Volume 109, Issue 9

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

FEATURES

OPINIONS

“A Million Different Ways to Be Asian”

Complicated Collaboration

Features editor Amy Huang provides a look into the Asian American Literature elective and explores the media through which students learn about Asian culture.

Opinions writer Maya Dunayer discusses the approach American Jews should take toward working with US President Donald Trump.

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Volume 109 No. 9

StuyHacks Hosts Seventh Annual 12-Hour Hackathon

Homeroom 1NN won The Environmental Club and Green Team’s Bottle Cap Collection Competition.

By TINA ZHENG The Stuyvesant World Languages department is offering a new elective, Art in Italian. Sponsored by the Italian American Committee on Education program, as well as the Education Office of the General Consulate of Italy, the course will be taught by Pasqua Rocchio. Rocchio, who has been teaching Spanish III for the past 25 years, is Italian and taught the language for 15 years before Stuyvesant removed it this fall.

This one-semester elective will be humanities-based, focusing on the different periods, styles, and practices of Italian art. The core class material will consist of a collection of pieces ranging from prehistoric times to the contemporary era. “[The classwork] is going to be short readings at the basic level and then taking the basic grammar out,” Rocchio said.

Assistant Principal of World

classrooms: How to Win a Hackathon, CSR: Public-Speaking/ Making a Presentation, Penetration Testing, HTML/CSS, Javascript, Flask, and P5-Object Oriented Programming. All of these workshops were beginnerfriendly and taught by engineers from different tech companies.

At the end of the event, each team took three minutes to explain their project to a panel of six judges: Bobby Kuzma from Core Security, Stephen Greco from Google, Samantha Whitmore from Kensho Technologies, Jerry Chan from BNY Mellon, Infant Vasanth from BlackRock, and Michael Zamansky from Hunter College. The judges, all pioneers in the field of computer science, assessed each project according to four categories: technical complexity, user friendliness, originality, and awesomeness. The awards included first place, second place, third place, best beginner code, most innovative code, and best game.

Many students were eager to

By EMMA DONNELLY, RUBY ETHIKA and VICTORIA GAO Over 100 hackers, 20 mentors, and eight judges came together to attend the seventh StuyHacks hackathon on Saturday, January 12. This 12-hour day of hacking provided middle and high schoolers of all experience levels with the opportunity to learn about computer science, code projects with friends, and win prizes.

It took immense preparation to bring this hackathon to life, with organizers arranging for food to be provided, organizing workshops, increasing outreach, and obtaining sponsorships. “It took around half a year to organize the event. We have two events every year, and it takes one semester to organize each one,” senior and Chief Coordinator of StuyHacks, Katie Wu, said.

The event had seven workshops that took place at different times and in different

participate and collaborate with others in the competition, regardless of their programming experience. “It’s rare to see so many people bonding over a shared passion for something, namely computer science,” senior Joan Chirinos said. “You don’t have to be extremely proficient in computer science to make something you can be proud of. The team of mentors, the sponsors, and the bounty [of] computer science experience would [...] help anyone of any skill level to make something amazing.”

Not everyone who attended the event submitted projects for the competition. Instead, many students wished to learn more about computer science and became engaged in the workshops and with mentors. “StuyHacks is more of a learning thing than a competing thing,” sophomore Michael Nath said. “Sure, you get prizes and there’s competition, but the atmosphere [is] more of just trying out things and learning from the people around you.”

New Art in Italian Elective

Languages Francesca McAuliffe said, “It’s really art- and culturallydriven with language components being presented as well. So it’s really great for Ms. Rocchio’s passion for Italian art and culture.”

Though no knowledge of Italian is required, students are expected to gain basic language skills by the end of the course through analyzing and discussing Italian art. Additionally, students are also expected to be able to speak and write responses in Italian at an entry course level.

Students like junior Zoe Davis have already submitted their requests for Art in Italian, which was prioritized as their top elective.

Davis currently takes AP French but had prior exposure to Italian in middle school. “I’m most looking forward to a day when we can learn a different language other than the one we’re taking—talk, chill, hear a different language for 45 minutes,” Davis said.

Hiruni Kumari / The Spectator

The Speech and Congress Debate team competed at Regis High School on Saturday, January 12. Senior Shray Tripathi championed in Original Oratory, sophomore Tolulope Lawal championed in Drama and junior Jevina Wong in Oral Interpretation.

stuyspec.com

Julian Giordano / The Spectator

Seniors Andrew Chopey, Sean Roudnitsky, Axel Tolpina, and Nicholas Wen, and junior Kai Yamamoto of the Stuyvesant Boys Swimming and Diving team qualified for NY State Championships.

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January 29th, 2019

NEWSBEAT Seniors Fiona Cai, Lucien Eckert, and Clare McGillis were named Top 300 Scholars in the 78th Regeneron Science Talent Search. Cai’s study was titled, “Improving the Efficiency of Clinical Trial Recruitment Using Electronic Health Record (EHR) Data and Machine Learning”, Eckert’s, “Synchronizing a Simulated Display of Time with Reality to Affect Experienced Presence Within VR” and McGillis’s, “A Study of the Factors Impacting Street Tree Growth in New York City.”

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

Art in Italian is currently the only Italian-related course offered, and it is especially unique because students are not expected to come in with any prior knowledge of the language. “The only thing that we have are the themes and the films for Spanish, but

those are intended for students who have already passed the proficiency of their language,” McAuliffe said. However, Rocchio will be expected to differentiate amongst students and plan appropriate materials and activities.

The World Languages depart-

This year’s hackathon improved upon some of the difficulties that coordinators encountered last year. “We used our experience from past years to make the event run smoother,” Wu said. “For example, last year, we had the hackers in different classrooms. [...] This year, we had everyone in the cafeteria and the library, which helped create a sense of unity and improve the atmosphere of the hackathon.”

Wu is looking forward to the spring hackathon, which will be 24 hours long instead of 12. Wu plans to find a suitable venue to accommodate the larger number of students who will attend.

She also aims to survey this year’s attendees in order to decide which workshops students would like to participate in again.

Though Wu considers the previous 12-hour hackathon to be a success, she plans to further improve the next one and make it an even better experience for all.

ment decided to create a new Italian elective rather than reinstalling a full Italian language program because they want to provide assistance to teachers who are the only ones teaching a specific language.

“We weren’t looking to add necessarily another full language at this point because we already have six.

We have some single teachers we would like to provide some extra support for so that it’s possible for students to have different viewpoints from language and from different teachers,” McAuliffe said.

However, though the World Languages department currently holds no concrete plans to launch any other new language courses, another language elective is a possibility. “It’s always a thought. We want to make sure that the Language department is flexible enough to meet the needs of students and to represent things that will be beneficial going forward,” McAuliffe said.

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The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

News The Escalation of the Escalator Crisis

By CHLOE TERESTCHENKO and EVELYN MA, with additional reporting by HANAH JUN

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and NASA

WORLDBEAT

The longest government shutdown in American history, which began on December 22, ended on Friday, January 25. President Donald Trump signed a stopgap spending bill to reopen the federal government for three weeks until February 15 and to restore pay to the 800,000 federal workers who have been without pay for 35 days. However, Trump announced that if Republicans and Democrats cannot reach an agreement on wall money by February 15, he planned on renewing the confrontation or declaring a national emergency.

President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, after being subpoenaed last Thursday. The closed-door session will take place on February 12. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison last month and will begin his sentence on March 6.

President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was postponed from the planned Tuesday, January 29th due to the partial government shutdown. Trump and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi are now working to reschedule the address once the government reopens.

Venezuela’s military announced its support for the country’s controversial president Nicolas Maduro on Thursday. This news comes just days after Juan Guaido, the National assembly’s leader, declared himself the rightful interim president with support from the U.S. and many other Latin American nations. Tensions are on the rise in Venezuela’s streets, with mass protests from both groups.

The U.S. is considering appointing either former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi or Goldman Sachs executive Dina Powell to become the next president of the World Bank. If Nooyi or Powell is selected, the international institution will see its first female president.

The Trump administration announced on Thursday, January 24, that it will begin blocking asylum seekers from entering the United States from Mexico. This policy was first proposed by Kirstjen Nielsen, the Homeland Security Secretary, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Stargazers witnessed a Super Blood Wolf Moon on Sunday, January 20th, the last total lunar eclipse of the decade.

Super Bowl LIII will feature the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes Benz Stadium on February 3rd.

Naomi Osaka, the reigning United States Open champion from Japan, is the first Asian tennis player to hold the number one spot in either men’s or women’s tennis after her Australian Open win against Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon titlist from the Czech Republic.

Juventus won the Italian Supercoppa for the seventh year in a row, beating Milan 1 - 0 thanks to a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo.

On September 13, a step on the four-to-two escalator popped out, causing the escalator to speed up and partially collapse.

Ten students were injured as a result of this accident. All of the escalators in Stuyvesant were temporarily shut down, and students were let out of classes at the warning bell to accommodate for the increased travel time between classes. This incident has led to further concerns about the escalators, which were eventually closed down for repair.

For almost two weeks after the September incident, the escalators were closed while two independent contractors inspected them. After the initial inspection, all of the escalators were reopened, with the exception of the two-to-four and four-to-two escalators. However, in December, an unannounced inspection was done on all of the escalators by the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), and tiny chips were discovered underneath the steps of the escalators.

The DOB concluded that every step with any chips needed to be replaced before the escalators were allowed to operate again.

All of the new steps arrived over the holiday break, but the installment was postponed due to the delayed arrival of the external company responsible for making the repairs. Though all the even-numbered escalators are still awaiting repair, the odd-numbered escalators are now open for use. “The ones that are now opened have been inspected by the DOB,” Principal Eric Contreras said.

Unlike the other escalators, however, the four-to-two and two-to-four escalators will be shut off until further notice.

Even though only one side of the escalator malfunctioned, the entire escalator unit has to be replaced. An escalator replacement is a much larger task than replacing escalator steps and cannot occur until a school break when students are not in the building for an extended period of time.

“My guess would be that summer break is the break that’s long enough to do [the replacement] because they would have to barricade the entire area and put in a new escalator,” Contreras said.

The escalator repairs are not being funded through Stuyves-

ant’s budget but by the School Construction Authority, an agency managed by the NYC Department of Education (DOE). “My understanding is that it’s not from the school budget for when they build new schools or when they do major projects in buildings that are necessary,” Contreras said. “I would imagine that the escalators are significantly more than any school budget annually and they come from the capital improvement projects, which is from the School Construction Authority.”

Even before these issues arose, the escalators were in poor condition. “These are considered extremely archaic, and you can definitely tell that they’re old just by seeing how often they break,” Student Union President William Wang said. Oftentimes, certain escalators have stopped functioning midday. Despite this, the escalators did not seem to have any major issues.

Before the incident in September, the escalators were being inspected regularly. “The Division of School Facilities (DSF) have [monthly checks].

Formal checks are done annually by the DOB, so there are checks and balances between the two agencies,” Contreras said.

He expects this inspection cycle to be kept the same even after the incident. “I believe they’ll maintain their regular inspection cycle: one monthly on the DSF and then yearly on the DOB,” Contreras said.

Because the inspection was unannounced, both Contreras and the Student Union (SU) have limited information regarding the escalators. “We’ve refrained from sending out an actual email about the escalators because we were actually kept away from information, so we can’t explain in a detailed matter how the escalators broke or when [they] will be back up,” Wang said.

In addition to a lack of information, social media also contributed to the communication difficulties between the SU and the student body regarding the escalators. “Some students, especially on Facebook, stated that all of the escalators could be shut down for the entire school year. That is just not true […]. We’ve been trying to keep things civil, especially with social media comments, but rumors spread and we can only try so hard to stop them,” Wang said.

When all the escalators were under maintenance, traffic in the staircases significantly increased. “The stairs are a huge

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problem when getting to class because they are jam-packed with kids every single period,” sophomore Rafael Chociej said.

Though many students were able to adjust to this change, Stuyvesant is not meant to be navigated solely by walking up flights of staircases. Contreras addressed that unlike most schools, which are short and wide, Stuyvesant’s building is tall and narrow. Thus, the building has space for only three staircases, making it difficult for the 3,600 students and staff to maneuver.

Contreras considered several solutions, including a modified bell schedule for students to be able to get to class on time. However, a modified bell schedule was Contreras’s last resort as it would have resulted in a loss of instructional time. “A modified schedule […] could [mean losing] one more question on an exam or one more topic that is important for the end-of-theyear assessment, be it an AP, a Regents, a unit,” Contreras said.

For many, taking the stairs has been an inconvenience, but several students feel that having to take the stairs to class proved to be beneficial to them. Sophomore Michelangelo Pagan revealed that his attendance has improved due to the escalators being under maintenance. “Ever since the escalators have been [under] maintenance, I’ve been getting to class on time in comparison to when they weren’t. For example, I have to go from the fourth floor to the 10th floor to get to European Literature. Normally I would get there one to two minutes late, but now I focus on getting there on time,” Pagan said.

Looking ahead, Contreras hopes to provide a long-term solution to the constant issue of broken escalators. The escalators have been around since before 1992, and in the long run, they may not be adequate for use.

“In the long term, these new steps don’t resolve the ongoing repair issues,” Contreras said.

Contreras believes that a complete replacement of all of the escalators may be a better investment than just fixing the steps.

Contreras recently put forward a formal request to the School Construction Authority for a full replacement of escalators. “We’re going to advocate for completely new escalators as capital improvement.

I am working on all fronts to resolve this both short-term and long-term,” Contreras said.

The Spectator â—? January 29, 2019

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The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

News Student Union Financial Report: Winter 2019

By MADDY ANDERSEN and ERIN LEE “It’s a common but understandable sentiment that the SU [Student Union] doesn’t do anything. Hopefully, this budget report will show not only are we not corrupt, but actually how much we are trying to do our best to pour into student life,” senior and SU Chief Financial Officer of Compliance, Safety, and Security Dylan Kim said.

The SU has released a finance report summarizing the beginning balance, yearly allocations, yearly revenue, and yearly profit for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years. It also traces the distribution of funds to fundraising events and items such as clubs, dances, SU products, and Big Sib program expenses. This report is part of the SU’s push for greater transparency and communication with the student body. “As they say, talk is cheap, so here are the numbers to show that we are actually doing our very best to ensure that students can have access to the wide array of extracurriculars available at Stuyvesant,” Kim said.

FINANCIAL REPORT by WILLIAM WANG (Student Union President), VISHWAA SOFAT (Student Union Vice President), and DYLAN KIM (Chief Financial Officer of Compliance, Security and Safety)

Yearly Beginning Balance

Yearly Allocation

What are yearly allocations?

Yearly allocations are the processes by which clubs can request funding from the SU. Starting this year, allocations will be held twice a year, once every semester.

Do unused allocations carry over from one year to the next?

What is the Yearly Beginning Balance? What does the SU do with this balance?

The Yearly Beginning Balance is the amount of money that the SU starts off with at the beginning of every year. The SU uses this balance to determine their Club Pub allocations, SING! allocations, Caucus event allocations, and any other expenditures for the year. As of right now, the SU Yearly Beginning Balance supports an emergency cushion, which allows the SU to continue all of its operations even if it raised no revenue.

Why does the Yearly Beginning Balance change from year to year?

The Yearly Beginning Balance changes from year to year depending on the expenditures and profitability of events from the previous year. Generally, the value between years should only have slight variances, but it is highly dependent on the budgeting decisions made by the previous year’s administration.

Yearly Revenue

How does the SU make its revenue?

The SU’s revenue mostly comes from SING!. Other revenue streams include apparel sales, BooGrams!, and Caucus events such as bake sales, movie nights, and dances. The difference in revenue year to year depends on the success of Caucus events and different initiatives started under each administration.

Club Pub Allocations How does the SU determine the amount of allocations for clubs, publications, and activities?

The overall cap for allocations is determined by the SU’s Budget Committee and varies depending on the Yearly Beginning Balance, number of chartered organizations, and amount of money requested by these organizations. For individual allocations, the SU takes into account the organization’s size, purpose of the request, length of its existence, and whether the organization is receiving funds from the Parents’ Association. However, the allocations are not a direct reflection of the worth of each club to Stuyvesant.

The remaining balances for all clubs are rolled over. They have the right to ask for their previous year’s balance to be rolled over if it didn’t.

Allocations

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

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News Dances Allocations

SING! Expenses

How are the SU and Caucus event allocations determined? How are ticket prices for events determined?

The SU follows the Cost Revenue Analysis (CRA) model to determine allocations and ticket prices. Caucuses make itemized budgets, with projected sales on a range of ticket prices. The SU Chief Finance Officer of Revenue Building and the SU Chief Finance Officer of Compliance, Safety, and Security both review the CRAs and approve the expenditure based on past results.

The ticket prices are determined by past records of sales, taking into consideration both student affordability and SU profitability.

Big Sib Program Allocation

SING! Profits

Why does the Big Sib program get funding?

The Big Sibs are an important organization within the Stuyvesant community. The SU has funded the Big Sib dances and open houses every year to help the organization continue their operations. In the past, the SU has also paid for ARISTA T-shirts and events, such as the ARISTA induction ceremony. **Before the 2016-2017 year, Big Sibs was treated as a part of Clubs/Pubs.

SU Products Allocations What are SU Products?

SU products are miscellaneous items that are used to support the SU’s operations as well as schoolwide events.

For example, pizza for the blood drives throughout the year and the apparel sold earlier this year would be deemed SU products. These products are considered expenses mandatory in keeping the SU and other organizations throughout the school running smoothly.

SING! Allocations What are SING! allocations? Why have the allocations varied over the years?

Each SING! was given a base of $1200 in 2017-2018, which was $300 less than the amount in 20162017. This base helps each SING! cover production-specific expenses.

The most notable difference is the large increase in SING! allocations between 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. This increase is due to the SU paying the Galaxy Budget of $25,000, which covers the salaries of faculty advisors who aid in the production of SING!. While the Galaxy Budget was funded in conjunction with the Alumni Association in 2017, the SU had to pay for this expense the following year. The Student Union expects to pay for the Galaxy Budget for 2018-2019.

SING! Revenue

What are SING! expenses?

SING! expenses are the amount of money spent on SING!.

SING! expenditure can be split into two types: productionspecific and general. The general expenditure includes the Galaxy Budget, DVD production, technical tools, apparel, playbills, and concessions. The production-specific expenses are mainly reimbursements for expenses such as costumes.

How does the SU ensure that all SING! expenses are efficiently managed?

The SU follows a very strict system for any SING! expenditures and reimbursements to make sure all money is being appropriately spent. Students must fill out a pre-approval form before they purchase something for any production.

After the form has been signed by a faculty advisor, the student may purchase the item. Once the item is purchased, the student fills out the staple form with the actual receipt. Upon the advisor’s approval, the Budget Directors assigned to that SING! will then fill out the Request for Expenditure form so that the student can be reimbursed.

How do allocations and expenses differ?

Ultimately, expenses are taken out of the allocations. The allocations are the amount of money given by the SU to fund SING!, Caucus events, and Club Pubs.

What is SING! revenue? How does the SU make profit from SING!?

SING! revenue is the turnover the SU receives for holding SING!. SING! revenue is derived from ticketing and apparel sales. SING! revenue also comes from dues paid by each participant. However, the dues are always spent on materials needed to produce each SING!. Last year, the revenue increased because of the rise in SING! dues, which will most likely stay the same or slowly increase.

Profit from SING! is the difference between the revenue and expenses. The SU incorporates this profit for other projects and for their safety net in case of financial emergency or urgent need for money.

Why did the SING! profit decrease heavily from 20162017 to 2017-2018?

The profits decreased because the administration does not pay for faculty fees, or the Galaxy Budget of $25,000 for advisor salaries. This expense is taken out of the SING! revenue; however, in the past, the SU has received aid from the Alumni Association to cover this expense.

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The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Features A Million Different Ways to Be Asian

By AMY HUANG

Courtesy of Gladys Chen ‘91

What does it mean for something to be considered Asian American literature? What does it mean to be Asian American?

Open-ended questions like these are central themes in the Asian American Literature course, an elective for upperclassmen that juniors can take to replace a semester of core American Literature. English teacher Sophie Oberfield started teaching the class in the fall of 2012 in addition to core American literature. Before then, Asian American Literature had been exclusively a senior elective.

“There were a lot of books in it that weren’t available for other classes, but no one was teaching it. I took ‘Woman Warrior’ and ‘Interpreter of Maladies,’ and I did them in a book club kind of way,” Oberfield explained.

The inspiration to start the elective came from taking a course called Asian American Literature Theory at Hunter College during Oberfield’s sabbatical in the spring of 2012. “I’m not Asian American, but that didn’t feel like a reason to not do it,” Oberfield said. “I’ve been interested in identity, race, and gender, and when you divide up literature by the ethnicity or race of the writer, you get all kinds of books. It felt like a broad field, as broad as American literature.”

That same fall, Oberfield taught the elective for the first time.

The class is primarily composed of Asian students, many of whom entered with preconceived notions about the elective and the culture of Asian Americans itself. Shaped by what we see (e.g. the prominent population of East Asians in Stuyvesant, the memes in the Facebook group “subtle asian traits” that are familiar to mainly Chinese and Korean members), we associate the term “Asian” with a ready image of East Asians. In fact, because of the way we catego-

that because the term “Asian” in our modern world does not take into account people from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc., I would not feel comfortable in a class called Asian American Literature. However, the welcoming atmosphere Ms. Oberfield created and the goals she set for the course eased my worries. I quickly learned that we would be talking about the entirety of Asia and would be reading works written not only by people of East Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian and Southeast Asian descent, but also from people who merely lived in those countries.”

Seniors Afia Anjum and Anna Yuan both took the elective during the fall term of their junior year. Their experiences, shared through e-mail, mirrored Bandyopadhyay’s. “I thought that Asian American Literature would only focus on the experiences of East Asians, and South Asians would be forgotten again, but Ms. Oberfield introduced me to many South Asian American authors and I follow some of them today,” Anjum said.

Where South Asian students discovered authors of their own cultures, East Asian students got the chance to learn about those cultures in the form of literature.

“I expected most of the books to be written by East Asian authors but was actually exposed to more that were from South Asia, and it was an eye opening experience,” Yuan said. “The books informed me of things that I [wasn’t] aware of [in] other cultures and my own.”

The class also welcomes nonAsians. Senior Malcolm Hubbell said in an e-mail interview, “I decided to take the class simply because it sounded more interesting and different than the standard junior year English class. [...] [Ms. Oberfield] would always give students, especially Asian students, opportunities to share their personal experiences about the texts we read since she

“Native Speaker” by Chang-rae Lee. Students read “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston and “M. Butterfly” by David Henry Hwang in both semesters. The reading list includes other forms of literature, including poems, essays, and plays. The class explores themes and questions: How is identity produced?

What does it mean to be Asian in America?. These questions encourage students to relate their own experiences to the stories they read.

Through presenting a variety of works, Oberfield challenges the misconception that literature written by Asian American authors is specialized or reserved for the Asian community whereas there is a notion that literature written by white authors is universal and neutral. “There are some theoretical issues around literature written by minority authors [that are] assumed to be [...] autobiographical in a way,” Oberfield explained.

Hubbell agreed and said, “There might be a misconception that Asian American literature is all the same/similar. By that, I

“What I want them to take away from this class is that there are a million different ways to be Asian, and that they can make art.”

—Sophie Oberfield, English teacher

rize and exclude certain groups of Asians, some students enter the class expecting the literature to be only about East Asians, troubled that South Asians will be unrepresented. The students find, though, that the class explores literature produced by more than just one, two, or three types of Asians. They learn that there are a million different ways to be Asian.

“I remember having pretty mixed feelings about the course when I saw it on my schedule since I had never signed up for it. However, any thoughts I had about transferring to another course flew out of my mind when I walked into class during ninth period,” senior Suity Bandyopadhyay said in an e-mail interview. “I was originally worried

did not really have that perspective. The books, poems, and articles we read were very diverse, both in style and subject matter, giving us a chance to explore as much of Asian American literature as is possible in just a single semester.”

Oberfield aims to accomplish exactly all this. “I want them to feel like there’s a lot of work out there that they can see themselves in and that Asian American literature is for everyone and has every kind of experience,” she said. Students read contemporary novels, short stories, nonfiction, poetry, and drama written in English by Americans of East Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian descent. In the fall, they read “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri. In the spring, they read

mean that some people might believe that if a book is written by an Asian American person, it will automatically include narratives about adjusting to American culture or a story about immigration.”

“People come to the class sometimes with the misunderstanding that it’s going to be Asian text in translation or that it’s all going to be about the suffering of immigrants,” Oberfield added. “A lot of Asian American fiction centers on a protagonist living somewhere that’s not New York and [being] the only Asian kid in their class, and that’s not the experience of Stuyvesant students. Some people came here four years ago and some people are third-generation. I try to reflect as wide a variety of experi-

ences as I can.”

