run outside of school competitively?

During preseason, since the beginning of fall semester, I joined a private club created by the coach at Stuyvesant from two years ago.

Previously, I had trained with him for about a year. The club’s name is Optimist Track NYC, and I

3. What are your personal goals for the winter season?

Boroughs is this weekend, so what I’m hoping for there is to place within the top three in all of my events. I am less worried about that than Cities, which is in three weeks, and I qualified for it in all of my events. That would be the long jump and triple jump. Additionally, this past weekend, my 4 X 200 relay qualified as well. For all these events individually, it’s probably just important to break my personal record. Furthermore, for the relay, we have a chance at placing within the top six, which would be awesome.

4. How do you try to improve, and what does a practice session consist of for you?

I do track every weekday and some Saturdays, for about three to four hours each day. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I’ll probably travel to 168th street, where the Amory is. I might also travel to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to do more of the running and field events, as there is more availability with the tracks. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I do a lot of strength training. This will change as we transition into the spring, as it will focus more on losing weight and getting faster.

5. How do you balance track meets and schoolwork? Do you have suggestions for how to be

efficient with your time?

I get back home every day around 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m., so I dive right into it. I think it’s important not to stall or relax because there’s always the night for that.

In track, there are also always opportunities to talk to many track people—something other teams might not have comparatively.

7. Proudest movement?

Well, I have broken records for myself each year. My personal records have been getting faster from freshman year to now. More recently, I almost reached my personal goal of running the 200-meter in under 24 seconds, a really proud moment for me. I also got first in the city for my age group in the high jump last year, so that was really exciting. Something I’m looking forward to is breaking the school record in the long jump.

8. Any embarrassing moments or funny moments this year?

There is a moment in every track meet when there is a baton fumble—when it flies out of one person’s hand. Sometimes, it goes absolutely flying, and it’s a mixture of hilarity and tragedy. It’s pretty funny but depressing, unless it isn’t your baton!

9. Favorite memory from meets?

In terms of the field events, it’s usually just me and this senior, Jeffrey Wu. There’s always a good laugh when we are watching other people jump. [This is] because it’s a good way to observe and im-

Courtesy of Ed Yaker

1. When did you start running, and what events did you participate in?

I started running in the fourth grade, and I started doing shotput. I then transitioned into the 200-meter and long jump and continued that trend. When I got to high school, I started [running] further distances and picked up more complicated events like the high jump and the triple jump.

committed to the team along with the Greyducks.

prove ourselves but also laugh, as people make funny faces when they laugh.

Choice drink: Slurpee Favorite food: Mac & Cheese

Motto to live by: “If you ain’t first, you last.”

Fun fact: I’m Australian!

Page 26

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Sports Girls’ Gymnastics

Felines Zero In on a Championship

By ELIAS FERGUSON and AKI YAMAGUCHI As the Felines draw nearer to the end of the season, important events are bearing down on the team. Several gymnasts will compete in the A Individual Championships, and the whole team will soon after perform in the team final, the A Championships meet. As the overall scores from meets—instead of the team’s record—affect qualification for the A Championships, the Felines’ highest score of 106.4 was what pushed them through.

The last official meet for the Felines was a dual meet against their rivals, Bronx High School of Science and Dewitt Clinton High School. The meet was a well rounded event, with many of the competitors scoring personal

bests in their respective events.

Coach Vasken Choubaralian said that “ [The meet was] a little unfortunate because two seniors could not compete.” However, members of the team stepped up in their absence. “Senior Leah Rosenthal, junior Camille Sadoff, sophomore Naomi Khanna, and freshmen Ella Krechmer and Agatha Nyarko all achieved their personal bests,” said senior and co-captain Lee-Ann Rushlow. Respectively, the scores that stood out at the individual events were: Rosenthal scored a 7.20 in beam and a 6.20 in floor, Khanna scored a 7.60 in beam and a 7.30 in bars, Nyarko scored a 7.60 in beam, a 7.40 in floor, and a 7.45 on bars.

Scoring well in bars was huge for the Felines, as they had struggled with practicing and improving on their scores in the beginning of

the year. Another high point during the meet was when “[sophomore] Naomi [Khanna] didn’t fall on [the] beam event, which is really hard to do,” Rushlow said. The Felines ended on a personal high note with a meet full of accomplishments, showing that they are ready to compete at the A Championships meet.

Rushlow, Rosenthal, Khanna, Nyarko, and senior and co-captain Olivia He are all notable names to look out for during the Individual Championships. The Individuals event is very difficult to qualify for, making it quite an impressive feat to just be able to represent Stuyvesant there. During the meet, the Felines’ gymnasts will only perform representing themselves, whereas they usually represent Stuyvesant as a whole.

On a more team-oriented

level, the team finals, or A Championships, is coming up in early February. Coach Choubaralian is optimistic about the meet. “For team finals, I am expecting to score between 108 and 110. It should be our season high,” he said. The Felines’ current season high is a 106.4, which they earned during a highly competitive meet against the Bronx High School of Science. That meet, however, was the first meet of the season, and Coach Choubaralian certainly believes that the team can achieve their goal of 110 points in the upcoming A Championships meet.

“We have had a whole season to prepare and learn from our mistakes,” he said. A good score during team finals will affirm both the personal and team growth the Felines have experienced throughout the season. Though it will be an

uphill battle to wrest the A Championships title from the hands of Tottenville High School, the Felines are in a great spot to try.

In preparation for the team final, Rushlow said, “We are preparing for finals mostly by cleaning up routines.” Much of the work for the season has already been done, so the Felines are focusing on fine-tuning their skills and routines. At the center of importance is freshman Nyarko, who will be influential to whether the Felines achieve their seasonal goal of a strong performance in the A Championships.

A season of hard work is leading up to the team finals. If the Felines implement their routines smoothly, they will be on track to improve upon last year’s performance and conclude on a successful season.

Boys’ Basketball

Rebels Fail to End Their Losing Streak

By YAE JUNE LEE and WASEQ AHMED Coming into the 2018-2019 season, the Rebels had had their downs, unable to break their losing streak despite hours of practice and dedication to the game of basketball. Having started the season with a 0-9 record, the Rebels hoped to get their first win against the East Harlem Pride. However, despite having home-field advantage, the team suffered a 58-37 defeat to fall to 0-10 in the season, extending their losing streak.

Despite Stuyvesant jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead that included senior and captain Ricky Zou’s baseline jumper, the Rebels’ lead did not last long. Late in the third quarter, junior Christopher Kim drove in the paint and attempted a layup as the game was slipping away from the Rebels’

hands. However, East Harlem junior Daouda Diawara—the leading scorer with 23 points in the game—went up to contest what turned out to be a questionable no-call by the referee. “People say it’s just two points, but not receiving a call like that ruins the entire flow [of the game],” Kim said. Diawara then threw an outlet pass on a fastbreak attempt to his teammate, who converted an easy layup and accumulated a foul, with senior Abraham Lee failing to prevent East Harlem from scoring. East Harlem capped off their 15-2 run to extend their lead to a dominant one, with the score being 49-23 at the end of the third quarter.

This sequence of events summed up the bulk of Stuyvesant’s issues, which have plagued them all season long. Ultimately, the taller, bigger, and faster

East Harlem players simply outmatched Stuyvesant physically.

The Rebels struggled to drive into the paint due to the pressure from East Harlem’s man-to-man defensive scheme. This led to a frantic game with a multitude of blocked shots and turnovers forced by East Harlem, which they then converted to points on fastbreak attempts. Stuyvesant played with heart and outscored East Harlem 14-10 in the fourth quarter, but the game was already out of reach by that point.

Stuyvesant’s lack of size was partially noticeable in the game’s rebound-related statistics, as East Harlem out-rebounded the Rebels by nine. The plethora of offensive rebounds led to multiple second chances for East Harlem to score. Paint defense has also been an issue all season for the Rebels.