As a result, her students have the opportunity to identify with the protagonists and the cultural elements. For example, in “The Woman Warrior,” Kingston translates names instead of transliterating them, which is to write a word using the closest corresponding letters of a different language or alphabet. “[There are] the kids in the class who know [and] can see things in there that other kids can’t. I love watching them have that experience, and they see more in it than I can,” Oberfield said.

And the sense of forming esoteric connections to a book exists not only within character names, but also in the details that are accurately portrayed by the author’s own experiences. Anjum and Bandyopadhyay both chose “The Namesake” as their favorite novel. Written by Lahiri, who is of South Asian descent, it incorporates elements that are reminiscent of home. Junior Aria Zaman described, “My favorite part about it is how real it was. Even down to the foods, it talks about how the mother tries so hard to get this one flavor right, just how it is made in her home country.

That detail, and the fact that my mom does the same thing, made me so much more attached to the book. I have emotional connections to these characters that I’ve never felt before.”

It’s rewarding to Oberfield that both Asians and non-Asians can enjoy the class. Anjum wrote, “I enjoyed being able to finally read stories [and] problems I could relate to.” Yuan mentioned that she learned more about her own culture. She shared the sentiments of many Asians who were born in America who lost contact with their cultures because they are immersed in America’s melting pot community, and who, perhaps along the way, grew ashamed of being Asian. This partly stems from their not being exposed to Asian characters in literature and other mediums. Oberfield went to an Asian American Literature festival, run by the Smithsonian’s Asian Pacific American Center, and listened to a panel of children’s book authors who spoke of their experiences growing up without ever being represented in children’s books.

“I think it’s damaging to not read books you don’t see yourself in, in some way. I think [for] American literature, the canon was sort of built around venerating a lot of white, male authors.

There are a lot of wonderful

things that they have written, but I think to not get to read something that you see yourself in is harmful,” Oberfield said.

Indeed, it has sheltered students from expressing their cultures that make up a large part of their identities in personal narratives. A major part of the elective is the playwriting unit, which offers students the chance to write about their experiences freely.

The final assignment is to write a one-minute play. For non-Asian students, they have to include an Asian American character; Asian students were not required to.

The most exciting part of this unit is that students also have the opportunity to experience their stories as live performances and to view theater as a way to bridge literature and art.

Oberfield’s background interest is in theater, which explains her partnership with Second Generation Productions (2g), a theater company. 2g is dedicated to creating contemporary Asian American theater, co-producing world premieres of new Asian American plays, and bringing Asian American stories to the world stage. Oberfield partnered with 2g’s artistic director Victor Maog, and its president Gladys Chen (‘91) in the spring of 2015 to bring in professional actors to act out selected scripts written by students.

“The Asian American artists whom I have reached out to are so excited about the connections they make with my students,” Oberfield said. “I think of myself as an extension cord of sorts, as an ally. I like to connect these playwrights, these novelists, these poets, to kids who are very excited to consume their work.”

The company has performed students’ plays for the past four years and returned for their eighth performance on Monday, January 7, 2019. The performances that were held after school began at 4:00 p.m. Each of the 10 professional actors rotated roles as they acted out eight plays. It was an incredibly riveting experience; the actors went all out, clear that they had prepared extensively. They adopted French accents for “Le Scandale” by junior Susan Mai, acted as a dysfunctional couple, vocalized sound effects, and even played an inanimate object for “The Flower” by junior Peter Lin. The plays themselves were diverse and explored a range of topics, from the lighthearted, hucontinued on page 7

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 7

Features A Million Different Ways to Be Asian continued from page 6

morous ones like the two aforementioned plays, to the more serious ones that often involved confrontation, such as “You’re Excused” and “Helpless Ignorance” by juniors Jayati Mondal and Harshita Singh, respectively.

Seeing their characters come to life in addition to writing about their stories is an altogether rewarding experience for the students. In our everyday experiences, from the morning commute to dinner at the table, the people who surround us and the conversations we hold are the characters and dialogue that compose our individual stories.

Junior Nicholas Jun was one of the playwrights whose play, “Unexpected Pleasures,” was selected by the actors. Jun’s story was based on a real event, featuring his father’s experiences back in their old hometown in Omaha, Nebraska. “An American journalist for the Omaha World Herald was intrigued [by] my father when he heard him sing-

ing American tunes while cooking in a Japanese restaurant,” Jun described in an e-mail interview.

“The play goes on to reveal my dad’s story of coming to America and his ambitions.” The journalist published his article in the Omaha World Herald.

Zaman, the writer of “The Secret Confessions of an Asian American Family,” shared her experiences as we walked to the station after the festival. Her play is about a Bangladeshi family that wakes up after a car accident to discover themselves in heaven. The conflict of the play is in the confessions professed by each family member, from the daughter’s secret boyfriend to the son’s dream of becoming something other than a doctor. The humor lies in the fact that these are stereotypes of Asian culture, in which everyone is a doctor and dating is not permitted until they have a good job and three kids.

Zaman made the conscientious effort to include these stereotypes because she defines Asian American literature as having Asian elements. She talked

about Netflix’s “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,” (2018) in which an actress of Vietnamese descent plays a leading role. “A story about a random girl who turns out to look Asian; I don’t think that counts as Asian American literature,” she argued. “To [be] fair, though, other people say, ‘Well you can’t box people in. Asians should not be subjected to writing about Asian Americans.’ I’m saying, if you’re going to categorize something as Asian American literature, it has to have something Asian.”

Still, she acknowledges that the fact that an Asian actress was playing the lead role, compared to the stereotypical best friend or side character, is admirable. We’re certainly starting somewhere. “I think it’s getting there,” Zaman said. “We’re getting to the point where race doesn’t matter. It’s just a great movie.”

To Jun, Zaman, and all the other playwrights, the festival was a platform for voicing their thoughts on Asian American literature and culture. The professional actors also found the

experience rewarding. During the Q&A session, they shared that they could empathize with the plays and hoped that the students understand the impact of what they write and keep channeling that power. After all, they don’t normally interact with high schoolers, so these plays gave an insight as to what’s on our minds: the issues that haunt both high schoolers and adults and our sources of inspiration.

Oberfield hopes to have her students leave the class with a sense of awareness. “I want them to advocate for representation in whatever English class they take,” she said. “What I want them to take away from this class is that there are a million different ways to be Asian, and that they can make art.”

They can make art in every kind of medium, from theater, to photography, to literature.

“When people tell me to write a narrative, I just make up something that’s stereotypical, like [wanting] a treehouse and my parents [not buying] me one,” Zaman said. “The play I just

wrote [is] just so revolutionary because I’m finally writing something I know about. Stuyvesant’s been the first place where I’ve actually been more comfortable being who I am.”

The director of 2g, Vichet Chum, said something that resonated with me. “Representation matters,” he said. Worlds that were inaccessible to Asians before, like Hollywood, are now being populated by us. Outside of Oberfield’s elective, efforts are made by Asian Americans around the world to establish a strong foothold in the entertainment industry. Already, the earlier generations are paving roads for us to effect change, to produce children’s books with Asian characters, and to see ourselves on-screen.

It starts with awareness at an age that’s never too early or too late. As high schoolers, it’s our role to continue the legacy left behind by those generations as part of a larger movement. It’s amazing to live in the generation that gets to see it happen.

that if I didn’t get into a good school like Stuy, I would fail at life,” Buller said.

For Stuyvesant legacies, an important part of being part of a legacy is learning to make their own name for themselves. When there is a long line of students behind them, it is hard to go to school for themselves. Instead, there is a certain stigma associated with not being able to follow past footprints. “All I knew coming into Stuy was, ‘You have to go because it’s the best, and if you don’t go, you’ll be the only one in the family to not go,’” Ng said.

However, as daunting as following the line may be, family does not dictate the school experience.

Foo agreed and said, “ I think my main [piece] of advice would be to do things for yourself and not for others.”

Regardless of whether or not a student’s relatives forced the student into attending Stuyvesant, they played a part in their induction into the Stuyvesant

community, and for the most part, the students found this to be a rewarding decision. “Without Stuy, I don’t think I would have matured as much as an individual and learned as much as I have about myself,” Foo said.

“The friends you make and the teachers you meet [...] are all one of a kind. [Though] I don’t think Stuy is the school for everyone, it’s definitely rewarding if you’re not afraid of working hard and meeting both ups and downs in the process.”

The chain of Stuyvesant legacies has yet to come to an end, and it would seem that there are future generations to come. There will always be students who, encouraged by their parents or otherwise, attended the institution, had good experiences, and eventually encouraged their children to try out for the school. To her descendents, Buller advised, “I’d tell them, ‘It’s going to be a huge upgrade from your middle school, so embrace it.’

Stuy Legacies

By CHRISTINE CHANG and LOGAN RUZZIER Stuyvesant has always been a school of high merit. It demands a higher level of student, the type that can’t be satisfied by a less rigorous method of learning. Applying to Stuyvesant and making a bid to get in requires a student of high ambition. Sometimes, however, a pupil has the ability to succeed at a phenomenal level yet lacks the drive to nurture it. What will save these secretly gifted individuals from a life of wasted potential? Sometimes, it’s the support of a family member.

For some current Stuyvesant students, they are their family’s second or even third generation of Stuyvesant attendees. These students, called legacies, have parents or grandparents who have enrolled at the school before them. They have a history here, and for some, big shoes to fill in their four years.

Contrary to most students’

experiences, some legacies weren’t forced by their guardians to get into Stuyvesant. Instead, their relatives encouraged less stressful circumstances around which high school they should go to. Senior Jenna Foo said, “My dad went to Stuy so he thought it would be nice if I could follow in his footsteps, but I was never pressured into getting into Stuy.” Emma Buller, a freshman, echoed a similar thought, saying, “My parents didn’t want me to have a particular bias about what high school to go to. My mom would talk about [Stuyvesant], but there was no underlying message of ‘you have to go.’”

Why might past Stuyvesant attendees not encourage their heirs to get in, knowing the school’s merits well? Though Stuyvesant is at the highest tier of education for a New York City high school student, it comes at the price of a heavy workload and intensely difficult learning curve. It’s hard to know whether

Stuyvesant will be a good fit for someone. This is illustrated by Jacob Ng, who has multiple family members who have graduated from the school. His brothers told him, “Stuy[vesant] was an experience.”

The concept of being forced into making it into Stuyvesant does hold true at times, however.

If a family member has attended Stuyvesant and knows firsthand what a great school it is, he or she is more likely to ignore what the child wants and make sure the child gets into Stuyvesant. “I just knew that if I didn’t make it, I’d hear a lot from my brothers. To me, Stuy was like a tradition I was being forced into,” Ng recalled.

There is also the added pressure that is given to the students by themselves, who create high expectations because a family member attended Stuyvesant. “I pressure myself to do well [in] anything that I do, so I naturally did the same thing with high school applications. I thought

“I Failed” —Stuyvesant’s Toxic Fake Failure Culture

By CLARA SHAPIRO and SUAH CHUNG “I failed!” “I’m going to BMCC!” “I’m gonna die!” These phrases are staples of Stuyvesant jargon, often spoken by students upon receiving any letter in the grading alphabet other than A. While the NYC Department of Education defines failure as any grade below 59 percent, in a school brimming with overachievers, the hurdle of success is set at more ambitious heights.

The hyperbolic nature of Stuyvesant lingo makes the precise definition of failure unclear.

For some students, “failing” is synonymous with 85 percent, while other more lenient interpretations place failure at the level defined by the DOE. Though perceptions of failure vary from student to student, the entirety of the Stuyvesant population is familiar with the phrase “I failed”

in the context of fake failure (using the word “fail” to refer to grades ranging from the 60s to the 80s).

Sophomore Benjamin Soares said, “For me, anything below an 80 is what I’d be disappointed in for myself… I get kinda frustrated” by the feeling of disappointment that inevitably accompanies the failure to meet such high standards.

The rigor of Stuyvesant’s coursework and the intense competition have forced many students to revise their definitions of failure. Freshman Daniel Jang said, “When I first came to this school, I thought that a good grade was somewhere in the 90s, [a] so-so [grade was in] the 80s, and around the 70s was failure.”

After three and a half months at Stuyvesant, Jang places failure at somewhere in the 60s and passing in the 80s.

One of Jang’s peers, freshman

Francesca Nemati, proposed a definition of failure that eschews numerical standards and instead frames failure in the context of a student’s individual goals. “A 65 is technically failing,” she said.

“But if your goal was to get above a 60, then you didn’t fail. But if your goal is to get above an 80 and you don’t reach that goal, then you failed [in reaching] your goal so you have to work harder to accomplish it.”

The casual sprinkling of the word “fail” in Stuyvesant’s restricting and competitive atmosphere degrades hard work by artificially inflating the boundary of success. Sophomore Kaylee Lin feels the careless use of the word affects her emotional state daily, and said, “It makes me feel like my grade is worse.” Feeling put down by the expectations of her peers, Lin said that she hears their laments “every day, every time I take a test.”

The misuse of the word “fail” both taints a student’s view of his or her own achievement and generates a muddled, warped perception of peers’ academic performances. Junior Cosmo Coen said, “Most times people aren’t serious” when they say they failed, though to many, the joke of failure isn’t funny at all.

Lin added, “I don’t know how bad it really is because everyone says they’re failing but they’re not.” For any Stuyvesant student, it is difficult to keep up with your classes when the majority of your peers have unrealistic standards for failure. Surrounded by peers who call themselves failures, the confidence of many students falters.

Stuyvesant teachers also seem to indirectly affect the elevated failing standard. “Sometimes teachers would even downgrade students by only congratulating those who get the top scores and

expecting everyone else to be on the same level as them,” senior Sabrina Xiao said. Despite this perceived insensitivity, many teachers are well aware of the potency of the word “fail” at Stuy. “I hear these kinds of remarks fairly often in the course of walking the halls,” AP U.S. Government and Politics teacher Kerry Trainor said. But, he added that he rarely overhears students referring to grades above 65 as fails, an indication that the phrase “I failed” is not always used hyperbolically.

The definition of failure is not fixed, and numbers are incapable of defining the entirety of a person’s identity. As students struggle with the school’s competitive culture and intense academia, they must learn to take the pen from the all-dictating numbers and write the dictionaries that will define their academic identities themselves.

Page 8

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Features Introducing Stuyvesant’s New Clubs

By WEST GORMAN and CHLOE HUANG

Stuyvesant’s Self-Esteem Club Juniors Steve Wang and Maggie Xu were texting one day when they realized how much being at Stuyvesant had hurt their perception of themselves and their capabilities. “Since we’re constantly surrounded by incredibly smart and talented people, we always [feel] as though we aren’t quite good enough, and that really destroyed our self confidence,” Xu said. They weren’t the only ones who felt this way. In group chats with classmates and friends, Xu and Wang saw many other students struggle with low self-esteem even though they all thought highly of each other.

This, they realized, was a common theme among many Stuyvesant students. To help students combat low self-esteem, Xu and Wang decided to create a club that focused on the self-esteem aspect of mental health.

The two founded Stuyvesant’s Self-Esteem club in late November

to create a safe space for people to talk about self-esteem issues without any judgment. Their vision of the club was one of a laid-back peer support group where members could all share their feelings and relate to one another.

“We are planning on meeting every other Monday. During the meetings, main [focuses] will be sharing our concerns, asking for advice from peers who have experienced similar feelings, and finding ways to improve on the aspects that we don’t admire in ourselves without pushing ourselves down. And obviously, [we will be] focusing on learning to accept, if not love, the traits that we tend to dislike,” Xu commented.

A main thing that differentiates Stuyvesant’s Self-Esteem club from other mental health clubs at Stuyvesant (e.g. Stuy Limitless, Students Against Destructive Decisions) is that it focuses exclusively

on self-esteem. “This allows us to dive deeper into the topic and hopefully allow our members to fully understand self-esteem and how it plays into our lives,” Wang explained.

Xu added, “We knew that there were already many clubs that focused on mental health, which is amazing, and we wanted a club that focused specifically on selfesteem rather than themes such as depression.”

They believe Stuyvesant’s SelfEsteem club can be a valuable resource to every individual at Stuyvesant. “We want to make this club very welcoming and laid-back, and for anyone considering, I’d say to come to a meeting or two and see if it’s something you’d like to be a part of! It’s a chance to meet new people, many of whom may share concerns for things you’re stressing over, and we are also [a] very lowcommitment club, so [there’s] no

Stuyvesant Animal Association Juniors Vincent Huang, Penny Wang, Irene Chen, Weini Zhou, and Mung Yao Jia are the founders of Stuyvesant Animal Association.

The idea to start Stuyvesant Animal Association sparked in their heads in early November when they realized there weren’t many animals clubs at Stuy. Huang is a passionate dog lover, and Wang used to own a rabbit named Mochi who passed away. Other animal clubs focus on specific animals, while Stuyvesant Animal Association focuses on all animals.

The main goal of Stuyvesant Animal Association is to foster an animal-loving community at Stuyvesant. To achieve this, the founders plan on connecting members to volunteer opportunities at animal shelters or at different events for various charities and organizations.

Another activity Stuyvesant Animal Association will focus on is fundraising. Each month, members will choose a different animal and will focus on fundraising for that animal specifically. Huang plans for members to make merchandise geared toward chosen animals, such as pins and plushies, to sell near the second-floor scanners.

“We also want the club to feel like a family, so we want all the members to be close to each other,” Huang said. “That’s why we’re doing a lot of icebreakers like Secret Santa, and we’re putting sort of an animal spin on everything. But we just want the club to feel like a home. We’re just a very open club that connects people to volunteering with animals specifically rather than just community service, so that is pretty fun too.”

Huang hopes Stuyvesant Animal Association will be a comforting place where people can have fun and relax with friends while volunteering. Meetings are once or twice a month and usually take place on the third floor. Future outdoor meetings are also planned where members can have picnics and bring their pets.

On what he aspires for the club’s future, Huang said, “I really hope that this club lives on so that it has a legacy. I don’t want the club to just die out when leaders die out. I want it to continue on and be like this big thing at Stuy.”

the club because I kept thinking, ‘What if nobody comes to meetings,’ and ‘What if people don’t like it.’ But then we pushed ourselves to create it because we realized that our fear was only worsening our self-esteem issues, and that creating this club would be an excellent way to grow alongside other people and help each other become our best selves,” Wang shared.

“Personally, I wasn’t even sure if I was fit to lead this club, when the amount of respect and love I have for myself tends to be very low, but we decided to make this club as a way to learn to appreciate ourselves more while helping others who experience similar struggles [...],” Xu shared. “I’ve experienced pretty severe issues with depression and lack of self-esteem, so if this in any way can help anyone else that shares these issues, or even so much as find other friends who I can relate to, it’d be wonderful.”

Architecture Club

Mixed-Race Coalition Sophomore May Hathaway wasn’t sure what she wanted to do during her Stuyvesant career when she was still a freshman. She realized near the end of freshman year that she wanted to help other freshmen that also felt lost. “As a mixed person, when I was younger, I was kind of always stuck in between, so I wanted to create a space where a lot of mixed people could share their experiences,” Hathaway said.

Having an immigrant mother from China and a European father, Hathaway experienced a clashing of two different cultures and ideas.

Hathaway thinks that a significant problem is the lack of palpable attention regarding the mixed community. “[The Mixed-Race Coalition] is super important because I feel like we’re definitely underrepresented, especially in the media,” she said. “You see people call for diversity, and of course there is diversity, but you rarely see mixed people, mixed characters, mixed actors, anything like that.”

This is the only club at Stuyvesant that is focused exclusively on mixed experiences, which can help mixed people or anyone that feels stuck in between two worlds have a place where they can share their experiences.

The coalition is still a small club, but Hathaway hopes that more mixed people at Stuyvesant will attend meetings. The club meets on the third floor, usually on Wednesdays. “We talk a lot about experiences especially regarding race, and we’ve talked about different aspects, like language and being connected to your family in different cultures,” Hathaway explained. The Mixed-Race Coalition is a low-commitment club, and Hathaway insists that if anyone is thinking about attending meetings, they should definitely do so. The club is welcoming and is centered around discussion.

As for future aspirations, Hathaway wants more people to be aware of the Mixed-Race Coalition. “We want more members to join the conversation,” Hathaway said. “Because more experiences equals better discussions.”

harm in joining,” Xu commented.

For their club’s future, the main goal is to have steady members and foster a supportive, helpful, relaxing, and welcoming environment.

“I think we’re both happy with the club just being a very chill space for people to talk about their issues, but one of our dreams for the club would be to potentially bring guest speakers [and] professionals in to talk about self-esteem professionally,” Wang added.

Wang and Xu are also on journeys to better their own self-esteem. Both of them were willing to share their personal struggles with mental health and how they overcame those obstacles.

“I’ve struggled with many severe anxiety issues in the past and still do sometimes, and a large part of it was due to just not feeling good about myself, whether it be my appearance [or] grades. In fact.

I was very hesitant to even create

After waiting two months for seniors to continue last year’s Architecture club on Stuy Activities, sophomore Md Hoque decided to restart the club himself. Though Hoque has limited experience in architecture, it is something that interests him and a field he wants to pursue as a career. “I wanted to join the club from last year but I couldn’t as I said, so my drafting teacher told me to make the club because [the seniors] weren’t going to make it,” Hoque explained. He cited an issue with funding and Stuy Activities not accepting the old club’s rechartering as a reason for the seniors not being able to revive it.

As the president of Stuyvesant’s current Architecture club, Hoque had to first gather his three vice presidents: sophomores Nozima Nurullaeva, Mitchel Fogel, and Alisha Heng in order to successfully restart the club. The next step was to submit numerous essays answering questions Stuy Activities provided, with each person writing one essay. “Honestly, it wasn’t that bad, but there are three parts of the process and that is probably the most frustrating part: the fact that you have to wait such a long time just to get it actually approved,” Hoque commented.

Stuyvesant’s Architecture club began to have meetings every Thursday around the middle of October. Club members are divided into five or six teams with four members in each. “We broke it up into different teams because there [weren’t] enough materials from

last year left over, and we didn’t have any funding, so we might as well just work in teams and help each other grow as a team,” Hoque explained. All the teams work on building their own designs.

The planning and building process for a design is long because members first have to make orthographics, two-dimensional drawings of a three-dimensional object with several drawings to show additional views of the object. Next, members have to make an online sketch or a 3D version using SketchUp, a 3D modeling computer program. After that, members can finally start physically building. Hoque shares that his members have recently started the building process with many of his teams laying their materials and starting to create their foundations.

Many members focus on Greek and Roman architecture.

“They created a design for Greek architecture and they created one for Roman architecture. Since we don’t have enough materials, I told them to combine the two together to make a Greco-Roman [structure]. Some of them have started building domes and stuff. That is pretty cool,” Hoque shared about one team.

When his teams are finished, Hoque is planning on conducting a competition. Whichever team makes the best structure and wins the club competition will win a small prize, such as a gift card.

They will also be able to build their structure again to enter a competi-

tion outside of school that the club will sign up for. Hoque’s main objective for the future is for the club to start entering real competitions by the next semester.

“People might think that the Architecture club is very serious and that it’s meant to propel you forward and [is] just a hard, [rigorous] study,” Hoque stated. But he soon clarified that this is not the case. “We don’t really emphasize on strictness like, for example, the Robotics club; it’s like if you’re not that good and you don’t participate that often, you’ll most likely be kicked out or left on the side.

But we’re not like that. We basically emphasize on everyone working together, and if you don’t want to work together because it’s a very hard day for you, we let you leave early.” He describes the Architecture club as a chill environment and a safe, free zone where you can build whatever you want. His philosophy of leading his members is: “If you just want to build, go ahead,” he said. The only major commitment is to show up to a majority of meetings.

Many members of Stuyvesant’s Architecture club are motivated to come back to meetings and continue to contribute because of the fun they have. “That’s all I want, to be honest. If you have fun in building what you want, you might want to continue it. And if you don’t want to have fun doing it, you’re going to lose focus even if you’re good at it,” Hoque said.

Stuy FC “Stuy FC is a club that brings together all the soccer fans of Stuy, regardless of skill level,” sophomore Yousef Amin said. Amin, a passionate soccer fan and a member of the Peglegs, Stuyvesant’s boys’ soccer team, is the founder of Stuyvesant’s Football Club, or Stuy FC. P.E. teacher, Vincent Miller, is Stuy FC’s faculty advisor.

Amin was inspired to start Stuy FC after seeing many of his friends upset after not making the school’s soccer team. “I was like, ‘You know what, why don’t we just make this club? We’ll have a lot of fun [and] take some stress off our hands.’ It’s low-commitment. It’s a great club to be [in with a] great atmosphere to accommodate other people’s interest,” he said.