Once in the paint, the Rebels had

no choice but to foul to prevent East Harlem from scoring easy buckets. They conceded 12 fouls compared to East Harlem’s three in the game. As a result, East Harlem scored 18 of their 58 points in the game from the free throw line.

East Harlem’s hot shooting also played a role in the blowout, as the team converted six three-point attempts out of eight for a 75 percent three-point shooting rate.

Despite the tough loss, the younger players on the varsity team got critical experience that will help them in the future. As the game fell out of reach in the fourth quarter, coach George Stork put in the younger players to get valuable minutes important for their development. Freshman Ethan Kirschner was able to draw a foul, while sophomores Mitchell Fogel and Christian Nwenyi played tenacious defense, forcing

a few East Harlem turnovers. Junior Lewis Woloch, who is putting together a solid season, converted three three-point shot attempts in the final stretch of the fourth quarter. With nine points, he finished as the leading scorer for the Rebels. Zou is assisting in the development of the younger players.

“As the season progressed, I tried to have fun with the guys, let them know the good and the bad, and keep a positive attitude,” Zou said.

Stuyvesant currently has a 0-12 record in the Manhattan A1 Division after losing to Seward Park Campus and Washington Irving High School. With the playoffs out of reach, the team will look to close out the season with pride, look ahead to the future, and emphasize the development of the younger members of the varsity team.

NBA

The Carmelo Catastrophe

By RUDOLPH MERLIN Carmelo “Melo” Anthony, highly regarded as one of the best members of the 2003 NBA draft, has had all-star caliber stats throughout his career. He has single-handedly led the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks to several playoff appearances, but he has failed to win an NBA Championship, unlike LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and some less talented players like Luke Walton or Zaza Pachulia. The reason for this is a combination of Melo’s selfish attitude, ambition, and playing style, which has made him an outcast from his class.

Carmelo began to shine during his early years as a Denver Nugget. There, he played with such talented individuals, such as Allen Iverson and Chauncey Billups. The Nuggets began to make a name for themselves. However, a series of unprecedented firstround playoff exits made the team’s chemistry collapse, and in the middle of the 2010-2011 season, Melo requested a trade.The team was still very strong and had a solid chance to reach the finals, and Melo was continuing to elevate his game. Melo himself wanted a championship, but

signing with the Knicks meant that New York would have to give away most of its best players. That year, the Denver Nuggets would again lose in a close first round, but many speculate that if Melo had stayed with Denver, the Nuggets would have had several rings. What is certain, though, is that Melo’s ambition led to the Knicks losing valuable assets. This eventually helped the Nuggets reach the Western Conference Finals, a stage he never reached with the Knicks.

Historically, when Carmelo is on a team, he is the leader. The offense runs through him. He commands the game, and he is the man who gets the ball. As NBA analyst Stan Van Gundy once said, “[The Knicks are] going to play the game through Carmelo…they’re not trying to split up touches and keep other people happy.” This play style has led to some individual success for Melo, as he led the league scoring in the 2012-2013 season, averaging 28.7 points per game and boasting an impressive 10 all-star appearances and six All-NBA First-Team nominations.

However, these moments of greatness are overshadowed by some of his more noticeable shooting statistics that result from a selfish playstyle. Through-

out his entire career, Melo has had a dismal field goal percentage of 44.9 percent, a number below the league average. In addition, Melo’s true shooting percentage is noticeably lower than that of other forwards of his caliber, such as Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant.

What’s different about these players and their success is that they know how to move the ball and bring out the best in their teammates. From 2014 to 2017, the Knicks were consistently one of the top five teams in the league in ball movement. Despite this, the number of points (52) that they generated from these passes or assists were consistently in the bottom five in the league. Because Melo was running the offense, the majority of these passes were going to him, and considering the numbers mentioned earlier, the Knicks were doomed to have horrendous seasons.