Weekly meetings, typically on Tuesdays or Fridays, either take place on Asphalt Greenfields, the soccer field next to Stuyvesant, or in rooms on the fourth floor. During meetings, Stuy FC members partake in recreational activities related to soccer including playing games, practicing drills, and watching soccer games (especially Champion Leagues on Tuesdays). Members also play soccer video game series and simulations such as the global soccer game association, FIFA, using Stuy FC’s consoles.

Amin encourages anyone with any interest in soccer to join Stuy FC. When asked what he would say to a prospective member, he responded, “I’d say go for it. If you’re a soccer fan, if you want to learn about soccer, if you want to be in a chill environment [and] take school off your hands because Stuy is very stressful, [or] if you want to just relax with some buddies, watch some soccer, play soccer, play some video games, it’s a great place to hangout.” On what he hopes for his club’s future, Amin said, “I hope someone takes over the presidency role, and I hope it’s big. I hope a lot of people have fun.”

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

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The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 10

Editorials STAFF EDITORIAL

O UTGOING

Closing Comments This is the final issue for the seniors on the Editorial Board.

Here are their departing pieces of wisdom.

Watwood - Go to gym.

- Do not tell your English teacher about your personal life. They are all huge gossips.

- Also, tell your English teacher absolutely everything about your personal life. They are even better listeners than the guidance counselors and give more relevant advice than your mom does.

- Do not get bangs.

- Do not get an undercut.

- Take calculus senior year.

- Sometimes you are a lesbian. It is okay to be a lesbian.

Jeremy Make the most of your four years. I know at times it seems like Stuy will last an eternity, but, trust me, it doesn’t. Before you know it, it’ll be all over. So all I can say is enjoy high school. It only comes once. Put yourself out there and meet wonderful people. Your friends will be there for you in your ups and downs. Personally, I love wandering around in the city—there is so much to do and see.

Take advantage of your unique situation of growing up in New York City, a place where the whole world is just a subway ride away.

Also, do what you’re passionate about. Don’t worry about how others perceive it because if you enjoy it, that’s all that matters. But, most importantly, take everything I say and everyone else says with a grain of salt. You all come to Stuy with a unique background and personality—don’t let others try to mold you into something you’re not. Listen to what others have to say, but at the same time, stay true to yourself and learn about the world through your own experiences. It’ll be a long four years until the finish line, but you will make it.

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

Michelle Stuyvesant freshmen usually walk into this school obsessing over grades and extracurriculars, spending hours after school attending tutoring sessions, sports practices, and SING! rehearsals. But don’t forget to prioritize family. When you go off to college, your parents will no longer be a part of your daily routine, nagging you to sleep earlier and forcing you to eat even when you’re not hungry. You’ll miss their comforting words of wisdom and Ting Ting fresh, home-cooked meals. They also pay for You’ve felt it. So have I. I can’t quite explain everything, so appreciate them before you be- when it happens, but with college getting come an adult. closer, I’m more conscious of when it does. As much as we’ve wanted to grow up, move on, Gaby move out, we’re saying goodbye to something The people in your life are a million times we thought we’d never miss—being kids. more important than your grades or college Saying hello to something new means saying application. You’ll be happier with yourself goodbye to something old and loved. As if you focus more on being a good person, much as we seniors are looking forward to a good friend, a good daughter or son, and college or work, to moving out and moving a good brother or sister, rather than just on, we are leaving a part of ourselves behind. focusing on being a good student. Caring Loss of childhood, even though you’re glad more about being sincere and kind will make to be growing up. A loss of security, a familiar us a better school. Also, learn to be fun. routine. The pattern of high school life. I’m Smuggle in a foosball table, raise money for going to actually miss high school, I think. a student break room. If there’s one thing I regret the most about high school, it was not Jonela having a place to play ping pong or make tea Trust your instincts—the rest will fall into during lunch. place.

Also, set stuff on fire.

Celina My biggest regret freshman year was Jane sticking to what felt comfortable. I was lucky Be brave when you do the right thing. because my entire friend group from middle Apologize when you do the wrong thing.

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

school was also going to attend Stuyvesant, but none of them were passionate about becoming involved in the school community.

In addition, none of them were in any of my classes. The train rides home felt especially lonely on the days I decided to stay for a club’s interest meeting or even for SING!.

Oftentimes, I was deterred from staying after school or attending a practice because I knew my friends wouldn’t be there. Looking back, I’m grateful that I did manage to pull through, but I also realize that it was completely their loss for not becoming engaged in our school sooner. Stuy has such a welcoming community full of brilliant minds. We’re not just kids who can do well on a standardized exam, we’re also motivated students who knew we would be facing the hardest classes we’ve ever took. Never feel like you have to follow what your friends are doing and don’t let anyone’s negativity get to you. Just keep moving forward and making mini goals for yourself and your future. Lastly, don’t forget to set aside time for you to have alone time.

School and socializing basically take up 90 percent of your time, so feel free to cancel plans or take the weekend off for yourself to cool off. Alone time is important for recharging!

Stacey Make the most of Stuyvesant’s resources!

There are many other high schools in the city that do not offer such diverse, abundant opportunities that help students’ well-being and success. I still remember that rush of excitement at my first Club Pub Fair as I watched so many upperclassmen promote their clubs in the most creative, spirited ways possible. With hundreds of diverse activities that are offered in this building, there is something for everyone. Don’t be afraid to try new things—you will never know if a club or team you shied away from joining could’ve been your talent, your passion, or your future career interest. In addition, definitely take advantage of the phenomenal support system at Stuyvesant. There are reliable students, staff, and organizations like SPARK that will always have the door open for you whenever you need help or just need someone to be there to listen.

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The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 11

Opinions Liability Rests With The Users

By ELENA HLAMENKO As children and young adults are introduced to the freedoms of technology, many experience immediate backlash from anonymous web surfers, propagating a toxic and harmful environment. Verbal taunts quickly turn into an influx of offensive, derogatory, and hurtful messages.

As a result, many schools and nonprofit organizations across the world have taken steps to combat the dangers of cyberbullying and excessive Internet usage.

But the dangers of the Internet have long since expanded to the adult world, manifesting themselves on a larger scale.

The Internet can now be used to perform countless illegal activities that have very severe consequences.

Yet cases arise that reflect both the difficulties the judicial system has in keeping up with the rapidly changing uses of the Internet and the abuses individuals can perpetrate in the ever-changing Internet.

After Matthew Herrick fell victim to stalking and harassment perpetrated by his ex-boyfriend, he filed multiple police reports and requested a restraining order against his harasser. Herrick’s ex had initially used the dating app

By MAYA DUNAYER

regularly monitored by nearly all social networking sites through filters, account removal, and userinitiated report features.

In order for Grindr to be directly responsible for any misuse of their services, it must be proven that damage done to the affected user was a result of Grindr’s knowledge and subsequent negligence on the issue. Yet Grindr has followed its policy of removing all impersonating profiles and blocking any users associated with the flagged activity from using their accounts. Pushing for a crackdown on Grindr’s policies would include potential efforts to filter sent messages, block VPNs (virtual private networks), and ban removed users from creating more profiles. In other words, a serious effort to limit the ability of Grindr-like platforms to regulate their user experience would go in direct violation of both digital privacy and the First Amendment.

There is no clear way to foresee how heavy the restrictions on speech would be if social media sites were to follow through with such reforms. Evidently, Section 230 of the CDA would not only be weakened, but it would also institute liability directly on the platform through which malicious content was spread. To avoid legal

punishment, companies would institute a series of filters that could restrict anything deemed offensive, whether that be curse words, spam, or controversial humor. Subsequently, this rollback could easily be manipulated to the company’s personal views, censoring publications they disagree with, banning “hate speech,” and allowing the spread of propaganda. In other words, the First Amendment would cease to apply in the digital world.

By letting companies have excessive jurisdiction of the regulation of their sites, one must consider what the face of the “new” social media platforms would look like. With online messages being constantly filtered and flagged users removed from the site entirely, the audiences of such sites would shrink exponentially. There is also no guarantee that censorship would stop at social media sites, as e-mail servers, blogs, and all online communication platforms would be susceptible to reform. It is thus crucial for the Communications Decency Act to remain intact and preserve the right of free speech.

Abuses of such freedoms are bound to occur and must be dealt with in the proper branch of government: the judicial system.

Herrick’s individual case serves

less as an example of an oversight on Grindr’s part. Rather, it is a failure by the judicial system to recognize his harassment claims.

Despite having 14 police reports against him and a requested restraining order, Herrick’s previous partner remained unquestioned by the police. The lack of inquiry over accusations of harassment and stalking can be attributed to the prevailing lack of accountability on social media.

Seeing how a screen can serve as a mask between the sender and recipient of a message, it becomes increasingly difficult to pinpoint the identity of an individual online. Many online services, including messaging platform WhatsApp, even offer encrypted messages that are impossible to trace back to the original sender.

Despite such setbacks, the judicial system must uphold and continue to reinforce its ban on harassment and stalking by launching a traditional investigation. This accounts for the victim’s personal conflicts and immediate suspects.

The shield of anonymity cannot allow for all perpetrators to be identified, but it is important for cases of online harassment to be recognized nonetheless and investigated to the fullest extent by the authorities.

Choosing Between The Chosen People

me and my family—that Trump was on our side. It demonstrated that he understood the importance of the history of the Jewish people and was willing to put the United States on the side of the Jewish people.

Another reason for Israeli approval of Trump is his decision to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal. In a 2018 speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that in February 2017, the Israeli government had “obtained over 100,000 documents and videos that had been stashed in vaults in an innocent-looking building in the heart of Tehran. This clearly indicated that Iran had been planning to build nuclear weapons.

Even after Israel reported these documents to the five permanent members of the Security Council, no action was taken to prevent the Iranian government from building nuclear weaponry. This caused the Israeli government to fear greatly for its security and push for the U.S. to withdraw from the deal.

When Trump made the decision to withdraw, he gained a lot of support from Israeli Jews.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, many American Jews view some of Trump’s comments as anti-Semitic and question his motives in his apparent alliance with the Israeli government. One controversial comment was his vague statement after the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville that culminated in the killing of a protestor on August 12, 2017. After the attack, Trump stated, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.” Many Americans felt that Trump insinuated that the actions of the neo-Nazis and protestors were morally equivalent—that he supported the rally. Another more recent instance of a questionable comment from Trump was his rhetoric after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh when he said that “If [the synagogue] had [sic] protection inside, the results would have been far better.” This was seen by many as extremely insensitive victim-blaming—in fact, over 35,000 people signed an open

Alisa Chen / The Spectator

It’s a typical day in Tel Aviv.

The weather is sunny and warm, the salty air is blowing, and the hustle and bustle of Israel’s commercial capital is as it always is. Then suddenly, a sound goes off, a terrifying sound that has become a common occurrence here. It’s the sound of the bomb siren, and instantly, the warm, inviting Tel Aviv that was there only a few moments before disappears.

People on the streets rush to the nearest bomb shelters. People in their homes run to the specially built room every Israeli house has. People in their cars get down on the road and cover their heads with their hands. The city is silent as everyone anguishes over where the bomb will land this time.

This is a daily reality for citizens of Israel and has been since Israel’s inception in 1948.

Israel has been working to fight these threats, but a tiny country surrounded by threats can only do so much. Israel has long relied on American aid to combat threats to their security. But now, when President Trump is taking action after action to help the Israeli, the divide between Israeli Jews and American Jews is growing ever wider. Though American Jews question the motives for Trump’s actions and view his comments as controversial, Trump’s actions speak for themselves and prove that he is indeed a great friend and supporter of Israel.

The general viewpoint of Israeli Jews is that President Trump is a valuable ally to Judaism and Israel. In fact, according to a 2018 Politico survey, 59 percent of Israelis support him. This has much to do with the Trump Administration’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Jerusalem has great historical significance to the Jewish people, as it is a Jewish capital and the location of the Western Wall.

The Western Wall is the only remaining portion of the Second Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in the Great Revolt of 70 CE. Moving the embassy from the commercial capital of Tel Aviv to the sacred city of Jerusalem showed a lot of Israelis—including

Grindr to send hundreds of men to Herrick’s workplace, resulting in multiple complaints made to both Grindr and the police. Dissatisfied with the police force and afraid of his ex-boyfriend, Herrick decided to a file a lawsuit against Grindr, arguing that the platform was inadequately regulated and created without thought for the damage it could cause. Rather than pursuing legal action, Herrick shifted his focus to the platform itself, claiming that Grindr (and thus all online networks) were products, not services. They should be thus held accountable for the damage they could create, much like tangible objects.

In his claims, Herrick attacked the tech industry’s unchecked power and control over the spread of their online content, as seen in recent Facebook and Youtube scandals. But Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996—originally meant to restrict pornographic content spread through the Internet— has been interpreted as a means of protection for such apps, deflecting accountability from the company to the individuals responsible for the acts. This is not to say that companies do not regulate their platforms; illegal, dangerous, and abusive content is

letter asking the president not to come to the memorial services because he had not denounced the white supremacy and antiSemitism which had motivated the attack.

However, Trump’s actions are much more important than his comments. Though it is true that his comments may come off as anti-Semitic or insensitive, they are in fact not, as evidenced by his constant action to improve the lives of Israelis and Jews worldwide.

Regarding his statement after the situation in Charlottesville, it is important to note that there was much violence on the opposite end of the political spectrum.

At the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, about 20 members of the alt-left organization known as the Redneck Revolt carried rifles and made a perimeter around Justice Park. According to Washington Post reporter Joe Heim, “Counter-protesters fought back...swinging sticks, punching, and spraying chemicals. Others threw balloons filled with paint or ink at the white nationalists.”

Though it may not have been the best statement to make at such a time of grieving and mourning for the victims of the attack, President Trump was correct that there was in fact violence on both sides.

As for his comment about the lack of protection at the Tree of Life Synagogue, though it may have been insensitive during a

period of mourning, he was not wrong. Personally, I feel much safer at my synagogue knowing that there are three fully armed police officers standing outside who check bags and even pat people down before they are allowed to enter the synagogue.

Security has drastically increased after the Pittsburgh attack, and I walked to my synagogue the Saturday after the attack to find seven police cars and 10 officers standing outside of it. Though extra security would perhaps not have been able to prevent the attack, there is a higher likelihood of an attack being thwarted with extra security outside.

American Jews simply do not understand the danger that Israeli Jews face every day. They do not understand what it is like being so connected to and living in a country that faces an existential threat. They don’t understand what it’s like to be talking to one’s grandmother over the phone and hearing the bomb alarm go off, leaving the phone line silent save for your anxious breathing. They don’t understand what it’s like to be sitting at the kitchen table and hearing your mother reading out the news of all the people who have been killed today or the day before, people who could have been any member of your family.

They don’t know what it is like to hear your parents talking about the gas masks that they used to

wear when hiding in the bomb shelters. And most of all, they don’t understand what it’s like to live with these threats every single day.

The Jewish people have disagreed in the past before, yet they have managed to remain united. And when they haven’t, such as during the Great Revolt of 70 C.E., the results have been disastrous. But if the fracture between the American and Israeli Jews becomes a chasm—if we can’t agree on something that will have an extremely large political effect on Israel—we will not be able to present a united front against the growing trend of anti-Semitism we are currently facing. It is of vital importance that the Israeli and American Jews recognize every ally that they have in this troubling time. President Trump is not anti-Semitic. After the shooting in Pittsburgh, he stated, “In the aftermath of that wicked assault, we reaffirmed [sic] our solemn duty to confront antiSemitism everywhere it occurs. We must stamp out this vile hatred from the world.” It is clear that President Trump means no harm to the Jewish people, and we must recognize his attempts to help our nation if we want to continue the Jewish traditions we have been passing down for thousands of years.

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 12

Opinions Is Independence Always the Answer?

By RAE JEONG President Xi Jinping delivered a speech proposing a comprehensive plan for Taiwan’s integration into China on January 2. He warns that “Taiwanese independence is a dead end” and that he would be willing to “fight the bloody battle against [his] enemies” so that “not a single inch of [China’s] land” would be lost. Most news outlets responded to President Xi Jinping’s speech by accusing him of eroding democracy. Supporting calls for independence in supposedly oppressed countries have become instinctual for Americans.

Promoting global liberty and democratic values has become so synonymous with the words “freedom” and “independence” that Americans often lend their support to seemingly democratic movements without considering their adverse effects. But the truth is that Taiwan’s unification with

China upholds American values of democracy and preserves the stability of the international order.

Taiwan, home to nearly 23 million people, is an island off the coast of China. It has been run, for the most part, independently since 1949 and operates under a democratic government which is supported by most western nations. However, political tension between Taiwan and China is on the rise as Taiwan’s sovereignty continues to be a point of contention. President Xi Jinping even threatens to eventually annex Taiwan if its government continues to oppose unification. According to a report by the Pentagon, “Beijing’s longstanding interest to eventually compel Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland has served as the primary driver for China’s military modernization. Beijing’s anticipation that foreign forces would intervene in a Taiwan scenario led them to develop a range of systems to deter and deny foreign regional force projection.” The report details that China has continued to increase its military capabilities, including the development of “advanced fighter aircraft, ships, missile systems, and space and cyberspace capabilities,” which threaten both Taiwan and any other country that would intervene. According to the Washington Post, Taiwan has, in turn, responded with large scale military drills of its own.

It seems that conflict is inevitable, especially if the U.S. were to intervene to support

Taiwanese independence. Over the past year, U.S.-China tensions have become increasingly frayed on the military and economic fronts.

President Trump’s administration has imposed tariff increases of up to 25 percent on $250 billion of Chinese imports over complaints that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technological property. President Xi Jinping has responded by imposing penalties on $110 billion of American goods—right now, the U.S. and China are in a trade war. Last year’s release of the U.S. National

military advantage around the world.

The truth of the matter is China poses no threat to Taiwan’s democracy. What people usually ignore is Beijing’s commitment to a “One Country, Two Systems” arrangement. President Xi Jinping’s speech promises that such a governmental system would respect Taiwanese people’s “private assets, religions, beliefs, and legitimate rights.” What this means is that while Taiwan will be a part of China, it will retain its governmental organization and democracy. The issue of

case, democracy will remain a priority—unification offers the bonus of avoiding trading issues with China as well as multilateral conflict.

Right now, the Chinese press is state-sponsored and heavily anti-democratic; the political repression in Taiwan leads to massive protest and political unrest. Agreeing to the “One Country, Two Systems” may be the only way of alleviating that.

If anything, the incorporation of democracy in China will be the true fulfillment of the idea that Taiwan is the United States’

Promoting global liberty and democratic values has become so synonymous that the words ‘freedom’ and ‘independence’ often lead us to lend our support to seemingly democratic movements without considering their adverse effects.

Defense Strategy only reinforces this narrative of deteriorating relations by emphasizing the importance of competition with China. According to American military analysts, China’s rapidly expanding armed forces and increasing international aggression threaten America’s

trusting China to carry this out isn’t as urgent as many may think—understand that with U.S. support, making sure that democracy is preserved wouldn’t be difficult. If China fails to do so, the U.S. can continue to back the Taiwanese separatists in order to preserve democracy. In either

“beacon of democracy” and will ultimately do just that: project democracy. Taiwan held its local elections on November 24, and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of President Tsai Ingcontinued on page 13

Ranked-Choice Voting Can Open the Door to Third Parties and Reinvigorate Democracy. The U.S. Should Implement it.

By JULIAN GIORDANO During the 2018 midterm elections, Maine’s second congressional district became the first district nationwide to implement ranked-choice voting in federal elections. This type of voting is used in countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Scotland, and Ireland, but the U.S. has been reluctant to use it over its traditional first-past-thepost system.

Ranked-choice voting—also known as instant-runoff voting— allows voters to rank candidates in an election on their ballots; if no candidate receives a majority of first choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the second choice votes of their supporters are distributed to the appropriate candidates.

This process is repeated until

one candidate reaches a majority.

A simple way of thinking about ranked-choice voting is as a series of separate elections during which one candidate is eliminated each time, except that all of the separate elections are condensed into one. Ranked-choice voting is more democratic than firstpast-the-post voting, a plurality system in which the candidate with the most votes wins the election.

First-past-the-post promotes a two-party system and encourages voters to vote for the candidate they dislike the least rather than for the candidate they want, which may be a marginal third-party candidate. Rankedchoice voting requires candidates to appeal to a larger part of the population and allows voters to support marginal third-party candidates without worrying that their vote won’t matter.

However, ranked-choice voting can be logistically complicated— especially when it comes to recounts, as it so happened in the Maine election.

Maine’s switch in voting systems was largely a response to Republican Governor Paul LePage, who was elected twice without a majority of the vote (he won with 37.6% percent of the vote in 2010 and 48.2 percent in 2014). Rankedchoice voting was supposed to ensure that the candidate elected would better reflect the will of the entire constituency. Though it has yet to be approved for use in the gubernatorial race, it

was used in the congressional midterm elections of 2018. In the first round of the election for House of Representatives, Republican incumbent Bruce Poliquin received approximately 2,000 more votes than Democrat Jared Golden, and they each had about 46 percent of the vote.

Yet as the rounds of the election continued, Golden pulled ahead, eventually reaching a majority with 3,500 more votes than Poliquin. Poliquin had protested that the election’s results were unconstitutional and argued that he should have won the election by having more votes in the first round. Poliquin even challenged the constitutionality of rankedchoice voting in federal court and called for a recount. Yet after the lawsuit was struck down on December 13, Poliquin ended his request for a recount—saving the state from what would have been a labor-intensive recount process that could have gone past January 3, the first day of session.

Though Poliquin and his Republican colleagues attempted to cast doubt on the rankedchoice voting system, the court ruling and recount withdrawal represent the potential that the novel system of voting has to spread around the nation. Seven states currently use ranked-choice voting in municipal elections, and Maine has set an example that may persuade others to follow suit.

If ranked-choice voting does get adopted, it has the

chance to drastically change the political landscape of America for the better. Not only would ranked-choice voting benefit third-party candidates and give them a more proportional share of the vote, but it would also solve the problem of people strategically voting against their own conscience for the purpose of a protest vote or supporting the candidate they deem the “lesser of two evils.” Another outcome of implementing ranked-choice voting would be a restructuring of the balance of power between Republican and Democratic candidates. While our current voting system gives advantages to candidates with the support of a few key states (and not the entirety of the nation), candidates under a ranked-choice system would have to appeal to the broader electorate. This could prove to be the downfall of the divisive politics of candidates like Donald Trump. Politicians appealing to a wider set of issues and moderates would be more likely to be ranked the second and third choice on many independent candidates’ ballots, giving them leverage over incendiary candidates. However, the flip-side to this is that rankedchoice voting could promote radical populist candidates, though these candidates don’t make up a significant portion of current third parties.

If ranked-choice voting is used in the 2020 presidential election, it could push a moderate, centrist, broadly appealing Democrat into

office. In Congressional and other local elections, ranked-choice voting could propel grassroots politicians into power and strike at institutional candidates in the same way that they did in Maine’s second Congressional District this year. But if ranked-choice elections were to further exist, they would slowly chip away at the two-party system and open up elections to include candidates at different gray areas on the political spectrum—ranging from radical liberals to moderates to radical conservatives. Candidates appealing to the broadest electorate would increasingly be populist, and this could potentially give strength to extremist parties that would otherwise be absent in a twoparty system.

Nevertheless, the opportunities rankedchoice voting represents—a more democratically elected government with greater weight in the voices of marginalized parties—far outway its potential costs. In the long run, were the U.S. to transition to national ranked-choice voting, the impacts would extend beyond mere political party restructurings and open up civil discourse, promote a diverse range of policies and opinions, and expand upon and solidify the republican ideals of the U.S.

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 13

Opinions Is Independence Always the Answer? continued from page 12

wen lost a number of seats while the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) received an uptick in votes and seats at multiple levels of government. According to analysts in the Brookings Institute as well as the Washington Post, “it should serve as a reminder to folks on the mainland that their worst fears about Taiwan being a very progressive and kind of antiChina electorate are not justified.”

Most importantly, Taiwan’s elections demonstrate a robust and stable multiparty democracy.

The results show both flexibility as well as durability. When considering unification with mainland China, we can rely on the strong democratic sentiment of the Taiwanese people as well as their flexibility in regards to more

conservative views.

In addition, the current political environment restricts Taiwan from any major participation in international affairs. After participating for eight straight years in the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Taiwan has suddenly been left out. In a recent event, in fact, which occurred at the recent opening ceremony of the Kimberley Process Conference in Perth, Australia, a Chinese delegation seized the microphone and loudly protested the presence of a Taiwanese delegation in the room. Despite protests from Australian officials, the Taiwanese delegation was still forced to leave the conference. This is a direct result of the “One China” policy. Despite the presence of two governments—the People’s Republic of China (mainland China) and the Republic of

China (Taiwan)—neither is willing to say that there are two Chinas. Both parties forbid the international community from referring to the country as a singular country despite housing two different governments and essentially autonomous states.