Then there is the whole Jeremy Lin debacle. After recovering from a groin strain, Melo didn’t develop chemistry with the overnight star. With the offense running around Lin, the Knicks were able to win seven out of their eight games and establish themselves as a threat in the Eastern Conference after an inconsistent three months. Melo, however,

was unable to work with him, and the Knicks lost a talented player that could have heavily benefited the franchise.

Furthermore, Melo’s selfish ways were best seen in his year with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Starting alongside two great ball handlers, Russell Westbrook and Paul George, and the offensive rebounding machine, Steven Adams, was a nightmare. Several games across the span of the 2017-2018 season show how the points between the three were unevenly distributed. In one game, Melo scored 21 points, and in the next game, he scored only nine.

As a starting player on a team with two other ball-dominant players, Melo couldn’t play his game. Unable to shoot his bread and butter midrange and pull up jumpers, 42 percent of his shots were catchand-shoot—up almost 30 percent from his time with the New York Knicks. He ended up becoming a below average three-point shooter who didn’t have the chance to play his game.

Maybe it could’ve worked out if Melo had simply accepted his role coming off the bench. The Thunder reserve lacked depth and didn’t have any players who could come up with buckets off the bench. One of the worst benches in the NBA could finally

have a talented leader, and Melo would’ve fit perfectly; the floor would revolve around him, he’d work the defense, and he’d be a consistent perimeter shooter, providing the points the rest of the Thunder bench couldn’t provide. The reserve roster would get more playing time, easing the pressure off of Westbrook and Adams and allowing George to shoot his three-pointers. And perhaps other role players, like Andre Roberson and Alex Abrines, would develop into key figures in the team’s success. Instead, Melo chose to continue with his mefirst attitude that ultimately created an inconsistent team in the talented Western Conference. The Thunder were better off without him, and the difference can be seen when Carmelo Anthony is not on the court. The Thunder are currently cruising through their games, holding a third place spot in the Western Conference, whereas last year, they were barely able to finish in the top eight.

With Melo having been traded and waived by the Chicago Bulls a few days ago, his future in the NBA is in question. But if he wants to win a championship, he has to realize it won’t be as the star of a franchise, but rather as a shotmaker off the bench.

The Spectator ● February 14, 2019

Page 27

Sports NBA

NBA Midseason Awards, But Better

By ARYAN SHARMA With the halfway point of the season officially behind us, it has become easier to distinguish which teams are pulling ahead and which players are just not having an impressive season. Before we know it, the trade deadline will be past us, as will the all-star break. Teams will go into full gear to push for the playoffs. Each of the teams, players, and storylines is taking shape, and the race for each of these awards is becoming more and more competitive. Here’s where things stand based on the performances we have witnessed so far.

Most Valuable Player: James Harden

Back in November, the Houston Rockets started the season with an 11-14 record and had turned from expected title contenders to one of the worse teams. Two months later, the Rockets got past the Carmelo Anthony debacle and played impressive basketball without Chris Paul to get to a 29-21 record, good for fifth in a tight Western Conference. This is all thanks to one man: James Harden. Harden is playing some of the best offensive basketball the league has seen in years. He has saved the Rockets’ season by averaging 40.2 points, 9.6 assists, and 6.9 rebounds, with a 63.3 percent true shooting percentage and a jaw-dropping 41 percent usage rate. At the time of writing this article, Harden has had 30 or more points in 25 straight games. He has been single-handedly winning games for the Rockets, while Paul and Eric Gordon have missed a combined 26 games with an efficiency that can be compared to Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan in their primes. It is true that as his injured teammates return, his usage rate and statistics will go down. But when thinking about which player has been most valuable to his team so far, there is no question about it. It’s Chef Harden.