As a result, the international community is forced to choose one of the two parties. Since 1972, when the United Nations seated the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the government representing China, Taiwan’s participation was dampened.

For 48 years, Taiwan has been excluded from all UN affairs.

The Brooking Institute finds that the unification of the two countries, especially under the One China Two Systems proposal, is the only way that Taiwan can reassert itself into international affairs. After all, it’s because of Taiwan’s push for

independence that its recognition was restricted in the first place.

The Brookings Institute outlines that the proposal of “One Country, Two Systems” was aimed toward Chinese leaders’ Taiwanese counterparts, leaders of the Nationalist Kuomintang party—the party that is now most prevalent in Taiwan as of the November election. They were Chinese nationalists who actually favored ultimate unification and had moved to the island in 1949.

However, this unification would come by their own terms, with those terms being a commitment to democracy. China’s proposal of “One Country, Two Systems” was designed to meet these terms. Following unification, China’s complete exclusion of Taiwan from international affairs would no longer be necessary given that the exclusion itself was based on the principle

that only one China could be represented despite there being two Chinas. A unified China is the only avenue through which the Republic of China (Taiwan) can be heard internationally. On the other hand, the result of an overt push for political and legal independence will be immediate military conflict followed by continued Chinese aggression and political turmoil around the world.

The importance of Taiwanese incorporation into China is indisputable. Unification with China will end the political and military oppression of the people of Taiwan, open it up to participation in international affairs, and ultimately project democratic values across the world.

Teaching l’Arabe

By ANNE RHEE Twelve people were killed in an Islamist terrorist attack in the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo—a satirical newspaper—on January 7, 2015. Provocative and secular, the newspaper has a long history of mocking Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and other religions, and it has often been legally targeted for its published subject matter.

In response to the attack, France intensified security and, among other measures, instituted new classes dedicated to civic education. Focusing on the values of liberty, equality, and fraternity, the classes also emphasize secularism, teaching French students the values of community and republicanism.

The four main objectives of these classes include Sensitivity (acting in accordance with others’ feelings), Social Responsibility (learning how to become more active in society), Rules and Rights (understanding the French government’s legal framework and how to follow it), and Critical Thinking (the ability to make informed choices). Their intentions are emblematic of the entire French curriculum, which is grounded in moral responsibility and willingness to dedicate oneself to one’s society.

However, an announcement from the French Education Ministry last year has generated debate over what secularization of education should comprise of and how it should be defined; the Ministry announced that it would be instituting Arabic classes in the public education system. Many see Arabic, the

most commonly spoken foreign language in France, as a widely useful language and believe that making it available for primary school students would bring students countless future opportunities. Currently, the majority of the large French Muslim minority sends their children to institutions outside of school, such as mosques or other academic institutions, to learn Arabic; if the availability of Arabic in public education increased, it would be convenient for them and encourage their children to learn Arabic, a way of connecting future generations to their cultural roots.

Yet an array of skeptical c o u n t e r arguments have delayed this plan from becoming concrete. Those on France’s political right see the Ministry’s move as a form of “Islamization,” as Arabic has historically been taught alongside the Qur’an, in contrast to France’s prioritization of secular education over the past two centuries.

Others also remain reluctant on the grounds that France has prided itself in shaping a French national identity that overrides ethnic heritage and ancestry. In these critics’ view, Arabic classes would divert students from being able to form a French identity.

Some also criticize the true nature of the Ministry’s intentions in the proposal, questioning whether they prioritize the proposal’s educational aspects or the political aspects. Though education is political, the French education system is still a system used for educating French students. This means its educational benefits should still be prioritized over the political, as in the end, the proposal is for educating students.

Though only a small step in bridging the gap between France’s

Muslim minority and the rest of the country, implementing mainstream Arabic classes is key to bringing depth into students’ perspectives toward society and republican values. While the Ministry’s proposal leaves the secularity of the education system intact, the government should first work with Arabic teachers from a variety of distinct teaching programs like the Lissaine School, a specialized language school, private schools that currently teach Arabic, and foreign countries’ public schools that offer Arabic.

A diversity of viewpoints on how to establish

The government should also fund and require participation in a training program for prospective teachers to teach Arabic contextualized through a framework of French republican values. The government’s first priority, however, is to establish a clear standard for what defines “republican values” and what makes them uniquely French, as arbitrary definitions of civic virtue in education limit and undermine its value. Instead of resulting in Islamization, this will increase secularity of French education, as

Katherine Lwin / The Spectator

an Arabic program is essential to developing the groundwork for a secular model of how Arabic should be taught throughout France and ensuring that students receive the best quality education.

Morocco especially is an example of a country in which Arabic and French are taught side by side, and this could be a useful starting point for preventing any possibility of one language having dominance over the other. This prevents Arabic from overriding the process of shaping French national identity and provides direction to the process of this reform.

placing rational and precise limits on the definitions of civic virtue and republican values is necessary to maximize prevention of extremism or inadequacy.

Not making Arabic available to all will continue to exacerbate communautarisme, or dividing a nation into groups, such as into the Muslim minority and the rest of France, undermining national identity. This has several implications. The first is that this will further exacerbate any misconceptions that connect Arabic to Islamist extremism or paint the language as a “language of fanatics,” thus perpetuating

falsehoods that are damaging to the French idea of national identity. This will also affect the political activity of citizens, as the marginalization of the Muslim population will inevitably lead to tensions between the two groups instead of promoting a shared sense of community that will lead to divergent interests and goals. This fractures effective and much-needed political reforms and takes away attention from urgent issues. Furthermore, in the age of immigration, any splits between Muslim migrants and French residents will feed into the paranoia of the other; collaborating on a solution with both parties will instead trade off with Islamophobia, limiting possibilities of effective change.

Though the Education Ministry has yet to release any updates on its budding proposal, one of the biggest concerns is whether the Arabic program, when implemented, will be able to be as developed as the other foreign language courses that have been instituted for a while.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that one cannot expect that the new program will work perfectly or that all French students will immediately choose to take Arabic. The development and maturing of a program is just as important as the intentions of the program itself, and continually discussing the program will lead to better awareness for students.

It is also important to understand the effects of the proposal within the current French education system for consistent engagement and analysis of how other students around the world are currently being educated.

Especially in a time of high tensions surrounding immigration in the U.S., examining similar global issues deepens the breadth of our interpretations toward Islamophobia and immigration in general.

Page 14

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Opinions The Democrats Who Cried Impeachment

By MIA GINDIS Lately, it’s been almost impossible to scroll through the Internet without a couple of articles titled something along the lines of “The New Reason Trump Must be Impeached” or “15 Things Trump Has Done That Are Impeachment-Worthy” popping up. Only two presidents in American history have actually faced impeachment—Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Both ultimately remained in office and served out the rest of their terms, and the threat of impeachment hadn’t plagued any president since. Despite the rarity of its historical occurrence, Democrats have now grown absolutely convinced that they can wield impeachment as a valid partisan tool to get Trump hoisted out of office.

The impeachment process is rather difficult (it typically

requires the overturning of regular constitutional procedures along with a congressional supermajority), usually being reserved for convicting individuals who hold high office of serious abuses. Though that’s a rather broad category, the Constitution clarifies that “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” are valid grounds for impeachment. Even so, it can often simply mean a statement of charges similar to an indictment in criminal law—removal from office entails a crime of incredible severity, and no president has ever been forcefully removed to date.

Murmurs amongst the Democratic Party about a plan to impeach President Trump were audible even before he took office. Democratic Representatives Al Green (D-TX) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) even launched formal efforts to begin the process of impeachment as early as May 2017. Sherman’s proposal called attention to the scandal surrounding Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey while Green claimed that Trump was “sowing discord among the people of the United States” with his fiery rhetoric.

The proposal cited the president’s tweets concerning Muslim immigration, transgender troops, and Charlottesville—essentially any other time Democrats found a statement disagreeable—as grounds for its claims. Other lawmakers sought to impeach Trump on the grounds that his campaign colluded with Russia during the presidential election,

a claim which has never been substantiated by hard evidence nor directly linked to Trump—as opposed to his personnel (who he has since fired).

Democrats refuse to accept that President Trump won in 2016. His supporters knew about his platform and famously brash speech before they cast their votes in the ballot box— more likely than not, these were probably reasons that they chose his ticket. It’s hardly surprising that as president, Trump would try to implement changes that the people who put him in office would want to see, despite the fact that he’d have to bump heads with a bunch of powerful Democrats.

“Conflicting interests” is not interchangeable with “high crimes and misdemeanors” as reasons for impeachment, and conflating the two terms doesn’t do the Democratic party any favors in terms of credibility.

Surprisingly, Republicans and some members of the Democratic leadership have found some rare common ground in agreeing that an impeachment campaign would be a disaster for both parties. Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former White House communications director, claims, “If the Democrats move for impeachment, I think they are playing right into the hands of the president. He doesn’t have Richard Nixon’s attention span or his O.C.D. about record-keeping.

There are no e-mails or tapes.

He didn’t do anything wrong on Russia, so he’ll be exonerated.”

Most of America agrees; according

to a Quinnipiac University poll, around 52 percent of voters oppose impeachment. 57 percent even said that they wouldn’t vote for a candidate who supported Trump’s removal. Even Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House, has publicly stated: “Impeachment is not a political tool. It has to be based on just the laws and facts.”

Other Democrats in high office, however, don’t echo Pelosi’s sentiments. Senators such as Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (DOR), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Ben Cardin (D-MD) have taken pretty lengthy strides toward introducing legislation that could potentially serve as groundwork for a future impeachment.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has even claimed that a major conflict of interest could be a valid reason to convict Trump, which—simply by glancing at the constitution— anyone can determine is patently false. Democrats need to stop jumping to quick fixes. Rather, they should reconcile their relationship with the president.

Because judging from their arguments (or lack thereof ), he’s here to stay.

Impeachment is not a phrase to be used lightly, nor is it a means to oust someone out of office based on a difference in beliefs. Democrats should stop threatening Trump with impeachment every time he makes a decision that doesn’t further their agendas. These baseless accusations only devalue the magnitude of the term to the point that it serves no purpose to

American democracy.

The effect of the excessive publicity given to calls for impeachment is simple. If Trump or any future president eventually does do something genuinely worthy of impeachment, then the American public will simply be tired of hearing it. Impeachment fever will certainly subside after years of empty promises and futile attempts, and the excitement of such a political development will dull. Yet Democratic campaigns cannot remain contingent on Trump’s removal—nor can an impeachment plan take the place of meaningful policies.

Eventually, it will become clear that promoting this sort of rhetoric polarizes the country instead of unifying it and ultimately hinders productivity in an otherwise progressive land.

Withholding reform, even if it isn’t the kind your party supports, on the grounds that the president will sooner be removed than be allowed to implement change is unfair to the entire country.

American lawyer Charles Ruff said, “Impeachment is not a remedy for private wrongs; it’s a method of removing someone whose continued presence in office would cause grave danger to the nation.” Despite what Democrats claim, Trump has done little to truly warrant the title of a “threat” to the public.

It’s time for ideological clashes to be resolved instead of having politicians opt for the most drastic solution. Impeachment is a powerful word. Let’s not wear it out.

Electric Vehicles are Counterproductive to the Environmental Agenda

By CARTER LEY Climate change is rapidly accelerating. It is clear that the world’s current carbon-emitting lifestyles need to change, and governments worldwide need to work together to find a longterm solution. Many advocates assert that electric vehicles are part of the solution we need in order to have clean cities and a sustainable planet. Over the years, major incentive programs at the local, state, federal, and international levels have risen to the task of accomplishing this lofty goal. President Macron of France announced in July of 2017 that France would ban the sale of gas vehicles by 2040. Likewise, the U.S. federal government administers various subsidies and incentives for electric vehicles.

The Energy Improvement and Extension Act, a law signed by President George W. Bush in 2008, grants the IRS authority to provide up to $7,500 in tax credit to buyers of electric vehicles.

According to a 2016 UC Davis study, the credit has been highly successful in increasing electric vehicle sales.

However, this tax credit begins to phase out for certain cars once their manufacturers have sold more than 200,000 electric vehicles. Tesla was the first to hit this cap in July 2018, and General Motors followed in November of the same year. Both are now in their phase-out periods. As one would expect, calls to remove this cap to indefinitely prolong the tax credit to all manufacturers, regardless of total electric vehicle sales, have become more and more vocal. These proposals have received bipartisan support; both Democrat Representative

Peter Welch of Vermont and Republican Senator Dean Heller of Nevada have introduced legislation to prolong or remove the 200,000 vehicle cap in their respective chambers of Congress.

But the widespread assumption that electric vehicles benefit both the environment and the economy is a huge misconception.

Data from recent studies reveals that electric vehicles are not only worse for the environment compared to their traditional gaspowered counterparts, but that they also negatively affect low-

(and soon), internal combustionfueled vehicles will continue to outpace them in environmental impact and pure energy efficiency.

This carbon discrepancy is rooted in electricity production.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that 63 percent of the electricity used in the U.S. in 2017 directly led to harmful carbon emissions.

So while electric vehicles may not visibly emit while driving, they still create carbon emissions when they are manufactured and charged. Moving forward, it is

The electric vehicle tax credit is simply a tax break for the rich thinly disguised as progressive environmental policy.

income Americans and promote abhorrent human rights violations abroad.

Electric vehicles paradoxically have higher carbon emissions compared to newly developed internal combustion vehicles. A May 2018 Politico study found that when their production and charging emissions are combined, electric vehicles emit an average of 15 ounces per mile, three more than their new gas-powered counterparts. Unless cleaner electric batteries can be developed

possible that we could reform our electric grid and streamline the electric car assembly line in order to reduce carbon emissions.

However, that day is unlikely to be in the near the future; meanwhile, these subsidies continue to encourage exactly what they were created to curb: carbon emissions.

Electric vehicle subsidies also place low-income Americans at a disadvantage. Current subsidies successfully encourage many people to buy electric vehicles instead of gas-powered

cars. However, this enthusiasm for electric vehicles as popular products does not apply everywhere. A study published in 2012 by the Electric Vehicle Information Exchange found that the average electric vehicle driver falls into the 90th income percentile. According to a May 2018 Manhattan Institute report, Tesla drivers in particular have an average income of $293,000, putting them in the top two percent of Americans in terms of wealth. This disparity in electric vehicle owners’ income can be attributed to the 20-year cost of electric vehicle ownership: up to $30,000 more than gas vehicles, as explained by a 2016 study by Arthur D. Little.

Subsidies thus directly aid the rich and powerful instead of bringing the “benefits” of electric vehicles to all, as they were previously claimed to do.

While the wealthy drive Teslas and other electric vehicles, middle and lower class Americans disproportionately drive gaspowered vehicles. Recent data available from the Congressional Budget Office reveals that the agency responsible for federal infrastructure, the Highway Trust Fund, is primarily funded by the federal gas tax. With a growing number of wealthy Americans driving electric vehicles, this infrastructure tax burden will increasingly fall on lower and middle-class Americans, further driving them to purchase and drive gas-powered vehicles.

The electric vehicle tax credit is simply a tax break for the rich thinly disguised as progressive environmental policy.

Excessive support for electric vehicles is not simply a domestic problem; it directly leads to gross

violations of human rights abroad.

The Washington Post explained in September 2016 that 60 percent of the world’s cobalt—a key part of the lithium-ion batteries that fuel electric vehicles—originates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The mining of this valuable metal directly funds the country’s devastating civil war in which the military has been found to carry out inhumane attacks on civilians. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Labor lists Congolese cobalt as a material produced by child labor.

In a separate article published in December of 2016, the Washington Post explains that lithium mining in South America requires gargantuan amounts of water. This mining operation has exacerbated existing water shortages in Argentina and Chile, hurting the livelihoods of native people, the rightful owners of the land.

In supporting the production and sale of electric vehicles, we significantly increase the strife of impoverished people worldwide.

The U.S. could pass future legislation requiring the ethical sourcing of these materials.

But the potential cost of such regulation—the almost complete collapse of the market for electric vehicles—makes it unlikely that it will ever come to fruition.

Electric vehicle subsidies do not help anyone except for those in the highest tax brackets.

They put everyday diesel-driving Americans at an economic disadvantage. They directly fuel human rights violations and instability in developing regions.

Rather than accelerating electric vehicle subsidies, it’s time to park all of them for good before we all crash into a dead end.

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 15

Opinions Government Shutdowns Aren’t Chess Games

By JACOB STEINBERG The U.S. government has been shut down for almost an entire month. It is the longest government shutdown in American history, and its cost to the economy has far exceeded previous estimates.

Government workers are most directly affected, as they are unable to collect federal paychecks every two weeks.

According to J. David Cox Sr., president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 40,000 Bureau of Prisons employees who have been furloughed in the shutdown, “Our members get an average take-home pay of $500 a week, and next week, they aren’t going to get that,” he said. The news platform CNN has set up publicizes stories of people affected by the shutdown. One such person, Cynthia Letts, has detailed how her lack of pay from her job is impacting her life. “I moved and began my new federal job one week before the shutdown. I spent most of my savings getting here, and [I] can’t pay the rent without a job. I’m looking at homelessness,” she said.

Without the pay previously guaranteed by a federal job, workers are losing their financial security and safety.

If President Trump claims to support American workers, then he should not be putting them at risk for his political gain.

Another economic problem caused by the government shutdown involves the Internal Revenue Service. Due to the shutdown, the IRS is shutting down many functions it deems “nonessential,” including tax refunds. According to a study published by the IRS, the average tax refund is $3,050.

These were already under threat due to the President’s tax plan, but they will be completely suspended due to the government shutdown.

This directly affects the wellbeing of some Americans who depend on their tax

refunds to support their lives.

Brandi Taylor tells a story of how the suspension of tax refunds affects her ability to pay for her house. “We always repay the missed payment with February’s or March’s tax refund. If I cannot repay that missed payment by then, foreclosure is a very real possibility,” she said. It’s also important to note that IRS workers are also dealing with the pay issue striking the aforementioned government workers.

Yet, another way lowincome citizens may suffer due to the shutdown is through the lack of food stamps.

Food stamps are at risk of being cut within the next two months, and staffing for the federal program that oversees them has been reduced by a whopping 95 percent. Ravyn Senter describes how she and her husband “normally use link or food stamps as income for groceries,” she said.

“We’ve normally managed for the month. Now that the government has been on this shutdown, we’re struggling with the little to no food in our home since we didn’t receive our daily food stamps for the month.” American citizens have been left unable to feed or shelter themselves, just because the president will not give up his crusade for an expensive, ultimately meaningless wall on the southern border.

This shutdown is not just about funding for the wall. It’s about the federal workers who are paid for doing their jobs.

It’s about low-income families getting their tax refunds and food stamps so they can feed their children. No matter the motivation for the shutdown, Americans are suffering.

President Trump and the Democrats need to reopen the government now, and the President can secure his border funding in a way that doesn’t affect the country’s citizens.

The shutdown must be dealt with as soon as possible, as the citizens of America should always be of first priority.

It is the longest government shutdown in American history, and its cost to the economy has far exceeded previous estimates.

Build That Wall

By ROHIT ROY During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump used powerful rhetoric that energized a largely unrecognized voter base. Of the bellowing chants coined by Trump and his enthusiastic base, none rang as loudly as “Build that wall!” Now, two years into his presidency, the promised wall remains unbuilt, and Republicans in Congress are fighting over another appropriations deal with Democrats. A new border wall wouldn’t entirely fix border security, nor would it be the most effective solution, but it would be a major piece in the puzzle of securing the southern border.

The wall would drastically reduce the high cost of illegal immigration into America. An estimated 10 million illegal immigrants currently live in the United States, costing taxpayers around $80 to $113 billion annually. According to the Federation For American Reform and the Heritage Foundation, these numbers take into account the many undocumented immigrants who pay taxes and work for lower wages than their American counterparts. But economists still suspect that illegal immigrants may cost us nearly $200 billion annually. In addition, areas where walls have already been built have seen an 80 to 99.9 percent decrease in illegal immigration, demonstrating the effective nature of border walls.

During the Clinton, Bush, and Obama eras, barriers along the border were constructed, and illegal immigration decreased significantly as a result. None can deny that walls work. What the Trump administration wants to do is simply finish the fight against illegal immigration—a fight that started over a decade ago.

Democrats in Congress have repeatedly called the wall “xenophobic,” “racist,” and a “damaging portrayal of America to the rest of the world.” Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, “The symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty—not a 30-foot wall.” 13 percent of the United States’ population is comprised of first-generation immigrants who came here legally. Many of these migrants are from Mexico or the numerous war-torn countries

around the world. The U.S. grants legal status to over one million immigrants every year and naturalizes almost a million more. The lenient policies on illegal immigration aren’t fair to the 41.6 million people who went through the painstaking process of coming here legally.

They aren’t fair to the 4.4 million people on the waitlist for coming to the U.S. legally.

And the symbol of America will always be the Statue of Liberty; immigrants are always welcome in the land of opportunity. But all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal immigration.

A border wall carries various innate advantages. It serves as a symbol of strength; it shows the world that America is a nation willing and able to defend itself. It serves as a reminder to the thousands of people in the large migrant caravans marching toward the border that they are not entitled to citizenship purely based on numbers. Additionally, a wall would protect the countless women who fall prey to sexual violence on their journeys to the border. 60 to 80 percent of women between the ages of 14 and 80 are raped and/or sexually assaulted while traveling with migrant caravans.

Migrating parents give their young daughters birth control pills because they fear that their children will be sexually assaulted on the treacherous journey ahead. The wall would save them from such mistreatment by discouraging the formation of caravans—breeding grounds for such horrific crimes—in the first place. It would stop what President Trump has labeled one of the most pressing humanitarian crises in America.

It is “a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul...Women and children are the biggest victims by far of our broken system. This is the cycle of human suffering that I am determined to end,” he said.

Another common argument congressional Democrats make against the border wall is that it wouldn’t stop the countless drugs flooding into America, as 60 percent of drugs smuggled through the border arrive through legal ports of entry.

However, that leaves a staggering 800,000 pounds of heroin, or $7.25 billion worth of drugs, coming through illegal ports of entry. Every week, a staggering 300 American citizens die from heroin addiction. A serious effort to secure the southern border would stop illegal drugs from passing through illegal ports of entry and thus open up the legal ports to more comprehensive inspection. And since both Republicans and Democrats support bipartisan legislation to increase technology and methods of detecting illegal drugs in vehicles, these legal ports would only grow in security and serve as a stopgap for the drugs that directly harm American citizens. Strategic

walling could potentially save thousands of American lives a year.

Furthermore, the intense Democratic opposition to any kind of border wall is hypocritical and counterintuitive to the nation’s interests. Under the Obama Administration, prominent Democratic leaders including Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi were supporters of a physical barrier along the southern border in 2014. The immigration reform Schumer backed included a package of more than $46 billion for border security—$30 billion of which went to U.S. Border Patrol agents along the southern border. The rest went to the building and repairing of the 700 miles of fences and steel barriers that currently make up the U.S.-Mexico border. Illegal immigration around fencedoff sections of the border has since decreased by an average of 95 percent. Through steelwalled areas, it decreased by a whopping 99 percent, according to the U.S. Border Patrol Center for Investigative Reporting.

Incidentally, Senator Schumer also voted to provide funds for a border wall in Israel, a country under the constant threat of terrorism. The Israeli border wall cut the illegal immigration rate by an incredible 99.9 percent, which is a resounding success.

If Senator Schumer thinks that America can afford to pay for a border wall for another country, he should certainly have no qualms about building one for America.

This pointless political battle must end. When Presidents Clinton and Obama made acrimonious attacks on illegal immigration in speeches and showed that same passion for border security in their legislation, they were applauded

by Democrats. Obama’s border security package cost nearly nine times as much as the Trump administration is now requesting, and the cost was well worth it. Our nation has saved over $50 billion dollars as a result of the construction of barriers along the border in the past 20 years. A wall promotes the strength of American democracy and encourages more people to come here legally knowing that they won’t be cheated by illegal immigration. A wall, paired with bipartisan support for technological advancements in border security, would save us upward of $113 billion annually while allowing for more legal immigrants who add to our splendid economy and culture.

Democratic opposition to the border wall is strictly political and has nothing to do with supporting border security.

The border wall is absolutely necessary to protect the health and safety of immigrants and Americans alike. And so, as the roaring crowds of Trump’s rallies famously chant: “We need to build a wall.”

Page 16

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Arts and Entertainment music

By Theo Kubovy-Weiss In today’s music, artists are put into strict categories by genre. While this can be helpful for listeners looking to discover new artists similar to those whose music they already enjoy, it is also incredibly restricting for many musicians. For the sake of simplicity, most artists today stick within the boundaries of their genre, seldom venturing into alternative types of music. However, there is one musician who completely rejects this notion, defying how we perceive genre altogether: Frank Ocean.