Runner up: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Defensive Player of the Year: Paul George

Paul George is having his best offensive year so far, making his stellar defensive play far more remarkable. He has been the

go-to option on offense for the Oklahoma City Thunder, as his partner in crime, Russell Westbrook, endures a woeful shooting season. But after running the attack, he has been able to get back on defense and lock down the best player on the opposing team. He leads the NBA in steals, and he is third in defensive win shares, behind Rudy Gobert and Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, neither the Steiffel Tower nor the Greek Freak has the assignment of guarding the other team’s perimeter player every night like George has. His Thunder has had the best defensive rating for the entire start of the season, and much of it is due to George’s effort.

Runner up: Rudy Gobert

Rookie of the Year: Luka Doncic

This is the one award that there can be little debate about.

Luka Doncic is a 19-year-old who is averaging both 20 points and five assists. He has already logged two triple-doubles. He is playing with a maturity that stars like Draymond Green and LeBron James have praised. This can be attributed to his playing time for Real Madrid in the European basketball scene before his NBA debut. Though fellow rookie DeAndre Ayton is scoring more efficiently and averaging a double-double, his team has the second worst record in the league (second to only the Knicks, of course). Doncic, on the other hand, has managed to carry his Dallas Mavericks to a 22-27 record. Last year, the Mavs only had 24 wins, so 22 wins halfway through the season represent a marked improvement. Along with his amazing stats, he has shown us some of his flashiest moves. This may have helped with his popularity in the all-star voting, as he placed fifth in a competitive Western Conference. So, barring injury, Doncic is going to run away with this one.

Runner up: DeAndre Ayton

Sixth Man of the Year: Domantas Sabonis

The list of candidates for this award is very long this season.

Last year’s winner, Lou Williams, former MVP Derrick Rose, and breakout Brooklyn Nets star Spencer Dinwiddie all have very good chances of winning the the title of “Best Bench Player.”

However, Domantas Sabonis has had the most impact with his production, as his Indiana Pacers have become one of the top teams in the east. Sabonis is almost averaging a double-double with 15 points per game and 9.9 rebounds per game in only 25 minutes a night. He is shooting 61 percent from the field, almost 20 percent higher than his rookie season. He leads all Pacers with a +7.3 net rating. His per-36 minute numbers—22 points and 14 rebounds—indicate that if given more playing time, he could become a seriously feared player in this league. Still, with his role as the lead bench player for the Pacers, he has produced points for them night in and night out, and his consistency is the biggest reason why he should win Sixth Man of the Year.

Runner up: Derrick Rose

Most Improved Player: Pascal Siakam

Becoming an important player for one of the best teams in the east, the Toronto Raptors, Pascal Siakam has become the most obvious choice for MIP. He jumped from a score of 1.53 in ESPN’s real plus/minus last season (#73 in league) to 3.54 (#20). Averaging 15 points (eight more than last season) and seven rebounds, he has been a great asset for the Raptors when he is on the floor playing alongside stars Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard. However, even when they are off the floor, Siakam holds his own and is able to run the Raptors’ offense, averaging 19 points per 36 minutes in situations like this. He is creating more shots for himself than ever and has been able to maintain his defensive versatility, turning him from a role player into a fierce opponent.

Runner-up: De’Aaron Fox

Coach of the Year: Mike Budenholzer

“Coach of the Year” has been one of the most competitive titles in the past, and this year is no different. The evergreen Gregg Popovich has kept the San Antonio Spurs relevant, Mike Malone has his Denver Nuggets competing for first seed in the west, and Kenny Atkinson is leading the Brooklyn Nets to the playoffs. However, Coach Mike Budenholzer has turned the Milwaukee Bucks into a completely different team with

many of the same players from last year. Their only notable offseason pickup was Brook Lopez, and though he has provided some valuable scoring, the way that Budenholzer has recreated the Bucks offense and managed their depth has turned Milwaukee from a sixth to eighth seed team into one of the top two teams in the east. This season, nearly 80 percent of their shots are coming from the rim and beyond the arc, a significant improvement from the 65 percent last season. And though Giannis continues his amazing season, Buldenholzer’s wise use of his role players, like Sterling Brown and D.J. Wilson, has helped the Bucks remain as the only team in the top five regarding both offensive and defensive efficiency.