Born in New Orleans, Ocean moved to Los Angeles after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home and much of his recording equipment. Along with rapper Tyler, The Creator, Frank Ocean later founded hip-hop collective Odd Future in 2009. Through the group’s success, he received a record deal with Def Jam Recordings and released his debut mixtape, “Nostalgia, Ultra.” “Nostalgia, Ultra,” a stripped-down, 42minute R&B mixtape, received mixed reviews from critics.

Predominantly driven by a potpourri of pop-inspired beats with hints of blues and vocals reminiscent of 1970s soul, the album also included various covers, including renditions of Coldplay’s 2009 track “Strawberry Swing” and MGMT’s “Electric Feel.” The record was the world’s first taste of Frank Ocean and his talents, but it certainly was not the pinnacle of his artistic ability.

Just over a year after “Nostalgia, Ultra,” Frank Ocean’s debut studio album, “Channel Orange,” was released. At its core, “Channel Orange” was similar to Ocean’s mixtape in its inspiration from soul and R&B. However, “Channel Orange” felt much more expansive, adventurous, and experimental. This is best

Artist Profile: The Enigma of Frank Ocean depicted in the 10-minute psychedelic trip of “Pyramids” and the string-driven gospel ballad “Bad Religion,” in which Frank Ocean contemplates faith.

These tracks show a much more liberated artist—one who completely defies genre. With “Nostalgia, Ultra,” Frank Ocean was an R&B singer. After “Channel Orange,” the categorization of his music became much more vague; whereas the characterization of his music seemed obvious with his mixtape, his major-label debut was a hodgepodge of a wide variety of genres, with Ocean displaying dexterity as an artist in all of them.

After what seemed to be unanimous critical acclaim for his debut album, Frank Ocean almost completely disappeared from the public eye.

After growing resentful of Def Jam and their mechanical, inorganic music release practices, he moved to London and was barely heard from. Other than a few features on albums l i k e Kanye We s t ’s “The Life of Pablo” and Earl Sweatshirt’s “Doris”—in addition to a demo uploaded to Ocean’s Tumblr—no public appearances were made. Various announcements were made regarding potential release dates for a second album throughout 2016, but to no avail. Then, an enigmatic live stream appeared on Frank Ocean’s website on August 1, 2016.

Throughout the following days, Ocean appeared in

Minseo Kim / The Spectator

may have perceived him or his music. The beautiful, minimalist ballad “Higgs” is difficult to describe. Similar to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” it doesn’t exclusively evoke a specific emotion. It can be a song of sorrow, celebration, or disappointment.

This interpretability showed Ocean’s true artistic skill and cemented his position as one of the most influential artists of our generation—if “Chan-

to just his music. Ocean came out as a member of the LGBT community in 2012 with a letter he uploaded to Tumblr, in which he revealed that his first love was a man. In addition to becoming a voice for the LGBT community, his announcement was notable because it showed a unique sense of honesty and transparency with fans, something that has been shown throughout the entirety of his career. He rejects any and all

pretense, and despite his vast skill and the equally widespread acclaim he has received for it, Frank Ocean has remained and remains humble. He has only given a handful of interviews in his career, and he made his Instagram account viewable to the public only recently. Of the few performances he has given, they all feel extremely relaxed and informal. He rejects the convention of flashy, extravagant performances given by most popular artists for a more intimate, casual experience for concertgoers; a majority of his time on stage is spent sitting at a piano with little eye contact with the audience. And it is his honesty and rawness as a public figure that has allowed him to garner one of the most loyal and passionate fan bases of any artist today. But once again, questions arise: Why is he so honest? What has allowed him to act so differently from other artists? What have we done as fans to earn his trust?

Since the release of “Blonde”, Ocean has released a number of singles, including a warm, harmonic cover of “Moon River.” As expected, they all vary greatly in meaning and genre. Time and time again, throughout many different projects, collaborations, and periods in his life, people have been trying to define who Frank Ocean is and to what genre he and his music belong. Technically, he constitutes an R&B artist. But truly, any effort to categorize Ocean is missing the point of his music. Rather than being a hip-hop or rock artist, he’s a lovestruck, summer-loving, 31year-old sharing his emotions and experiences with the world.

He’s an extremely shrewd storyteller who rejects the conventions of genre, and among all four of his major projects, proves to us that his art isn’t R&B nor pop nor soul nor rap; it is absolutely and unequivocally Frank Ocean.

movie might not receive as much attention and acclaim, given it isn’t a live-action film, the newest addition to Marvel’s collection of Spider-Man movies has been an instant success. With a 97 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.7 out of 10 on IMDb, this sci-fi/fantasy motion picture was nominated for Best Animated Feature for the 24th Critics’ Choice Awards and won Best Animated Feature Film at the 76th Golden Global Awards. Even “Sunflower” from the movie soundtrack is trending as number three on the BillBoard Hot 100.

Yes, this Spider-Man film involves the typical structure of Spider-Man defeating the bad guy, who in this case is New York City’s crime overlord, Kingpin. Yes, there’s a slight romance element to the story.

And yes, there are a couple of cliché plot points in the movie.

But this is not your typical superhero film. The antagonist, Kingpin, devises a super powerful machine called the collider that can open portals to other dimensions. Instead of Peter Parker, Miles Morales is now our main character. On top of that,

Miles isn’t the only superhero.

He’s soon joined by many other Spider-Men from other universes. Still struggling to control his newfound, sticky powers, Miles must also work with everyone to defeat Kingpin and return each Spider-Man back to their world.

Because of the large number of characters the storyline brings together, the narrative lacks in character development.

The movie provides thorough backstories for all the main characters—even Kingpin, allowing the audience to really know and understand the characters’ individual histories. But there are many more minor characters who are two-dimensional, leaving more to be desired. As for the predictable story, the producers were very much aware of this. The way they tackle these problems with meta-humor, coupled with the animation, pace, and music, allows the film to more than compensate for the slight dip in plot and development.

The animation is gorgeous.

Period. The filmmakers somehow made this initially jarring change in medium incredible. It is hands down the best aspect

Susu Tran / The Spectator

In the streets of Brooklyn, New York, Miles Morales is your typical high schooler. He spends most of his time in his messy room, listening to hip-hop hits like “Sunflower” (2018) by Post Malone and Swae Lee, reading superhero comic books, and procrastinating on packing his valuables for school. Miles has been accepted into a prestigious boarding school, yet he’s not ready to face the anxiety, pressure, and homesickness of living in the school dorms away from his family. Miles is a normal student; that’s all he’s known himself to be. But when a radioactive spider bites him one night, Miles must now deal with the consequences and responsibilities of being a superhero. And he’s definitely not ready to face that.

Directed by Peter Ramsey, Robert Persichetti Jr., and Rodney Rothman and produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in partnership with Marvel, “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” is a twohour long PG film released on December 14, 2018. Despite some worries that the animated

nel Orange” hadn’t already done so. With the release of “Endless,” the question of who Frank Ocean is again arose. Is he a videographer? A visual artist? A singer? A producer?

Just one day after “Endless” was published, Ocean’s true sophomore LP, “Blonde,” was released. With his first three projects, Frank Ocean had been restricted by his record label and contract. But by independently releasing “Blonde,” he was free.

And once again, our notions of who Frank Ocean is were disrupted. It truly is difficult to categorize his second studio album into any genre. “Ivy,” a rock power ballad about love, is reminiscent of early-2000s rock. “Nights,” a five-minute song split into two with a transition remarkably fluid and seamless, almost constitutes rap; it’s a calm, rhythmic track over a simple yet profound beat. But, as it so often is with Frank Ocean, trying to fit him and his music into a certain c a t egory proves useless.

Yet, his individuality is not restricted

A Leap of Faith

film

By Irene Hao

the video, constructing what would eventually become a spiral staircase leading to nothing. In the back of the stream played new songs which would ultimately make up “Endless,” a visual album edited down from 140 hours of video. “Endless” showed us an entirely new side of Frank: one that rejects any idea of how w e

of the movie. Previous works of the Spider-Man franchise were all live-action, with actors, stunt doubles, special effect explosions, and the whole shebang.

But, the directors eased the audience into the new animation style quite well, starting with something classic and familiar.

It pays homage to the original Spider-Man comics by adopting a similar art style: blurry backgrounds, comic speech bubbles, and the occasional slow motion.

It’s a comic book in motion.

Whenever a new Spider-Man from a different universe is introduced, his backstory is told

in the style of comics. A comic with the Spider-Men drawn on the cover is tossed onto a pile of Miles’s Spider-Man comics, each on top of another. Moreover, many of the characters are drawn in distinct styles to further give the impression that they belong to a different reality. There’s a black-and-white 1920s-styled Spider-Man who couldn’t seem to comprehend the spectrum of colors of Miles’ world, an animal cartoon Spider-Man, and even some female Spider-Women.

Continued on page 17

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 17

Arts and Entertainment A Leap of Faith

film Continued from page 16 It’s a comic book in motion.

Whenever a new Spider-Man from a different universe is introduced, his backstory is told in the style of comics. A comic with the Spider-Men drawn on the cover is tossed onto a pile of Miles’s Spider-Man comics, each on top of another. Moreover, many of the characters are drawn in distinct styles to further give the impression that they belong to a different reality. There’s a black-and-white 1920s-styled Spider-Man who couldn’t seem to comprehend

theater

By Grace Goldstein

in the spectacular visuals. Such stylized fine art techniques really present a unique twist that will certainly make the film a highlight of the movies of this generation.

“Into The Spider-Verse” is also very well-balanced, with a nice mix of action scenes, montages, and surprisingly emotional moments. There are the casual, humorous scenes, some heartwarming familial love and friendship bits, and empowering let’s-save-the-day scenes.

It’s mostly lighthearted and energizing in tone, so it’s the perfect family movie. Yet there are some unexpected, dark, and

or any Spider-Man or Marvelassociated film, I went into the theaters completely blind.

Watching the movie in a theater, however, the experience was undeniably eye-opening and memorable, with the audience cheering, crying, and guffawing at the right times. Just as Miles is this young boy suddenly hit with the realization of responsibility and pressure from the other, more experienced Spider-Men to quickly learn the ropes to defeat Kingpin, we too can relate to his struggles and discover that there is a hero inside us all.

Anyone can wear the mask. All it takes is a leap of faith.

STC Takes On a Classic Thriller In “Wait Until Dark” Singh enters as the terrifyingly nonchalant mastermind, Roat.

Roat gloatingly reveals that after Lisa told her everything about the con men—whom she refers to as “Mike Talman” (Cunningham) and “Sergeant Carlino” (Jano)—she killed her and left her body in the bedroom. Now, in order to make their money and avoid being framed for Lisa’s murder, the duo has to do a job for her: the following night, the three must manipu-

late the woman who lives in the apartment into willingly giving them a doll. Susy’s husband unknowingly delivered the doll to the United States and stashed it in their apartment, so neither Sam (junior Cosmo Coen) nor Susy knows it’s filled with heroin. What ensues is a battle of wits between three experienced criminals and one blind woman (Susy) in an unlikely alliance with the stubborn little girl in the upstairs apartment.

Roat’s elaborate plan makes for a complicated storyline filled with plot twists, secret identities, scheming, and betrayal from all parties. In spite of this and the quick pace, the play was never

as Susy Hendrix—the ordinary woman whose brilliance and bravery fuel the show. Susy’s disability came off as natural, as did her relationships with the other characters—from Gloria (freshman Jasmine Wang), the little girl upstairs, to her husband Sam, to “Mike,” who pretends to be her ally to gain her trust. Nobert portrays Susy as emotional and calculating as she’s meant to be.

Another notable performance was Singh’s, which single-handedly doubled the (deliberately) uncanny energy onstage. This happened from her first entrance to the play’s dramatic climax when Roat and Susy finally come face-to-face.

Clad in a long jacket and glasses, Roat frequently tells stories backwards and speaks to the two young con men like a narrator with an unsettling knowledge of their lives. What could have easily been a cringeworthy or confusing role was made into an entertaining and vital one by Singh, who unleashed more villainous energy with every line.

In the entirely non-villainous role of Gloria, Wang brought a mix of childlike innocence and angst to the show. By far the youngest character and the person with the least knowledge of the scandal unfolding in her neighbors’ apartment, Gloria is the light in a decidedly dark show, at one point exclaiming brightly: “Gee, I wish something like this would happen every day!” Wang portrayed Gloria equally well earlier on in the show during her rapidly escalated fight with Susy and

too hard to follow. Junior Alex Nobert was engaging in her role

subsequent tantrum—when she reveals how her father left

Zoe Oppenheimer / The Spectator

Zoe Oppenheimer / The Spectator

Zoe Oppenheimer / The Spectator

Lisa. The plot only takes off, however, when senior Kareena

poignant portions that tug the right heartstrings. And the music featuring modern hip-hop artists in the hip-hop genre like Post Malone, XXXTentacion, Nicki Minaj, Jaden Smith, and Lil Wayne comes in at the right moments. The movie uses upbeat rap songs to accompany the day-in-the-life-of-Miles-Morales scenes and soft pop ones for the heart-rending scenes.

A modern soundtrack, ingenious animation, steady pace, and homely setting made the Spider-Man movie an instant hit for me. It was a leap of faith; having shamefully never watched “Homecoming” (2017)

Zoe Oppenheimer / The Spectator

A thriller with a small cast isn’t the typical choice for a high school theater company.

Pulling off a script with multiple long silences, a heavy focus on lighting, characters-withincharacters, and a protagonist with a disability is a big task for any theater company. However, STC’s production of Frederick Knott’s 1966 play “Wait Until Dark,” produced by sophomores Vicy Shiu and Raisa Amin, junior Mina Ivkovic, and senior Slate member Boxuan Wu, was undoubtedly an example of Stuyvesant’s theater community at its best.

The play, directed by sophomore Jonathan Schneiderman, junior Victoria Wong, and freshman Ashley Choi, opens on a typical apartment. The walls are a pale blue and lined with simple furniture and household appliances, and two strings of black-and-white photographs hang above a desk with a lamp on it. Two con men (sophomore Julian Cunningham and senior Kathryn Jano), whose real names we never learn, enter. Through casual conversation—carried out effortlessly

by Cunningham and Jano—the pair reveal that they’re former partners-in-crime (literally), both having recently been released from prison and summoned to the apartment by a mysterious phone call promising an opportunity for easy cash. They each assume the call came from the other. Then, they realize that it came from an old friend and fellow criminal,

the spectrum of colors of Miles’ world, an animal cartoon Spider-Man, and even some female Spider-Women. A particular highlight of the film is the beautifully captured shots of New York City as the setting. One of the most memorable scenes is when SpiderMan leaps off of a skyscraper headfirst onto the bright streets of Times Square. The moving camera slows down, and the scene is shot upside down with Spider-Man upright, his eyes facing toward the city skyline, and the wind behind him. The music quiets for a moment, enabling the audience to take

her mother after nearly smashing every “unbreakable” object in their house. Gloria and Susy’s relationship goes from deeply strained to affectionate and understanding as the two join forces against the criminals threatening Susy’s life. Their partnership was as interesting and fun to watch as the mindbending plotline itself.

Working alongside a solid cast, the backstage crews pulled the show together. About a week before the show, the stage lights broke, giving the lighting designers little time to come up with a solution. The appropriately eerie backlighting was produced by seven lamps (creating the first STC show lit by lamps alone is not small feat). On top of this, the set had a professional quality that’s rare in most high school productions, thanks to its realistic appearance and attention to detail. The apartment the crew built onstage is more than a background; it’s the setup for a mystery and an intense search for an object hidden somewhere in the room.

Essentially, the play revolves around the set and placement of various props, so the illusion

of a real apartment was necessary to pull off any production of “Wait Until Dark” worth watching.

In keeping with the acting and tech crews, the direction shone throughout the play. Even in moments when those onstage are working in silence—in near total darkness—or going to absurd lengths to disguise themselves from Susy as she stands a few feet away from them, the energy onstage is present, and the audience is captivated. Roat and Susie’s fight scene, which Susie only narrowly survives, was executed by both actresses without feeling stilted or awkward.

Being a thriller with many scenes that are not typically seen onstage, strong direction could not have been more crucial to keep the plot unfolding, even without dialogue or an easy visual. The pacing, another vital element for this particular play, also never lacked. Both the backstage crews and the cast came through to make this funny, sometimes disturbing, but ultimately fascinating and heartfelt play an absolute success.

Page 18

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Arts and Entertainment Dialogue with the Devil

music

By Zoe Buff

Zoe Buff: “Mefistofele” has been a critically acclaimed production of the Met this season, and the last time it was performed was in the 1999-2000 season.

How did [bass-baritones] Norman Treigle and Samuel Ramey influence how you became “Mefistofele?”

Van Horn: Well, I learned the entire thing by listening to Norman Treigle, who is by far my favorite bass. And Sam Ramey is a friend of mine. I’ve known him for a long time, so I told him I was going to do this. He said they were going to have to build me new costumes, because he’s a lot shorter than I am! It’s kind of intimidating, because it’s not done very often, so to be in that lineage of guys who did it is very important to me.

ZB: What was the most challenging aspect of taking on this role?

VH: The physical part. I knew I could sing it. It’s a whole other level when you have to start climbing ladders and running around the stage with no shoes on—I don’t do it very often. And the costumes are

Film

By Jiahe Wang It starts with Stefan waking up from bed on a normal day, and it ends…with whichever ending you choose. But no matter which way you go, things only turn out worse for the main character in the newest episode of “Black Mirror.”

“Black Mirror” is a British sci-fi TV series that presents a bleak view of the future and discusses the unexpectedly dark implications of scientific development. The anthology show has been a massive success— each standalone episode explores a different side of the relationship between human-

very tight-fitted, so I’d be climbing up and down ladders in these pants that are incredibly tight! It can be a little scary.

Ella Solarino: Before you got into opera, was there any other musical path that you wanted to

ing, who had won the honor before. Elaborating on this, how did you feel when you got the news?

VH: I wasn’t expecting it. I had expected it a few years ear-

they made sure to stay with me.

Everything you saw was spontaneous to how I was feeling that night.

ES: Have you ever done the same role in different opera houses or productions? If so,

VH: I really don’t think this would have happened if I had something to fall back on. Both my parents told me to find something to fall back on if singing didn’t work. It was probably good advice, but I didn’t take it. I thought that if I had no chance to do anything else, I would make this work, and it was what I wanted. I do like singing songs for a living, and it’s not as easy as you think it is, because most of the year, I’m away from my family and home. There is a price to pay for this, but I am happy that I’m here now.

ES: If you could choose any role in any opera that you would like to try one day, what would you choose?

VH: King Phillip in “Don Carlo” is my dream role. I keep putting it out into the world and hope that it comes back to me. It’s already being talked about, so I think I’ll get it soon.

Courtesy of The Met Opera website

A shirtless, scarlet red, tuxedo-dressed figure emerges from the dark orchestra pit, a violin in his right hand and a violin case in his left. Immediately, this unusual entrance captivates the audience of the Metropolitan Opera. The scarlet red figure is the devil, and he has come to search for his next victim.

This is the iconic role that American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn plays at the Metropolitan Opera. Van Horn is a principal singer at the Met and the recipient of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award, which is as prestigious to singers as the Pulitzer Prize to journalists. This season, Van Horn makes his debut at the Paris Opera in “Les Troyens” and sings title roles at the Bayerische Staatsoper and San Francisco Opera. He returns to play Colline in the opera “La Bohème” and makes his Met Opera title role debut in “Mefistofele,” based on Goethe’s “Faust.” My friend Ella Solarino and I sing in the Children’s Chorus at the Metropolitan Opera, and we were lucky enough to be cast in “Mefistofele” and “La Bohème.”

An hour before the children were called backstage for a performance of “La Bohème,” we met with Mr. Van Horn to ask him some questions.

go on? For example, was there any other type of music you had to perform, such as Broadway or musicals?

VH: I was in Broadway musicals in high school, and I liked it so much I just wanted to keep going. But, my voice was much too big for Broadway, so I naturally gravitated toward opera. I also played the saxophone for 12 years.

ZB: I learned in a Broadway interview that you went to Yale for voice and opera. How did your college experience affect your development as a singer?

VH: I went to Yale for three years, and it was pivotal. I would never be here had I not done that.

ES: Earlier this year, you were awarded the Richard Tucker Award, and you got to perform in the gala concert last October. In the action, you said, “I find myself thinking: ‘Wow, I’m in that club.’” This was when you spoke of singers such as Renée Flem-

lier, and then I thought it had passed me by. At some point, you’re a little old for it. In 2016, I thought, “Okay, maybe this will be my year.” It didn’t happen, so I forgot about it. I was very surprised when I got the call, and it felt great.

ZB: As singers in the children’s chorus waiting behind the scrim, Ella and I can see you perform your first aria “Ave Signor” all seven nights, and we noticed that every time there was something different. For example, one night, you cleared your throat before addressing the audience. I really liked that. Do you plan these variations, or are they spontaneous?

VH: Well, I planned that one, I thought it would be funny, but the maestro didn’t like it, so I stopped. Everything that you saw different happened in the moment. They didn’t put any constraints on me. They said, “Start here, and end here.” What I did between those two things was up to me. And the light stays with you, so wherever I went or [whatever I] did,

which role? How did different environments or sets affect how you performed the role? Are there different personalities, or do you always try to make it the same?

VH: For example, take “La Bohème” tonight. This is my ninth production, and it’s the fifth time I’m doing this production. I’ve done 16 productions of “La Bohème,” and nine of them are completely different. The basic character doesn’t change, because the text doesn’t change. The director might have an idea of this way or that way, so that might vary a little bit. But mostly, the structure is there within the text. I like to be on a different set. We’ve had sets with staircases; once, we had to climb ladders to get up into the garret. I like when it changes. It creates a new challenge.

ES: In an interview, you said that you had no Plan B. Plan A was your only focus. How has this mindset affected you and your career? Are you happy with where you are now?

ZB: There was an overlap of “Mefistofele” and “La Bohème” for one week, in which you had to switch between two drastically different roles. Ella and I watched you transform from a red tuxedo topless devil (“Mefistofele”) to a Bohemian philosopher (“Colline”), and sometimes, we wondered if you were going to take the soul of Rodolfo (sung by tenor Michael Fabiano).

How did you shift between these two roles?

VH: (laughs) Vocally, there’s no shift. “Colline” is a much easier night for me, because I wear one costume, and I’m only in three of the four acts. I’ve done “Colline” so many times [that] it’s like flipping a switch, so when the music starts, we flip the switch, and we do the show.

We don’t really think about it.

I will say it was a little bit of a letdown to go from “Mefistofele.” The three hours went by in five minutes, because I was onstage the whole time. Going from that to “Colline” was a little sad—in a way. I love it, but it was a hard transition.

ZB: Ella and I can relate with you; we’ve both done “La Bohème” so many times that we don’t even think about it. Thank you so much, and have a good show!

Wig Was Not BanderSNATCHED ity and the assistance of digital technology.

Netflix’s long-awaited interactive episode, “Bandersnatch,” allows the viewers to make choices so as to influence the final outcome of the plot. It is quite similar to choose-yourown-adventure games, letting the audience decide on things as trivial as whether to have Frosted Flakes or Sugar Puffs for breakfast. But there are also choices as daunting as whether or not to risk your life revisiting the past through a portal.

Set in the 1980s, the young protagonist Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) is an aspiring game designer who is currently work-

ing on a video game adaptation of his beloved fantasy novel, the eponymous “Bandersnatch.” At the video game company he works at, he encounters Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), a somewhat eccentric genius programmer who sets off a series of mysterious events that sends Stefan into a labyrinthian fever dream in which he starts questioning the existence of free will and the possibility of alternate realities. The interactive element subverts the viewer’s traditionally passive role—I found myself nervously clutching the remote control while waves of adrenaline rushed over me

throughout the episode.

Adding to this suspense is cinematographer Aaron Morton’s careful work. Flooded with dull blue-gray tones and elegant muted colors, the world of “Bandersnatch” is at once suffocating and amusingly hypnotic. This creates underlying anxiety that overshadows the seemingly serene neighborhood, setting the tone of the tragedy that lies ahead of Stefan.

Yet, the promise of a grand concept and beautiful cinematography cannot mask the blandness of the story itself.

Once I finally got over my initial excitement about the new ap-

proach to storytelling, I found the plot disappointingly empty and shallow. The entire story is built on meta self-referential concepts, for all the characters and plot points are only there to support the theme of alternate reality and manipulation of free will. At one point, Stefan talks about feeling like he is being controlled by someone, as if a higher power is making all of his decisions for him. Here, the audience is prompted to break the fourth wall and tell the bewildered Stefan that he is a character in a Netflix show.

Continued on page 19

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 19

Arts and Entertainment Wig Was Not BanderSNATCHED

Film Continued from page 18

Spring has come, and the birds are flying—or rather, falling. Middle school student Katie dwells in her upstate New York abode, working on her science project. The sunlight filters through the trees’ budding branches, clumps of snow still clinging to the edges. In the corner of her eye, the lake, ice melted long before, reflects the light of the sun. Beside her are leaf samples that salamanders, the topic of her project, have trampled over in her backyard.

A shadow flickers by and interrupts Katie reading over her draft on her tablet.

She looks up to see birds—baby birds—clumsily gliding from their nest in a tree hollow and falling onto the leaves, which are golden leftovers from last fall. Katie pauses in her work.

She glances between her unfinished science project and the birds, and something clicks in her mind. Immediately, she calls

caused by the structure detracts from the fundamentally important entertainment aspect of interactive films.

So, while there will probably be a few more copycat interactive films in the near future, the trend won’t last long. “Bandersnatch” is already plagued by the limitations on storytelling and the inevitable repetitiveness of its format, and despite advertising itself as a film in which viewers control the storyline, the film is unable to even completely fulfill that claim.

However, “Bandersnatch” is not without its merits. It brings up a relevant point concerning entertainment’s important role in our modern society. It criticizes the cynicism of the viewers behind the titular “black mirror”—the screens of our

digital devices. With a theme similar to Peter Weir’s movie “The Truman Show,” the film condemns the shallow enjoyment provided by perverse situations played out in fiction that is so prevalent in our current world. We rejoice in seeing Stefan suffer as each of our bad decisions spirals his life downhill to the point where he loses both his sanity and his loved ones. We, the audience, are complicit in causing all his pain while playing the role of God. Furthermore, the blurred lines between reality and simulation is an acute question that is all the more resonant during the digital age. When free will is no longer portrayed as a certainty, we can’t help but ask, “What is real?”

Into The Thick of It

film

By Irene hao

bad endings. However, I found this design extremely exhausting and repetitive. After going back to the same scene several times, I gradually began to lose my patience. I doubt most people will replay the movie to unlock more endings, which boasts a staggering total of five hours of footage. On top of that, many of the endings are quite arbitrary and feel unresolved, not delivering a substantial message regarding the theme of the film.

Without exploring all five possible main endings, we do not get a full sense of what the narrative is trying to convey.

Second, when a story is nonlinear, it is hard to develop a complex plot with character development and foreshadowing. A reason why the narrative seems so lifeless is that the format restricts further creativity.

Stefan shows virtually no personality and is merely a vessel for carrying the concept. His motives are unclear (which is evident, since the viewer is the one making all the choices), and things happen arbitrarily just to move the plot along.

Third, the viewer has some control over the progression of the story, but not enough. One is not given full autonomy to explore the world of the story, but is also unable to sit back and fully immerse themselves in the plot, putting them in an uncomfortably awkward position. The choices they are given are limited and steer the plot toward a specific direction. For example, they can choose which type of cereal to have for breakfast, but choosing not to eat at all is off limits. This lack of freedom

Jiahe Wang / The Spectator

Apart from the clever metairony, “Bandersnatch” has little to offer, and it is not nearly as thought-provoking as previous episodes of “Black Mirror.”

For example, episode “White Bear” explores the perverse enjoyment the masses derive from punishing criminals, drawing attention to complex moral concepts such as the hypocrisy of ordinary people and the sadism we can exert on one another. Another memorable episode, “The National Anthem,” tells an equally engrossing yet much more disturbing story: a kidnapper abducts the British princess and demands that the prime minister Michael Callow have “unsimulated sexual intercourse” with a pig on live television. This, or the princess will be murdered. As we are repulsed by the idea of such vulgarity, the amusement displayed by the audience makes us question the dehumanizing effect the media has on people.

However, unlike these episodes, “Bandersnatch” fails to deliver a substantial message.

The main theme of the episode, simulation theory (denying the existence of self-determination), has already become a cinematic cliché. The film merely throws this concept at the viewers without providing much analysis, bringing nothing new to the table. After watching— or rather, playing—the episode, I had the same doubt as Stefan’s therapist; after a paranoid Stefan rushes into her office and claims that he is being trapped

in “an entertainment streaming service from the future,” she reassures him that he is delusional, saying that “If this was entertainment, surely you’d make it more interesting.” The plot itself is lifeless and bland due to most of the choices leading up to abrupt endings. The only entertainment “Bandersnatch” offers is through its innovative concept, rather than a good narrative.

And the story itself is underdeveloped and has several plot holes. Take the scene where Colin pressures Stefan to try LSD for the first time. Colin gives a seemingly philosophical speech about how everyone is being controlled and there is no free will—all under the influence of hallucinogens. However, his logic is faulty and shallow.

For example, he urges Stefan to commit suicide by jumping off the balcony of his apartment, since his actions won’t affect his parallels in alternate realities. Yet this doesn’t make sense—the Stefan in this reality still dies.

Many critics view “Bandersnatch” as a pioneer in this new genre, blurring the boundaries between television and video games and opening up countless possibilities of what future entertainment will look like.

However, I do not believe that interactive movies will become widely popular in the future.

First, most people only have the patience to play through the movie once. During the gameplay, the audience is frequently prompted to go back to previous plot points and change their choices when they encounter

over her brother.

“You’ve got to see this!” she cries.

Throughout this 45-minute 3D IMAX film and exhibition shown at the Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Theater on the first

Sammi Chen / The Spectator

floor of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), we are introduced to Katie (Annie Fabian) and her family; they live cozily in their house dur-

ing winter, ignoring the beauty of nature’s action outside. Despite residing in such a sparsely populated town with the woods literally in her backyard, Katie and her family spend the day— and most of the year—inside.

Directed and written by Susan Todd and Andrew Young, “Backyard Wilderness” is a beautifully shot film following a young girl as she learns how to develop an appreciation for her long-time neighbor, the wilderness. An older Katie narrates the journey of her younger self: “Many people remember when their life changed in a big way, when they first realized what matters to them. For me, it happened when I was 11—in my own backyard.”

From being overjoyed at the five likes on her Instagram post to snapping pictures of any animal or animal traces she encounters, we witness this eighth grader realize the importance of nature in her life as she utilizes social media as a platform to promote awareness and appreciation for nature with the hashtag #backyardwilderness.

We strengthen our appreciation as well through this film’s splendid simple message, proficient camerawork, and heartwarming dialogue from her and her family. We journey alongside Katie through spring, summer, autumn, and winter and witness her and nature’s growth.

The movie has a nice bal-

ance of visual and audio. Most of the dialogue is in voiceover or in the background. Because the focus of the film is nature, Katie and her family are often shot as part of the background, while the animals and plants are in the foreground. Whether it’s a blooming hyacinth—a plant widely considered to be the first sign of spring—or a mouse crawling its way under the snow searching for food and warmth, the camera repositions itself to concentrate on nature, emphasizing how out-of-place the house seemed to be amidst the wild backdrop. But the camerawork truly excels in the transition scenes when time speeds up and the lake is freezing over.

This also happens when time slows and a raindrop splashes onto a leaf that a ladybug was resting on. Each depicts a new variety of plants and creatures, from flowers and salamanders to deer and wolves to frogs and racoons.

The 3D glasses handed out at the entrance to the AMNH theater contribute a dimensional aspect that further highlights the effect such scenes evoke, which is of awe and wonder. But more often than not, the viewers hear before they see. There is the crunch of the snow, the toppling of the garbage bin from the raccoons’ nocturnal hunt, and the smashing of keys of the game Katie’s older brother is zoned in on.

The acting, however, is subpar. There are brief moments when Fabian felt dull, as if she was more focused on enunciating the script than portraying Katie’s character. But, the sights and sounds of “Backyard Wilderness” compensate for it.

There is also a slow pace and lack of major plot points. So, those who are more interested in action and drama-based films may not fully enjoy this exhibition film, as the story is driven forward by small changes and actions.

When I initially visited the museum during Thanksgiving Break, “Backyard Wilderness” was not my first choice on the list of preferred special exhibitions. The cover looked generic, too colorful, and quite frankly, unappealing. However, the film changed my mind. I wasn’t wrong in my assumption that it was a movie about the beauty and appreciation of nature. Still, it wasn’t just that. The way such a simplistic message was presented and executed won me over. The music, crisp, clear sequences, and variety of plants and animals stopped me from sneaking glances at my phone in my lap. And though I may not be the most environmentally active person, this film made me realize I didn’t have to get down in the dirt or up in the trees to do so. I have my phone and backyard, and that’s all I need.

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The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 21

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

The 2019 Dystopia Was Supposed To Be Cool

By CHRISABELLA JAVIER

don’t we have that?

Because this is the so-called “real world,” and it sucks. The NSA and Russia are looking through all our information, and the only thing we are even allowed to do at this point is make memes about it.

Companies like Amazon are literal mega-corporations that exploit their workers and stick their dirty little hands all over our personal lives. And the aesthetic we end up with is stuff that the ‘90s and early 2000s left in the trash bin! Not the trashy ‘80s vibe I want! Not even a tacky emo-scene style! We’re bringing back wide-cut jeans instead of a cool leather coat? Seriously?

Where is the sense of rebellion that these stories inspire? Why can’t we just rob Jeff Bezos? Why are we stuck in this endless suffering we call life? And why are we stuck in it looking like a bunch of mashed potatoes?

And I know what you’re thinking, “Chrisabella, you are writing this on a laptop that gives you access to the whole expanse of human

New School Policy: Consciousness is Optional for Class

By JUSTIN LEE It’s in-class finals week. Students are beginning to pitch their tents and sleeping bags on the Tribeca Bridge, a growing number of students are claiming to have amnesia in the middle of tests, and teachers are beginning to accept that they will be teaching an empty classroom for the duration of the semester. Students have resorted to using the Tribeca Bridge’s temporary scaffold wrapping as a hammock, and freshman are, as usual, complaining about not being able to go to sleep at 8:00 p.m.

A set of new school-wide policies changes all of that. Alarmed by the number of students sleeping with their eyes open and displaying a very unusual concern for their students’ well-being, the school has made a decision to make consciousness completely optional for class. Teachers, for the first time in Stuyvesant history, are now encouraged to allow students to sleep in class, as long as they sleep on a textbook relating to the subject being taught. The student will be able to learn the material via diffusion, from the textbook’s vast stores of

knowledge to the relatively empty brain of the student. Most students agreed wholeheartedly with the decision, but some students have found the administration’s decision to be concerning.

“Ever since they’ve implemented the policies, it’s been strange— I mean, stranger than strange.

A sleeping kid in my health class murmured, “1590 is a good score!

Please, mom, I’m hungry,” with tears silently creeping down his cheeks. And I overheard my health teacher mumble, “Urine is contained in the testes” in her sleep.

“That’s just my first period class,” claimed a freshman who preferred to remain anonymous (but they all look the same anyway). “With all of their students sleeping, my teachers give up teaching and go to sleep themselves.”

Junior Iawad Zmrose, upon hearing the news, was ecstatic. “I thought I would have to give up my five-hour nap when I come back from school for studying, but now that I can sleep and study at the same time during school hours, I can dedicate my time to pursuing my passions, like becoming an epic competitive Big Fish gamer,” said

Zmrose, oblivious to angry stares from members in his group chat who were bombarded with Big Fish messages at 4:00 a.m.

The Spectator also attempted to reach teachers, but they told us to leave the classroom so as not to disturb the sleeping students. The only school official kind enough to speak with The Spectator was the AP of Health, Security, and P.E. Brian Moran. After yielding our cellular devices (“It’s just policy,” Moran said), he welcomed us into his office and began to speak. “Teachers just didn’t want to teach—I mean, for the health and well-being of our students.

Health is the most important thing to us,” explained Moran as he gave us a pained grin. “That is also why teachers make all of their tests and projects due on the same day.”

Will the new school policies ultimately be beneficial? Only time will tell. In the meantime, visit the school store! It is now selling new merchandise, including a sweater with pillows for arms, a Supreme sleep mask, AirPods for the Poor™, and an exotic brown liquid known as “coffee.”

Sophia Zhao / The Spectator

I’m really annoyed right now.

Because it is 2019, and there is a billionaire CEO controlling our country with the grace of a dying seagull, every piece of technology is spying on us at every single moment, and the whole world is, in theory, feeling like a futuristic cyberpunk dystopia. I will emphasize the “in theory” part.

Because damn it, if we are going to have the dystopian sci-fi world, can’t we have a cool, gritty, neon aesthetic that goes along with it? Not to be blunt, but WE ARE VERY UGLY. Look at the overlying themes of these types of stories. Rich people and companies have a lot of power?

Check! (Thank their colleagues for that tax deduction.) The government is [insert vivid description here about bodily anatomy and where it belongs]? Check! (There’s literally a shutdown over an incredibly climbable/destroyable wall.)

Technology has created a world

where we can no longer be private?

Check, but you know we’re all gonna use it and love it. (Follow me on IG @c.k.javier.) But do we have a cool, sorta trashy aesthetic with a lot of cool lighting? No! I do not have that cool dystopian look, and I know that’s not just my problem because no one else has it!

You know that cyberpunk movie, “Blade Runner”? It takes place in 2019! That’s this year!

Yet that movie has androids! And I’m not talking about the crappy yet affordable phones! I’m talking artificial people! Right now I am skimming the Wikipedia article and apparently they also have colonies in SPACE! How come they get that and we are stuck here with an underfunded space program because the president is hyper-fixated on building a humongous dome around America to protect us from Earth aliens? And there is such a cool aesthetic, with the giant cities filled with rain and neon lighting.

It’s basically what a tourist thinks Times Square is like. Why the hell

knowledge, isn’t that enough?”

NO, it is not enough. Because the sci-fi movies promised laser fights in the streets of futuristic cities and all in all gave people the idea that they could be more in this world despite what we are told! The laptop just makes me depressed.

You know what? I’ve had

enough of living in a messed-up world. If you want a cool aesthetic dystopian 2019, you gotta make it.

Meet me in Battery after 10th with outfits that look like we came out of a futuristic ‘80s movie. Time to make a change, or at least throw eggs at the Google building.

David Hogg’s Harvard Interview

By JONATHAN XU An anonymous self-described libertarian from the New Regulations Association has given The Spectator an audio recording of David Hogg’s interview with a Harvard University alumnus, whom we will refer to as John Doe. Based off of this totally unedited recording, we have compiled a transcript of the interview. *sound of a door opening* *David Hogg enters, shakes hands with the alumnus, and sits down* DAVID HOGG: Pleasure to meet you, err…

JOHN DOE: I’m Mr. John Doe. Nice to meet you, David Hogg. I see you’re rocking your iconic black T-shirt with your classic oversized duffel bag slung over your shoulder.

Cool look, bro.

DAVID HOGG: Thanks, Mr. Doe. The police really appreciate me bringing them confiscated assault rifles.

JOHN DOE: You’re the press secretary for the…

DAVID HOGG: Actually, I am the press. Well, except for Fox News anyway.

JOHN DOE: Oh, errr, yes, Mr. Hogg. You’re also the press secretary for the Starch For Our Chives movement; you have a 4.2 weighted GPA, have appeared on more television shows than I can remember, and have

shut down more television shows than I can count. That’s an impressive resume, sir. The only problem is that you have a 1270 SAT score. As you may already know, the average student at an Ivy League school has an SAT score of only 1520, which is already a staggering 80 points below the maximum. With your…

DAVID HOGG: That also happens to be the number of Ivy League professors who have written letters of recommendation for me.

JOHN DOE: Wut? DAVID HOGG: Minus the number of times I’ve cursed on national television. *John Doe starts coughing profusely* DAVID HOGG: Minus the number of times I’ve worn this exact suit and shirt combo. *John Doe starts wheezing* DAVID HOGG: Without washing it. *John Doe shouts some expletives in a muffled voice, apparently having buried his nose in the crook of his arm* DAVID HOGG: Minus the number of times I’ve hung up on the White House. *John Doe’s body hits the carpet with an audible thud!* DAVID HOGG: Minus the number of times I’ve said “No more!” Oh hey, that’s one more!

JOHN DOE: I think that’s enough.

Here’s a swear jar and your letter of admission.

Are You Sanguine?

By LAURA ILIOAEI A few times per school year, the first floor becomes a bloodthirsty leech, ravenous for volunteers with a weakness for validation or acknowledgment from a greater power, even if said power’s identity remains vague forever. These pallid victims lie, arms akimbo like a martyr crucified as plastic pint bags fill with their warm crimson vigor.

Ostensibly, this is for the sake of “saving a life,” but rumours have been suggesting otherwise.

“You’re telling me that financially irresponsible aristocrats are blowing their trust fund money on transfusions from what’s amassed at the Stuyvesant Blood Drives?”

The idea of Mayor de Blasio spending more than $10,000 on blood that barely filled a Starbucks Grande cup was a conspiracy that was too far-fetched, even for my wildest Humor department article fantasies.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” my friend responded. “De Blasio, an aristocrat? He’s been embezzling and laundering money through Stuyvesant’s funding for as long as he has been involved in state government. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants to seize the intellectual blood that he also wishes to taint so badly.”

I decided to go undercover as a Red Cross volunteer on the day of the Blood Drive. You might think I did this for a noble cause like using journalism as a tool to point out corruption in society or for a more selfish reason like the free pizza from that expensive establishment at the ACE train station corner that’s baked with love and a pinch of crack-laced flour.

But I did this for a motive that was even more pathetic: I was bored, and this drama was interesting. If I got a provocative article, volunteer hours, AND a free meal out of it, all the better.

Well, things definitely escalated by the time second period rolled around. I was in a nurse’s uniform in an ambulance going God knows where. I was worried about being surrounded by the stench of blood, but I realized that most of the student population must have an iron deficiency as it was odourless. I peeked out the ambulance window. Looked like Brooklyn to me. I realized that we were pulling up to— “Mayor de Blasio’s house?!”

NYPD squads were stationed in front of what looked like a twostory house, but I’ve experienced enough otherworldly happenings around the 11th floor pool to know that appearances are all too deceiving.

This was of no exception: a large-scale operation was occurring underground. Scientists prodded at pint bags and used pipettes and to look at pinprick-sized plops of plasma before scribbling their

findings onto notepads. I frowned behind my medicine mask like a powerless Upton Sinclair, assessing the horrors of the unknown as I wheeled in a fresh batch straight outta The Pulse of The Student Body.

Suddenly de Blasio in the flesh appeared, opening the double doors situated in the center of the hubbub. His smile outstretched to the size of a Cheshire cat’s upon the sight of the blood.

“We’ll finally crack the genetic code of the best in the city, sell it to the pharmaceutical bosses, and never have to deal with any of this ever again.” His eyes sparkled and irises swirled in dreamy delusion.

Of course. Everything’s always an issue of economics and monetary gain. Like he ever really cared about “helping” non-Asian minorities or generally improving conditions in NYC schools. He was willing to even violate the delicate balance between medicine and eth-

ics for serious stacks of green.

Yet apart from breakfast cart coffee, boba, and (maybe) benzos, there is nothing in our blood. The blood is not what constitutes us as the academically elite. This underground factory was an offense to my pride, invalidating the hours of cram school my predecessors and I attended, the sobbing over prep books and worksheets, the blood not circulating through me, but the blood (sweat, and tears) poured into these efforts.

So I did what any hero would’ve done in that moment: I slapped the mayor in the face.

No, I didn’t do that. I’m not a hero. And practically speaking, I wasn’t going to stick around and get into trouble with the NYPD. I hopped back on that ambulance because I needed a free ride to get back to Stuy in time for my Shakespearean Literature class and write my findings in a satirist guise.

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 22

Humor New Classes Leaked on Talos

By KELLY YIP and IRENE HAO

2022” group. Here is a description of these new courses:

After the list of new elective classes was leaked early to the public, anarchy was let loose and Talos promptly crashed after being overloaded by a whopping four visitors at once. Investigation for the cause of the crash is taking place under the supervision of the Student Union, but rumor has it that Student Union Vice President Vishwaa Sofat hacked the system to ensure his own spot in these specialized courses, specifically in AP Fortnite. Sources state that he is hopeful for his first victory royale after placing himself into the class.

Sofat denied this, however, and refused to answer questions, stating, “I have important dictating to do, like, can you, like, not.”

He then proceeded to swat us away and went back to yelling at his subordinates.

But what possibly could have been so popular that the Program Office just decided NOT to tell anyone about? These new courses were planned to be released to the public for the spring semester, but an anonymous hacker broke past Rodda John’s defense mechanisms, made these courses available to the public early, and under the Facebook profile, “xxX_KillerKawaiiTigerAssassin345ExDee_ Xxx,” posted “We gottem bois: AP Time Management, AP Fortnite, Escalator Appreciation, and AP Swim Gym for the spring y’all” into the “Dear Incoming Class of

AP Time Management

AP Time Management was designed to bring relief to the Stuyvesant community. With this course, students will learn how to before class and still have enough time for procrastination and a non-existent social life.

Some units in this class include, “How to Survive for Three Days on a 20-Minute Nap,” “The Basics of a Curve and How to Obtain One,” “How to Juggle Your Endless Assignments,” “How to Write an Essay in Only Half an Hour at 3:00 a.m.,” and “How to Procrastinate Efficiently.” The class also requires you to have taken two courses beforehand, Basics in Procrastination and Cycling.

Mastering procrastination is the basis of working efficiently as it increases your workflow at an exponential rate and allows a work time of four hours to be reduced to the 10 minutes you have before class starts. Cycling is required because it ensures that you can run up to the 10th floor from Orchestra before the warning bell even rings and still have time to print your essay along the way, even if you have to wait for that one guy to finish up his essay on the printing computer (he obviously hasn’t taken this class). The course also requires additional materials: a tissue box (XXXXL) for your tears and at least two pounds of pure synthetic caffeine (which can be picked up at your local Bronx Sci-

ence).

Escalator Appreciation

Principal Eric Contreras, in collaboration with AP of Security, Health, and P.E. Brian Moran, has agreed to launch a new freshman course, Escalator Appreciation, which will be implemented starting with next year’s incoming freshmen. Contreras cited concerns that the escalators were not receiving adequate love from underclassmen. This decision was made due to the utter tomfoolery that has been occuring on our semi-functioning escalators, which according to Contreras and Moran, deserve more respect. In this course, students will learn how to properly appreciate our mechanical moving stairs by studying their history, including different time periods of escalators (such as Baroque vs. Renaissance escalators), the evolution from stairs to escalators, escalator repair, and the most anticipated subject of this course, broken escalator parkour.

Upon completing this course, freshmen will receive the wondrous “Key to the Migration of the Levels of Stairs” or simply, the “Key that Turns on the Escalator if it Shuts Down.” Contreras is especially thrilled with this course, saying, “I don’t have to hire any more escalator workers to fix the escalators! I can just use my fresh batch of freshmen! I can finally buy myself a Stuylin’ shirt!”

AP Swim Gym

The announcement of AP

Swim Gym was one that sparked excitement in many desperate Stuyvesant students. The class will offer another college credit for those who are willing to venture to obscure, possibly shady areas of the Hudson. All students will be taking the elevators to the secret teleportation port on the 11th floor (courtesy of last year’s Science Olympiad team) to transport themselves into a secret classroom hidden underneath the Hudson, located near the Hudson Stuyvesant Shrine. This has already caused backlash from Stuyvesant’s staff, specifically those who only ride the elevators one floor to avoid the stampede of panicked students in the stairways. In this class, students will learn how to do the backstroke and breaststroke simultaneously. Students will also learn which grade makes the best sacrifice to Peter Stuyvesant in exchange for the ability to breathe underwater. This course requires two prerequisite courses, Swim Gym and Studio Art Mixed Media (the College Board requires wellrounded students for this AP, and perfecting hand-eye coordination will help in communications with local fish by using hand signals).

Many freshmen are outraged, especially the ones who passed the swim test during Camp Stuy. An anonymous freshman stated, “I seriously just wasted six years of my life perfecting the art of the butterfly stroke just so I wouldn’t take Swim Gym. But now it’s blocking me from a college opportunity?! I demand compensation with a per-

fect 5.0 GPA!”

AP Fortnite

But perhaps the most controversial and jarring of these courses is the AP Fortnite course. The class is believed to be taught by Ninja himself! Rumors of this “Pro Fortnite Experience” course, which is to be added to the roster and required for graduation, excited some freshies, but to others, it was an insult to their EPIC identities as gamers.

“Where’s the PUBG course?

Huh? Or the TF2 or Roblox Course? What about Hunger Games on Minecraft?” an outraged self-proclaimed expert sophomore gamer cried. However, this brings hope for the Stuyvesant community, as we can finally be a match for Bronx Science’s renowned Fortnite E-Sports team (this is actually true). We don’t have a team, so with the addition of this course, Bronx Science can’t ignore us anymore! Maybe Bronxsenpai will finally notice us!

With the addition of the new courses, our community of sleepdeprived, depressed, caffeine-high students will drastically benefit from them. These obscure new courses will definitely give Harvard a reason to send us sociallyincapable students an acceptance letter. The Program Office is going to try to find the motivation to place everyone into their first choices once they get Talos back online, as well as the will to revise their firewall. Stay woke for future updates, kiddos.