Runner-up: Mike Malone

Most Underrated Player: Tobias Harris

The Western Conference has never been more competitive.

Even against the teams with 2 or more superstars, the less stacked teams have put up a fight for a spot in the playoffs. The Los Angeles Clippers are one of these overlooked teams, clinging onto the eighth spot. It’s a team with no true superstars, a history of bad teammate relationships, and a controversial coach, Doc Rivers. However, they surprisingly stand five games above a .500 win percentage. How? Well, much of their success can be attributed to Tobias Harris’s impressive play.

Averaging 21 points and almost eight rebounds per game, he is a monster on offense who can take care of the ball, attack the closeout, and finish with both hands. Not to mention his offthe-chart shooting, as he toys with a 50-40-90 this season.

Take the fact that they outscore opponents by more than eight points per 100 possessions when Harris plays or that his big frame and long hands allow him to be a force on the defense as well.

Harris is underrated in the most basic sense of the term because he is too good for what he is given credit for.

Runner up: Jrue Holiday

Bust of the Year: The New Orleans Pelicans

Nothing is going right for the New Orleans Pelicans this season. The Pelicans should be good. They have one of the league’s superstars, Anthony

Davis, who is an amazing point guard, Jrue Holiday, and good role players like Julius Randle and Nikola Mirotic, all of whom are averaging at least 15 points per game. However, they have fallen far below expectations.

They ended last regular season 14 games above .500, finishing sixth in their conference. This season has told a different story, as they have started off 23-30, 13th in their onference. While the Pelicans have been able to beat decent teams at home, they have struggled to beat even the worst teams in the league on the road. And now with Davis demanding a trade and the Pelicans GM not answering his phone, things aren’t looking so bright.

Runner up: The Memphis Grizzlies

Surprise of the Year: The Denver Nuggets

What’s there to say? The Denver Nuggets didn’t even make the playoffs last season, yet they have managed to hold the first seed over the Golden State Warriors for most of the year.

They have only one all-star in Nikola Jokic, while the Warriors have four. Most of their team is younger than 24 years old, and they haven’t had a lottery draft pick in years. So it is understandable that nobody predicted their incredible performance this year.

It truly is a team effort, with Nikola Jokic leading them. Jokic is having his best shooting season, while being able to maintain his superb passing skills. Meanwhile, their coach, Mike Malone, has continued to develop his young players, such as Jamal Murray. It doesn’t matter what seed the Nuggets end at. The fact that they have been able to blossom in their fierce division for this first half alone has made them the surprise of the year.

Runner up: The Indiana Pacers So will James Harden win his second consecutive MVP? Will Paul George be able to keep the Thunder a force to be reckoned with? Are the Denver Nuggets going to be able to stay atop of the west for the rest of the season? There are still miles to go before anything is decided. A lot can change in the 30 games left—both in the standings and these award races—so there is nothing to do but wait and see.

Wrestling

Free Fall—Spartans’ Season in Review

By FRANKLIN LIOU and JOOAHN SUR Tensions were high for the Spartans heading into their final PSAL meet of the year against Baruch High School. It looked like the Spartans were going to blow out Baruch in the early lightweight matches, as they took a commanding 30-6 lead.

However, the team’s main weakness showed as the heavyweight matches were played and the Spartans’ emphasis on technique over physicality failed them. They fell 55-30 to Baruch and dropped to fifth place in the standings.

Though the team ended on a poor note, there was much to sa-

vor from this year’s season. While their PSAL record was only 3-4, the team placed second out of 16 in one of their non-league tournaments and fourth in another.

Another bright spot was the underclassmen, especially freshman Ryan Poon. Though Poon’s success could be attributed to his prior experience, the upperclassmen did a great job of passing the torch to the younger players during the season. When asked about the influence that the upperclassmen had on the team this season, Poon said, “The underclassmen really [appreciated] the seniors welcoming us to the team and showing us the ropes,” which had created a great atmosphere

for the team.