“Pulse” Gang Stealing Escalator Gearboxes, Causing Mayhem

By HELENA WILLIAMS Since the dawn of time, Stuyvesant’s escalator system has been reliably unreliable. However, nobody thought the escalators would be completely shut off from student traffic for weeks. It turns out that the problems will be fixed soon, because the cause of these shutdowns was discovered: a group of red-clad students who have been stealing the escalator gearboxes.

This group of mystery pupils, bearing gang slogans like “Feel the Pulse” and “Coopertition,” have been seen on security cameras removing the escalator gearboxes and smuggling them down to the fourth floor. Unfortunately, because they wear “694” baseball caps and tinted safety goggles, these students remain unidentified. They typically show up around 8:30 p.m. on Friday nights, when all sane students have already left the school, and take the chains off of the gearboxes before loading them onto the service elevators. Security guards attempting to apprehend these

miscreants have been distracted by incredibly polite members of StuyPulse, Stuyvesant’s resident robotics team, who are in the middle of “testing autonomous routines” at this hour.

“Honestly, we’ve been having issues due to budget cuts, but we’ve recently found a good way to cut costs,” one sophomore said. “We’ve started reaching out to the local community for gearboxes, and we’ve been able to get some for very affordable prices right within the school!”

This sophomore was then hustled back into the robotics lab by a group of menacing upperclassmen Other StuyPulse members proved less welcoming to interviews. “We don’t appreciate excessive questions at this point in time.

Our build season has just started,

and we’ve got more than a few designs that we’re trying to keep secret until our first competition,”

Serena Chan / The Spectator

said a senior while casually leaning on a large stack of gearboxes.

When our interviewer attempted to ask about the gearboxes, they

were immediately interrupted by students moving a large carpeted field through the door, at which point the senior and the gearboxes vanished somewhere into the lab.

The only piece of evidence left by this “Pulse” gang is a half-filled hot chocolate mug with “694 StuyPulse” printed on it that was left in the vicinity of the 2-4 escalator stairwell. Because of this evidence, the 2-4 escalators have been shut down for months as the biology department attempts to harvest the DNA of the culprits from the crime scene.

One member of the Pulse gang has sent an anonymous tip-off to The Spectator, claiming to have information about the inner workings of this menacing group. Apparently, they’ve been trading with groups operating under pseudonyms like “The TechKnights” and “Iron Maidens,” sending gearboxes to

them in exchange for “ranking points.” Yet when asked if they could tell us what exactly these ranking points were for, the student replied, “That’s how mafia works.”

In the meantime, the Pulse gang’s footprint has spread to include the nuts and bolts on the Tribeca Bridge, which have been replaced with StuyPulse pens.

Even now, construction workers are attempting to repair the damage, but the Pulse gang has been stealing the tools of the workers, leaving the bridge increasingly held together by the power of cheap branded pens.

The escalators are due to turn back on soon, but with new safety precautions.

“In the event that someone who doesn’t have the special janitor key attempts to remove the gearboxes, an alarm will start going off throughout the school,” a security guard said. “We actually got the help of StuyPulse students to design these alarm systems, so they should be completely secure!”

The High School Freshmen College Application Process

By MITCHELL LEUNG All right freshmen, now that you’ve had a semester to earn your sea legs—or rather, your peg legs—it’s time to get cracking and prep yourself for college applications. That’s right—you need to diversify and electrify; justify and terrify; testify and rectify your life experiences and thoughts ASAP. Oh, you think it’s too soon? That you have years ahead of you to live your life and eventually build up to that unfortunate state of existence? Oh, classic freshmen—so naive. No, that is all false. In fact, you’re even later to this than you

were to first period Swim Gym today. Here are some tips to help you do your best—wait, sorry, wrong instruction guide.

Here are some useful tips to get those college essays and application materials looking spicier than Mr. Choubaralian’s biannual facial hair purge, with twice the shock factor!

1. Take interesting jobs. You live in NYC—the most dynamic and inexplicable dystopia in the world. Become a sewage worker, and write about how the fetid pungencies of New York City’s rank underbelly

are really a metaphor for all the mental and emotional baggage and waste we hide within ourselves on the daily.

Boom. That’s gonna be a college essay even more lucrative than the Costco one. Not interested in the sanitational field? Yearning for something more explorative that you can really sink your intellectual chompers into, like that Costco girl’s charming anecdotes? Well, someone needs to redraw the maps of NYC as gentrification slowly creeps out and swallows neighborhoods whole. Metropolitan

cartography is an undervalued career path that most are too afraid to pursue—but if anything can rival the Costco girl’s epiphanic self-discovery within a tub of sour cream, it’s the teenage mapmaker’s transcendental comprehension of social interconnectivity from the boldly colored subway routes of Manhattan.

2. Don’t be afraid to rock the boat. Shake things up with your family and friends for maximum traumatic upbringing. Immerse yourself in drama! I’m not talking about that tame STC produc-

tion quality. Have that fight you’ve always needed to have with your grandmother over complete dominance of the TV remote. Pick that bone you’ve had with your hamster since the pet shop right this instant! Picture “Riverdale” being filmed with the Kardashians—and you’ve got yourself a perfect storm. Remember, conflict and pain make for the most flavorful college essays. And hey, if continued on page 23

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 23

Humor The High School Freshmen College Application Process continued from page 22

your out-for-lunch privileges ever get voided due to some “suspicious” activities on your part (I don’t judge)—you’ve still got those juicy college essays to snack on, right?

3. Start kissing up. You’re going to need those teacher recs a lot sooner than you realize— the longer and richer your romantic I MEAN ACADEMIC relationship is with them, the more fire your recommendations are going to look. Starting freshman year not only confers upon you the benefits of age, but it’s also much easier to ensnare their affections for you while you’re still trapped in an unthreatening, slightly endearing prepubescent form. If

you’re devoted enough, you might even snag some extra special supplemental recs from the unlikeliest of places (Looking at you, cool security guard guy, *wink wink*).

4. Show the colleges you care!

It’s never too early to demonstrate your interest. Send your dream colleges Valentine’s Day cards! Birthday cards too, reminding them how prestigiously elderly they are.

If you do it right, you might even pay enough for postage to match your future college application fees! Now isn’t that a praiseworthy feat?

5. Build an altar, a shrine to the deified persona of each college. Pray to it every night.

Do your homework at its base every day. That way, you have someone else to blame other than yourself after you get hit with that waitlist rejection.

Not every college has a prepackaged, ready-made figurehead to worship like our very own Supreme Big Boy Peter Stuyvesant, so you might have to get creative. Looking into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their great humanities department? Welcome to modern mythology, MIT Romski. Or if you prefer the classic one-word deity names like Zeus or Deadpool, you’re more than welcome to keep the colleges’ abbreviated names. Just saying, you might sound slightly silly praying to Colgate every night. Especially when everyone knows Crest is superior.

And you know what happens after all this? That’s right—after all those years, riddled with sick and mental health days, you succumb to the one disease that Nurse

Danielle can’t send you home for: senioritis. Our bodies become prone to infection as soon as our early applications are sent out, and from then on, the minor malady known as First-Term Senior Stress develops into a full-blown case of Second-Term Senioritis. It’s a terrible sickness, truly. Symptoms may include scholarly apathy, an inability to change out of your pajamas and sweats for school, and a stunning lack of regard for grades that rivals even that of the no-cellphone policy. Each year it claims hundreds of more lives at Stuyvesant—a menace not even Ms. Garber’s baby project may help you overcome.

All this is to say that your efforts will eventually be rewarded.

Every single one of these pro tips has been time-tested and proven true with each generation of miserable high school overachievers.

You will go on to some higher-

level institution that miraculously finds a way to resupply its paper towel dispensers throughout the day. You will dredge up some shady connections, pull some strings, and find a great job at Kung Fu Tea or some super progressive, millennial-friendly workplace where the motto is “FUN!: Finding Ur kNack” (which may or may not end up making sense after a couple of company-sponsored drinks). And you will make money and live. Me? I myself unfortunately didn’t have such a beneficent, valuable study guide to college like this breathtaking compilation. Someday, though, I do dream to make as much money as you all will in your well-paying, affluent careers, courtesy of moi.

Or, better yet, enough to pay for my own child’s college tuition.

Now there’s something Columbia doesn’t have in its curriculum.

The Only Three Tips You’ll Need to Tackle Those Finals With

By AARON WANG With the end of first semester drawing near, it seems apparent that there aren’t many more opportunities left to raise those disgusting, dishonorable averages of yours. Not to mention finals, which are lurking just around the corner waiting to pounce on your grades. Lucky for you, The Spectator has provided several essential tips that just might finally make that imaginary math average of yours a real number (it’ll probably still be failing horrendously, but at least there will be a number to show your parents, right?) or at the very least guarantee you a passing, if not perfect, score to flex on those fools who thought that they were too good to read these tips.

Sleep Until You’ve Transcended the Existing Wisdom of This Universe In fact, sleeping is more important than studying so there’s no need to study at all to prepare for your finals. Scientific studies have shown that sleeping at least eight hours a day helps improve learning and memory. By what this research has shown, it can safely be concluded that if you just sleep a

lot in the days leading up to your finals, your memory and mental capacity should increase to a level beyond godlike.

Thus, it’s encouraged for you to sleep as much as possible during the days leading up to your finals. Why even bother studying when you’ll just *remember* the information that you learned, like, three months ago? Within no time, you’ll have the mental storage capabilities rivalling Google’s Database, an efficiency greater than Amazon Prime, and such an exceeding memory that you might actually even be able to remember the last time you obtained a 100 on a test (oh yeah, when was that again?). And if you happen to forget something during the test, no worries! Take a quick nap and it should all be coming back to you in no time!

Break Your Legs For Luck (...and maybe rack up some pity points from your teacher)

Now, you’ve got all these useless textbooks and workbooks laying around that you’re not going to use for studying…so what to do? Well luckily, that five-pound AP Bio Textbook you’ve got there

also happens to function as a great cinder block substitute to break your own tibia with. Pain (hope you have insurance) in exchange for a greater chance of success and good luck? It’s a win-win situation! The pain you endure will only make you stronger...and if you happen to get a scar, that’s +3 coolness points! You may even break a few more bones in the process as a bonus, if the amount of force applied is great enough; obviously by common sense, it should go without saying that the more seriously your leg is broken, the more effective this strategy will be! Also, it’s recommended, to be safe, that you break both of your legs to increase your probability by twofold in case one leg sacrifice wasn’t enough.

As another added bonus, in the time you will spend being immobilized, you could focus on much more important matters: sleeping 24 hours a day as you recover.

If you want to really guarantee as high a score as possible on that final, however, be prepared to put up a dramatic live reenactment when you return. Before you take the final, show off how you sustained your unfortunate injury whilst dueling a house burglar and how you selflessly refused to

give up your textbooks (or whichever material that relates to your class) despite the threat of death to demonstrate your responsibility and devotion to knowledge. Your teacher will likely be impressed and may even sympathize...but to really seal the deal and guarantee yourself that secret curve on the final, adding in a sob story about your tragic childhood and unsuccessful love life doesn’t hurt either.

Assert Complete Dominance Over Your Stress After adequate sleeping and breaking (both) your legs, there’s still one obstacle between you and that perfect final score: stress. No matter how prepared you might be, stress will screw you up. The problem is, stress is a demon that resides within us all. So what’s the strategy to defeating an incarnation that is literally you? One method is to beat yourself up— remember that textbook you used earlier? It can break more than just tibias. However, The Spectator recommends a less painful method, which is asserting your dominance over stress.

You’ll want to begin by locating a body-length mirror. It is

advised that you mentally prepare yourself before you look into the mirror as what you will see is not for the faint of heart. Once you gaze into the mirror you will be met with a grotesque and disturbing demonic creature that is clearly out of shape with deep eyebags and—oh wait, nevermind, that’s just you. Then, like any other adversary, you’ll want to challenge it to a Fornite Battle Royale; be sure to boast about your Fortnite tutors and flex your total solo victories.

After you effortlessly win, spread your arms and position yourself in a T-pose while repeating aloud to the mirror that you, not stress, are in charge of yourself. Finally, and most importantly, you’ll want to relieve yourself on the mirror (yes, that’s right…go ahead). It’s the ultimate form of dominance and is completely foolproof. Remember to lift your leg as high as possible whilst doing so and you should feel your body ascending beyond this plane and into the fourth dimension (there’s no stress in the fourth dimension). Ultimately, you’ll end up without stress and with a pretty disgusting and foulsmelling mirror instead.

The Hidden Corruption of the Student Union

By ALWIN PENG and ZIYUN ZHANG After weeks of heated arguments over the use of the Student Union’s yearly budget and an inconclusive penultimate meeting on how to allocate the funds, last Friday’s meeting was the final opportunity for the Student Union to come to a decision before Vishwaa Sofat and William Wang claimed the money for themselves. The meeting did not go as planned.

It was a cacophony of different ideas. Budget Plan A involved allocating just enough money to fix the escalators and finally build the rails for a cafeteria balcony. It was a sensible plan, and a good portion of the cabinet was behind it. However, the support for Plan A was drowned out by incessant chanting for Plan B, which was, as usual, to allocate all the funds to building new robotics labs. After all, better robotics labs would lead to higher productivity in members and they would be more likely to have bake sales (truly the only

thing the students here live for).

“I like this idea,” Principal Contreras said. “Robotics labs are cool. And honestly, escalators are overrated. I’m always taking steps to avoid them.” Ba dum tss.

“I disagree,” interjected a rando who probably didn’t even go to Stuy. “I think we should spend the money on arbitrarily repainting the Tribeca Bridge. And maybe we can embezzle the remaining funds to get a popcorn machine for the SU room or something.”

“Or even better, how about you give some money to my club and support our halal-eating adventures. Y’know, you can never have too much halal in your life,” suggested junior Chris Brown in between mouthfuls of rice and chicken.

Seng Soo / The Spectator

Quite a few loud and audible “hmms” bounced through the room, and several members of the

SU scratched their chins, nodding their heads along as if they were deep in thought.

“Embezzlement is bad!” said President William Wang, sporting the same $1000 J. Crew suit he wore every day. Sofat suspected that he slept in it. Wang continued, “But I know what we have to do. You guys know about ARISTA right?”

As soon as Wang said the word “ARISTA,” boos echoed through the crowd.

Chants of “not a legitimate organization” started up.

Wang silenced the crowd. “As long as they’re there, with their office right next door to the SU room, we’re giving them the legitimacy that they do not deserve.” The crowd cheered. “What we need is a wall separating our

office from theirs, and ARISTA will pay for it! Serves them right for taking money from the poor robotics team. How do you think the robots feel when they have to survive on only a million dollars in alumni donations?”

Thunderous applause resounded through the room. An ARISTA representative spoke up. “William, uhh, I don’t think this is a proper use of...”

Wang looked at him with a confused grin. “We didn’t even give you clowns a vote in our constitution, so why are you here?”

Pointing at the representative, he called to the security guards (who had taken a break from their departmentally mandated sevenhour coffee break) standing by the door, “Escort this heckler out please.”

As he was dragged away by the guards, the robotics team began to chant rhythmically, “694! 694!

694! 694!”

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 24

Humor Debate Team 101

By VICTOR KUANG and ISHQ GUPTA

Known for having nervestruck teens talk about things that they don’t care about for some college resume, Debate is one of the most respected extracurriculars in Stuyvesant. As members of this team for over a year now, we’ve got outstanding accolades, like Victor’s 0-5 at Ridge, and sophomore Will Ma’s 20/30 at a Stuyvesant tournament! With such experience, we are knowledgeable enough to give everyone in this school a detailed description of the team.

(Also, we’d write about Speech, but Debate is clearly more important. And if we left you out, we apologize, it was totally not intentional.)

Parliamentary: Founded by the legendary Rodda John (‘17), who for some reason is still at Stuyvesant, Parliamentary debate is the newest addition to the overall debate team. With only five years of experience, this team has managed to achieve...well...we’re not really sure ourselves! Having yet to gain national recognition (or even local acknowledgement, for that matter), this format continues to struggle in perfecting its craft. Perhaps one reason they struggle is because of the ludicrousness of their argumentation. By convention, Parliamentary debaters are not allowed to do outside research because of the tournament host’s poor data plan. As a result, each debater has to prepare a case, filled with contentions they would never use normally, 15 minutes before the round. These rules force debaters to use “logic” and “reasoning” instead of actual evidence, resulting in rounds that were originally about the carbon tax turning into rounds about soda taxes (you really don’t want to know, trust us).

Congress: Congress debate is an oddball. It’s really just an elite form of Speech; in fact, they even advertise themselves as a mix of Speech AND Debate. Nonetheless, as they have registered as a Debate form (because Debate is obviously better), we’ll enlighten you about them as well. They prepare long speeches at home, and simply read them. No argumentation. No back and forth.

So why is it a debate format again? It’s supposed to mimic what actual Congress is like, which, thanks to the government shutdown, is something that they’re finally doing for the first time. Then again, when has anything run smoothly for anyone at Stuy? Most people who join Congress are gullible and naive freshmen who believe they are joining an elite team. At least they do until the first meeting— that’s when most quit.

Policy: If you’ve ever been on the sixth floor after school, chances are, you’ve heard a Policy debater. Known for debating by making a capella beats about politics, it is the most incomprehensible format thanks to the number of wannabe Eminems participating. With such speed, whole rounds go by without anyone understanding a single word that was said, not even the debaters themselves. Oftentimes, those in Policy sound smart and are called “scholars” because they speak so fast, but in reality, they are simply too lazy to fully form words and enunciate. They call it spreading, instead of what it really is: SPeed READing, which just shows their laziness even more.

Public Forum: “All you gotta do is make hand gestures and, like, have good rhetoric.” —Christopher Cho, junior Though most people will treat this quote as irrelevant, it is

literally the gist of Public Forum (PF) debate. A rip-off of Policy, PF requires extremely fast speaking and making illogical points.

Though comprehensible, they manage to mention nuclear war in every round, regardless of motion. Using evidence and eccentric hand motions, PF debaters appear extremely intelligent to the normies. However, they don’t even use logic or try to explain their arguments; they simply say everything leads to nuclear war without explaining why (and the judge simply accepts that without any reservations). Rounds about the education system have ended in talking about which side would lead to nuclear war faster. No, seriously. The education system.

Really wack if you ask us.

Lincoln-Douglas: Unlike other formats of debate, this is the only one-on-one debate team in Stuyvesant. Their rounds are pretty much only about philosophy, making their “logic” futile, and leaving them without real-world applications for their style. LD debaters become sad when they are made to debate under a logical and pragmatic resolution, as those topics make their moral arguments obsolete. They also spread, so the rounds end up essentially being each side reading chunks of philosophical text as fast as possible.

Not sure why anyone would want to do this, really.

Conclusion: Well, we hope that this comprehensive guide has been helpful and cleared any misconceptions you had about Stuy’s debate team, such as us winning, or you know, actually being able to debate. Hopefully, any delusions you had about joining Stuy’s illustrious debate team have also been crushed faster than our reputation as debaters as well as writers. Please make the smart decision and do not join this team. Thank you!

The Suffering of the Rollerbagging Community

By CAROLINE PICKERING and JASMINE WANG To the entire Stuyvesant community, roller bags are a curse like no other. Snatching unsuspecting students’ feet in the hallways. Taking up half the staircase as they struggle to climb them. Turning the school into the airport with their reign of wheeled tyranny. Stuyvesant is suffering from a plague of rolling bags. The recent influx of students using roller bags—Rollerbaggers, as they have dubbed themselves—have made transportation in this school nearly impossible. But in a shocking new development, the Rollerbagger community has responded to these accusations.

A testimony from Leo Smulansky, a pioneer of the movement, reads as follows: “How do you think we feel when you mock us for our bags with wheels on them? Why must we be tormented for our laziness and lack of social conformity? We want to feel special and know that we are better than everyone else. This school needs to stop the oppression of Rollerbaggers! The administrators do nothing to help us either! Can’t they see we are the future?” (It has been noted that this particular Rollerbagger was a freshman.)

Another Rollerbagger, who wishes to remain anonymous in fear of persecution, remarked, “The kids in this school have no respect for us Rollerbaggers.

Forget dealing with the annoyances who shout homophobic slurs in the hallways! We need to demand the rights we deserve!”

The Rollerbagger was promptly

Subtle Asian Dating: William Wang

By YARU LUO and AHMED HUSSEIN Cuffing season may be over, but The Spectator has got you covered with a new man for the new year!

Calling all ABGs (Asian Bible Girls of course…)!! Looking for a selfproclaimed, SU-enlightened despot?

Pros • Will tie your shoelaces so you don’t fall for anyone else • Good at soccer but only if the other team doesn’t know how to kick a ball • Is a cheerleader so he can spell • His initials are WW so you already know he doesn’t take Ls • If you fake arrest him at a MUN conference, he’ll go with it (Imagine what else he’ll go with!)

• Professional belly dancer and his hips sure don’t lie

• Unlimited access to Teas’ Tea • Owns AirPods so he can buy you all the bubble tea you want • 6 feet tall Cons • Owns AirPods so he don’t speak broke like the rest of us • Prone to slipping on balls (but will get right back up), so you better shoot your shot!!!!

• Vishwaa will use every resource in his power to wipe you from existence if you flirt with his lover • Lives in Staten Island • Went through a Soylent phase • Loves puns so be prepared for some bad ones that’ll give you acute bouts of MELONcholy • More committed to streaks than his sleep schedule • Might be a part of the Yakuza

interrupted by a sophomore chasing after her with a murderous look in his eyes. Said Rollerbagger then appeared in school four days later with a broken arm. The Spectator declines to comment on this specific event.

However, on the opposing side, many people were outraged that Rollerbaggers would even begin to demand rights such as exclusive access to their own personal staircase. “This is a school, not an airport,” junior Kathryn Jano commented. “People rolling their bags should roll on out of Stuyvesant!” shouted another junior before finger gunning and quickly retreating. “It’s not a backpack,” snapped outraged freshman Christopher Liu when asked about using a roller bag.

“It’s a freaking suitcase!” Some Rollerbaggers hate themselves as well. “Listen, man, I didn’t want this. Living as a Rollerbagger sucks.”

Despite the majority of Stuyvesant hating them, Rollerbaggers continue to be an endless nuisance to anyone with a functional brain. There have been calls to ban these satanic devices of foot torture, all of which have been ignored by the administration because of a larger focus on “fixing the escalators.” However, seeing as many Rollerbaggers are slowly disappearing without a trace, we may find that our savior is local Stuyvesant Sniper Mr. Choubaralian.

The Spectator continues to keep a heavy eye on this continuously escalating conflict between Rollerbaggers and humans, as tensions may turn into full-scale revolution if we aren’t careful.

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 25

Sports Editorial

Lawrence and the Tigers Roll the Tide

By Sunan Tajwar Both Alabama and Clemson stomped over their College Football semi-final opponents to book their tickets to Levi Stadium for a chance at the National Championship. The Clemson Tigers embarrassed the thenundefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Cotton Bowl Classic, while Alabama put on a dominant display over Heisman winner Kyler Murray of Oklahoma. It was almost destiny for Clemson and Alabama to meet once again in the College Football playoff for round four of what is turning out to be one of the greatest College Football rivalries in recent history, rivaling the likes of USC-Notre Dame and Miami-Notre Dame. From the very beginning and throughout the College Football season, it was very clear that Clemson and Alabama were the cream of the crop, with the other teams left to play catch-up. It was the fourth installment of the classic matchup between the industrial powerhouse that is Alabama coached by Nick Saban, and “Little Old Clemson,” a term coined by coach Dabo Swinney.

The storyline going into the game revolved around a battle between each team’s prolific quarterbacks. Alabama were led by sophomore Tua Tagovailoa, the same guy who came off the bench as a freshman to win the National Championship for Alabama against Georgia last year.

On the other hand, Clemson were led by true freshman Trevor Lawrence, whom scouts are touting to be the greatest quarterback prospect since John Elway. With both teams boasting “top ten” defenses and great rotation in the skill positions (i.e. wide receivers, running backs), the game would prove to be a test of which quarterback could

rise to the occasion. Alabama was the favorite, as they were the defending national champions and Tua Tagovailoa had already proven that he can hold his own on the big stage.

The game started explosively with Tua throwing a pick-six on his first drive to help the Tigers score the first touchdown of

once again to extend the Tigers’ lead. Though nervous, Bama fans had good reason to believe that their Heisman runner-up quarterback would do what he had been doing all season long and put points on the board.

But much to their chagrin, the sophomore threw his second interception of the game, where

already on the field, and for the first time in his college football career, he looked like he had just seen a ghost.

The second half was not any better for the Crimson Tide.

The Clemson defense led by their stout pass rush kept Alabama’s explosive offense relatively quiet. It would only get

It was the fourth installment of the classic matchup between the industrial powerhouse that is Alabama coached by Nick Saban, and “Little Old Clemson,” a term coined by coach Dabo Swinney.

the night. But to Bama fans’ relief, the Hawaiian showed great leadership and came back to throw a touchdown on the very first pass of his very next drive to Jerry Jeudy. The teams then exchanged long marches down the field capped off by two strong runs into their respective endzones, making the score 14-13 near the end of the first quarter (Alabama missed an extra point). But unfortunately for the defending national champions, that was the most success they would have all game.

In the second quarter, Trevor Lawrence marched down the field once again with a great rushing attack to his aid led by Travis Etienne. And it was Etienne who punched the ball in

he was baited by the safety and horribly overthrew the pass intended for his receiver down the field. With momentum on their side, Clemson marched down the field once again, and Lawrence threw another touchdown pass to Etienne. Etienne capped off a hat trick of touchdowns in the first half, against Nick Saban’s defense, who are notorious for stuffing the run.

Bama fans in Levi Stadium probably experienced a sense of déjà vu because as Georgia last year, Clemson was crushing Alabama’s will for the greater part of the game by stifling their offense. But this time, there wasn’t a freshman phenom to come off the bench and save them. Tua Tagovailoa was

worse when the Tide mustered up enough offense for a field goal attempt. It was then when Nick Saban made perhaps the worst call of his illustrious career. Nick Saban called a trick play on the field goal attempt and sent the backup quarterback (also the holder) to run the ball into the endzone with the kicker as his lead blocker. Understandably, Clemson wasn’t fooled for a second. That play marked the beginning of the end for Alabama. The trick play reeked of Nick Saban’s desperation, and the fake field goal attempt was nothing more than a last-ditch attempt to regain the momentum. Trevor Lawrence got the ball back and continued to amaze. The fresh-

Comic of the Issue

“It’s a Teas’ Tea vending machine!” exclaimed Watwood and Lili.

“Hello girls,” rasped William Wang, emerging from the SU lair.

“No,” they replied.

man pulled off every throw in the book, from quick slants to back-shoulder fades outside the numbers, and two very wellplaced strikes into the endzone to bury the Tide. The Tide’s dissipation became evidently clear in the fourth quarter when Tua was benched and Clemson gave their starters a curtain call.

Trevor Lawrence ended the game with 350 passing yards and three touchdowns. NFL scouts and analysts like Todd McShay and Mel Kiper will undoubtedly be awed by his scouting tape for the next two years, desperately waiting for him to declare for the NFL Draft in 2021. But on the flip side, College Football can celebrate having a new star for at least two more years. As for Tua, there remains no doubt that he is one of the most talented prospects in College Football. However, this subpar performance will lower his stock, and it will take a few heroic performances in his junior year before the 2020 draft to secure himself as a top draft pick. As for Nick Saban, this game is a major blemish on his résumé, considering this was the first time in his career his team had been dominated in all aspects of the game, and the first time he felt like he had been outcoached. Despite the setbacks, the other six national championships will secure him a spot on College Football’s Mount Rushmore, as arguably the best ever to coach the game.

It remains to be seen if this is the passing of the torch in College Football for an Alabama who have dominated for the past decade, or if the Tide will continue to roll on through for Nick Saban’s seventh national championship. At the very least, Clemson has given teams a blueprint for how to slow down the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide.

Page 26

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Sports Girls’ Basketball

Phoenix Aim to Finish Season On A Strong Note Progressing through the second half of their season, the Phoenix, Stuyvesant’s girls’ varsity basketball team, are looking to patch mistakes and overcome setbacks. They ended a particularly difficult stretch of the season with a 6-4 record, putting them in good shape to end the season on a strong note.

According to senior and cocaptain Talia Kirshenbaum, one of the biggest concerns for the team has been a surge of injuries. The past few weeks have seen freshman Paige Wolfing, junior Eve Hausman, and fellow senior and co-captain Ally Archer afflicted with knee and ankle injuries. “Those injuries have definitely slowed us down, especially on offense,” Kirshenbaum said.

Archer elaborated on the frustration that comes with being an injured member on a team. “It definitely sucks to feel like you could be contributing so much more than you actually are,” Archer said. She also discussed the reluctance to seek medical attention, citing the fact that she will be graduating at the end of the year as a reason to put her injury aside. “Especially with the playoffs of my last season coming up, I would rather play through the pain than sit out,” she said.

The team’s coach, Vincent Miller, expressed his gratitude for Archer’s continued perseverance. “I appreciate the toughness as she continues to wrap the ankle and get out there and play an entire game,” Miller said. “She’s averaging more than 10 rebounds a game for us and is always a presence under the basket and in the paint. There

have been games where her efforts have carried us to a win.”

In addition to injuries, the team has other priorities on the court that they need their attention on. “Turnovers. If we keep our turnovers down, we will win most of our games,” said Miller when asked about what the team needs to work on.

Miller also added his concern that the Phoenix need

nine,” Miller explained.

Despite the loss, however, the game against Beacon demonstrated the effort and persistence of the team. Though they were behind 30-8 in the first half, they were able to battle back considerably in the second half. “I think we finally played with the aggression and the hustle that we’ve been missing,” Kirshenbaum said. “Beacon

orative Studies, which was an amazing display of the Phoenix’s defense. Lab’s basketball program is one of the strongest in the city; they have consistently competed in the playoff championships the past two years. However, the Phoenix kept a team that averaged 60 to 90 points a game down to 47 that day. “Though it definitely wasn’t the right outlook on the

is one of the strongest teams in the city, and we really made them work for the win. It was a relief to come off the court feeling proud of the way we played, especially when some of our other losses, like [the one against] Thurgood Marshall [Academy], left a lot to be desired.”

Another particularly memorable game was that against NYC Lab School for Collab-

game, I definitely thought we were going to be blown out. Instead, we played with determination and hustle,” Archer said.

Despite some of the team’s setbacks, several members of the team have performed exceptionally. Freshman Alison Chan, who showed promise earlier in the season and has since become the starting point guard, has allayed fears that the absence of graduated seniors

Sasha Burshteyn / The Spectator

By Damian Wasilewicz and Max Mah

to maintain their intensity throughout the entire game. He recalled the team’s game against Beacon High School on January 11, which ended in a 41-50 loss for the Phoenix, as a particular example. “The Beacon game stood out because we had played so well and aggressively in the second half. If we had that same type of intensity all game, we might have won by 10 instead of [having lost] by

would leave the team incomplete. “[Chan] is the puzzle piece we thought we would be missing in the beginning of the season,” Archer explained.

“We trust [Chan] with the ball for most of the game,” Miller said. “She plays and thinks like a [four] year high school point guard.”

While the Phoenix have seen exceptional contributions from many of its underclassmen, the performances of various returning players and upperclassmen have been steady and equally as impressive. For one, Kirshenbaum’s performance has been electrifying, according to her fellow co-captain. “I’ll always say that Talia impresses me. The girl is a beast in all areas of the game. She crashes the boards, isn’t afraid to drive into the basket, and can sink three-pointers. She’s a jack of all trades in the sport,” Archer said.

Coach Miller also agrees with Archer. “She has even done things that don’t show up in the boxscores, like taking charges and jumping on loose balls,” Miller added. During the Phoenix’s most recent match against the High School of Graphic Communication Arts, the team followed their pattern of starting slow in the first half and picking up speed in the second half. They pressed offensively all game but were not getting their fair share of calls when it came to fouls.

Still, the Phoenix finished with a 57-49 win, highlighted by performances from Archer and junior Selene Kaeheny. This win is perhaps what the Phoenix need to give them momentum into the end of the season.

Athlete of the Issue

Where Do Bad Gymnasts Go? Behind Parallel Bars!

By Allison Eng An Interview with Muhib Khan Senior Muhib Khan is one of the captains of the boys’ gymnastics team, the Lemurs.

He was recognized as PSAL Player of the Week during his junior year and has won awards for second place in pommel horse twice at the LIC City Invitational. This year, he wants to bring the gold to Stuyvesant and make a name for himself at the Individual Championships.

Grade: 12 Height: 5’7 Hair color: Dark brown Eye color: Dark brown DOB: 6/29/2001

1. How did you start gymnastics?

My older brother used to be a gymnast at Bronx Science and got me interested in it, so when I got into Stuyvesant, I decided

to try out for gymnastics.

2. Did you have experience beforehand?

I went to the Big Apple Games the summer before freshman year for two days. It’s basically a summer training camp for gymnastics hosted by the PSAL. I got a basic understanding of the sport. Additionally, I also used to breakdance, which incorporated some gymnastics movements like handstands.

3. Do you currently do any training outside of school?

I train on my own at open gymnastics gyms, at the park, or at home. But I’m not a part of any teams/clubs outside of school.

4. What are your goals for yourself and your team this PSAL season?

I want to win city championships as a team. Stuyvesant hasn’t won for boys’ gymnastics in almost 20 years, so it’d be awesome if we could finally bring the gold home. At indi-

vidual championships, I want to win first place on pommel horse (generally known as the hardest event and my best event) and first all around, which is when you do all six events. Being first place all around is basically being the best gymnast in PSAL. This would also mean being highly qualified for winning the Wingate Award, which is something I also want to do. (The PSAL Wingate Award honors New York City Public High School student-athletes in their senior year for their outstanding achievements in their respective sports.)

5. What’s the funniest thing that has happened while you’ve been on the team?

I was spotting (helping/keeping from falling) someone on the team one time for handstand push ups and they farted in my face.

6. Which teammate is the funniest?

Samuel Tan, even though he jokes around too much.

7. How do you balance schoolwork and being on a team? What advice can you give others?

It’s really not that hard if you sort your priorities. For me, sleeping is more important than watching Netflix or scrolling through Facebook, so no matter how late I get home (with gymnastics, it can be especially late), I just get my work done and sleep as early as possible. I use the weekends to get things finished ahead of time and be less stressed throughout the week. The few days when I get lazy with work, I regret it. So, it’s a matter of just getting everything done and not slacking.

8. What will you miss most about being on the team?

Just being able to do competitive gymnastics. Most of the colleges I applied to don’t have a gymnastics program, and starting one would be extremely difficult considering how much equipment and space gymnastics requires. The thrill of com-

peting, winning (or losing), and having all your hard work pay off with a trophy or medal is something I’ll definitely miss.

9. Who is your biggest role model / inspiration?

Elon Musk. I admire his amazing intellectual capabilities and vision for the future. He knows where the world needs to head and is a pioneer in making it happen, whereas many people are still living in the past. I also appreciate his hard work, dedication, and risk-taking. I think there are so many things we can learn from him to be better ourselves. His perseverance through his work can be applied to gymnastics since you need the same kind of dedication in order to get better.

Choice drink: Raspberry lemonade Favorite food: Thai food Motto to live by: You’ll never be able to do something if you don’t try.

The Spectator ● January 29, 2019

Page 27

Sports Girls’ Gymnastics

Girls’ Track

Greyducks Hit Rough Waters

By Bernard Wang and Aryan Sharma

Nearly one week into winter break and only two days after Christmas, junior Angela Zhong proudly received her silver medal in the 1500-meter racewalk at the PSAL Holiday Classic track and field meet.

With her time of eight minutes and 34 seconds, she became the third member of the Greyducks to qualify for the City Championships meet at the end of the season in February. Zhong is no stranger to finishing on the podium, as she has won first place in last year’s outdoor track season and has many other awards to her name.

However, one thing is different from a year ago; despite placing second, Zhong said, “I slowed down from last year,” recognizing if the meet occurred one year ago, she would have easily taken the gold instead of silver.

In the last month, Zhong and the rest of her teammates have

finishes, with Zhong being the highlight of the night despite not meeting her own standards.

Senior and co-captain Jeanette Cheung similarly did not live up to her previous performances and placed 10th in the same event with a time of 10 minutes—almost two minutes more than her personal record.

Besides the racewalk, junior Ester Suleymanov continued her season-long streak of strong performances by placing third in the 1500-meter run with a time only three seconds slower than her personal record (5:28). A few underclassmen put in strong showings at the meet, with sophomore Jessica Kwok and freshman Leah D’Silva respectively placing eighth and ninth in the 1000meter run and freshman Charlotte Li earning sixth place in the shot put (17-10.5).

While the veterans of the team are working on a variety of things from qualifying for City Championships to simply

being a great track and field team, as they are able to consistently appear in the top 15 spots of events that often have more than 50 athletes competing.

However, podium finishes have declined in frequency. Some athletes attribute this to lower than usual attendance at practices and meets. “PSAL is doing this new thing where athletes have to be entered electronically the day before a meet and not inperson on race day. Some girls couldn’t race at meets because they were entered late or not at all,” junior Sherry Chen said.

This has unfortunately been the reason for why the Greyducks haven’t had as many athletes compete despite the pressing need for experience at this time in the season. Furthermore, with a different coach from last year, practices have also been changed, as Charles-Davis said they are “smaller and slightly less organized than before.”

These changes may have had effects on the team’s competi-

“Making their debut was a little nerve racking, but it’s great to see how far they’ve come with just a couple months on the team under their belt.” —Lee-Ann Rushlow, senior and cocaptain

surprisingly struggled to maintain their high level of performance from past years. The Greyducks have let previously attainable high placements slip from their grasp.

The Stuyvesant Greyducks, the girls’ varsity indoor track team, have historically been one of Stuyvesant’s highest performing teams. The team is in the midst of a long stretch of dominance over Manhattan, which it has accumulated by winning Borough Championships for the last four years in a row. Success has been in abundance in all three seasons for the Greyducks; the cross country and outdoor track teams have been equally outstanding.

However, this season has told a different story. The Greyducks are approaching the halfway point of the indoor track season with many unfamiliar concerns. The girls are struggling to find the same form that established them as the borough’s top team in the last four years, and many athletes have fallen off from their previous personal records. There have been sparks of optimism, but there is cause for concern for a team so used to being at the top.

The team competed at the PSAL Holiday Classic during winter break at the Armory on December 27. They came away with eight hard fought top-10

practicing to regain last year’s success, the underclassmen are mainly focused on development and gaining more experience in their events. In the 25th Hispanic Games, their first meet of 2019, the Greyducks saw encouraging results from their younger runners. Sophomore Julianne Yotov placed 10th in the sophomore 1500-meter run (5:22.08), a new personal record. In addition, the sophfrosh 4x800-meter relay team finished seventh (11:19.38).

While no individual placed better than 10th place, the team’s younger athletes used the meet to gain more valuable experience.

The team only sent a few athletes to the Armory for the NYRR Millrose Trials on January 9. Three of them ran the 55-meter dash, with junior Angelique Charles-Davis placing 22nd (7:71), senior Vivian Cribb placing 33rd (7:85), and freshman Zuzi Liu placing 48th (8:07) out of 76 runners.

These performances “could have been better, but [were] not completely horrible,” CharlesDavis said. The 4x400-meter relay team also raced, placing 13th with a time of 4:27, which is over 10 seconds better than their performance at the Holiday Classic in December.

There is no doubt that the Greyducks are within range of

tions as well.

The Greyducks have less than a month before Borough Championships, and the stakes are higher than ever. The girls are still focused on beating their personal records and improving as individual athletes. As for the team as a whole, though the last few meets didn’t end up how they wanted, the girls are still optimistic heading into the second half of the season, confident that they can win at Borough’s when the time comes.

“Many girls still go to practice a lot, and the freshmen are really committed! The vibe is still really lovely and supportive,” Chen said. “We’re still a really close team even though there are grade, sprinter, and distance divisions!”

The Greyducks are also hoping to qualify more athletes for City Championships because they currently only have three athletes who made the cut. If the young runners can continue to improve and the veterans can find a way to get back on track, the team will be back on the path to domination. “Even if we might not be up to par with the people who have left us, I see high potential in this team, and we’re going to use that as our motivation to continue to improve and do our best,” Zhong said.

Felines Disappoint in Divisionals, Prepare for Home Meets

By elias ferguson and aki yamaguchi

The Stuyvesant Felines competed at the Marilyn Cross Divisional meet right after winter break but did not perform as well as they expected. With disappointing results for the team, the meet saw a couple of the Felines plagued by colds, low energy, and rustiness. The team failed to break the Bronx High School of Science’s three-year hold on the Manhattan/Bronx Marilyn Cross Divisional title.

The Felines got back into action after winter break with the Divisional, a meet against Christopher Columbus Campus High, and a scrimmage against Saint Ann’s High School. They were able to win the meet against Christopher Columbus Campus and performed particularly well in the scrimmage meet against Saint Ann’s High School.

However, at the Divisional where all teams from the Felines’ bracket were competing, the Felines performed underwhelmingly with a score of 104.950 at the meet. This was the team’s chance to see how they were competing compared to their potential opponents.

“As far as score goes, [it was] a little disappointing,” coach Vasken Choubaralian said. “[It was] for good reasons; coming off a long break [when] a lot of the girls were away, everyone was a little rusty.” “[Senior and co-captain] Lee-Ann [Rushlow], one of our high scorers, was sick and had a cold. She was a little down on energy, so it wasn’t a great day,” Choubaralian added. Rushlow has been a consistently excellent performer in the season so far and was still the Felines’ top gymnast at Divisionals. Unfortunately, her scores weren’t quite as high as usual. Compared to previous meets, the team performed better in the bar events throughout their meets, one of their weaker events. At the Divisional, the Felines scored only about three points less than Bronx Science in the bar event, respectively scoring 23.00 and 25.82.

Though the Felines placed second overall, their score still fell short behind Bronx Science’s team, which scored 118.600. “They [seemed to] have some pretty good freshmen,” Rushlow said. This is something the captain hoped wouldn’t be added to Bronx’s roster.

However, the Felines have their own freshmen as well.

Freshman Agatha Nyarko has consistently competed well thus far. “Agatha has a lot of potential, and through hard work we will be able to improve our team score,” Rushlow said.

At the meet against Christopher Columbus Campus on January 9, the Felines scrambled their roster and new players were given the nod to start.

Sophomore Hui Qi Cai was given her second start of the

season, performing alongside team mainstays like Nyarko and senior and co-captain Xinyue Nam. Cai also scored a personal best at 6.3 points on her floor routine. However, she was injured before the scrimmage and unable to compete again in the meet. “It was very upsetting, but I am excited to recover and get back on my feet,” Cai said. Despite the mixed-up lineup, the team scored higher than they did in their Divisional performance, showing the potential of the whole team.

An important match for the team was the unofficial match against Saint Ann’s High School in Brooklyn. As it was not an official match, it opened up opportunities for more and new members of the team to compete. “We were able to have a lot of rookies compete for the first time on floor: Sophomores] Julie Weiner and Alyssa Yoo, [freshman] Ella Krechmer, [and sophomore] Saarah Elsayed,” Rushlow said.

Krechmer stood out with a well-choreographed routine despite not having advanced club experience. “She was able to score the highest on floor with a 5.3,” Nam said.

One of the previous goals for the team was to get people who don’t get to compete out onto the floor, and this was a great chance for the Felines to do just that. “It was kind of nerve-racking but still a really fun experience,” Elsayed said.

Weiner explained that they had to make up their own choreography for their routines with help from other members of the team. Choubaralian agreed and was very impressed with the dedication that all the members of team were showing and the potential for the coming years as a result of hard work. “Going to do a floor routine [is] not as easy as it looks.

[They all] impressed with a floor routine. [It] takes a lot of courage to come up with one,” Choubaralian said. At the meet, sophomores Naomi Khanna and Anna Zorin and freshman Nyarko also received awards for their respective events as they placed in the top three.

“Making their debut was a little nerve racking, but it’s great to see how far they’ve come with just a couple months on the team under their belt,” Rushlow said.

The rest of the meets will be held at Stuyvesant. All matches so far besides one have been away, so the team is getting ready to perform. “[The Felines are] really excited for the next two home meets,” Choubaralian said. These matches are crucial for the more experienced gymnasts to secure spots in the individuals section at finals. As the final competition is not based on the teams’ records and instead on the overall scores of each team and member, the Felines need to continue their trend of scoring well and work on improving to secure a spot in finals.

The Spectator ● Janurary 29, 2019

Boys’ Swimming

Page 28

The Spectator SpoRts

Boys’ Basketball

Pirates and Wolverines Go Down to the Wire

Rebels Fall to East Harlem

Tiffany Yu / The Spectator

By Yae June Lee and Waseq Ahmed

By Sunan Tajwar

“In such a high pressure meet, every event counted and everybody on the team stepped up to that pressure, which was really amazing to see.”

—Axel Tolpina, senior and captain

of teamwork and team character. “The meets we have against very talented teams such as Bronx Science really highlight our coordination and strength as a unit. [In] the past two years, we have won championships not only with talent but [also with] teamwork. We constantly support one another, and going into playoffs being the closest and most efficient team will beat a talented team any day,”

Tolpina said.

It was critical for the Pirates to face this level of adversity to get them into the postseason mindset. Reflecting on the early hole his team fell into, Tolpina said, “By the halfway point of the meet, we were down 5 points, [which was] something that hadn’t happened to our team since my freshman year.

However, for the back half of the meet, we really pulled together, and almost every person that swam on our side did close to the best time. In such a high pressure meet, every event counted and everybody on the team stepped up to that pressure, which was really amazing to see.” It was crucial for the Pirates to prove to both the competition and themselves that they could perform at a championship level regardless of the score. Coming back from a five point deficit to beat one of the best teams in the city will do a great deal for the confidence and morale of a team that hasn’t been forced to play from behind very often.

Above all, the playoffs remain the bigger picture looming for the defending champions.

The final stretch of the season is showing promising signs of good form and improvement throughout the team. Kai Mandelbaum, Andrew Pressman, Elias Ferguson, and Eugene Jeong, according to Tolpina, were a handful of the team members that put their best performances of the season on display against Bronx Science.

The Pirates will need to have performances like the ones they had against Bronx Science to defend the throne against the best PSAL Swimming has to offer. Another matchup with the Bronx Science Wolverines wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, and there is no doubt it will prove to be another nail-biting matchup as it almost always has been in the past.

Matt Melucci / The Spectator

The Pirates, Stuyvesant’s boys’ swim team, hosted the Bronx Science Wolverines for the second matchup of the season between the two PSAL powerhouses. The undefeated Pirates faced off against the Bronx Science team, which was looking to take revenge for its one and only loss of the season.

The two met back in December, when the Pirates picked up a win against the Wolverines by a 13 point margin, their slimmest win margin of the year. But unlike in December, with the playoffs just around the corner, both teams used the meet as an opportunity to test the waters of the level of competition and adversity they are likely to face in the postseason.

As expected, the two teams started off in a full blaze, exchanging leads and switching the momentum early in the highly anticipated matchup.

Bronx Science placed first in the 200 yard Medley Relay and the 200-yard Individual Medley. However, the Pirates won the 200-yard freestyle, keeping the Bronx Science lead to just one point (16-15, Bronx Science). The Pirates fought back hard in the 50-yard and 100yard freestyles and the 100-yard Butterfly, regaining the lead by a slim margin (29-26 Stuyvesant).

They then proceeded to forfeit all four points in the diving competition, and the Wolverines sought to capitalize on the momentum.

Both teams took four points in the 500-yard freestyle, with a great first-place effort from senior Nicholas Wen. The Pirates then dominated the 200-yard freestyle relay, capturing what would prove to be nine gamedeciding points, with junior Kai Yamamoto leading the charge for the first-place finish and senior and captain Axel Tolpina covering the second-place finish. The two teams would go

on to split the points for the 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard breaststroke, and 400-yard freestyle relay. In the end, the Wolverines pushed the Pirates as far as they have been pushed in recent times, coming to a mere seven points short of defeating the defending champions away from home. The highly competitive matchup forced the Pirates to look beyond their talent and previous success and fall back on their core principles

Coming into the 2018-2019 season, the Rebels 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 East Harlem Pride. However, despite a home-field advantage on their side, the team suffered a 5837 defeat to fall to 0-10 in the season, extending their losing streak.

Despite Stuyvesant jumping out to a quick 5-0 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, both teams’ leading scorer with 23 points in the game, went up to contest in 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,” 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 smothering him in vain 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, taller, bigger, and faster East Harlem players simply outmatched Stuyvesant physically. The Rebels struggled to drive in 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 on fastbreak attempts. Stuyvesant played with heart and actually outscored East Harlem

14-10 in the fourth quarter, but the game was already out of reach at this point.

Stuyvesant’s lack of size was partially noticeable for rebounding, as East Harlem massively out-rebounded the Rebels. 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 had 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 free throw attempts. 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 was out of reach in the fourth quarter, coach George Stork put in the younger players to get valuable minutes that would be important to their development. Freshman Ethan Kirschner was able to draw a foul, and 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, as he finished as the leading scorer of the Rebels with nine points. 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,” he said.

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