Despite the promise, the season as a whole can be viewed as a large disappointment. After roaring to a 3-1 start, the Spartans fell off, losing the last three matches of the season by a combined score of 216-34. One of those three losses ended in a shutout against Grand Street Campus.

The team was unable to maintain the same level of focus and intensity throughout the course of the entire seven-game season. According to Alwin Peng, senior and captain, part of the reason for the inconsistency was that they needed to “have more of a winning mindset,” he said. The team must be able to

consistently grind out victories and stay focused on the ultimate goal—which is to bring a championship home to Stuy—in 2020 and beyond.

“In terms of my own performance, I am still learning and need to practice more to get better. I consider all matches learning experiences. After losing a match, I would always remember something I could have done differently. If I had remembered during the match, maybe the outcome would have been more favorable,” said Poon, when asked about this season. With this infectious mindset, a combination of youth and hard work could lead the Spartans to a much more

successful season next year. “I expect the new members from this year to be very successful, because everyone learns extremely quickly and wants to improve,” Poon added.

Peng also noted that “Many of our new wrestlers have been working hard all season, and with some experience under their belts, I’m expecting the team to do even better next year than we did this season,” showing that the team will have the confidence to compete at a higher level next year. If these expectations come true, the Spartans will hopefully be competing in the postseason next year rather than sitting at home during the playoffs.

Page 28

February 14, 2019

THE SPECTATOR SPORTS Girls’ Table Tennis

Despite a Promising Season, The Peglegs Fall Short in the Playoffs

By ISABEL LEKA and MATT MELUCCI Silence swept the room as all eyes stared at the weightless ball hitting the floor, obliterating the Peglegs’ hopes of reaching the next round of the playoffs. In the stressful last table tennis singles match of the season, time came to a halt as the Peglegs, Stuyvesant’s girls’ table tennis team, lost to Flushing Campus in their third playoff game on January 15, marking a premature end to their season.

The Peglegs had a promising season as they headed into the first round of the playoffs with an 8-2 record. After their recent decisive 4-1, 5-0, and 4-1 victories against Tottenville, Susan Wagner, and Seward Park Campus, respectively, the team moved onto the playoffs with confidence. Having lost only to longtime fierce rival Millennium High School twice, they were placed as the eighth overall seed out of 16 teams in Division I. Therefore, they played against the ninth overall seed, Flushing Campus. Flushing Campus entered the playoffs with a 9-3 record, having lost to Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, Francis Lewis, and John Bowne. The first doubles featured the following: freshman Madison Cheng, sophomore Shiho Watanabe, and the third singles junior Kasey Chan, who beat their opponents in their respective matches.

The second doubles substitute team, comprising of juniors Clara Lam and Xiaoqi Zhao and second singles senior and co-captain Allison Eg, was defeated, despite its valiant efforts. The round ended with a close 3-2 first singles match loss, played by first singles senior and co-captain Katherine Lee. The Peglegs were missing two starters in this crucial first playoff game, and though their second doubles team members Lam and Zhao are both capable players, they lacked enough experience playing together. “By the time they began to play better, it was already too late, and we lost that match,” coach Emilio Nieves said.

Despite recording encouraging wins in eight out of 11 games of

the season, the Peglegs have been facing issues relating to the organization of the team. Coach Nieves and the captains encountered various challenges when organizing the doubles lineup. “Out of those 11 matches, in only two matches did we have the entire starting lineup play,” Nieves said. The resulting multiple necessary changes in the doubles lineup created instability, since doubles matches require chemistry between the players. In contrast with the beginning of the season—when both first and second doubles won all their matches except for the two against Millennium—the pairing inconsistencies hindered the Peglegs’ performance later on in the season. In their game against Seward Park Campus, the last of the season before the playoffs, the doubles teams struggled, while the singles secured the Peglegs’ 3-2 win. “It is much harder to win, because it requires coordination and footwork. One player has to get out of the way for the other, and our team’s footwork isn’t the best,” Eng said. The varying doubles lineup caused a lack of coordination, which might have made the teams’ mindset uncertain during the tough playoff game. The shortage of chemistry between doubles players was also due to a lack of practicing together. Due to conflicting schedules and factors such as sickness and outside commitments, the pairs “barely practiced together,” Eng said.

As for what is next to come for the Peglegs, one of the main issues for the upcoming season will be replacing seniors and captains Katherine Lee and Allison Eng, who play first and second singles. Both girls have held these positions and have been captains for two consecutive years, making it difficult to find players to fill their shoes. Eng believes that one of the top contenders for this spot is junior Kasey Chan, who played third singles during this season. Coach Nieves said, “Losing Katherine Lee and Allison Eng will be a big loss in terms of both leadership and playing ability. Right now, the only certainty is that Kasey Chan should move up to number one singles…She improved in all areas and should

be able to handle the position. I don’t have to worry about her.”

Chan has “improved tremendously over the summer for the past two years. She has just been improving ever since, and we’ve just been seeing her get better and better,” Eng said. During their last game of the season, Chan was the only singles player to defeat her opponent. In a close 3-2 match, Chan was able to come out at the top against Flushing junior Chen Xiang Wang, after losing the first match. With this in mind, Chan is set to be one of the most vital players on the team next season.

Juniors Clara Lam and Xiaoqi Zhao have also stepped up this season, according to Eng. Both players have joined the team this season, but will most likely be starters next year, having consistently been available to play doubles even with frequent changes in the lineup. Freshman Madison Cheng is another newcomer to the team.

She has worked her way to become first doubles. In the beginning of the season, Coach Emilio Nieves said that Cheng has “impressed enough to be a starter on the number one doubles. She will also fill in when one of the singles starters is unavailable.” Cheng’s experience on the Girls’ Varsity Tennis team has also helped her with skills that translate into table tennis. Cheng plays an important role on the team, and with great expectations from Nieves and Eng alike, she will continue to do so in the future.

Looking forward to next season, the Peglegs will need to overcome major deficits to their starting lineup, with both Eng and Lee having been influential players on the team since their sophomore years. They have had an especially big influence in guiding the team under the new leadership of Coach Nieves, who began coaching the team this year. He believes that “there’s no reason why [the Peglegs] can’t become a powerhouse in table tennis,” she said. Furthermore, the doubles teams will need to be able to work together and gain more chemistry with one another if the Peglegs are to advance further in the playoffs next season.

Sportsbeat James Harden continues his emphatic form, making it 28 games in a row with 30+ points.

CALENDAR

February

16

NCAA Basketball

No. 2 Duke vs NC State No. 8 UNC vs Wake Forest

19

17 NBA

NBA All-Star Game (Team LeBron vs Team Giannis)

UEFA Champions League

Liverpool (England) vs Bayern Munich (Germany)

19

NCAA Basketball

20

No. 1 Tennessee vs Vanderbilt

UEFA Champions League

Atletico Madrid (Spain) vs Juventus (Italy)

23

21 NBA

Houston Rockets vs Los Angeles Lakers

NBA

Houston Rockets vs Golden State Warriors

Giants RB Saquon Barkley wins NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year over Browns QB Baker Mayfield.

26

The NBA’s trade deadline has passed, with the highlight being the Dallas Mavericks picking up Kristaps Porzingis from the New York Knicks.

Boston Celtics vs Toronto Raptors

Kansas Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes picks up NFL MVP at NFL Awards.

NBA All-Star weekend starts February 16 and features the All-Star Game as well as the dunk, three-point, and skills contests.

Officials confirmed the death of Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala as well as pilot David Ibbotson Real Madrid emerged victorious in the Madrid derby, beating bitter rivals Atletico Madrid 3-1 at the Wanda Metropolitano.

NBA

28 NBA

Philadelphia 76ers vs Oklahoma City Thunder